Texas Football: Ta’Quon Graham among best DE’s on Day 3 of the draft

There’s still a good number of former Texas football players available on day three of the festivities this weekend for the 2021 NFL Draft. And one of the most notable Texas Exes still available in the midst of the fourth round of the draft on day three is the former talented four-star recruit and standout senior defensive end Ta’Quon Graham.

Among former Longhorns in this draft class, Graham looked to be the best defensive linemen (depending on where former star junior outside linebacker/edge rusher Joseph Ossai plays at the next level). Graham and Ossai weren’t likely to make it all that far in this draft, but the former of those two is still available on the board in day three.

Graham has the prototypical frame and get off that NFL scouts are going to look for out of Graham. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, and he could fit in with an array of different NFL schemes in the trenches.

For his size, the sub-4.9-second 40 yard dash time wasn’t too shabby for Graham. And he put up a solid 32 reps on the bench press and had a 4.68 second shuttle time.

Former Texas football DE Ta’Quon Graham set to be a value find on Day 3

Among Texas Exes that are still available on draft boards, the likes of Graham, junior safety Caden Sterns, and senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger, are the names that stick out. It’s hard to tell which order that trio of former Longhorns will fall on day three of the draft. That largely depends on the individual needs of the particular team drafting at the time.

However, Graham surely has a solid resume that he brings with him off of the Forty Acres, and he had a solid showing throughout the draft scouting process. During his four years playing for Texas, Graham registered 70 combined tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

Graham was originally projected to fall around the fourth or fifth round of the draft. So it could still be another round or two before Graham falls off of the board on the afternoon of May 1. But he should be a solid find for whatever team looks his way at the next level this weekend.

The first former Longhorn off the board in the 2021 NFL Draft was the offensive tackle Samuel Cosmi landing with the Washington Football Team 51st overall in the second round. And then the second former Longhorn off the board was Ossai, who was picked up 69th overall in the third round by the Cincinnati Bengals.