The UFL wrapped up their second season in 2025, eyeing growth and sustainability in 2026 with billionaire investor Mike Repole entering the fray to join the core ownership group that still includes Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital. Under Repole’s direction, the league is pushing for stronger local fan engagement and a more entertaining product — changes I only point out because of their cascading effect on how we as DFS players will be forced to approach the league this season.
Expansion and relocation were the name of the game this offseason as the league targeted non-NFL markets to house three new teams: the Orlando Storm, Columbus Aviators, and Louisville Kings, which replaced the Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers, and San Antonio Brahmas, while the Houston Roughnecks got a rebrand, returning to the Houston Gamblers.
Alongside team relocations and rebrands, there was significant turnover in coaching staffs and across each roster. Seven of the league’s eight head coaches either retired, stepped away, or were fired following the 2025 season. While that’s initially intimidating — and creates plenty of early-season volatility — it also presents an opportunity for well-informed players to take advantage of market inefficiencies.
Team construction evolved after the 2025 season, with training camp rosters reduced to just 60 players for 2026, with only 45 players to be active on game day, down from 50 just a season ago. As a result of the league restructuring, the UFL used an offseason position-based allocation draft, supplemental draft, and free-agency period to reshape each team’s roster. While all of the league-wide offseason changes are important to understand for DFS and sports betting purposes, this is by far the most impactful and the one we’ll cover most thoroughly throughout each team’s fantasy preview.
The final change — or changes rather — to wrap our heads around as we enter the 2026 season come from the official rulebook. Starting with kickoff on March 27, the UFL will implement a 4-point field goal — we’re looking at you, Brandon Aubrey — for any field goal kicked from 60 yards or further. Additionally, teams will not be allowed to punt when inside the opponent’s 50-yard line, except after the 2-minute warning of either half, in an effort to force more aggressive fourth-down decision-making. That means if an offense has a 4th-and-12 from their opponent’s 47-yard line, they’ll have to either decide to kick roughly a 64-yard field goal — again, worth four points — or run a play to try and get to the sticks. Lastly, the league has moved away from its traditional three PAT options, now allowing teams to earn one point for a successful kick from the 33-yard line, two points for a successful play from the 2-yard line, or three points for a successful play from the 8-yard line. Other minor changes, like the elimination of the “Tush Push” and one-foot catch rule for a completed pass, will carry some weight in how we approach projecting player performance, but those are largely minor changes from seasons past.
With a basic understanding of the league-wide changes under our belt, let’s take a closer look at team-level changes heading into 2026, starting with the Birmingham Stallions.
Undoubtedly, the biggest change for the Stallions will be a new face on the sidelines with A.J. McCarron replacing Skip Holtz, who held a 39-8 overall record in Birmingham with three straight postseason titles from 2022-24 before losing in the Conference Championship game last season and stepping away in December as the league’s winningest coach.
While Holtz ran an efficient and ultimately very successful offense, spring football OGs are breathing a sigh of relief with his departure, no longer tasked with guessing which receiver will lead the team in route participation each week or trying to predict which of the running backs in a 50/50 timeshare will fall into the end zone. Other than the inherent player-level volatility that came with it, Holtz’s offense was a fantasy-friendly one, ranking second in the UFL last season in dropback rate (63.7%) and fourth in Yards Per Play (5.57), while getting off the second-most plays per game (58.4%).
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