The 2026 NFL Draft has concluded, with over 75 colleges represented by at least one player. Despite producing a No. 1 overall pick in the past, one of the NFL’s major talent pools had no draft selection this year.

In what appears to be an oversight, no HBCU player was selected in the 2026 NFL Draft. This marks the third time since 2021 that no player from this group of universities has been drafted.

In fact, if not for the Baltimore Ravens selecting Carson Vinson in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, it would have been a third consecutive year of the same occurrence. There is one exception to this, but that is more of a statistical anomaly.

The Eagles picked DL Uar Bernard with the No. 251 overall pick in the 7th round. However, he never played for any HBCU college. Instead, he was part of the NFL International Player Pathway (IPP) program but is considered an HBCU selection since he was discovered at the NFL’s HBCU showcase last month.

The trend of no HBCU selection in the draft followed from what happened at the NFL Combine. For this year’s event, no HBCU player was invited by the NFL.

However, it was not always this way, as HBCUs have had their era of dominance in the NFL Draft. Before 2000, when they consistently had fewer selections, the late 1970s saw them send about 20-30 players to the pros annually. In 1976, their peak year, they manufactured 35 draft picks.

Ed “Too Tall” Jones was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1974 with the No. 1 overall pick. And to answer the questions about his HBCU status, he played for 15 seasons in the NFL and won Super Bowl XII. Despite taking a break from football to pursue a career in boxing, he earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors during the course of his 15-year career.

Jones is not the only one in this category; HBCUs have produced top stars like the San Francisco 49ers’ Jerry Rice, the Chicago Bears’ Walter Payton, and the New York Giants’ Michael Strahan, among many others.

However, most of these HBCU products are from the 20th century. Though the number of draft picks is constantly on a decline, it is a different case when it comes to undrafted free agents.

Morgan State linebacker Erick Hunter, Virginia Union running back Curtis Allen, North Carolina Central quarterback Walker Harris, and Jackson State edge Quinty Ivory impressed during the HBCU legacy Bowl week in February. They are the names to look for when it comes to undrafted free agents.

Former HBCU stars selected in draft

Following the lack of draft selections in 2021, the Black College Football Hall of Fame created the HBCU Legacy Bowl to aid the current situation. But so far, it has not improved; instead, the HBCU has become a pathway not to the NFL, but to other top colleges. HBCU is quickly becoming a strange name in draft conversations.

It has now become a trend where the top HBCU stars try to find their way to FBS teams long before they enter the NFL draft to ensure they have a greater chance of making it to professional football. In the past, high-profile stars like Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders began their college career at an HBCU (Jackson State). However, they moved to Boulder when Deion Sanders became the head coach of Colorado.

Even this year, Missouri Tigers’ wide receiver Kevin Coleman was picked by the Miami Dolphins with the No. 177 pick in the draft, but he joined the Tigers from Jackson State. The New England Patriots drafted CB Karon Prunty, who also joined Wake Forest from an HBCU program, North Carolina A&M. The Seattle Seahawks signed Eric Fuller, who only moved to the Toledo Rockets after beginning his career at UAFB.