Texas Football: 3 Horns transfer departures that became studs in the NFL

In this day and age of college football, NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal have dramatically shifted the way that the Texas football program builds out its roster. The transfer portal has ushered in this “Wild West” phase in college sports, thus altering the trajectory for the Texas program in terms of player development and NFL Draft results.

And while Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has done a nice job with roster management, really limiting the number of impactful portal departures on the program this offseason, the transfer market still played a big role in the building of the roster in 2023.

Texas had multiple players become impact guys in the NFL in the last decade or so that were brought in via the transfer portal. The same could be said for a handful of Longhorns players that left the program via the transfer market.

Former Texas football transfer departures that have found success in the NFL

With that in mind, let’s take a look back at three transfer departures for the Longhorns in the last two decades that turned into real contributors in the NFL.

Jordan Elliott, DT

A former four-star recruit that signed with Texas in its 2016 class, there was some real hype behind the 6-foot-4 and 305-pound defensive tackle Jordan Elliott when he first arrived on campus in Austin more than a half-decade ago. Elliott was a skilled and strong interior defensive linemen that looked the part as a multi-year contributor for the Longhorns.

Unfortunately, though, Elliott only got to play a handful of games for the Longhorns as a true freshman during the 2016 season before he suffered an MCL tear. That knee injury cut Elliott’s true freshman campaign short before it could really get off the ground.

He would also miss all of the 2017 season, before transferring to the Mizzou Tigers before the start of the 2018 campaign. Elliott cited the reasons for his transfer to Mizzou (per the St. Louis Post Dispatch) as getting to play against a higher level competition in the SEC along with the Tigers’ high rate of development among defensive linemen throughout the 2010s.

And he had a decent point given that Mizzou had five defensive linemen drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft in the 2010s. Meanwhile, Texas had just two in the 2010s.

Elliott was productive over the course of his two seasons at Mizzou, registering more than 16 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and a whopping 55 quarterback pressures. He was also the highest-graded interior defensive lineman in the SEC in 2019.

After a stout senior campaign at Mizzou in 2019, the Cleveland Browns selected Elliott in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Elliott was a rotational defensive tackle for the Brown in the first two years of his pro career. And he finally earned himself a starting role last season with the Browns, which led to him posting the best approximate value on the team among defensive tackles.

Elliott will look to keep building on his breakout performance in 2022 as he will be a key cog among the starting defensive linemen for the Brown this fall.