Texas Football: Top 5 Longhorns 2021 NFL Draft prospects at halfway mark

Where do the top prospects out of the Texas football program fall in line for projections in the 2021 NFL Draft at about the halfway mark of the season?

Heading into the 2020 college football season, the Texas football program was in a position to boast multiple potential first round draft picks. The last time that Texas had a player selected in the first round of the NFL Draft was back in 2015 when defensive tackle Malcom Brown was taken 32nd overall by head coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

Outside of Brown going to the Patriots with the last pick in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, there were just two other former Longhorns picked in any first round in the last decade. Those other two Texas Exes included safety Kenny Vaccaro (15th overall pick of New Orleans Saints in 2013) and safety Earl Thomas (14th overall pick of Seattle Seahawks in 2010).

Last year, Texas did have one of their better showings among former players in the NFL Draft. They had two players selected on day two, including wide receiver Devin Duvernay (92nd overall pick of the Baltimore Ravens) and safety Brandon Jones (70th overall pick of the Miami Dolphins). And then the last pick from the Longhorns in the 2020 NFL Draft was wide receiver Collin Johnson (165th overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars).

Maybe the results will continue to pick up for the Longhorns in terms of developing talent to go into the NFL Draft in the near future. Texas could have a couple of players picked on day one of the 2021 NFL Draft. But a lot of that depends on how the rest of the 2020 season shakes out for this team.

Here’s a look at how five of the top 2021 NFL Draft prospects from the Longhorns have played out around the halfway mark of the 2020 season.