Louisville WR Chris Bell Continuing to Produce First Round NFL Draft Buzz

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At both the college and professional level of football, we're heading into the home stretch of the 2025 season. College football has just two weeks left in the regular season, while the NFL is well past the halfway point of their own regular season.

With this in mind, mock drafts for the 2026 NFL Draft next April are starting to become more prevalent. In fact, the folks over at ESPN produced an updated first round mock on Wednesday.

While the Louisville football program might be on a two-game skid, this hasn't deterred scouts and anaylists from thinking any less of Louisville's top 2026 prospect: wide receiver Chris Bell. In fact, in ESPN's updated mock draft, Bell was projected to be selected by the New England Patriots with pick No. 30.

"Quarterback Drake Maye is an MVP candidate despite a relatively anonymous set of wide receivers," draft analyst Matt Miller wrote. "And while Mack Hollins and Stefon Diggs are viable veteran options, the team must prioritize developing young starters.

"Bell represents the same type of physical mismatch that Hollins provides. At 6-foot-2 and 227 pounds, most cornerbacks can't keep their hands on Bell. And from the slot, he uses his 4.4 speed to run past safeties. Bell's development will include building up his route tree, but he's similar in that way to DK Metcalf coming out of Ole Miss."

The senior from Yazoo City, Miss. has had a fantastic final season at the college level. Starting all 10 games this year, Bell has logged 67 receptions for 871 yards and six touchdowns in the process. His 87.1 yards per game is second in the ACC, behind only Duce Robinson's 94.7 at FSU, and 14th in the FBS. He has earned ACC Wide Receiver of the Week three times this season, and is a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award.

Bell has made steady improvements each year in college, and is coming off of a career year. Starting all 13 games in 2024, the outside receiver caught 43 passes for 737 yards and four touchdowns, all of which were second on the team to Ja'Corey Brooks.

Up to this point in his collegiate career, all of which has been spent at Louisville, Bell has 146 receptions for 2,120 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is 13th in program history in terms of both receptions and receiving yards.

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