Fathers And Sons Of The 2026 NFL Draft: The Trotters, The Styles, The Nussmeiers

The 2026 NFL Draft was, among other things, a family reunion. Across three days in Pittsburgh from April 23 to 25, several second-generation players heard their names called, and the most compelling of them did not just match what their fathers did — they topped it. The headline lineages were three: the Trotters of Philadelphia, the Styles family of Ohio State, and the Nussmeiers, a coach's clan that finally put a quarterback in the league. Each carries a specific, verifiable piece of NFL history forward.

Start with the Trotters, because the math is the cleanest. Jeremiah Trotter was a third-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1998 — 72nd overall — and became a four-time Pro Bowl linebacker over an eleven-year career, one of only four linebackers in Eagles history to earn four or more Pro Bowl nods, alongside Chuck Bednarik, Maxie Baughan, and Bill Bergey. His son Jeremiah Trotter Jr. went to the Eagles too, in the fifth round of the 2024 draft after the team traded up to get him. Then, in 2026, the younger son arrived. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took Missouri linebacker Josiah Trotter at No. 46 overall in the second round.

That second-round slot makes Josiah the highest-drafted Trotter of the three — ahead of his father's third round in 1998 and his brother's fifth round in 2024. The résumé earned it: after two years at West Virginia, where he was Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, Josiah transferred to Missouri and made first-team All-SEC in 2025 with 84 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, four passes defensed, and an interception across twelve games. The 6-foot-2, 237-pound linebacker now anchors a Tampa Bay front, a franchise his father also briefly played for.

The Styles family produced the rarer feat: two brothers off the same board. The Washington Commanders selected Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles with the No. 7 overall pick, and the New Orleans Saints took his older brother, defensive back Lorenzo Styles Jr., at No. 172 in the fifth round. They are the first pair of brothers from Ohio State ever selected in the same NFL draft, and only the sixth pair of Buckeye brothers drafted at all.

The lineage runs straight through their father. Lorenzo Styles Sr. also played linebacker at Ohio State and was a third-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the 1995 NFL Draft, spending six seasons in the league with Atlanta and the Rams. That makes Lorenzo Jr. the third member of the family to make the Columbus-to-NFL jump, and Sonny — at No. 7 overall — by far the highest-drafted of the bloodline. Sonny began his college career as a safety before sliding to linebacker during Ohio State's 2024 title run, finishing with 224 tackles, nine sacks, 22.5 tackles for loss, and an interception, plus All-American honors.

The third lineage is a coaching family. The Kansas City Chiefs spent the No. 249 pick, deep in the seventh round, on LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, son of Doug Nussmeier — a quarterback who played in the NFL across 1996 and 1997 before a long coaching career that has included the Alabama offense for the 2012 BCS title, Jalen Hurts' development with the Eagles, and, since 2025, the New Orleans Saints' offensive coordinator job. Garrett entered the cycle as a projected top-half pick before a spinal cyst flagged at the combine pushed him to the back of the board.

Not every famous surname turned into a draft pick, and the honest accounting matters. Several legacy names went undrafted and signed as free agents after the weekend: E.J. Smith, son of all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith, signed with the Chiefs as a UDFA; R.J. Maryland, son of three-time Super Bowl champion defensive tackle Russell Maryland, joined the Packers; and Lardarius Webb Jr., son of the former Ravens cornerback, also entered the league undrafted. The draft is a filter, and a father's Pro Bowls do not transfer.

What the 2026 class showed is the upside of the second-generation profile when the talent is independently real. The Trotters now have three NFL draftees across two decades, the highest of them a 2026 second-rounder. The Styles brothers turned their father's Buckeye path into a same-night double, one of them a top-ten pick. And the Nussmeiers put a coach's son in the league at the position the family has spent two generations teaching. Bloodlines opened the door in each case. Tape, not pedigree, decided where they walked through it.