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Texas is on track for unprecedented NFL draft success

by:Justin Nash•about 8 hours
Kelvin Banks
Kelvin Banks (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Texas has never experienced success in the NFL Draft like what it is about to achieve in the Modern Draft Era (1994-present). The Longhorns have only had two consecutive years of 10+ draft picks once in school history.

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Steve Sarkisian‘s program is on the doorstep of doing that a second time.

The last time that Texas had 10+ players selected in back to back NFL drafts, the United States was fresh off World War II. Some of the notable players were Tom Landry (1947) and Bobby Layne (1948). Needless to say, unless you’re an 87-year old spring chicken, you likely don’t remember that draft. So for Texas to have 11 players drafted last year and likely follow that with anywhere between 10-15 players this year is quite the accomplishment.

In the years before Sarkisian arrived, Texas was lucky to hear any player called in the first round of the NFL draft. Only Malcom Brown and Kenny Vaccaro were picked in the first round in the 10 years before Sarkisian arrived. Texas fans had to listen to schools like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, and Georgia fill the first rounds of the NFL draft for years.

Those times are changing.

Times are looking so good, Sarkisian is even outpacing prime years of the Mack Brown era in terms of level of success in the NFL Draft. The best five-year stretch that Brown had in the draft was from 2006-2010 (the 05-09 seasons), totaling 28 draft picks in those five years. While it is extremely unlikely that all of the listed names below for Sarkisian get drafted, he will still likely sit around 30-34 draft picks over the last three drafts.

It’s not like the draft is just overloaded with late round picks for Sarkisian either. Brown in those five drafts saw 12 players called in the first two rounds. Sarkisian could be sitting at 14 names called in the first two rounds after the 2025 draft is over.

It’s not looking like it will end anytime soon. Some of the names below have a few seasons left before they are draft eligible. Others, as they are want to do in this era of college football, might leave for another program. But in the context of Brown putting seven players in the draft tops in a single season, it would be downright surprising if Texas failed to have seven draft picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Adding in the 2024 class with names like Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Kobe Black, and Jerrick Gibson, there should be no shortage of draft picks in 2027 or especially 2028 now that the Longhorns just welcomed the No. 1 recruiting class in 2025.

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The good times are here.

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