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.

History

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. 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. 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. Repole disregarded that promise and announced that every team's rosters would be dissolved and a draft would occur to create new teams. One of the goals of this process was to move the teams to a have more regional centered rosters.

Structure

On January 9, 2026 quarterbacks would be selected remotely. The results of this would be announced on January 12.
On January 10, 2026, regional college allocation would occur. In this process, coaches are allowed to select a maximum of 3 players from their allocated colleges. These selections will also be announced on January 12.
On January 13-14th the draft will be held at the UFL HQ in Arlington, Texas. On the 13th, UFL players from the 2025 season will be able to be drafted in six positional groups. Offensive lineman, running backs and tight ends, wide receivers, defensive front seven, defensive backs, and specialists. Teams may protect 12 players from their 2025 rosters on a reserve list that will not be available to draft.
On January 14, the free agents draft will be held. This will also be broken into positional groups with an additional open draft section at the end.
Draft order will be determined by a virtual lottery and the draft will be conducted in a snake format.
Teams are allowed to select a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 62 players in the draft including 3 quarterbacks, a maximum of 3 college allocations, and a maximum of 12 protected players.

Eligibility

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

2025 NFL draft-eligible players
2025 NFL training camp players
2026 NFL draft-eligible players
UFL Showcase attendees
Players who signed a LOI and did not finish the 2025 season on a UFL roster
Other free agents
Protected players

Teams are allowed to protect up to 12 players from their 2025 rosters. 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.

Birmingham Stallions

Columbus Aviators

Dallas Renegades

DC Defenders

Houston Gamblers

Louisville Kings

Orlando Storm

St. Louis Battlehawks

Quarterback Draft

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.

Team	Player	College
Birmingham Stallions	Matt Corral*	Ole Miss
Birmingham Stallions	Taylor Elgersma	Wilfrid Laurier
Birmingham Stallions	Jaren Hall	BYU
Columbus Aviators	Jalan McClendon	Baylor
Columbus Aviators	Jalen Morton	Prairie View A&M
Columbus Aviators	Clayton Tune	Houston
Dallas Renegades	Luis Perez*	East Texas A&M
Dallas Renegades	Austin Reed	Western Kentucky
DC Defenders	Mike DiLiello*	Austin Peay
DC Defenders	Spencer Sanders*	Ole Miss
DC Defenders	Jordan Ta'amu*	Ole Miss
Houston Gamblers	Hunter Dekkers	Iowa Western
Houston Gamblers	Donovan Smith	Houston
Louisville Kings	Jason Bean	Kansas
Louisville Kings	Chandler Rogers	California
Orlando Storm	Jack Plummer	Louisville
Orlando Storm	Dorian Thompson-Robinson	UCLA
St. Louis Battlehawks	Michael Pratt	Tulane
St. Louis Battlehawks	Brandon Silvers*	Troy
St. Louis Battlehawks	Ben Wooldridge	Louisiana

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

Regional College Allocation

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:

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

Team	Player	Position	College	Previous UFL team
Birmingham Stallions	Kobe Jones	OLB	Mississippi State	San Antonio Brahmas
Birmingham Stallions	Mason Brooks	T	Ole Miss	DC Defenders
Birmingham Stallions	Desmond Little	DE	UAB	Free Agent
Columbus Aviators	Alizé Mack	TE	Notre Dame	San Antonio Brahmas
Columbus Aviators	Juwann Bushell-Beatty	T	Michigan	St. Louis Battlehawks
Columbus Aviators	Jailin Walker	MLB	Indiana	Free Agent
Dallas Renegades	Sam Tecklenburg	OL	Baylor	San Antonio Brahmas
Dallas Renegades	Keondre Coburn	DT	Texas	Free Agent
Dallas Renegades	Siaki Ika	NT	Baylor	Free Agent
DC Defenders	Gottlieb Ayedze	T	Maryland	Free Agent
DC Defenders	Brandon Smith	LB	Penn State	Free Agent
DC Defenders	Johari Branch	G	Maryland	DC Defenders
Houston Gamblers	Jontre Kirklin	WR	LSU	San Antonio Brahmas
Houston Gamblers	Anthony Hines III	LB	Texas A&M	DC Defenders
Houston Gamblers	Rashard Lawrence	DE	LSU	San Antonio Brahmas
Louisville Kings	JaVonta Payton	WR	Tennessee	Dallas Renegades
Louisville Kings	Daniel Grzesaik	DE	Cincinnati	Free Agent
Louisville Kings	Willie Tyler	OL	Louisville	San Antonio Brahmas
Orlando Storm	Cole Schneider	G	UCF	Birmingham Stallions
Orlando Storm	Samuel Jackson	G	UCF	Houston Roughnecks
Orlando Storm	Elijhah Badger	WR	Florida	Free Agent
St. Louis Battlehawks	Hakeem Butler	WR	Iowa State	St. Louis Battlehawks
St. Louis Battlehawks	Kevon Latulas	RB	Missouri State*	St. Louis Battlehawks
St. Louis Battlehawks	Michael Ojemudia	FS	Iowa	DC Defenders

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

UFL Players Draft

Source:
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.