The University of Iowa is one of just a few schools to produce an NFL Draft pick in each of the last 48 years.
The 2026 NFL Draft wrapped up on April 25, and 257 players received phone calls from team general managers informing them they made the pros. Six Iowa natives were drafted, and Iowa and Iowa State each had at least one player selected.
Here’s what to know about Iowa’s historic NFL Draft streak.
Iowa has the fourth-longest streak of consecutive NFL Draft selections.
Since 1978, a former Hawkeye football player has been drafted into the NFL, according to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini. Here are the schools with the longest active NFL Draft streaks with a pick, following the 2026 draft:
Schools like LSU (1994), Oklahoma (1996) and Ohio State (1999) have the next-closest active streaks. Wisconsin’s streak, going back to 1979, just ended after no former Badgers were selected in 2026.
The 1977 draft spanned 12 rounds and included 335 selections, yet none came from the Hawkeyes.
For perspective, the last time the University of Iowa failed to produce an NFL draft pick, 21‑year‑old Connecticut linebacker Kirk Ferentz had just wrapped up his senior season with the Huskies, and 43‑year‑old Chuck Grassley was one year into his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Iowa State had three players drafted in 1977. Iowa had 120 former players drafted into the NFL between the league’s inaugural draft in 1936 and 1976.
Iowa football players drafted in 2026
Seven former Iowa players got selected in 2026, an Iowa program record for a single 7-round draft. They are:
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa keeps 48-year NFL Draft streak going in 2026. How it compares.
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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