Merry Christmas, Draft Is Over
It's the end of draft season for another year - here's the data and more info on taxi squads (once more for those in the back)...
You deserve a better standard of draft analysis, so here it is
11 days of drafting mania and the 2026 rookie draft is in the books. My pal Claude has created a frankly AWESOME analysis web page tailored to the UKFL - if you have any interest in what the numbers say I’d highly recommend you give it a look. Honestly, it’s really really good. The roster analysis page is worth it alone:
Some quick highlights for those who have an unnatural aversion to pressing website buttons:
Biggest reach: Chris Bell (WR / MIA / Mark) at pick 20 (2.08) - ADP of 34
Biggest Steal: Eli Raridon (TE / NE / Jon) at pick 46 (4.10) - ADP of 25.5
Most overdrafted position: WRs. 21 selected, at an average over ADP
A+ drafts on ADP - Jon and Damon
F draft on ADP - Nick (no picks made)
I just realised this now: Katie’s favourite non-Jaguar? Keenan Allen, who is in the twilight of his career. A player she wasn’t a huge fan of when we did our pre-draft profiles? A RB known as Fatman from Penn State, of whom she said, “his words make no sense”. She ended up taking him in the third round. His real name? Kaytron Allen. K. Allen will live on in her roster.
Once more, definitely go to the analysis site. You’ll have fun, I swear.
Key info on the first waivers of the off-season
The first waivers after the draft are always important, but this year they’re extra important because all waivers were locked at the end of the UKFL season. This means there’s plenty of veterans who weren’t so relevant in 2025, who have become important players for new teams and are sat on the waiver wire. Examples include:
QB Malik Willis (MIA) - backup in Green Bay, now a starter for the Dolphins
TE Chig Okonkwo (WAS) - moved from a struggling Titans team to a potentially TE1 situation with the Commanders
RB Keaton Mitchell (LAC) - gone from Baltimore where he wasn’t featured, to the turbocharged Mike McDaniel run offense with the Chargers
Waiver bids are now open, and will be processed on the morning of Tuesday 9th June at 9am. Get your FAAB bids in by then if you want to catch any of the big names currently available!
After Tuesday, waivers will clear every morning at 8am throughout the offseason. If a player is dropped, they will be on waivers for a minimum of two days until they can be claimed.
Taxi Squad rules once more
A quick reiteration of the taxi rules, because we’re going to be hitting a limit on some of our startup draft players:
If you have any 2024 rookies still on your taxi, they must be either promoted to your active roster or dropped by week 1 of the 2026 season. Based on my quick look over the league (but of course check yourself):
Steel - Jacob Cowing
Rod - Cade Stover
Katie - Jaylen Wright
Bobby - Ben Sinnott
Mark - Rasheen Ali and Devontez Walker
If you have any 2025 rookies (ie a player going into their second year) on your taxi, you can leave them there for the duration of the 2026 season.
However, unlike 2026 rookies - as soon as you take a second-year player off the taxi squad, EVEN IN THE OFF-SEASON, they can’t go back on.
With first-year rookies, you can move them around as much as you like (swap / add / remove from the taxi) until the taxi squad locks. And to remind you:
The Taxi Squad locks at the start of week 1 - for 2026 this is 01:20AM on Thursday 10th September
Any questions about any of this, give me a shout.
League and general chat in 2026
More exciting news: I’m looking at a way to streamline official league announcements, as well as having somewhere to chat NFL with the lovely people across the various leagues I’m in, and friends who aren’t in any current leagues.
I have some ideas, but nothing ready to announce yet. But the idea is that I’ll only have to put key info in one place rather than across WhatsApp, Substack, the Sleeper chat etc. And as an added bonus, there will be one place where people can talk NFL rather than having it all split across multiple WhatsApps - so when there’s news, gamedays, drafts, gossip, trades; you can break it all down in one place rather than six!
Any way, more to come on this but I’m hoping to have something to show you all soon.
Hopefully we’ll have a podcast for you in the next week or so with Katie’s analysis both of the NFL draft and the UKFL draft. Speak soon!