Texas Football: NFL Draft Projections for Every Former Longhorn

Nearly a dozen Texas Longhorns are hoping to hear their names called in this week's NFL draft. Not all will be selected, but the Horns' draft success will be greatly improved from a year ago.

Last year, the draft came and went without a single Longhorn draftee for the first time since 1937. The humiliation snapped the nation's longest streak of having at least one player selected and served as one last reminder of how far the program had fallen since reaching the national championship in 2009.

After a year under Charlie Strong, this year's group should have much better luck. Led by probable first-rounder Malcom Brown, the Horns have at least five players who should expect to hear their names called. 

Only Brown will warrant early-round consideration, with four of his teammates hoping to populate the middle and late rounds. Past them, there are five or six other Longhorns who should get training-camp invites after going undrafted.

DT Malcom Brown: Mid-to-Late 1st Round

Current mock drafts have Malcom Brown going as early as 15th to the San Francisco 49ers (per SB Nation's Brian Galliford), and most don't see him getting past the Detroit Lions at the 23rd slot.

Bleacher Report's Luke Easterling sees him going 13th: "13. Malcom Brown, DT, Texas - Very underrated. Will be a wrecking ball as a 3T at the next level. Explosive & powerful."

"Explosive" seems to be the consensus impression Brown has left on his evaluators. He uses his hands well and has a high motor but needs to improve on passing downs to continue his disruptive ways in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus' Michael Mountford.

Luckily for Brown, teams will draft him based as much on his potential as on what he is now. He'll enter the pro level with zero doubts about his maturity and desire to improve, which bodes well for a tackle who stands 6'2", 320 pounds.

The best situation for Brown would be in Detroit, where he can play next to All-Pro tackle Haloti Ngata. As the fourth-best defensive line prospect in the draft, according to Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, there's no telling whether he actually lasts that long.

LB Jordan Hicks: 3rd-4th Round

A rough injury history will dog Jordan Hicks throughout his draft process and probably determine his NFL success. Based on production and measurables, he's going to be a steal or a bust.

Hicks missed almost all of both the 2012 and 2013 seasons with severe lower-body injuries. But when he was healthy, the former 5-star recruit, per 247Sports, was a tackling machine who led the defense from the linebacker spot.

Rivals.com's Anwar Richardson provided his projection: "Mid to late round pick #Hookem."

Had those injuries not taken place, we could be talking about Hicks as a Day 1 selection. Instead, he's probably going to land square in the middle of the draft, where a team will feel comfortable investing in his consistent on-field presence.

Hicks will never be the guy completely blowing up plays in the backfield. If he stays healthy, he's going to do his job on every down, which works just fine in the middle of the draft.

CB Quandre Diggs: 5th-6th Round

Quandre Diggs has some ideal traits for a corner, most notably some quick feet and an unbreakable competitive spirit. They just won't be enough for teams to look past his size (5'9", 196 lbs) until the middle rounds.

Diggs has shown well at the Senior Bowl, the NFL combine and Texas' pro day, picking off a pass in Mobile, Alabama, and looking good in drills at both workouts. He's also got some nice tape against possible top-10 pick Kevin White, so teams should have a good sense of how he makes up for his deficiencies.

Unfortunately, those deficiencies rest in areas that are pretty crucial. Along with his size, Diggs' lack of elite speed (4.57-second 40-yard dash, per NFL.com) will scare teams away, as his projected slot corner position will match him up with some of the purest speed demons in the league.

Ultimately, Diggs needs to land in the right situation to become a regular contributor beyond special teams. He's a low-risk pick in terms of fitting into a locker room and his commitment to the game, so there's no doubt a team will take a shot on him.

DE Cedric Reed: Late Round-Undrafted

This time a year ago, Cedric Reed looked like an early-round pick. Then a down senior year brought him back to earth, and he's in a fight just to hear his name called.

It's been tough to watch Reed go through this process. He was slowed by a knee injury all year, causing both his sacks and tackles for loss to drop by almost half from his breakout 2013 campaign.

Making matters worse, surgery to repair the injury prevented Reed from participating in any of the major predraft evaluations. He held a private pro day this past week, but only four teams made the trip, according to NFL.com's Gil Brandt.

For what it's worth, Brandt believes Reed will get drafted because of his size and skill set. He has the potential to be a steal.

RB Malcolm Brown: Late Round-Undrafted

Malcolm Brown created some buzz for himself by showing off some surprising speed. This class is just loaded with talented backs, limiting him to a pure depth selection.

Per Grantland's Bill Barnwell, Brown's 4.67 time in the 40-yard dash was good for the 11th-best Speed Score in this year's draft. The metric factors in size, and Brown has plenty at 5'11" and 224 pounds. 

The speed is a little surprising considering Brown only had three runs of 30 yards or more in college, per SB Nation's Wescott Eberts. Either way, teams have to pay attention to big backs who can move like Brown did at the combine.

He's even got fans in the fantasy community who are trying to scoop him up as a sneaky dynasty pick. 

Rotoworld's Raymond Summerlin seems to like what he sees: "Last tweet about Malcolm Brown I promise. I see so much Stevan Ridley in his game. Could have a similar impact at a very cheap price."

Brown will fall under the radar as big names such as Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah hog the headlines. Once they're gone, some team will be happy to grab Brown on the cheap and will be ecstatic to get him in camp as a free agent.

Undrafted

JACK PLUNKETT/Associated Press

Shipley turned some heads at Texas' pro day thanks to his overall polish as a receiver.

WR John Harris

It's surprising that Harris hasn't generated more buzz as a big receiver who really did everything well in 2014. Ultimately, his lack of tape and elite speed hurts him when you've got talents such as Stefon Diggs and Ty Montgomery going in the later rounds.

Harris has a fan in at least one AFC scout, according to Rivals.com's Alex Dunlap, and should get a camp invite.

WR Jaxon Shipley

A route-running technician, Shipley "went ham" on his pro day to generate some late buzz for himself. He's got great hands along with razor-sharp footwork, but his size and injury history don't bode well for a successful NFL career.

He's probably going to be a practice-squad guy before he finds some work as a position coach.

LB Steve Edmond

Edmond improved by leaps and bounds over his final two seasons. You can't teach speed, though, and he just doesn't have enough to be a professional linebacker.

S Mykkele Thompson

A long cornerback with pure athleticism, don't be shocked to see a team invest some time into seeing how much good football Thompson has in him. After all, 6'1", 200-pound defensive backs with 4.4 speed don't grow on trees. He'll get invited to camp if he works for it.

TE Geoff Swaim

Swaim's got good NFL size and showed that he's got some wheels at Texas' pro day. He only caught 13 balls over two years, so it's a bit of a long shot unless a team really wants an extra H-back in camp.