10 best Texas football football NFL careers

The talent that the Texas football program has churned out to the NFL over the last century is unmatched by most other schools in the nation. Texas has over 350 players drafted into the NFL in the history of the program. And many more players than that have stood out as undrafted free agent signings in the NFL.

With so many former Longhorns having played in the NFL in the last 100 years, it's difficult to pick just a handful of them that had the best careers. But there are a few ways we can look at a list like this.

Who takes the title of best Texas football player in the NFL all-time?

First and foremost, we're looking at how many Pro Bowls, All-Pro selections, and Super Bowls each former Longhorns player got in their NFL career. Hall-of-Fame selections for retired Texas Exes also play a big role in the assembling of this top 10 ranking.

We're taking advanced analytics into account to help assemble this list. Advanced analytics, such as approximate value and Pro Football Focus grades, gives us a good idea of how modern NFL players stack up against each other from an overall efficiency and impact perspective.

However, since advanced metrics are more finely tuned for the modern NFL, that factor will only be used to decide the placing on this list between players from the last few decades among former Longhorns.

Here are the 10 Longhorns who had the best NFL careers.

Honorable mentions

The greatest kicker in NFL history deserves at least a nod on this list. Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is as decorated as it gets among NFL kickers, with six Pro Bowl selections, five All-Pro selections, and one Super Bowl ring. Tucker was also named to the NFL All-2010s Hall-of-Fame team.

Tucker owns the best field goal percentage (90.0) in NFL history.

The first true defensive back among Longhorns picked in the first round of the NFL Draft was Fort Worth, TX, native Raymond Clayborn in 1977. Clayborn was picked 16th overal in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

Clayborn had a long and successful NFL career where he was selected to three Pro Bowls. He was a standout returner on special teams and a ball hawk at defensive back. He finished his NFL career with five non-offensive touchdowns and three dozen interceptions.

Defensive tackle Bud McFadin was a model of consistency in the NFL in the 1950s and 1960s. He played at least a dozen games in all but two of his 14 years in the NFL. McFadin was selected to five Pro Bowls and was a three-time All-Pro between his days with the Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, and Los Angeles Rams.

Unrelated to NFL accolades, but still significant, is the fact that McFadin was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

Five-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl Champion Casey Hampton is among the best Texas defensive linemen in the last few decades. Hampton was a standout for the Longhorns in college and during a dozen-year-long NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2000s and early 2010s.