{"id":265856,"date":"2026-04-25T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265856\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:31:12","slug":"texas-longhorns-mock-draft-projections-for-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265856\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Longhorns mock draft projections for Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas football<\/a> hasn’t enjoyed the success this year it saw in the previous two NFL drafts<\/a>. With Day 2<\/a> history and Day 3 coming up, just one Longhorn has been selected.<\/p>\n

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The Tennessee Titans made a splash by trading up in the second round to take Longhorns linebacker\u00a0Anthony Hill Jr. <\/a>with the 60th overall pick. No, Texas won’t approach its program record of having 12\u00a0players<\/a> picked last year or 11 the year before, but there’s still time. Several other Longhorns should be selected on the draft’s final day.<\/p>\n

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GOLDEN: Where our columnist thinks these Texas players will land<\/a><\/p>\n

MORE: Tennessee Titans take Texas LB Anthony Hill Jr. No. 60 overall in 2026 NFL draft<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2026 NFL Draft <\/a>concludes Saturday with rounds four through seven. There are still UT players on both sides of the ball\u00a0who could hear their name called, and those who don’t could earn spots with a team as undrafted free agents. Here are a few players to keep an eye on:<\/p>\n

\"Defensive<\/p>\n

Defensive back Malik Muhammad talks to the press during Texas Longhorns pro day on campus at the University of Texas, March 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Malik Muhammad, CB<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Texas defensive backs Michael Taaffe (left) and Malik Muhammad seen in a collage.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Muhammad was\u00a0projected by many to be drafted on the second day, but he could go early Round 4.\u00a0Predraft, CBS had him as the No. 65 prospect overall with ESPN, Pro Football Focus\u00a0and Tankathon ranking him 110th, 105th and 82nd respectively.\u00a0 American-Statesman columnist Cedric Golden expected Muhammad<\/a> to go to the Carolina Panthers in the third round. ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid<\/a> also pegged the Dallas-area native as a third-rounder while NFL.com’s Chad Reuter <\/a>made him the second-round pick of the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

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Lauded for his combine testing and cover skills, Muhammad battled injury in 2025 and\u00a0picked off just three passes despite playing heavy snaps over three seasons.\u00a0ESPN’s Matt Miller did a Day 2 mock draft<\/a> after Thursday and had Muhammad selected No. 74 overall. According to\u00a0ESPN’s best player available<\/a> list,\u00a0Muhammad is the fourth-best prospect left and third-best cornerback as of Saturday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack\u00a0Endries, TE<\/p>\n

Endries was pegged as a Day 2 pick at best, but more likely a third-day selection. CBS had him as its 107th-best prospect predraft and ESPN had him at No. 117. PFF and Tankathon pegged him 131st and 154th, respectively. Both Reid and Golden have\u00a0Endries headed to the Denver Broncos in the fourth round. The Los Angeles Chargers are Reuter’s landing spot for Endries in the sixth round. He’s the 32nd-best player available, and No. 2 tight end, now that the third round is over, per ESPN.<\/p>\n

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Michael\u00a0Taaffe, Texas safety\u00a0<\/p>\n

The walk-on out of Westlake High School exceeded all expectations at Texas, racking up 222 tackles, seven interceptions and 21 passes defended throughout his career. Taaffe isn’t the most explosive athlete, but he makes up for it with a nose for the football and elite instincts.\u00a0 His rankings range from No. 170 to\u00a0 No. 195 for the four outlets, making him a fifth or sixth round option.<\/p>\n

He’s the 80th-ranked player available, according to ESPN,\u00a0and the eighth-ranked safety. Taaffe\u2019s value to the Texas defense proved most evident when he missed a month in midseason with a broken hand; without the safety directing traffic, the Longhorns had trouble lining up in the secondary and endured a rash of coverage busts.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns defensive back Michael Taaffe (16) celebrates an interception during the game against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 in Gainesville, Florida.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

DJ Campbell, OL<\/p>\n

Campbell was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, but his college career didn’t quite match the projection. Still, he could provide depth and experience for a team looking for a late-round flier. PFF and Tankathon rank him among the best 180 prospects in the draft, but he’s ranked in the mid-200s by ESPN and CBS.<\/p>\n

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He made over 40 starts for Texas at several positions. Among the players left in the draft, he is ranked the No. 14 guard by ESPN and No. 166 overall. Reid left him off his seven-round mock, but Reuter has him listed as a Day 3 pick. \u00a0Golden predicted Campbell to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round.<\/p>\n

Trey Moore, edge<\/p>\n

Moore move from the edge to linebacker in his final college season, but he projects as a defensive end at the next level. He was unranked by Tankathon ad was ranked No. 212 overall by CBS. ESPN was a bit higher on Moore, ranking him 150th while PFF ranked him 182nd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Bengals will take Moore on Saturday to help filled the gap left by Trey\u00a0Hendrickson, Golden wrote. Reid has him as a Round 5 selection by the Eagles and Reuter has him as a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys. Heading into Saturday, he’s ESPN fourth-best edge rusher available and 59th-best overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas football hasn’t enjoyed the success this year it saw in the previous two NFL drafts. With Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21872,261,6183,27,14539,19650,29,537,536,28],"class_list":["post-265856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-college-football","tag-nfl-draft","tag-texas","tag-texas-a-m-aggies","tag-texas-a-m-aggies-football","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}