As the UFL continues to adapt to change this offseason, another adjustment has been made. The 2025 UFL College Draft is being moved to early September, multiple league sources have confirmed to Pro Football Newsroom.
As of right now, we’re told that the date for the college draft will be September 2nd. That is always subject to change, however, given the fluid nature of the UFL.
This is a great move by the league, as they fully embrace what the college draft is all about. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen the XFL, USFL, and UFL College Drafts positively impact multiple franchises.
One of the quips about the college draft, though, is the timing. Each event over the past couple of years has taken place in June or July (excluding the USFL’s 2023 draft in February). This is because the point of the draft was for teams to claim rights to rookies in the NFL, who they were hoping could become available over the next 1-3 years.
That said, times are changing in the UFL. We saw a few organizations embrace players selected in the 2024 UFL College Draft, such as Houston, Michigan, and St. Louis. These UFL teams want to draft players who they can sign for the 2026 season – not wanting to wait for their NFL franchises to eventually let them go.
September 2nd gives UFL teams the perfect positioning to make an attempt at snatching rookies up. With NFL cutdowns on August 27th, and most practice squads set by September 1st, an early September draft for the UFL is ideal. To be clear, if a player is drafted by a UFL team, it doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed to play in the UFL – they still will have to sign a contract…