NFL Draft Fan Survey: How Optimistic is Your Franchise's Fanbase in 2026?

As the NFL Draft looms into view at the end of April, spirits are rising across NFL fanbases.

At least… most NFL fanbases.

For the third consecutive year, Sportsbook Review surveyed over 5,000 NFL fans across all 32 teams to gauge every franchise’s fan optimism heading into the NFL Draft to find out who is planning a three-day party, and who is booking a therapy session after another seven rounds of disappointment and mismanagement.

Key Findings

🏈 Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles are the most optimistic heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, garnering an optimism score of 7.38.

🏈 The AFC West’s worst team in 2025, the Las Vegas Raiders have the second-best fan optimism score in the league in our survey - rising 23 places year-on-year

🏈 The Indianapolis Colts dropped to the bottom of our rankings with the lowest fan optimism score in 2026 of 5.10.

🏈 The Washington Commanders dropped from 3rd to 25th in our rankings year-on-year - a sign the Jayden Daniels honeymoon may be over...

Most Optimistic NFL Fanbases

(Source: Sportsbook Review survey)

The Frontrunner: Philly’s Leverage Engine

The Philadelphia Eagles have claimed the No. 1 spot with an optimism score of 7.38.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone who understands how modern NFL capital works. Fans are hanging their hopes on a specific player here, nor on head coach Nick Sirianni. They’re banking on some serious operational excellence from the consensus best GM in football.

When asked for the primary driver of their pre-draft confidence, a staggering 34.8% of Eagles fans pointed directly to the front office’s track record and the reputation of General Manager, Howie Roseman to get things done.

In Philadelphia, the draft isn't a roll of the dice. Fans know the front office manipulates the board better than any other team in the league, exploits falling talent, and hedges its bets in the trenches. They aren't hoping for a good draft: they simply expect one.

The Overreaction: The Las Vegas Lottery Ticket

If the Eagles represent systemic trust, the Las Vegas Raiders represent the gambler’s high.

Vegas rocketed up a massive 23 spots year-over-year to claim the No. 2 ranking (7.27) - the biggest rise in optimism across the whole league. But look under the hood at why they are optimistic, and the narrative changes. A league-high 35.6% of Raiders fans cite their "draft position" as the main reason for their excitement.

This is the classic profile of a fan base staring at a glaring void at quarterback. They aren't inherently trusting the infrastructure (only 15.6% credit the front office); they are trusting the math of picking early. High draft capital creates a massive, temporary spike in fan sentiment.

It’s the NFL equivalent of feeling rich because you’re holding a scratch-off ticket.

The Stalwarts: L.A. and Kansas City

The Los Angeles Rams (7.09) and Kansas City Chiefs (6.91) sit at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

The Rams are fascinating. Les Snead spent half a decade treating draft picks like disposable income, yet L.A. fans remain deeply optimistic. Nearly 20% point to clear roster needs aligning with their current capital, and over 15% trust the coaching staff’s influence.

Sean McVay has proven he can integrate mid-round talent immediately, which keeps the consumer confidence incredibly high even when the Rams aren't picking in the top ten.

Meanwhile, Chiefs fans are treating the draft the way a Fortune 500 company treats a quarterly earnings call: a routine reloading phase. Their optimism relies heavily on recent draft successes (15.5%) and filling specific roster gaps (17.3%) to keep the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes dynasty insulated.

Baltimore Ravens: Steady as she goes…

Most NFL fan bases treat the draft like a casino. Baltimore treats it like an index fund. Sitting comfortably at No. 5 on the 2026 optimism index, the Ravens are the market’s definition of institutional stability.

While other fan bases obsess over early picks, a microscopic 1.4% of Baltimore fans care about their actual draft position. They genuinely don't sweat where the front office is picking.

Instead, their confidence is perfectly diversified across the GM, coaching staff, and scouting department. In a league driven by hype cycles and savior complexes, the Ravens' market remains aggressively boring and historically profitable.

Most Pessimistic NFL Fanbases

The Floor: The Indianapolis Capital Crisis

The Indianapolis Colts have officially hit rock bottom, claiming the No. 32 spot with an optimism score of 5.10.

This isn't just about missing the playoffs; it’s about the mechanics of the team's draft capital. Indianapolis shipped its 2026 first-round pick to the Jets for Sauce Gardner. While nobody in Indiana is complaining about having an elite cornerback, it leaves a fan base scrolling on X and re-reading mock-drafts until pick No. 47.

A lack of early picks only explains part of the dread. When asked for the primary driver of their pessimism, 30% of Colts fans pointed directly to the front office's track record, and another 24% cited their draft position. Chris Ballard has spent years preaching patience and hoarding day-three selections, but fans have stopped buying the pitch. You can only trade back and draft raw, athletic project players so many times before the fan base stops believing the hype.

Front Office Fatigue: Minnesota and Cincinnati

Sitting just above the Colts are the Minnesota Vikings (5.37) at No. 31 and the Cincinnati Bengals (5.52) at No. 30. Both scores are direct indictments of leadership.

Minnesota plummeted 11 spots year-over-year. Following a disappointing 9-8 finish that resulted in the firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the front office is in flux, and the fan base is exhausted. A combined 48.1% of Vikings fans blame the front office track record or recent draft failures for their current misery. They’ve watched too much premium capital turn into rotational depth, and there is clearly an expectation of the trend continuing, even with new personnel management stepping in.

The Bengals, meanwhile, are a case study in stagnant loyalty. After a brutal 6-11 season, ownership opted to retain head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin. The fans responded by tanking their optimism score by a steep 16 spots. A league-high 46.5% of Bengals fans cite the front office and GM track record as their main reason for dread.

In Cincinnati, fans aren’t worried about the draft board: they’re worried the wrong people are in the war room.

The Biggest Rises and Drops in Confidence Year-on-Year

The "Honeymoon Hangover" is violently real

Last year, the Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Chargers were the darlings of the optimism index. Washington was riding the high of Jayden Daniels; L.A. was drunk on the Jim Harbaugh hire.

This year? The market crashed.

• The Commanders plummeted 22 spots (from No. 3 down to No. 25).
• The Chargers dropped 13 spots (from No. 1 down to No. 14).

Rookie quarterbacks and splashy head coaching hires create an immediate, artificial spike in consumer confidence. But by year two, the "savior premium" wears off, and the fan base is forced to look at the actual salary cap and depth chart. You can sell a new era once. After that, you have to actually build a roster.

The Reality Check: The Chargers Come Back to Earth

Narratives have a shelf life.

Last year, the Los Angeles Chargers sat at No. 1 with a 7.44 score, riding the euphoria of the Jim Harbaugh hire and a loaded war room.

This year? They’ve plummeted 13 spots to No. 14 (6.58) - the fourth largest drop in the rankings for 2026.

The new-car smell has worn off Jim Harbaugh, replaced by the grinding gears and engine rattles of actual team building. Now, 21.1% of their fans see glaring roster needs and clear gaps to fill. It is a perfect example of market correction.

The initial hype of a cultural overhaul nearly always gives way to the structural reality of the salary cap.

Jacksonville’s unprecedented dead-cat bounce

In 2025, the Jaguars were dead last in this survey. The fan base was completely alienated, returning an abysmal 5.00 score.

Fast forward to 2026, and Jacksonville has rocketed up 21 spots to No. 11. This kind of year-over-year volatility is incredibly rare without a Super Bowl run. What changed? A fascinating split in the data: exactly 25% of their fans cite the front office track record, and another 25% cite recent draft success.

The Jags' front office managed to execute a perfect narrative flip in 12 months. Whatever they did with their 2025 capital didn't just add players; it actively repaired a fractured relationship with their market.

Other Takeaways

The Giants in a power dynamic

The New York Giants sit at a respectable No. 13 on the optimism index, but the source of that optimism is glaring.

A league-high 24.2% of Giants fans cite "coaching staff influence on draft decisions" as the primary reason for their confidence. For context, the league average for that category is just 10.8%. Meanwhile, only 25.8% of Giants fans credit the actual front office.

The public is loudly signaling who they trust in the building. When a fan base places a massive premium on the coaches picking the players rather than the scouts, it usually indicates a lack of faith in the general manager's traditional drafting mechanics.

How to spot a true contender in the data

If you want to know which fan bases actually believe they are close to a Super Bowl, look at the "Current Roster Needs" column.

Bad teams look for saviors (hence the Raiders obsessing over early draft position). Good teams look for puzzle pieces. The Detroit Lions (21.1%) and Los Angeles Rams (19.6%) lean heavily on "clear gaps to fill" as their primary driver for draft excitement.

These aren't fan bases praying for a cultural reset. They are looking at the draft as a tactical exercise. When a high percentage of a fan base is focused purely on plugging specific holes, it means the foundational culture and quarterback situation are already viewed as solved.

New Orleans is suffering from institutional trauma

The Saints are drifting at No. 20 overall, but their internal numbers paint a bleak picture of organizational fatigue.

Nearly a quarter of the fan base, 24.6%, cites "recent draft success or failure" as the main driver of their current feelings. That is nearly double the league average (13.0%) and the highest mark in the NFL for that specific category.

Saints fans aren't looking at the 2026 board; they are looking at the ghosts of drafts past. When a market becomes this heavily fixated on historical failures, the front office loses the benefit of the doubt. Every pick is viewed through a lens of suspicion, making it nearly impossible for management to sell a "project" player to the public.

Methodology

Sportsbook Review surveyed over 5,000 NFL fans spread across all 32 teams to gauge their personal optimism in their franchise’s immediate future on a scale of 1 to 10.

They were then asked to choose the greatest source of their feelings on their team from 12 options including front office / GM track record, recent draft success or failure, draft position (early vs late picks), and lack of clear team direction.

Optimism scores were averaged and reasons for the scores were converted to percentages for easier digestion.

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