SEC football players once again proved to be kings in the middle of springtime, as the 2026 NFL Draft featured more talent from the SEC than from any other conference.
This stronghold on the draft has now reached 2 decades. Because for the 20th consecutive season, the SEC led all college football conferences in draft picks. And at this draft edition in Pittsburgh, the SEC remained the draft kings in particular style, breaking the all-time NFL Draft history for selections by a conference with a whopping 87 players heading to the next level.
Making the SEC’s draft record more remarkable was that after Round 1 of this draft late Thursday night, the SEC trailed the Big Ten in selections, 10-7, so the SEC had to come from behind, so to speak, on Friday and Saturday to retain its draft pick mantle.
Boy, did it ever.
The final draft pick numbers weren’t even close, either. The SEC’s 87 picks were 19 more than the Big Ten’s 68, so after that lead that the Big Ten carried into Day 2, the conference that’s won the past 3 national championships fell off a bit.
In a bit of an ironic twist, the ACC and Big 12 managed to both land on the number 38 for total draft picks, tying for third place among conferences behind the SEC and Big Ten.
While the SEC dominated yet again in late April at the draft, there is another SEC title to be won on the field among the conference’s teams this fall. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about which teams have the best shot right now to be the last team standing in December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
