The 2026 Major League Rugby College Draft is the 7th draft in MLR history, held on 27th August, 2026. The purpose of this draft is to provide a pathway for players from US and Canadian based colleges into professional rugby.
The 2026 MLR Draft followed the same structure as previous drafts. The draft order was determined by the reverse finishing order during the 2026 season, including placements earned during the 2026 Championship Series. In situations where teams are eliminated at the same stage of the Championship Series, the lower ranked team during the regular season will pick before the higher ranked. Unlike the 2025 draft that also allowed college athletes from other sports to declare, the 2026 draft required aspiring draftees to have competed in College or University Rugby during the 2025-2026 academic year.
Although Major League Rugby had removed the ‘Domestic Player’ status from Canadian players for the 2026 season, Canadian college athletes were still eligible to declare for the 2026 Draft. However, as draftees already struggle for game time in MLR during their rookie seasons and Canadian draftees would take up a valuable international player spot, the chances of Canadians being drafted in 2026 is very low unless they are also eligible to represent the USA.
As mentioned above, the 2026 MLR College Draft took place on 27th August 2026 following the conclusion of the 2026 season in late June. The deadline for player declaration for the draft was August 24th, 2026. The below table highlights the current draft picks that each MLR team has for the 2026 Draft:
Current Draft Pick Landscape – 2026 MLR College Draft
There was uncertainty as to the draft order for the 2026 MLR College Drat as late as mid-August. With Anthem RC’s funding from World Rugby drying up at the end of the 2026 season after the planned 3 years, staff & players were released shortly after the end of their season, and the team was removed from the MLR website in August. However, no statement was made by MLR themselves which, as usual, led fans to speculate.
Anthem RC finished 6th in 2026 giving them the 1st Overall pick. As they will not be drafting on account of folding, the 1st Overall pick would fall to the 5th place finishers, the New England Free Jacks. However, the Free Jacks forfeited this pick to Anthem way back in October 2025 as punishment for tampering. As a result, the 1st Overall pick would fall to 4th placed finishers Old Glory DC (a playoff team in 2026). The Flags were followed by the Seattle Seawolves, California Legion, then the Chicago Hounds in a 4-pick 1st Round.
The New England Free Jacks would then pick 1st in the 2nd & 3rd Rounds, creating a 3-round draft with a total of 14 picks (4 in the 1st, 5 in the 2nd & 3rd). They also seemed to acquire the 13th overall pick from the California Legion via trade, but with the Trade Wire no longer public and neither team announcing anything, the returns for this are unknown. It’s possible that it was how Cyrille Cama ended up on the Legion roster towards the end of the 2026 season.
| Team | 1st Rd | 2nd Rd | 3rd Rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Legion |  | | – |
| Chicago Hounds |  | | |
| New England Free Jacks | – |  |   |
| Old Glory DC |  | | |
| Seattle Seawolves |  | | |
The 2026 MLR Collegiate Draft Class
Once the 2026 Draft has happened, the below table will show the complete 2026 MLR Collegiate Draft Class. With the removal of the Trade Wire following the 2025 season, it is currently unknown if teams are able to trade draft picks but an explanation of any pick movement will be found in the ‘Notes’ column below.
The below tables show how many picks each MLR team had during the 2025 draft, and which Colleges had the most draftees selected:
Number of Draft Picks Per Team & Number of Successful Draftees by School
| College | Logo | No. Of Draftees |
|---|---|---|
| Life University |  | 2 |
| St. Mary’s College |  | 2 |
| UC – Berkeley |  | 2 |
| Arkansas State |  | 1 |
| Brown University |  | 1 |
| Cal Poly |  | 1 |
| Lindenwood University |  | 1 |
| Mount St. Mary’s |  | 1 |
| St. Bonaventure |  | 1 |
| University of Mary Washington |  | 1 |
| Walsh University |  | 1 |