The Maryland football program hasn’t had a player chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft since the Oakland Raiders selected former Terps wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh-overall pick in 2009.
Heyward-Bey was the first of five Terps to be picked that year. No more than two Terps have been selected in any draft since then.
But during the 2016 NFL Draft, which starts Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, this year’s Maryland draftees could end the latter streak.
While none of the program’s draft-eligible players are slated to be first-round picks, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, defensive back Sean Davis, defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson and kicker Brad Craddock all have the chance to join an NFL team by the end of the weekend.
“I’m just excited to hear my name called,” Ngakoue said in a release. “The stress will be replaced with a lot of joy and happiness.”
Ngakoue and Davis have moved up CBSSports.com’s draft boards since Maryland’s Pro Day on March 30. The website suggests Davis will go in the second round — the highest projection among the former Terps — and projects Ngakoue as a third- or fourth-round pick.
The 6-foot-2, 255-pound Ngakoue is coming off a junior season in which he set the program’s single-season record with 13.5 sacks and earned first-team Big Ten honors.
Davis, meanwhile, moved to cornerback last season after playing safety for the majority of his career. In 12 starts, he led the team with 70 solo tackles.
Ngakoue, a Bowie native, plans to watch the draft with a small group at his mother’s house, while Davis’ viewing party will likely be at his parents’ home in Temple Hills. If both are selected, the duo would become the second and third in-state players, respectively, to be drafted out of the Maryland program in the past two seasons. Last year, the Minnesota Vikings drafted former Good Counsel and Terps wide receiver Stefon Diggs in the fifth round.
“It means a lot because there could be a few of us going into the NFL this year,” Ngakoue said in a release. “It shows a lot of the local kids in the DMV that they can stay home and still get to the NFL.”
Jefferson, a Pittsburgh native, and Craddock, who hails from Australia, are the other two who many experts believe could land with an NFL team during the draft.
Jefferson played alongside Ngakoue on the defensive line in 2015, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors after leading his position group with 39 tackles and finishing second on the team with 6.5 sacks. This came a year after the 6-foot-3, 289-pounder tore his ACL three games into the season. CBSSports.com has Jefferson as a fringe seventh-round pick.
That site doesn’t provide a prediction for Craddock, but various media outlets believe he’ll land on an NFL roster, regardless of whether he’s drafted. Craddock had a career-best season as a junior in 2014, winning the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s best kicker. He went 8-for-10 on field goals in his senior campaign before missing the final three games with a hand injury.
Scouts and the media had a chance to see the four players compete in drills at Maryland’s Pro Day. Each prospect worked to impress the spectators, knowing a quality performance could improve their draft stock before the event.
Now, the players are excited for the next step of their football careers, starting with the draft this weekend.
“It’s up to the coaches, but I’m going to be happy wherever I land,” Davis said at Pro Day. “I feel like I should be off the board relatively early, but we’ll see. We’ll wait and see.”
