Story by
NFL's '33rd team', UNC football, had no players picked in NFL Draft
- Story by
- NFL's '33rd team', UNC football, had no players picked in NFL Draft
The 2026 NFL Draft is in the books, and it's one that North Carolina and Bill Belichick will likely want to forget about.
For the first time since 2016, the Tar Heels failed to have a single player selected with one of the 257 picks across the three-day event in Pittsburgh .
Advertisement
That takeaway is quite eye-opening, not just from a Power Four conference level, but also the fact that Belichick and UNC general manager Michael Lombardi dubbed the Tar Heels ' program as the NFL's "33rd team" with their day-to-day operations and development from their first day in Chapel Hill.
Opinion: '33rd Team' as sad as Bill Belichick's dwindling coaching twilight
NFL draft grades: Ranking all 32 teams' 2026 classes, with lowly Jets earning an A+
"Everything we do here is predicated on building a pro team," Lombardi said in February of 2025. "We consider ourselves the 33rd (NFL) team, 'cause everybody who's involved in our program has had some form of aspect in pro football.'"
UNC finished as one of four ACC programs and one of 10 Power Four programs without a single player drafted. The Tar Heels entered the draft coming off back-to-back years of having a first-round pick, and had multiple players selected in four of the last five NFL drafts since 2020.
Advertisement
While the Tar Heels did not have a singular draft pick, they have had several players sign with NFL teams as undrafted free agents. As noted by The Fayetteville Observer, part of the USA TODAY Network, these players include (at the time of this writing): CB Thaddeus Dixon ( New York Giants ), OL Austin Blaske ( Los Angeles Rams ), CB Marcus Allen ( Minnesota Vikings ) and OL Chad Lindberg (Los Angeles Rams).
NFL draft's most head-scratching picks: Jeremiyah Love move comes at huge cost
North Carolina's discouraging results in the NFL are also a mirror image of how the Belichick era in Chapel Hill turned out last season.
The Tar Heels finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in ACC play, the fewest wins since the final year of the Larry Fedora era in 2018, when they won just two games. Following a 2-1 start to the season, the Tar Heels lost four consecutive games from the middle of September through the middle of October, and then would lose each of their last three games of the season.
Advertisement
Belichick is set to begin his second season with the Tar Heels against TCU in Dublin in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic on Saturday, August 29.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast . Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How UNC football did in NFL draft after Bill Belichick's first year
