NFL Draft: OU’s Four Draft Selections Top Big 12 Picks

Oklahoma’s four draft selections in the 2017 NFL Draft doesn’t come close to rattling the Sooner football record books, but it was double the number of players taken from the next closest Big 12 school.

Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes was the only Big 12 player taken in the first round this year, falling to the Kansas City Chiefs with the 10th overall pick in the opening round. The Chiefs executed a trade with the Buffalo Bills to move up from the 27th position in the first round to take the Red Raider gunslinger Mahomes at No. 10.

Mahomes was a three-year starter at Texas Tech, having unseated both Baker Mayfield and Davis Webb for the quarterback job. Both Mayfield (OU) and Webb (California) ended up transferring to other schools.

Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon was the second Big 12 player selected in the 2017 Draft, surprising some experts by going midway through the second round, the 48th overall pick, to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals also picked another player from Oklahoma later on in the draft, selecting Sooner linebacker Jordan Evans in the sixth round.

Mixon and Evans are joined on the Cincinnati draft list by linebacker Jordan Willis of Kansas State, who was the Bengals’ third-round selection.

The Sooners have placed at least four players in the NFL Draft for 10 consecutive years. The high-water year for Oklahoma draft picks in the Big 12 era was 2005, when the Sooners had 10 selections overall, including two in the first round (tackle Jammal Brown and wide receiver Mark Clayton).

Fourteen players from the Big 12 were taken in the seven rounds of the NFL Draft this year. That is the fewest number from the Big 12 in the 21 years the conference has been in existence. The fewest number previously was 17 in 2014. As many as 35 players from the Big 12 were taken in the 2003 NFL Draft and 32 in 2005.

Only one other time in the Big 12 era has there been as few as one first round selection. Aquib Talib, a defensive back out of Kansas, was the lone first-round selection from the Big 12 in 2008.

Breaking down the Big 12 draft selections by school, Oklahoma led the conference with four, there were two each from Kansas State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia and one each from Texas Tech, Texas, TCU and Baylor. Iowa State and Kansas were the only Big 12 schools without a player taken in this year’s NFL Draft.

The Cincinnati Bengals took three Big 12 players in this year’s draft. The Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans both have two from the Big 12 on their draft list.

Complete NFL Draft List From the Big 12

First Round

Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech quarterback, Kansas City Chiefs

Second Round

Joe Mixon, Oklahoma running back, Cincinnati Bengals

Third Round

Jordan Willis, Kansas State linebacker, Cincinnati Bengals

D’Onta Freeman, Texas running back, Houston Texans

Rasul Douglas, West Virginia cornerback, Philadelphia Eagles

Fourth Round

Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma wide receiver, Jacksonville Jaguars

Samaje Perine, Oklahoma running back, Washington Redskins

Fifth Round

Shelton Gibson, West Virginia wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles

Sixth Round

Jordan Evans, Oklahoma linebacker, Cincinnati Bengals

Vincent Taylor, Oklahoma State defensive tackle, Miami Dolphins

Seventh Round

Josh Carraway, TCU linebacker, Tennessee Titans

Elijah Lee, Kansas State linebacker, Minnesota Vikings

Kyle Fuller, Baylor center, Houston Texans

Chris Carson, Oklahoma State running back, Seattle Seahawks