2026 UFL draft

The 2026 UFL draft is the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2026 UFL season.

The 2024 UFL draft had largely been unsuccessful, as it was restricted to rookie players who had gone undrafted in that year's NFL Draft and most of the drafted players refused to sign with the UFL.^[1] To address this, the league indicated plans to hold the 2025 draft in September 2025, after NFL rosters and practice squads were set, to better assess who was actually available and would be realistically willing to sign.^[2] By summer 2025, with continued uncertainty about which teams would still be in the UFL and where they would be playing, this draft was indefinitely suspended.

Following Mike Repole's acquisition of the UFL and the relocation of the Michigan Panthers, Memphis Showboats, and San Antonio Brahmas, UFL representatives had initially promised that he would honor the contracts teams had signed with its existing players and not liquidate their rosters.^[3] Repole disregarded that promise and announced that every team's rosters would be dissolved and a draft would occur to create new teams.^[4] One of the goals of this process was to move the teams to a have more regional centered rosters.^[5]

On January 9, 2026 quarterbacks were selected remotely.^[6] The next day, regional college allocation would occur. In this process, coaches are allowed to select a maximum of three players from a list of Division I FBS universities in close proximity to their home cities. Both of these category selections were announced on January 12.^[5]

On January 13-14th the main draft was held at the UFL HQ in Arlington, Texas. On the 13th, UFL players from the 2025 season were drafted in six positional groups:^[7] offensive lineman, running backs and tight ends, wide receivers, defensive front seven (defensive tackles, ends, and linebackers), defensive backs, and specialists. Teams could protect 12 players from their 2025 rosters on a reserve list that will not be available to draft, with the three teams in new markets each being given access to the rosters of one of the three 2025 teams that were not retained for 2026 for potential protection.^[5]

On January 14, the free agents draft was held; this was likewise broken into positional groups with an additional open draft section at the end.^[5]

Draft order was determined by a virtual lottery and the draft was conducted in a snake format, with the draft order reversing itself in each round.^[8]

Teams were allowed to select a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 62 players in the draft including three quarterbacks, a maximum of three college allocations, and a maximum of 12 protected players.^[9]

To be eligible for the UFL Players draft, a player must have ended the 2025 UFL season on an active roster or injured reserve^[9].

To be eligible for the free agent draft a player must not have been signed to a UFL active roster in 2025 and fall into one of the following categories:^[10]

1. 2025 NFL draft-eligible players
2. 2025 NFL training camp players
3. 2026 NFL draft-eligible players
4. UFL Showcase attendees
5. Players who signed a LOI and did not finish the 2025 season on a UFL roster
6. Other free agents

Teams are allowed to protect up to 12 players from their 2025 rosters.^[7] The three new teams will draw from the rosters of the now defunct teams. The Columbus Aviators will draw from the Michigan Panthers roster, the Louisville Kings from the Memphis Showboats, and the Orlando Storm from the San Antonio Brahmas.

The Quarterback Draft marked the first phase of the UFL’s player selection process. Head coaches, working in collaboration with the league’s centralized scouting department, evaluated all eligible quarterbacks and submitted a ranked list of their top five candidates to the league. The draft took place on Friday, January 9, and all selections were announced three days later. Not every team was assigned three quarterbacks.^[12][13]

(*) indicates a player returning to the same team as held his rights in 2025.

Each head coach selected up to three players from local colleges to protect. This process was completed on January 10 and published two days later.

Player allocations for each UFL team were determined based on the league’s regionalization map, as outlined below:^[14]

• Birmingham: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, UAB
• Columbus: Indiana, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State
• Dallas: Baylor, SMU, TCU, Texas, North Texas
• DC: Maryland, Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
• Houston: Houston, LSU, Rice, Texas A&M
• Louisville: Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee
• Orlando: Florida, Florida State, USF, UCF
• St. Louis: Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri

{*} School wasn't on the original regionalization college assignment by the league.

Source: ^[15]

Three veteran players-St. Louis's Jaryd Jones-Smith, Birmingham's Amari Rodgers and Michigan's Kai Nacua—rejected their selections and retired from the UFL the day of the draft.^[16]

Source: ^[17]