Oklahoma Football: Four Sooner Draft Selections Not a Disappointment
By Chip Rouse
It took a few rounds for the chips to start falling for Oklahoma football prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft over the weekend, but things finally got rolling for the Crimson and Cream on the final two days of the annual NFL new-player procurement process.
Sterling Shepard was the first Sooner to come off the board, when the New York Giants selected Oklahoma’s career No. 2 pass receiver with the 40th overall pick in the draft, taken in the second round. (Relive some of Shepard’s exciting career highlights and a preview of what the Giants selected with their second-round pick in this short video clip.)
Three other OU players were selected in rounds four through seven for a total of four official draft selections from the 2015 Big 12 champions.
The Dallas Cowboys selected defensive end Charles Tapper early in the fourth round, Defensive back Zack Sanchez went to the Carolina Panthers a round later and linebacker Devante Bond was a seventh-round selection of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Four NFL draft picks may seem a bit on the low side from the eight-time Big 12 champions, but in reality, the Sooners’ four draft picks in this year’s draft was only one fewer than the most of any other Big 12 team in the 2016 NFL Draft.
What was probably more surprising was that the Big 12, which in recent years many college analysts considered the second best conference in college football, was tied with the Atlantic Coast Conference for the fewest number of draft picks this year among the the five major conferences.
Twenty-three of the Big 12’s 26 draft selections this year were taken after the first round.
West Virginia, Baylor and TCU each produced five draft selections, and those same three schools also had the only Big 12 players taken in the opening round. West Virginia safety Karl Joseph was the first Big 12 player to go in the draft, selected 14th overall by the Oakland Raiders. He was followed by wide receiver Corey Coleman of Baylor, who was taken by the Cleveland Browns with the very next pick at No. 15 overall.
The final Big 12 first-round selection was Josh Doctson, a wide receiver from TCU, who was picked with the 22nd overall pick by the Washington Redskins.
Over the past 10 years, the draft selections from Oklahoma have averaged around five per year, with a high of seven drafted in 2010m when the Sooners produced four first-round selections, including No. 1 Sam Bradford and an unprecedented three of the top-four players taken in that year’s draft.
So the four Sooner picks in this year’s draft is well within the norm and should not be viewed as a representation of the state of the program. If anything, it signals that the 2016 edition of Oklahoma football should be as strong as ever and that the number of legitimate Sooner NFL prospects who were eligible for the 2016 NFL draft (either through the expiration of collegiate eligibility or early declaration for the draft) was less this season that in season’s past.
As for the state of the Sooner football program, past and present, Oklahoma is one of only two programs nationwide that has had at least four players selected in every NFL draft since 2008. Additionally, Bob Stoops is in elite company among active coaches, having produced 79 draft picks in his 17 seasons at Oklahoma.
While the four Sooners who were selected in the NFL Draft over the weekend have a leg up on others who were undrafted but still have dreams of playing in the NFL, the dream is still alive for other OU players through free agency.
As of late Saturday, the Oklahoma City Oklahoman was reporting that LB Eric Striker (Buffalo Bills), WR Durron Neal (Denver Broncos), LB Frank Shannon (Denver Broncos), LB Dominique Alexander (Cleveland Browns) and OG Nila Kasitati (Houston Texans) all agreed to free-agent contracts immediately following the conclusion of the three-day NFL Draft process.