Wisconsin Badgers edge rusher Mason Reiger entering 2026 NFL draft
Wisconsin football outside linebacker Mason Reiger declares for the 2026 NFL Draft after a standout season as a grad transfer from Louisville.
The Wisconsin football program’s most impactful transfer portal addition from this past offseason is set to take the next step in his career.
Outside linebacker Mason Reiger announced that he is declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft after a standout season in Madison, closing the book on a winding college journey that culminated in his best football at Wisconsin.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God because without him, I wouldn’t be able to be in this position and none of this would be possible,” Reiger wrote. “To my family, thank you for your unwavering support from day 1 and the love that you have showed me in my pursuit of my dreams.
“To the University of Wisconsin, thank you for making this the best year of my life. When I didn’t know if I would play this game again, Coach Mitchell and Coach Fickell believed in me and gave me an opportunity to continue chasing my dream. To my teammates at both schools, I appreciate all of you and the relationships that we built; some will last a lifetime. The moments we shared together were truly a blessing.
“Last but not least, I want to thank me. For finding the strength to keep going and staying committed to the process when I had plenty of opportunities to give up. With all that being said, I would like to formally declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.”
Reiger, a 6-foot-5, 248-pound Illinois native, joined the Badgers as a graduate transfer from Louisville with more questions than guarantees. He had missed the 2024 season due to injury, and Reiger’s recruitment was built less on recent production and more on the hope that he could return to that level. Luke Fickell and his staff made a calculated bet, trusting the tape, the traits, and the person they believed Reiger still was.
That bet paid off.
In his lone season with the Badgers, Reiger appeared in 12 games and quickly became a disruptive presence in a defensive front that badly needed production from its edge rushers. He finished the year with 33 total tackles (18 solo), 45 pressures, 6.0 tackles for loss, five sacks, and a pass deflection.
Those numbers only tell part of the story. Reiger’s impact showed up in how the room functioned, how the defense fit together, and how often Wisconsin was able to pressure quarterbacks off the edge.
In his final season, Reiger backed up the production with efficiency, finishing with an 82.3 overall defensive grade, per Pro Football Focus, including a 78.4 mark against the run and an 82.5 pass-rushing grade across 514 snaps.
The timing mattered, too. Wisconsin entered the season with an outside linebacker group in transition, searching for reliable answers and consistent disruption. Reiger gave them both. His size, length, and motor allowed the staff to build packages around him, and his experience showed up in moments that required discipline as much as explosiveness.
What makes Reiger’s story resonate is how long the road has been.
He began his college career as a walk-on at Louisville, earning everything the hard way. There were no shortcuts. Development came through repetition, patience, and belief in himself. That path nearly took another detour when Reiger underwent surgery to address a leg injury during spring practice.
That setback threatened to hinder the opportunity he came to Wisconsin to chase. Instead, he rehabbed, returned in time for fall camp, and hit the ground running. After losing the 2024 season to injury, Wisconsin gave him a chance to prove he could still play at a high level, and Reiger put together the most complete season of his career.
“Mason Reiger brings a different energy,” Fickell said of Reiger in fall camp. “He came here injured and really didn’t go through spring ball. We tried to be smart and get him healthy before we started to evaluate him. He’s already shown us he can give us something that’s maybe even more than what you see on the field. There’s an energy that’s contagious.”
That perseverance carried over beyond the stat sheet. Within the program, Reiger was viewed as a tone-setter due to his work ethic and ability to lead by example. Teammates gravitated toward him. Coaches trusted him. In a Wisconsin locker room navigating the ebbs and flows of a difficult season, that mattered. Leadership is a word that gets overused, but in Reiger’s case, it showed up daily in preparation and accountability.
For Wisconsin, his one-year pit stop was exactly what the transfer portal is supposed to be when it works. A player needing a fresh start who found the right environment to flourish. A team needing experience and production found both. The result was a mutually beneficial season that helped reshape a defense and reestablish credibility at a critical position.
Now, Reiger turns the page.
He’ll enter the NFL Draft process with momentum, a strong final season on tape against the toughest schedule college football had to offer, and a story that evaluators tend to respect. He is long, physical, and battle-tested. More than that, Reiger’s proven he can get after the quarterback.
For a former walk-on who endured injuries and uncertainty, getting to this point is its own victory. Declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft gives Reiger the chance that he’s earned: an opportunity to show professional scouts the player Wisconsin’s coaching staff saw, the teammate his locker room valued, and the edge defender he always believed that he would become.
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