Texas Football: 3 best NFL Draft landing spots for Joseph Ossai
Just ahead for a number of former players out of the Texas football program is the commencement of the 2021 NFL Draft. A lot of fans are highly anticipating the NFL Draft to take place here in a couple of weeks. The first day of the 2021 draft is set to take part on April 29, extending through May 1.
On the first day of the draft, there could finally be some former Longhorns taken. The last time that the Longhorns had a first round pick in the draft was back in 2015 when defensive tackle Malcom Brown was taken 32nd overall by head coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
There were only three total first round picks among former Longhorns in the draft since 2010. The other two were safety Earl Thomas getting picked by the Seattle Seahawks 14th overall in 2010 and safety Kenny Vaccaro 15th overall in 2013.
Texas Exes will be more abundant in the 2021 draft class, thanks to a number of early entrants and a bit better recruiting and player development since the mid-to-late 2010s. Some of the talent that former Texas head coach Tom Herman recruited to the Forty Acres did start to improve their draft results a bit in the last two years. Texas did hit an all-time low in the draft in the 2019 class, with the first player off the board not going until the fifth round.
Joseph Ossai the most promising former Texas football player?
The first player that we’re taking a focus on in terms of best landing spots in the draft is the former talented four-star recruit and star junior outside linebacker/edge rusher Joseph Ossai. The All-Big 12 honoree Ossai had a seriously impressive run during his 2020 campaign, which led to the boost in his draft stock potentially into the first round.
Ossai and the Longhorns had an up and down run last season, but the star linebacker was one of the steady parts of this defense. He registered 55 combined tackles, a team-leading 15.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery, in nine games played last year.
With that in mind, here’s a look into three of the best NFL Draft landing spots for the former Longhorn Ossai.