Texas Football: Where latest 2020 NFL Mock Draft has former Longhorns

Some of the lone action in sports news is just ahead for the Texas football program as the 2020 NFL Draft begins April 23.

There are between three and five former Texas football players that could be selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Three of them that should certainly be picked up ahead of the fifth or sixth round of the draft should be wide receivers Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson and safety Brandon Jones. A few other names to watch include center Zach Shackelford, defensive end Malcolm Roach, and offensive guard Parker Braun.

This class for the 2020 NFL Draft out of the Texas Longhorns football program should be much more fruitful than 2019. Texas Exes pretty much hit rock bottom in the 2019 NFL Draft, when the first player taken off the board off of the Forty Acres didn’t go until the fifth round. The Houston Texans picked up defensive end Charles Omenihu in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. And Omenihu was one of just two former Longhorns selected in the 2019 draft.

In the 2020 NFL Draft, most major mock ups have three former Longhorns going in the fifth round or earlier. The latest 2020 NFL Mock Draft from nfl.com’s Chad Reuter did have those three aforementioned former Longhorns going pretty late, though.

The first former Longhorn that Reuter had falling off the board was the safety Jones to the New York Jets in the fourth round (120th overall).

Then the next former Longhorn off the board wouldn’t go until later in the fifth round, with the wide receiver Johnson going to the New Orleans Saints (169th overall). Johnson would get to link back up with fellow former Texas wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey in this scenario.

The biggest snub it seems that Reuter has in this mock draft is Duvernay falling all the way down to the sixth round. Reuter has Duvernay getting picked up in the sixth round by the Indianapolis Colts (197th overall).

Although, Reuter did have another former Longhorn getting drafted in his seven-round mock. He had the Tennessee Titans selecting the defensive end/edge rusher Roach in the seventh round (224th overall).

That was all that Reuter had among the Texas Exes getting picked up in his mock up of the 2020 NFL Draft. It does seem pretty accurate that the Longhorns will have four former players picked up, with the likes of maybe Braun and Shackelford getting chances as undrafted free agent signings.

The biggest problem with this particular mock draft is where Duvernay falls, as it should be presumed that he won’t go later than a fourth or fifth round pick. Duvernay had the best senior campaign of any former Longhorn in this draft class and has the potential for a very lengthy NFL career.