Illinois safety Miles Scott is selected in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos with the 246th overall pick.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 25, 2026

Miles Scott became the third Illinois player selected in the 2026 National Football League Draft.

The Denver Broncos picked the Illini defensive back on Saturday in the seventh round round with the 246th overall selection.

Gabe Jacas, a 6-foot-3 and 260 to 270-pound edge rusher who finished with 27 career sacks and led the Big Ten Conference with 11 last season, was selected 55th overall by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday evening. J.C. Davis became the second Illinois player selected when the Illini offensive lineman was taken early Saturday afternoon by the New York Giants in the sixth round with the 192nd overall selection.

Scott, who earned All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention honors after the 2025 season, started for three seasons in the Illinois defensive backfield and was a team captain for two seasons after the former walk-on moved from wide receiver to defensive back shortly after the 2022 season.

“Ever since I was a little kid, everybody has said to me that I’d make a great defensive back, but I never made the move permanently because offense always seemed to be my focus,” Scott said in April 2023. “I’d say the reason I probably never switched before now is I never had a coach like (Aaron Henry) to sell me on the idea and be genuine with it as Coach Henry. He’s the reason I never had a problem or questioned this idea at all.”

Scott recorded 37 career starts at safety but had 64 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack with three interceptions and seven passes defensed this past season.

Scott, a 5-foot-11 and 210-pound athlete, wore the headset communication inside his helmet with then-defensive coordinator Aaron Henry for the Illinois defense during the 2025 season. Scott graduated from Illinois in May 2025 with a degree in kinesiology and impressed NFL scouts and personnel executives during the East-West Shine Game and at the Illinois Pro Day workout last month inside the Irvin Indoor Facility.

According to unofficial timing data acquired by IlliniGuys.com , Scott ran a 4.62-second time in the 40-yard dash and recorded a 37.5-inch vertical jump while also doing 18 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

Scott’s versatility and experience playing special teams will help his cause trying to make Denver’s gameday roster after the Broncos finished last season with a 14-3 regular season record earning the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference playoffs and hosting the AFC Championship Game against New England.

“I want coaches being able to understand, 'Man, he can play free. He can play boundary. If need be, he can play nickel’,” Scott said last month following his pro day workout in Champaign. “Just being able to know the defense. Being able to know what you're doing and having the skill set to do those things definitely helps.”

Scott joins a Denver safety room that includes Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones as projected starters on its 2026 depth chart, among several other contributors.

During the 2024 Orange-Blue Spring Game near the end of April, Scott was named the next recipient of the Tim McCarthy Scholarship. The scholarship is presented annually in honor of McCarthy, a former Illini walk-on turned starter, who went on to serve in the Secret Service and is best known for defending President Ronald Reagan during the assassination attempt on Reagan's life on March 30, 1981.

“We really like an Illinois high school player that was a former walk-on,” Bielema said about awarding Scott the scholarship after the 2024 spring game. “As soon as the roster flipped in January and we started talking about that (McCarthy) award, of course we ran it through it, but I said Miles Scott couldn’t be a better recipient. He represents everything that we are.”