Big 12 Football: Each team’s top 2020 NFL Draft prospect
By Phil Poling
The 2020 NFL Draft is a year away, but that shouldn’t stop us from looking at the best draft prospects each Big 12 football program has to offer.
Twenty-six Big 12 players were chosen at the 2019 NFL Draft, a number that’s increased by six each of the past two seasons. That isn’t quite on par with the four other Power Five conferences, but the Big 12 is playing with a clear disadvantage.
Despite the name, the Big 12 only has 10 members, compared to 14 in the ACC, 14 in the Big Ten, 12 in the Pac-12 and 14 in the SEC. Fewer teams equals fewer players which equals fewer draft picks.
If you don’t like those draft numbers, let’s look at the last ten No. 1 overall picks. Kyler Murray just can’t shake Baker Mayfield’s shadow, being the top pick of the 2019 NFL Draft after another Heisman Trophy-winning campaign from a Sooner quarterback.
Before Murray and Mayfield, though, there were Myles Garrett (SEC, 2017), Jared Goff (Pac-12, 2016), Jameis Winston (ACC, 2015), JaDeveon Clowney (SEC, 2014), Eric Fisher (MAC, 2013), Andrew Luck (Pac-12, 2012), Cam Newton (SEC, 2011), and Sam Bradford (Big 12, 2010) all going No. 1. For those keeping track, that’s three apiece from the SEC and Big 12, two from the Pac-12 and one each from the ACC and MAC.
At the 2019 NFL Draft, eight Oklahoma players were drafted, tied for the third-most of any team. Add those to the Sooners drafted since 2010, and Oklahoma’s total comes to a whopping 47 draft picks, including eight first rounders. West Virginia has the second-most players drafted in that span with 30 (four first round picks), followed by Texas with 29 (3), TCU with 27 (4), Baylor with 26 (3), Oklahoma State with 20 (5), Kansas State with 15, Texas Tech with 11 (1), and Kansas and Iowa State with nine and seven, respectively.
Knowing the conference’s recent draft history is important, but it isn’t the determining factor for if a player gets chosen. That, of course, is up to the player’s on-field production and what they accomplish at the NFL Combine. There are other factors, but those two are the biggest.
These 10 players have an excellent shot at being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft if things go their way.