Since Hugh Wolfe was picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1938, the Longhorns football program has had a storied history with the NFL Draft. The program has sent 367 players to the NFL, including 47 first-round picks.
Of course, there are sometimes down years when no players are picked up, as well as bumper years, like 2024, when the Longhorns sent 11 players to the NFL, but the overall impact of the Longhorns is undeniable.
As the current crop of players starts thinking about the 2025 Draft and beyond, it is interesting to look back at what happened ten years previously. At first glance, the 2015 NFL Draft looks like just another good year for Longhorns players, with five picked up in total. Yet, in a way, it also acted as a microcosm for the Draft itself.
The 2015 Draft had a bit of everything for Longhorns players: Soon-to-be Pro Bowl players and Super Bowl winners, careers cut short, players who surprised, and some whose trajectory didn’t turn out the way they’d hoped. Let’s dive in and look back at the five players and where they are now:
Malcolm Brown
Round 1: 32nd Pick by the New England Patriots
Brown was an elite defender for the Longhorns, especially coming to the fore in his junior year in 2014, receiving consensus All-American honors. He quickly became a useful piece for the Patriots and Bill Belichick, and he was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2015. As you might expect when being a Patriot in the 2010s, Brown made several trips to the Super Bowl, and he played in the Pats’ championship-winning games in 2016 and 2018. In total, he would appear in three Super Bowls in four seasons with the Patriots. Brown would then move to the New Orleans Saints for two seasons, followed by a single season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite starting every game for the Jags in the 2021 season, he was released. At 30, he is back in Texas coaching high school football.
Jordan Hicks
Round 2: 20th Pick (84th Overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles
Hicks, who is now with the Cleveland Browns, is now in his tenth season in the NFL, playing as a reliable linebacker for the Eagles, Cardinals, and Vikings alongside Cleveland. He was unlucky to miss Super Bowl LII, where he would have come up against Brown, but an injury meant he had to watch the Eagles’ victory from the sidelines. He has, in our view, gotten better with age. At 32, it would be nice to see him get a few more postseason appearances (as we said, he’s been unlucky with injuries at the wrong time). The NFL odds suggest that’s unlikely with the Browns this season, but regardless of what happens, Hicks has had a fine career.
Mykkelle Thompson
Round 5: 8th Pick (144th Overall) by the New York Giants
A four-year defensive back with over 50 appearances for the Longhorns, Mykkele Thompson’s NFL career didn’t go as he would have hoped. Thompson tore his Achilles tendon in a preseason game before his rookie season truly began, and it would signal a torrid time for injuries for the player in the NFL. By September 2017, he would be released by the Giants, but he was never able to make an impression due to those injuries. He would try out for the New Orleans practice squad in 2018, but again, things wouldn’t work out. He attempted to resurrect his career in Canada, signing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but it didn’t work out north of the border either. Thompson is now retired.
Quandre Diggs
Round 6: 24th Pick (200th Overall) by the Detroit Lions
Proof that Pro-Bowl caliber players can come from the bottom end of the Draft; Quandre Diggs has had a brilliant NFL career thus far. While his first five seasons with the Lions were satisfactory on a personal level, it was his time with the Seattle Seahawks where Diggs’ star really began to shine, getting three Pro-Bowl honors from 2020-2022. He joined the Tennesse Titans for the 2024 season, starting eight games before an injury ruled him out for the rest of the campaign. Undoubtedly, Diggs will be back next season.
Geoff Swaim
Round 7: 29th Pick (246th Overall) by the Dallas Cowboys
Swaim has had something of a journeyman career in the NFL, playing for the Cowboys, Jaguars, Cardinals, Titans, and (currently) Browns. Like Hicks, he picked up injuries at the wrong time, meaning he would miss out on key postseason games, but he can hold his head up high. He made his 100th NFL appearance with the Cardinals last season. He joined the Browns practice squad for this season, and he was promoted to the active roster in October. It’ll be interesting to see whether he can make an impression in a Browns uniform as the season progresses. Swaim could have more to give to the NFL.
