Another first round of the NFL Draft has come and gone and once again, no Nebraska football players were selected. While that’s hardly a surprise, it means that their first round drought has continued for an unfortunately impressive 14 straight seasons.
That’s right, the once proud Nebraska Cornhuskers have fallen on hard times. That’s not a particular surprise. The struggles in the draft directly coincide with the struggles on the field. When the Huskers have gotten NFL talent, it doesn’t tend to get developed. And of course, they haven’t really had a whole lot of chances to develop pro players.
Nebraska desperately searching for a way to end embarrassing NFL Draft drought
That there could be five or six Nebraska football players selected in the next six rounds of this year’s NFL Draft is a testament to the work that Matt Rhule and his staff have put in since they got here. And Rhule himself has even said it’s a testament to Scott Frost’s final few recruiting classes.
There is even a chance that Nebraska could see a player go in the second round for the first time in three years. Ty Robinson certainly seems like the most likely, should that happen, but even he is mostly projected to go in the third round.
The last Nebraska Cornhuskers to be selected in the first round was defensive back Prince Amukamara to the New York Giants. The Huskers have managed to set a school record in the modern era since then.
The longest drought before this current 14-year run since 1970 (the year of the AFL-NFL merger) was the four years between 1975 (Tom Ruud) and 1979 (George Andrews) There were some two and three years breaks along the way, but nothing close to the kind of streak NU is on now.
Should Robinson or Tommi Hill get drafted on Friday it will also break a one-year streak of no Nebraska football players getting selected at all. Those zero players getting drafted in 2024 was just the second time that’s happened in the modern era of the NFL Draft.