Ranking every Texas Longhorns first round draft pick of the last 25 years

Texas Longhorns 8th-best first-round NFL draft pick of the last 25 years: Casey Hampton

Defensive line
Pittsburgh Steelers: 2001-2012

Casey Hampton is one of those former Texas Longhorns players that might get lost in the shuffle a bit when talking about the best first-round picks in the NFL draft in the last quarter century. He also, by mere coincidence, barely qualifies for that honor as he was selected in 2001. However, despite getting lost in the shuffle more often than he should, he’s also one of the guys on the list with the longest NFL career.

Selected 19th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2001, he started almost every game he played in from the beginning and right to the very end. There was precisely one season where he started and played in less than 10 games, and that was due to an injury in 2004. He played in just six games that year.

Hampton was never someone who put up eye-popping numbers. He had more than 1 sack in a season exactly twice, and his career-high was 2.5 sacks. His career high in tackles was 46. But he still managed to be a steadying force for the Steelers, who played and started all 16 games in the final season of his career in 2012. He certainly did the Texas Longhorns proud in the process.