FCS posts seven NFL Draft picks, first first-three-round drought in history

Seven FCS players heard their names called in the 2026 NFL Draft, but none came off the board until Round 4, the first time that has happened in subdivision history. In a draft that ran April 23-25 in Pittsburgh and produced 256 picks from 75 colleges, the FCS lived almost entirely on Day 3 value, a sharp drop from the 15 selections the subdivision had a year earlier. The fourth and fifth rounds carried the load, with two FCS picks in each, and North Dakota State was the only program to put multiple players into the league.

Kaleb Proctor set the tone for the class when the Arizona Cardinals took the Southeastern Louisiana defensive tackle at No. 104. Proctor was the Southland Conference Player of the Year after piling up nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss in 13 starts, and the Cardinals said he became the first Lions player drafted since Harlan Miller in 2016. That is not empty projection, either. Proctor finished with 16 sacks in 48 games, 35 career starts, and enough production against top competition, including two sacks against LSU, to convince Arizona to spend a fourth-round pick.

North Dakota State stayed in the center of the draft conversation even as the FCS’s early-round presence vanished. The Saints took wide receiver Bryce Lance at No. 136 after back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and a 4.34-second 40-yard dash at the combine, while Philadelphia grabbed quarterback Cole Payton at No. 178 after a 4.56-second 40, a Walter Payton Award finalist season and a strong Senior Bowl week. Lance and Payton were NDSU’s 16th and 17th draft picks since the program joined the FCS in 2004, and with North Dakota State leaving the subdivision beginning in 2026, they became the school’s final FCS draft selections.

The rest of the class was spread thin but still produced recognizable FCS names. Stephen F. Austin cornerback Charles Demmings went to Minnesota at No. 163 after finishing as the Lumberjacks’ all-time leader in passes defended with 35 and adding nine interceptions. North Carolina A&T/Wake Forest cornerback Karon Prunty landed with New England at No. 171, Idaho/New Mexico edge Keyshawn James-Newby went to Philadelphia at No. 252, and South Dakota State/Northwestern offensive lineman Evan Beerntsen closed the FCS ledger at No. 253 to Baltimore. The message to recruits and scouts was clear: FCS talent still gets drafted, but the premium now sits later in the board, where testing numbers, production and developmental upside have to do all the talking.