Monday marks the beginning of the 2026 NFL Draft Combine, which will feature a total of seven Longhorns from last year’s team.
The NFL combine is arguably the most singularly important event of a prospective pro’s pre-NFL career. All of these players were baseline good in college. Some are all but locks to be top-10 picks. But after you get past around the first 25 picks or so, the board becomes much more wide open. That’s where the combine comes in.
Our own Joe Cook has already profiled Jack Endries. Let’s talk about the other Longhorn offensive player heading to the combine: DJ Campbell
IOL DJ Campbell
2025 stats: 831 snaps, 1 sack allowed. 19 pressures allowed, 70.9 PFF grade
Campbell’s time at Texas was a bit of a mixed bag that rounded into form in the final year and a half on campus.
Outside of Kelvin Banks, who is already an elite pro, DJ Campbell was the biggest get in the 2022 recruiting class for Steve Sarkisian. Campbell was the No. 1 IOL in the class according to Rivals Industry rankings, a top-12 player in the class, and an absolute behemoth out of the DFW area, entering college at 6’3″, 325 pounds.
With the departure of Junior Angilau and the graduation of Tope Imade, it seemed Campbell may be in line to start in his first year, but fellow freshman Cole Hutson got the nod, with Campbell playing 129 snaps over 7 games.
But by year 2, he had taken over for Hutson, securing the starting spot on the 2023 team that made the CFP. Campbell was good, not great for that team. He struggled in pass pro alongside Cam Williams on the right, and was credited with six sacks against.
Campbell really broke out in the back half of 2024, helping improve an otherwise mediocre run game as a powerful blocker, and generally improving at points in pass pro.
His senior year was expected to be a big one, and he did improve, but an overall poor offensive line overshadowed his play. Still, he flashed with strength and effort, and has rounded into a solid offensive guard heading into the NFL.
Current Stock and Physical Comp
PFF ranks Campbell as the No. 7 guard and No. 144 overall player, a late fifth round pick in value. The mock draft database, which compiles rankings and drafts from across the nation, has him as the No. 16 overall IOL and 178th overall player, a sixth round pick.
Campbell measured in at 6’3″, 321 pounds this year, a spot he’s settled at for most of his career. An easy physical comp for Campbell is Commanders starting guard Chris Paul (not the PG), who measured in at 6’3, 323 in 2022 and was extremely athletic for a G5 guard.
Campbell is at a fine height for guard play, but that weight really stands out. That’s exactly what teams are looking for at the next level to establish a power run game. If he can move, zone run teams may also like him.
Just 15 starting guards in the NFL this year played at over 320 pounds, according to stathead data, and the only team with two was the Green Bay Packers, who had a strong rushing attack this past season.
The Combine itself
The combine is a little tricky for offensive linemen. The tape is already out, and if there’s one position where bad tape is killer, the trenches are the biggest culprit.
The nice thing for Campbell is that the tape is definitely not bad, and there are clear areas for improvement going forward. He’s been taught to pass block effectively, and the real concern last year was that he wasn’t getting the push on the line of scrimmage that you hoped for.
Push isn’t all about your athletic testing, but there are ways for teams to verify if you can actually do it at the next level.
Campbell has two extremely important drills: the bench press and the shuttle drill.
We know he’ll weigh in around that 320, but teams need to see he’s actually strong.
30 reps is the goal for interior offensive linemen. Can he get there?
Explosiveness and agility are big, as well. As I noted earlier, he has to prove to teams that he can both explode at the line and force an NFL defensive tackle forward, as well as move laterally in the zone run game and get to a down defensive end or to the second level.
We’re not all that worried about that part. His five-star status from high school shows that he’s a capable athlete, and we’ve seen him get nasty in big games.
Mentally, there are a few pieces to note. Campbell is a gamer, and he gets up more than anyone in these big games, both positively and negatively.
He truly cares about the sport, you can see, and takes big games personally. But sometimes that can be distracting on the field. He’s been accustomed to make a dumb penalty here and there. How can he balance that out at the next level?
Every interview and rep matters over the whole week, and thankfully for Campbell, his athleticism gets him into the club of intriguing interior offensive linemen for NFL teams. From there, he has to prove he can translate to the next level.
As it stands now, Campbell best fits into a team that won’t need him to start immediately but has aging guards. He would be optimal for a rebuilding team that wants to take a clear approach to get more athletic and open up the run game for an elusive runner. A few teams that come to mind are the Jets, Dolphins, Falcons or Browns.