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Two former Navy football players were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft. They will be eligible to play immediately thanks to provisions made surrounding service obligation.
The Midshipmen will not be penalized by a delayed professional start. Both stars can begin their playing careers in 2026, though under an interesting caveat.
Landon Robinson and Eli Heidenreich are the latest beneficiaries of changes made to defer active duty. They will have the opportunity to go pro following decorated stints in Annapolis.
Navy football was well represented at the NFL Draft.
For the first time in 70 years, a pair of Midshipmen were selected by pro football franchises. Both players were picked in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Each will have a chance to play in the AFC North.
Robinson was picked 226th by the Cincinnati Bengals. His teammate, Heidenreich, went a few picks later to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They will soon be rivals after spending four years together at Navy.
Each helped rewrite record books at the Academy over the course of their careers. Heidenreich is the school’s all-time leading receiver and totaled more than 3,100 yards from scrimmage, the fifth-most ever by a Navy football player.
Heidenreich is a Swiss Army knife. He can be used as a rusher and receiver. Most believe he’ll fill a spot in the slot at the next level.
Robinson, meanwhile, is a tackle that was named American Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. He totaled 64 tackles and 6.5 sacks in 2025.
He’ll now look to anchor the Bengals’ front in Cincy.
Can they play immediately?
The answer is yes, but with a slight twist.
Both players are able to enter the NFL due to provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act. Under statutes in the annual bill, a limited number of cadets and midshipmen from military service academies are allowed to go pro in sports and defer active-duty service… Robinson and Heidenreich are both set to graduate in May and will be commissioned in the reserves.
The players can defer active duty while being commissioned in the reserves. Obligations will resume when pro careers end.
This has not always been the case. Kyle Bonagura of ESPN wrote in 2024 of the ever-changing policy surrounding required military service for players at Army, Navy, and Air Force.
As things sit, this will be the last year the United States government will permit service academy players — those at Army, Navy and Air Force — to jump directly from college to professional sports. Next year, athletes will be required to serve two years in the military — as had been a long-established process until 2019 — before having the option to pursue professional sports…
“A cadet may not obtain employment, including as a professional athlete, until after completing the cadet’s commissioned service obligation.”
–ESPN
Provisions have been made a number of times throughout the last decade. Prior to 2022, waivers were made available for the opportunity to pursue NFL careers while participating in efforts to “recruit and retain [military] members.”
That policy was scrubbed in ’22, forcing players to complete two years of active duty before being eligible for said waiver.
The rule has long been met with opposition from academy athletic departments. “Two years being away from the game is a tremendous setback,” said then-Navy AD Chet Gladchuk in 2001.
Language has since been amended to allow for more football freedom. Now, a select number of cadets and midshipmen can go pro each year.
These amendments authorize the secretaries of the military departments to transfer to the Selected Reserve as commissioned officers not more than three cadets or midshipmen from each service academy who obtain positions in professional sports. This transfer enables those athletes to participate in professional sports while fulfilling their service obligation through efforts to recruit and retain members of the armed forces.
Heidenreich and Robinson will be eligible to defer active duty while being commissioned to the reserves. Both are set to graduate in May. They will then give it their best shot in the NFL before fulfilling military obligations.