Update: Kayden McDonald announced Friday that he is entering the 2026 NFL draft.
Four juniors from Ohio State’s 2025 roster have already announced their NFL draft decisions, but the most intriguing decisions are still to come.
Losing Caleb Downs, Carnell Tate and Arvell Reese hurts, as they were three of Ohio State’s biggest stars this past season, but it would have come as a shock if any of them didn’t enter the 2026 NFL draft. All three of them are projected as early first-round picks, so they had little to gain from a draft stock perspective by staying in Columbus for their senior years.
Ohio State is certainly happy to have Brandon Inniss back for his senior season, as he’ll provide crucial experience and leadership in the wide receiver room alongside Jeremiah Smith, but it would have been equally shocking if he had left early for the NFL draft. With just 36 catches for 271 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 2025, Inniss needs a bigger year in 2026 to climb draft boards.
The Buckeyes also already know that Sonny Styles, Davison Igbinosun, Caden Curry, Will Kacmarek and Lorenzo Styles Jr., among others, won’t be back next season, as each of them exhausted their collegiate eligibility this past season – not to mention the more-than-20 Ohio State players who have entered the transfer portal since it opened last week.
There are numerous other Buckeyes with at least another year of eligibility, however, who have real decisions to make.
Draft-eligible players who started for Ohio State this past season and haven’t yet announced their future plans include defensive linemen Kayden McDonald and Kenyatta Jackson Jr., tight end Max Klare, cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. and offensive linemen Austin Siereveld, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman and Phillip Daniels.
Below, we take a closer look at all of their decisions and the factors they could be weighing ahead of next Wednesday’s deadline to enter the 2026 NFL draft, and make our predictions on what each of them will decide.
DT Kayden McDonald
McDonald is Ohio State’s top draft prospect who hasn’t yet declared for the draft. While he might not be quite the slam-dunk first-rounder that Downs, Reese and Tate are, he is widely projected to be a Round 1 pick after a dominant season for which he earned unanimous All-American honors.
While Downs and Tate were always expected to be gone after this season, and Reese’s draft stock soared too high for Ohio State to expect to keep him, McDonald wasn’t an obvious early draft entry candidate entering the year. After all, he had never started a game until Ohio State’s season opener against Texas, when he burst onto the scene as one of the new stars of the Buckeye defense with an eight-tackle performance.
But considering he is a likely first-round pick, and it would be hard for him to elevate his draft stock much more after a unanimous All-American season, it would come as a surprise – a very pleasant surprise – if McDonald stayed at Ohio State for his senior year. The fact that the Buckeyes have already brought in a potential replacement for him at nose tackle in UCF transfer John Walker, and are hosting two more defensive tackles this week in Alabama transfer James Smith and Pittsburgh transfer Francis Brewu, suggests they aren’t expecting McDonald back.
Prediction: Declares for draft
DE Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
Going into this past season, Jackson was viewed as the most likely candidate on Ohio State’s defensive line to have a breakout season and enter the NFL draft early as a potential first-round pick. Both Sonny Styles and Jeremiah Smith predicted at Big Ten Media Days that Jackson would be a first-rounder, so Ohio State had reason to brace for the possibility of losing him after the 2025 season even though he still had two years of eligibility.
A quiet start to the year, however, made the possibility of Jackson staying for his fifth-year senior season more probable. While Jackson came on strong in the second half of the regular season, ultimately finishing the year with 11 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks on 28 total tackles, he projects as a likely middle-round pick rather than a first-round pick right now.
As such, there’s good reason for Jackson to consider staying at Ohio State for one more year for a chance to maximize his draft stock and likely be a captain as a veteran leader of the Buckeye defense. He may make as much money in 2026 by staying as he would by going pro; Ohio State will make sure he’s well-compensated to return, as it’s relying on his veteran leadership on the edge of the defensive line with Curry out of eligibility.
Jackson probably didn’t expect to spend five years at Ohio State, and he just got his degree from Ohio State last month, so he could decide he’s ready to move on and play professional football. But he has plenty to potentially gain by returning for another season.
Prediction: Stays for senior year
TE Max Klare
Klare, like Jackson, had a good-enough season in 2025 to be a middle-round draft pick but not a great-enough season to be a first-round pick, leaving him with a tough decision on whether to enter the 2026 NFL draft or play a fifth year of college football.
Klare caught 43 passes in 2025, the third-most ever in a single season for an Ohio State tight end, but didn’t make as many big plays as he did at Purdue, turning those 43 catches into just 448 yards and two touchdowns. While he had more blocking responsibilities at OSU than he did at Purdue and got better over the course of the season in that regard, he could still use another year of development in that area before going to the NFL.
Klare came to Ohio State with the vision of becoming a more complete tight end, which he feels like he has, but he also said when asked about his impending NFL decision in December that he thought he still had “a lot of room to grow in all aspects of my game.” And with Tate on his way to the NFL, he could have a chance to emerge as Ohio State’s No. 2 pass-catcher behind Jeremiah Smith if he stays for the 2026 season.
The expectation when Klare came to Ohio State was that he would be a Buckeye for one year before heading to the NFL, so he might well decide he’s ready to make the jump to the next level. Ohio State has prepared for that possibility by bringing in former Ohio tight end Mason Williams from the transfer portal. But Williams is more of a replacement for Kacmarek than Klare, so the door remains wide open for Klare to spend another year in Columbus if he wants to.
Another year as a Buckeye gives Klare a chance to both maximize his draft stock and become a more complete all-around tight end, and that guides my belief that he should utilize his redshirt season to play another year in scarlet and gray.
Prediction: Stays for senior year
Max Klare projects as a likely third- or fourth-round pick if he enters the 2026 NFL draft.
CB Jermaine Mathews Jr.
While Jackson’s draft stock likely improved over the course of the 2025 season, Mathews’ may have gone the other way. While the junior cornerback showed the attributes to be a future pro in his first year as a starter, he had some struggles down the stretch of the season, allowing 12 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets in Ohio State’s final four games of the year, per Pro Football Focus.
Mathews would still get drafted if he chose to go pro after three years as a Buckeye, especially after demonstrating the versatility to play both outside cornerback and nickel this past season. But he can certainly benefit from another year of seasoning at the college level before starting his NFL career.
Ohio State needs Mathews back more than anyone else on this list. He’s the only returning starter at cornerback for the Buckeyes, and the depth chart is very thin behind him and Devin Sanchez after Aaron Scott Jr. and Bryce West entered the transfer portal. While the Buckeyes are looking to add a couple of transfer cornerbacks to offset those losses, their top priority is retaining Mathews.
Considering the compensation that will come with that, his Ohio roots and his growth potential in his second year as a starter, Mathews should be inclined to return for his senior season.
Prediction: Stays for senior year
OL Austin Siereveld, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman and Phillip Daniels
After starting right guard Tegra Tshabola entered the transfer portal, the possibility remains that Ohio State could lose other starters on its 2025 offensive line to enter the NFL draft. The expectation, though, is that all of Ohio State’s other starters from this past season’s offensive line will be back with the Buckeyes in 2026.
Hinzman told reporters after Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl loss to Miami that he was “probably coming back.” Siereveld and Montgomery said they still had to decide on their plans for 2026, but both talked about next season as though they’d be returning. Daniels, who still has two years of eligibility along with Siereveld, needs at least another year of development at the collegiate level after struggling in pass protection down the stretch of this past season.
None of them were full-season starters in 2024, so all of them could use another year of experience and development before pursuing NFL careers. Siereveld would likely be a middle-round pick if he entered the draft this year, with Montgomery and Hinzman being candidates for Day 3 draft choices, but all of them have more to prove at the collegiate level in order to maximize their draft stock – especially with the struggles Ohio State’s offensive line had in its final two games of this past season.
If the Buckeyes thought any of their offensive linemen would enter the draft early, they’d likely be more aggressively pursuing offensive linemen in the transfer portal than they have so far. While changes up front are still possible due to Ohio State’s late-season struggles in the trenches, signs point to the Buckeyes having four returning starters on their 2026 offensive line.
Prediction: All four stay for 2026
