The 2026 NFL Draft is finally here! It's one of the most exciting events of the year for Texas fans as another crop of Longhorns will be moving on to the next level of their careers. Despite the lack of NFL chatter about Texas players right now, there's a very good chance that we could see eight to nine members of the team selected over the course of the next three days.
On that note, there are two specific players who could be drafted much sooner than their projections currently indicate, and if that happens, it would absolutely break this year's draft.
Related: Texas 2026 NFL Draft forecast: Predicting where each Longhorn will be selected
LB Anthony Hill Jr.
Hill Jr. has been on the radar of NFL teams for quite a while now, and he was even tabbed as a potential top 15-20 pick earlier on in the 2025 season. The way he moves around the field at 6'2", 238 lbs. is unheard of, and his processing skills are already at the NFL level.
As things currently stand, he's projected to be a mid-2nd-round pick, but it shouldn't be surprising to anyone if he manages to sneak his way into the end of the 1st round tonight. A lot of teams in the second half of the 1st round need linebacker help, beginning with the Chicago Bears at No.25 and Buffalo Bills at No.26.
CB Malik Muhammad
I don't think anyone can deny the rise of Malik Muhammad since his dominant performance at the Panini Senior Bowl earlier this year. His athleticism and mental acuity are what separates him from the other cornerbacks in this class, and his potential ability to contribute in different sub-packages from day one should help drive his value up on draft night.
Multiple scouting agencies have him rated as a 3rd round pick, but with the number of teams that need to find immediate contributors at both boundary corner and at nickel, Muhammad could find himself being selected in round 2. Sometimes, the supply/demand aspect of the NFL Draft gets forgotten about.
If these Longhorns end up "beating the odds" and make it into the first 2 rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, it could have a butterfly effect that ends up forcing teams the rethink their entire draft strategies due to talent ultimately getting pushed back.
Add us as a preferred source on Google