Fourth name off the board: Malcolm Roach, Defensive End
The second of two projected former Longhorn defensive prospects to fall off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft before undrafted free agent signings commence is the 6-foot-3 and 290 pound defensive end Malcolm Roach. During his senior campaign, Roach once again showed flashes but didn’t have a great complete body of work statistically.
Roach didn’t quite live up to the hype in any of the three years of his college career following a stellar true freshman campaign under the direction of former head coach Charlie Strong back in 2016. Strong was the head coach that originally recruited Roach, not current head coach Tom Herman and former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.
Over the course of his four-year career with Texas, Roach registered 130 total tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, 8.0 sacks, and three pass deflections. The two best years of his career came as a freshman and then as a senior.
There was never a true fit between the way Orlando utilized Roach and the production that we all thought he could bring to the table. But the good news for Roach is that he did well in the testing and drills that he did participate in at the NFL Combine. He ran a 4.84-second 40-yard dash time, put up 20 reps on the bench, posted a vertical leap of 30 inches, and a broad jump of 114 inches.
If there’s a team that buys into what Roach brings to the table as an edge rusher or as a quicker defensive end (if he puts on some size), then he should fall in the fifth or sixth round.