Nine picks, seven wins: Clemson's 2026 NFL Draft haul puts more pressure on Dabo to fix on-field shortcomings

Dabo Swinney is still sending a wealth of talent to the NFL, but the losses on Saturdays continue to pile up

Richard Johnson

Apr 26, 2026

10:28 am ET

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6 min read

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The 2026 NFL Draft proved to be the true crystallization of just how far Clemson has fallen. The program finished the weekend with nine players selected, with stalwart offensive tackle Blake Miller and defensive tackle Peter Woods off the board by the end of the first round on Thursday night. This class set a Clemson record for most picks in the first three rounds, with five. Overall, it's tied with 2016 for Dabo Swinney's most players selected in any single draft.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is the only active college coach with more drafted players than Swinney -- and he had a decade head start. Only Kirby Smart (21) has produced more first-round picks than Swinney (20) among active coaches. But the nine draft picks from the 2016 team finished their college career in the College Football Playoff National Championship, falling short to Alabama.

The 2025 team was Swinney's most disappointing, finishing at 7-6, the fewest wins by any Clemson team since 2010. It's rare for a team with that much NFL talent to fail to win double-digit games, much less finish just over .500.

Draft success without on-field payoff

It makes sense that the 2026 draft class was stacked when you consider how the 2025 team was built. The 2025 Clemson draft was arguably the worst Clemson draft class since Swinney took over. Only three players were selected, and none were picked before the fourth round. But all of that set up for what was supposed to be a return to glory in the 2025 season, coming off a College Football Playoff berth and an ACC championship.

Clemson led the nation in returning production heading into last season without adding basically anything from the portal, which would lead you to believe that the Tigers were betting big on their culture and development. That culture component has set Clemson apart throughout Swinney's run in charge, especially when they were truly going toe-to-toe with the Alabama dynasty. One was the joyless winning machine, the other was the Clemson Family. There was reason to believe the Tigers would be back. In fact, it would have been one of the great homegrown talent stories of this new era had the Tigers met expectations last year.

Culture bet in the portal era

It is true that as the years go by, and particularly after revenue-sharing payments came into play, portal use has only increased for championship contenders. Of the four 2024 CFP semifinalists, The Athletic found that all of their starts came from at least 77% high school recruits versus transfers. Penn State was at the high-water mark (88.6%). That drastically decreased in 2025, but of all playoff teams, Georgia (90/10 recruits-to-portal start ratio) showed that a team can still reach a high level the relatively old-fashioned way. Clemson went about that approach last year, too, but where the Dawgs succeeded in getting to the playoff, the Tigers ended up way off the mark.

They took their first scholarship defensive player in the portal, EDGE Will Heldt (ironically, probably Clemson's best defensive player in 2025), along with linebacker Jeremiah Alexander and FCS receiver Tristan Smith. Heldt starred, while Alexander and Smith contributed sparingly. That was it as far as portal takes are concerned, besides Hayes Galloway, who played only on Clemson's scout team.

Yet despite all the stars aligning for a Clemson playoff run, it was Clemson's worst season under Swinney since the program began to take off in 2011 with the first 10-win finish of his tenure. The erosion has been constant since the 2020 season, Trevor Lawrence's last (ending one of the great quarterback runs in the history of the sport across six seasons of Lawrence and Deshaun Watson), and the final one before players were allowed to be compensated via name, image and likeness. You never know when you're in the good old days until they're over, and it is clearer with every year that those were them. If you're a team that doesn't portal, and your internal evaluations and development practices leave a lot to be desired, what do you have to hang your hat on in this era of college football?

Clemson transfer portal class for 2026 🏈

PlayerPositionPrevious SchoolChris Johnson Jr.RBSMUJaylen Brown‑WallaceWRWingateLondon MerrittEDGEColoradoCJ WesleyEDGEHowardMarkus StrongDLOklahomaKourtney KellyDLWest GeorgiaElliot Washington IICBPenn StateDonovan StarrCBAuburnJerome Carter IIISOld DominionCorey MyrickSSouthern MissWhat would failure mean in 2026

In an effort to aid the bounceback, Clemson has upped its portal haul in 2026 relative to their own standards, but it is near the bottom of FBS in transfers taken (10). They're comparable to other bluebloods USC (10), Georgia (9