Earlier this month, the UFL announced the date of its upcoming UFL Draft, set for November 18. It also announced other key details associated with the process, such as draft order, length, player eligibility, and more. Here are my thoughts on some of the strengths and weaknesses of how this year's draft may play out.
Strengths
-The draft will be televised: For years, spring football fans have been begging for drafts of all kinds to be televised in some way. The UFL announced that the first two rounds will be featured on the NFL Network, which will include behind-the-scenes coverage. It's a big step up in visibility for a key aspect of the league's team building process. The argument can be made that in the past, the UFL (or USFL and XFL for that matter) were not popular enough to use the necessary money or resources on airing a draft. However, if the UFL and its ownership wants to be treated like a serious league, it needs to act like a serious league. Televising the draft may not draw a ton of eyeballs but it's an indication to viewers that the UFL is on par with other pro sports entities whose drafts have become a spectator event.
-Season ticket holders will get draft-related perks: While UFL season tickets are comparatively inexpensive when matched up with other sports leagues of a similar size, the ancillary benefits that come with them have been lacking. Allowing season ticket holders to participate in a raffle that will send one fan from each market to the draft, not to mention the additional perks for those in the St. Louis market, is a smart move. Not all fans will be interested in the draft, but a lot of UFL fans are the hardcore types or are intrigued by just this sort of thing. If nothing else, it's another asset the UFL can tie in with the purchase of season tickets. That list should continue to grow beyond the draft as well.
-No more snake drafts: In the past, many drafts have been of the snake format in a concerted effort to guarantee fairness in roster construction: The team that drafts eighth in one round will get to draft first in the next round, and so on. The UFL has appeared to eliminate that for the purposes of the 2027 Draft. The first two rounds are based on inverse standings from last year: That is, the team with the worst record drafts first, second-worst drafts second, and so on. Again, it's a signal of a more serious league that operates as most other sports leagues instead of one desperate to enact parity (though there are still areas of football operations where that appears to be a priority).
-Trades: Yes! But no future picks: Trades will be allowed during the draft, but only for selections in this year's draft or for players. In other words, there's no trading picks in future years. It makes sense: UFL drafts change so often there's no telling what next year's draft will even look like today. Will it be the same process? The same player eligibility? If it changes, the value of the picks may change with it and that is impossible to anticipate when making trades this year. It's the K.I.S.S. principle at play here: Keep it simple, stupid. The UFL has wisely done that when it comes to draft day trades.
-A clear delineation of who can be signed before the draft: In four months of the off-season so far, there's been minimal player movement. Fans have been waiting for transactions to start up again. It turns out, there's a method to the madness. In the past, players have been signed before the draft, only to find out those same players would've been eligible for the draft. Huh? You don't see NFL teams being allowed to sign draft-eligible players before their college draft. So it appears a hold has been put on all transactions related to players eligible for the UFL Draft...unless you attend a Showcase. We've seen a few players sign recently who tried out at these Showcases. As the only way onto league rosters for now, it makes attending the Showcases more of a valuable proposition. You can disagree with the parameters but the fact that the league has set a clear standard of who can and can't be signed - or at least made it public - is a step in the right direction.
Weaknesses
-15 rounds is a lot: Granted, teams can opt out of any round of the draft, so it's unlikely every team walks away with 15 new players. Why not then have a shorter draft where teams will draft from every round? It's not like the draft will be the only way teams can supplement their rosters anyway, so if there are more holes to fill, they can always fill them post-draft. Making it so that nearly one-quarter of the players a team will take to camp could come from this draft just feels like too much.
-St. Louis wins again: St. Louis has been the benefit of preferential treatment from the XFL/UFL to the tune of multiple championship games, extra home games, and so on. Yet when the UFL had the opportunity to go anywhere for the draft, they settled on St. Louis once more. On one hand, it's understandable: league co-owner Mike Repole made a vow to reinvest in the St. Louis and D.C. markets this off-season, two places that have historically been strong spring football draws but that took a dip in 2026. Part of that reinvestment appears to be making it the destination for the draft. However, optics matter, and fans in other locales may continue to feel left out of the fun. There are already people who believe St. Louis is a teacher's pet of ownership; this won't help dispel that notion.
-No opt-in pool: While spring football drafts are interesting and fun, the downside over the years has been just how few players drafted actually suit up for their team. This isn't like the NFL where every player is virtually guaranteed to sign and at least compete for a roster spot. Not all players eligible to be selected in UFL drafts are interested in playing for a secondary league. The last time the UFL held a draft similar in structure to this year's was in 2024, their College Draft. Of the 80 players picked, more than half never signed with the UFL in the subsequent two seasons of play. For XFL 2020, they had players opt-in, so the league and teams knew players they were drafting were interested in participating. It's a lot easier for coaches and league scouts to address needs and fill holes when they know the players they're drafting want to play. It's also a lot more engaging for the fans watching and tracking who their teams are picking.
The Confusing
-So, about those 2027 NFL Draft-eligible players...: There's a line in the league's press release that is a little confusing: "The UFL Draft pool will include rookies eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft, regardless of whether they were picked or signed an NFL contract..." The NFL Draft isn't until April, so no players drafted with that eligibility in November by UFL teams will have been "picked or signed an NFL contract" at that point. Surely if a player drafted in November is also drafted by an NFL team in April, the UFL team that selected him will retain his rights. It just strikes me as odd to include that wording since none would have been picked or signed by NFL teams at the time of the UFL's draft.
-Maybe the draft pool ISN'T that big...?: At first glance, the draft pool seemed huge: Players from the 2023-2026 NFL Draft classes, plus those eligible to be drafted in 2027. But there appears to be a caveat: The press release says those eligible are, "players from 2023-2026 NFL Draft eligible classes who have been on an NFL roster at any point since the United Bowl Championship Game on June 13, 2026" (emphasis mine). That appears to mean players who attended NFL rookie minicamps on a tryout basis this past spring are not eligible because they were not technically on an NFL roster this summer. It also means undrafted free agents from those previous years not under NFL contract during that timeframe may not be eligible either. By the letter of the law, ONLY those who have been on NFL rosters since the UFL Championship - basically those who were on training camp rosters this summer - can be drafted. It also leaves open the door that anyone currently under NFL contract can be selected, as it doesn't make the distinction between players currently signed or not signed. Common sense would say they need to be free agents to be drafted; but that wasn't the case when the UFL held its College Draft in 2024.
-Wither territorial protections?: Noticeably absent from the draft structure is any mention of territorial protections, which were instituted last year as a way to get the local community involved by ensuring players with area college ties would stay close to home and would provide recognizable names for the fanbase. Ultimately, there was little evidence that was an effective tact. With teams in two new locations for 2027, that would alter the protected colleges for those teams. You would think if this was still a thing that teams would be allowed to "protect" a few players prior to the draft pool being open. But there's nothing about that in the press release, either. Perhaps the protections won't apply to the draft and will only trigger in free agency. Or perhaps it's an idea that has been quietly dropped.