Every draft class has a few guys who were clearly built differently long before they became NFL prospects. Some were state champs on the track. Some were monsters on the wrestling mat. Some could’ve had a real future on the hardwood or the diamond. And when you dig into the 2026 class, that stuff is not just fun trivia. It shows up all over the tape.
The explosion. The balance. The body control. The recovery speed. The spatial awareness. A lot of these traits were being developed in other sports years before scouts ever started stacking these players on draft boards. That’s what makes this group so interesting. These are not just football players who happened to be athletic enough to dabble elsewhere. These are guys who actually excelled in other sports, and in a lot of cases, you can draw a straight line from that background to what they’ve already become on Saturdays.
NFL and college coaches have been telling us for years that this stuff matters. Pete Carroll called playing multiple sports “vitally important” for NFL hopefuls and said it has always been “crucially important” to him in the evaluation process, to the point that it’s one of the first things he wants to know about a prospect. Urban Meyer has gone even further, saying he was “dead set against single-sport athletes” while kids are growing up because they “should play other sports.” That’s what makes this group so fun to dig into. The multi-sport background is not just a throwaway line in the bio. In a lot of cases, it helps explain exactly why these prospects move, react and compete the way they do.
Here are the 2026 NFL Draft prospects whose other-sport backgrounds stand out the most.
Bryce Boettcher, LB, Oregon
- Height/Weight: 6-1, 230
- 40 Time: 4.61 (Pro Day)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 134 overall
- Projected Range: Round 4 / early Day 3
Boettcher might be the best example in this class of a guy whose other-sport résumé is way too serious to treat like a throw-in detail. He was a three-sport athlete at South Eugene, signed with Oregon for baseball, and then became the rare player who didn’t just “also play” another sport on the side. He became a legitimately accomplished college baseball player while building himself into an NFL linebacker prospect. On the diamond, he made the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Team, earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors, hit .276 with 12 home runs and 15 steals in 2024, and got drafted by the Astros in the 13th round. That kind of range, instincts and competitiveness translates exactly the way you’d expect. Oregon got a football player tough and athletic enough to win the 2024 Burlsworth Trophy (most outstanding college football player in the FBS who began their career as a walk-on) and follow it with a second-team All-Big Ten season in 2025.
Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee
- Height/Weight: 6-0, 193
- 40 Time: 4.40 (Pro Day)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 15 overall
- Projected Range: Early-to-Mid Round 1
McCoy is one of the easiest players in this class to understand once you see the full athletic background. In track, he won Texas UIL 5A state titles in both the long jump and triple jump. He was the #1 Triple Jumper in the country for a time in 2023. In baseball, he was a Texas 5A All-State Honorable Mention Center Fielder after a huge season at Whitehouse. And honestly, both sides of that résumé jump off the football tape. The track background shows up in the explosion, twitch and recovery ability. When McCoy plants and breaks on a ball in the air, his burst and explosiveness is some of the best I have ever seen. The baseball background shows up in the ball skills and body control at the catch point. McCoy doesn’t just look fast — he looks springy, reactive and natural in the air. Tennessee saw that translate almost immediately, with McCoy developing into a second-team All-American, an All-SEC selection and a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist in his true sophomore season in Rocky Top.
Keith Abney, CB, Arizona State
- Height/Weight: 5-10, 187
- 40 Time: 4.45 (Pro Day)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 62 overall
- Projected Range: Round 2 / Day 2
Abney might have the most unique background of anybody in this class. Before he became one of the better corner prospects in the country, he was a four-time national champion in inline speed skating and set multiple age-group marks, including the national 300-meter inline record for 13-year-olds. Arizona State coaches have pointed to that background as a reason for his fluid hips, balance, ankle flexibility, and ability to get in and out of breaks, and honestly, it makes total sense when you watch him. The movement skills look different because they are different. That background translated into real football production too, with Abney breaking out as one of Arizona State’s top defenders and earning first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2025.
Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State
- Height/Weight: 6-5, 244
- 40 Time: 4.46 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 6 overall
- Projected Range: Top 10 / early Round 1
Styles makes so much sense as a linebacker once you remember he was a legit basketball player. He helped Pickerington Central win the 2022 Ohio Division I state championship, earned all-district honors, and had basketball offers from Akron, Duquesne, Kent State, Ohio and Toledo. In another life, Styles could be giving Anthony Grant or Travis Steele headaches instead of Offensive Coordinators. And when you watch him on defense, you can see it right away. He closes like a wing, flips his hips like a big guard and looks comfortable chasing in space. Ohio State got the payoff in a big way, with Styles piling up triple-digit tackles in 2024 before taking the next step into first-team All-America territory in 2025.
Gabe Jacas, EDGE, Illinois
- Height/Weight: 6-4, 260
- 40 Time: 4.69 (Pro Day)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 53 overall
- Projected Range: Round 2 / Day 2
There are a lot of pass rushers who get the “former wrestler” label slapped on them. With Jacas, it actually matters. He was a two-time Florida Class 3A state wrestling champion, winning at 220 and 285 pounds, and that background shows up constantly when reps get muddy and violent. His hand usage feels natural. His leverage is better than a lot of edge rushers his age. He stays balanced through contact and looks comfortable turning ugly reps into wins. That is wrestler stuff, and it’s a huge reason his style feels so easy to project. Illinois saw that translate into real star-level production, with Jacas turning into an All-Big Ten first-team EDGE after an 11-sack 2025 season.
Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt
- Height/Weight: 6-4, 239
- 40 Time: 4.51 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 53 overall
- Projected Range: Round 2 / strong Day 2
Stowers has that easy vertical pop and body control that lets him play above defenders and adjust in the air without looking strained. He looks like somebody who was built to win above the rim because, in a way, he literally was. That background helps explain why he can make difficult catches look smooth, especially in traffic. It also showed up again at the 2026 NFL Combine, where Stowers posted a 45.5-inch vertical, setting the tight end record and recording the third-highest vertical by any player at any position since 1999. Vanderbilt saw that skill set blossom all the way into a monster 2025 season that brought Stowers the John Mackey Award, the William V. Campbell Trophy (the Academic Heisman), and first-team All-America honors.
Fun fact: Stowers comes from a loaded athletic family. His sister, Kyndal Stowers, was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament after leading Texas A&M to the national title. Jumping out of the gym runs in the family.
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame
- Height/Weight: 6-0, 212
- 40 Time: 4.36 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 4 overall
- Projected Range: Top 5 / premium Round 1
Love’s track résumé is exactly what you would expect if you have watched him hit the accelerator. He won the Missouri Class 5 100-meter state title with a 10.76 time and also posted a 22-1 3/4 long jump. That is not just fast for a football player. That is real track speed and real explosion, and it shows every time he gets daylight. Love is one of those runners whose burst feels different even when everybody else on the field is a high-level athlete. Once he gets through the first layer, pursuit angles start falling apart. The jumping ability is also on display in Love’s numerous hurdle attempts. Notre Dame got one of the most dangerous backs in the country, and in 2025 Love turned that explosiveness into a Doak Walker Award and unanimous All-America honors.
Brenen Thompson, WR, Mississippi State
- Height/Weight: 5-9, 164
- 40 Time: 4.26 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 111 overall
- Projected Range: Round 3 / late Day 2
Thompson is a straight-line terror, and his track résumé tells you exactly why. He won the Texas 3A 200-meter state title in 21.27, finished second in the 100-meter (10.40), and then backed it all up at the combine with an official 4.26 40-time. That’s about as clean of a track-to-football translation as you’ll find. This is one of those cases where the numbers line up perfectly with the way the player looks on tape. Corners can feel in phase, safeties can think they have the angle, and then Thompson just runs right through the math. After 3 underwhelming years at Texas and Oklahoma, Thompson broke out as a senior for Mississippi State in 2025 with 57 catches for 1,054 yards and six touchdowns, and he led the SEC in receiving yards. With his kind of speed, defenses have to account for him every snap.
Zachariah Branch, WR, Georgia
- Height/Weight: 5-9, 177
- 40 Time: 4.35 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 67 overall
- Projected Range: Round 3 / late Day 2
Branch absolutely belongs in this conversation because the speed résumé was ridiculous long before he became a draft prospect. He was a high-level sprint and jumps athlete in high school, posting a 10.33 in the 100, a 21.01 in the 200, a 24-foot long jump and a 46-4.25 triple jump. That’s real speed and real explosion, not just football-fast hype. Then he went to the combine and ran 4.35, which only reinforced what was already obvious. Branch’s movement skills have always looked different because they are different. He has that rare ability to turn ordinary touches into panic moments for defenses, and Georgia saw that translate into big-time production in 2025 when he became one of the most dangerous open-field weapons in the class. Branch is at his best as a gadget player and returner. Teams will have to decide if they can develop him into a full-time WR, but the athletic traits will always give him a role in the league.
Aamil Wagner, OT, Notre Dame
- Height/Weight: 6-6, 306
- 40 Time: 5.01 (Combine)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 207 overall
- Projected Range: Round 6 / late Day 3
Wagner is the trench-athlete version of this entire idea. He was a shot put state champion at Wayne High School in Dayton with a 64 foot, 1 inch personal best at the Ohio Division I state meet his senior year, and he also played basketball. That combination matters more than people think. The shot put background tells you about force generation, torque, balance and explosion through the hips. Many of the top linemen over the years have been great at shot put in high school. The basketball piece tells you why the feet and body control look better than expected for a big man. Once you know that, Wagner’s movement skills make a lot more sense. Notre Dame got a tackle whose athletic profile already looked built for the next level, and by 2025 he had grown into one of the more nationally recognized linemen in the country. It was a surprise that Wagner declared early for the Draft instead of going back to South Bend to polish his game more, but the size, length, and athleticism makes him a fun project on Day 3 for an O-Line Coach.
Oscar Delp, TE, Georgia
- Height/Weight: 6-5, 245
- 40 Time: 4.49 (Pro Day)
- Consensus Ranking: No. 91 overall
- Projected Range: Round 3 / mid-late Day 2
Delp is one of the more interesting names on the list because lacrosse backgrounds still stand out in football. He had All-American lacrosse accolades in high school, and that background shows up in the way he operates in traffic. Lacrosse players usually have a certain comfort level with bodies around them, with tracking the ball in chaos and making quick decisions in tight spaces. Delp plays like that. He looks natural adjusting, finding room and making himself available. The lacrosse physicality also shows up in the run game where Delp is a plus as a blocker. After missing combine drills with a foot injury, he impressed at Georgia’s pro day by running a blazing 4.49 forty, jumping 10-foot-9 in the broad, and looking sharp in positional work, which helped boost his stock. It is easy to see how that skill set helped him grow into a full-time starter in 2025 for one of the deepest programs in the country, and why many NFL teams are projecting him to be an even more productive NFL player than a college one.
Final Thought
Too often in draft season, a multi-sport background gets reduced to a fun fact instead of being recognized as a real part of the player’s profile. In today’s scouting landscape, they feel more important than that. With these guys, the other sport helps explain the football player. McCoy’s explosiveness. Jacas’ hands. Styles’ movement. Love’s acceleration. Thompson’s pure gas. Boettcher’s range and body control. It all connects.
That is what makes this group so fun. The traits were showing up long before the scouting reports did.
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