Over the last few days, UFL teams populated their rosters with nearly 500 players. That’s almost 500 players whose pro football dreams may have been teetering on extinction, only to be thrown a life preserver by the UFL. The joy that some of those players must have experienced, knowing they’ll have the opportunity to put on shoulder pads and a helmet once again to compete for a roster spot, is why we’re fans of spring football.
But there’s another side to the UFL Draft as well: Those that hoped to be selected but weren’t. We’ve already seen players lash out on social media, unhappy that they were not picked. Thousands of players that attended UFL Showcases across the country in 2025 did so with the idea that they would catch someone’s eye and hook on to a UFL roster. That dream hasn’t ended with the passing of the draft, though the prospects have certainly gotten bleaker.
My mind goes to this idea not just because I spent much of the last few months researching and gathering information on those very UFL Showcase participants, presenting them in articles here on UFL News Hub, but because of what I saw at the National Scouting Combine last week.
There were two different groups that worked out with two very different perspectives at that event. The 2026 NFL Draft-eligible players took the field first, culminating with an all-star game on Thursday night (I covered that here). Those athletes have all the hope and promise ahead of them: Some could conceivably be drafted into the NFL this April, others may sign as free agents, and still others may get rookie minicamp tryouts. If all else fails, there’s the alternative football route with the UFL, CFL, a number of arena leagues as well as football organizations overseas.
It’s an exciting time for those players because of the unknown: Their future is a blank slate on which they can pin those hopes and dreams of eventually reaching the apex of professional football, the NFL. No one has told them “no” yet.
Then there was the group that took the field later in the week: An assemblage of about 25 free agents working out in front of AF1 scouts and coaches. These were the players who had been through the NFL Draft process and didn’t get selected; they didn’t get a free agent deal; and they didn’t get a rookie minicamp invite. They’ve toiled, some for several years, taking in workouts like this, hoping their measurables or their tape would get them noticed by someone, somewhere, anywhere, so that they can continue playing the game they love.
As I stood on the field watching those players go through drills and seven-on-seven work last Friday, I was surprised at the welling of emotion I felt within me. I looked around and saw parents and other family members on the sidelines, having traveled from who knows where, just to watch and support their sons, grandsons and brothers, far away from the spotlight and luxury one thinks of when they think of professional football.
It was a stark reminder that chasing the football dream doesn’t just affect the player themselves, but their families, too. I saw a quarterback’s significant other, with their baby that had to be less than a year old. They traveled to southwest Florida to take in this workout with no promise that anything would come of it. As someone who has a one-year-old at home, imagining my wife and little one following me to the ends of the country on the off chance I could get signed by an arena football team…well, that struck a chord.
There was the overseas liaison on the phone with a mom and dad, and later their son, talking about getting him work playing football. In Australia. In their second division league, described by the liaison as the quality of top-level American high school football. The living arrangements would be taken care of, but he suggested if the player wanted to pick up a little extra money, he could apply to work in a beer distribution warehouse.
There was the agent flitting around as agents do, breaking the ice with a dad there to watch his son by showing him a picture on his phone of his own dad, a former major league baseball player, standing in front of the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston.
These were players whose pro football hopes were hanging by a thread, having already been chewed up and spit out by the system. Some will go on to get signed, others will continue to take workouts like this in the hopes they will have a good enough day to get noticed. Still others will hang up the cleats and transition fully into civilian life, telling their co-workers about the time they were on the fringes of playing big-time football.
So be happy for those nearly 500 players who were drafted into the UFL; celebrate their success in getting one step closer to their NFL dreams. But remember too those who did not get the phone call from a head coach and whose pro football journey got a little more difficult. Remember those players working out on a sunny afternoon in Naples, the ones far from the spotlight, fame and fortune we often think of when we think of football stardom. They may be coming to a city near you next, their family in tow, hoping that one is the workout that allows them to continue chasing their NFL dream.
