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

Texas Longhorns 5th-best first-round NFL draft pick of the last 25 years: Brian Orakpo

Linebacker
Washington Redskins: 2009-2014
Tennessee Titans: 2015-2018

Interestingly, Brian Orakpo is one of the only linebackers on this list despite the many, many Texas Longhorns players over the decades that have been great defensive players. For whatever reason, those defensive studs tend to come from the defensive backfield or defensive line. Linebacker is a relative scarcity when talking about the guys on this particular list. Even more interesting is that he actually was a defensive lineman in Austin but was shifted to linebacker once the Washington Redskins drafted him in 2009.

From his linebacker position, he turned himself into quite the sack master when he was able to stay healthy. That included racking up 11 sacks in his rookie season. He followed that year up with 8.5 sacks in his second season and 9 quarterback sacks in his third year.

It feels as if the thing that held Orakpo back from ever becoming one of the best players of his generation was that he had some problems staying healthy. When he was able to get on the field, though, he was quite the pass rusher. He finished his career with the Titans, getting 7, 10.5, and 7 sacks in three of his final four years.