The Portal Is Becoming a Trench Market. At One Level

In 2021, the transfer portal was a skill position market. Wide receivers, corners, and quarterbacks moved at the highest rates. Trench players, offensive linemen and tight ends, were the afterthought. The portal moved fast players, not big ones.

Our analysis of portal supply from 2021 to 2024 shows that is no longer true at P4.

What the Data Shows

We tracked portal transfer volume by position group across P4, G5, and FCS destination programs, comparing 2021 and 2024 counts:

  • OL at P4: Grew 149% (2.49x). Fastest-growing by raw volume.
  • TE at P4: Grew 153% (2.53x). Fastest-growing by percentage.
  • QB at P4: Grew 113% (2.13x). High growth, but slower than trench.
  • DB at P4: Grew 95% (1.95x).
  • LB at P4: Grew 56% (1.56x). Slowest-growing position at P4.

Compare P4 OL growth (149%) to FCS OL growth (55%) over the same period. P4 programs have tripled their share of OL portal supply relative to FCS. The trench portal is becoming a P4-dominated market.

FCS Programs Are Falling Further Behind

This compounds an existing structural problem. Prior research in our database shows FCS programs already faced an OL-to-DB imbalance in portal composition. They were receiving too many skill players and not enough trench players relative to roster needs.

The 2021-2024 trend is accelerating that gap. P4 programs have learned that portal is an efficient OL acquisition channel and are moving aggressively. FCS programs, competing for the same pool, are being priced out by reputation, roster depth, and NIL capacity.

For FCS offensive coordinators: the December portal window is increasingly critical for OL acquisition. Waiting until January or February means competing with P4 programs that have already secured the best trench portal options.

The TE Market Pricing Gap

TE supply at P4 grew faster than any other position (153%). But there is a market inefficiency here that works in some programs favor.

Our research shows that production metrics systematically undervalue tight ends. TE scoring averages are significantly below class average across all tiers, not because TEs produce less, but because the metrics do not fully capture their contribution in pass protection, run blocking, and receiving volume splits.

The result: TE portal supply is growing fast (high availability) while evaluation tools are weakest for this position (lower competition for specific targets). Programs with strong tape-based TE evaluation can consistently find portal TEs that production-metric-first programs pass on.

The Sample

This finding covers portal transfer volume by position across P4, G5, and FCS destination programs from 2021 to 2024. Position groups are as recorded in portal transfer records. This is Research Finding #399, connected to Finding #386 (OL/DB ratio by tier) and #395 (TE production undervaluation). Part of our validated database of 400+ findings.