Oklahoma football: What are chances for any OU NFL Draft picks other than OT Tyler Guyton?

The Oklahoma football program recorded its 49th first-round pick in the 88-year history of the NFL Draft with the selection of OT Tyler Guyton late in the opening round of this year's annual player draft on Thursday.

Guyton, who played two seasons at TCU and his final two at Oklahoma, was OU's sixth first-round draft selection in the past seven years. He was one of only three players out of the Big 12 selected in the opening round of the 2024 draft. DT Byron Murphy II was selected 16th overall by the Seattle Seahawks, his Texas teammate, WR Xavier Worthy, was the 28th overall pick of the Kansas City Chiefs and Guyton was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the pick immediately after Worthy.

Only twice in the history of the draft (1962 and 1995) have the Sooners failed to have at least one player selected. And only three times have there been just one Oklahoma player taken in the draft. There is a good chance, however, that the 2024 draft could be the fourth time that has happened.

In a good year, the Sooners would have somewhere in the range of four to six players selected in the seven-round draft process, and Oklahoma had as many as seven players who held Pro Days in Norman and a trio who participated in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis February.

Most of the innumerable mock drafts that have been conducted since the end of the 2023 college football season in January have included no more than two other Oklahoma Sooners besides Guyton among the 256 selections in this year's draft process.

The best chance for any further Sooner players to be selected in the 2024 draft will be in rounds four through seven, which will come on Saturday. Offensive guard Walter Rouse and center Andrew Raym are the Sooners who have the best odds of being selected of the remaining 2024 OU NFL Draft prospects, but if they are picked it probably won't be any earlier than the sixth of seventh round.

WR Drake Stoops is easily the fan favorite among the Sooner faithful to have his name called somewhere in the draft, and several draft analysts have said that he could be a steal if any NFL team would take a chance with him.

A former walk-on to the Oklahoma football program, the son of former OU head coach Bob Stoops, is on the small size for a wide receiver (5-foot, 10 inches and 189 pounds), but he is not short on effort and toughness. He lead OU in receiving this past season with 84 catches and was No. 3 in the Big 12 in that department.

One draft analyst, Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball, rated Stoops as the No. 23 receiver in this year's draft class and has given the OU wide receiver as a third-to-fifth-round grade. Stoops has been profiled as a Wes Welker, Julian Edelman-type receiver (two former NFL players who were highly successful as slot receivers.

Chances are not great that Stoops will hear his name called in the 2024 draft, but he will still have his opportunity to play at the next level as an undrafted free agent.

The other draft-eligible Sooner players who are hopeful of the opportunity to make an NFL team, either as through the draft or as a free agent are DL Rondell Bothroyd, OG McKade Mettauer, TE Austin Stogner, DL Jonah Laulu and edge rusher Marcus Stripling. The likelihood of any of this group of five Sooners being drafted is low.