AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 2025 NFL draft at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is quickly approaching, and there’s potential for a historic number of Texas Longhorns to be selected.
After a school-record 11 were picked in 2024, the upcoming draft has a chance to improve upon that. Texas had 14 players invited to the scouting combine in Indianapolis, another school record, so more than a dozen Longhorns could hear their name called.
How to watch the 2025 NFL draft
- Date: April 24-26
- Rounds: April 24, Round 1. April 25, Rounds 2-3. April 26, Rounds 4-7
- Place: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin
- TV: NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes
- Start times: April 24, 7 p.m., CDT. April 25, 6 p.m. April 26, 11 a.m.
Draft analysts around the sports media industry agree that offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. will be a first-round pick, and most have concluded that defensive back Jahdae Barron could also go in the first round. If he doesn’t go on the first day, he’ll most certainly go off the board early in the second round.
Barron said he’s one of the most versatile defenders in the draft and thinks he’s worth a first-round pick, and the paycheck that goes with it.
“I can do it all, every position,” he said after Texas’ pro day March 25. “I believe that I’m CB1. I can go play nickel, corner and safety. I’m what you need. Whatever you need, I can do it in the most humble way.”
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. sees the Dolphins taking Barron at No. 13 overall as the first Texas player selected. He thinks Banks will go at No. 18 to the Seahawks.
An interesting case for Texas is wide receiver Matthew Golden. He came on late in the season for the Longhorns and then had terrific workouts at the scouting combine, running the fastest 40-yard dash of any receiver at 4.29 seconds and sending him flying up draft boards. Chad Reuter with NFL.com thinks he’ll be the first Longhorn off the board at 12th overall to the Dallas Cowboys, while some still have him as a second-round selection.
Reuter thinks 12 Longhorns will be selected in the draft, which would be a record. It’s a direct reflection of how the program has evolved since Steve Sarkisian took over in 2021. He went 5-7 in his first year, and the Longhorns didn’t have a single player taken in the following draft.
“I love being a college football coach and watching these guys develop and grow,” he said, “have an experience, fail, grow some more, have success, fail again, grow some more.”
Quarterback Quinn Ewers is a polarizing figure in this year’s draft. Reuter likes him as a second-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks, while a handful of others think he’ll be a third-round selection or later.
For those players teetering between the first and second rounds, it’s financially better to be picked within the first 32 selections. The pay difference for pick No. 32, the last pick in the first round held by the Philadelphia Eagles, and pick No. 33, the first pick in the second round held by the Cleveland Browns, is about $2.5 million, according to data from Spotrac.
The total value of a 4-year rookie contract for the 32nd pick is around $13.4 million, while the value for the No. 33 pick is around $10.8 million. That’s not counting a potential option year for the first-round selection.
Tight end Gunnar Helm, running back Jaydon Blue, offensive linemen Cam Williams and Jake Majors, defensive linemen Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton and Barryn Sorrell, and defensive back Andrew Mukuba all show up in various mock drafts.
