First Round Misery for Jenkins, for Oklahoma State, for the Big 12

STILLWATER – Forget the mock drafts, forget the Pro Day performance that included a 4.99 in the forty and 36 reps on the bench press test, and forget the fact that Teven Jenkins did not allow a single sack in his last two seasons of college football. Maybe the NFL computed that there weren’t that many credible pass rushers that Jenkins faced. You could make that inference because the NFL did not take a single player from the Big 12 Conference in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

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Roger Goodell never had a card to read on Thursday night with a Big 12 player listed.

Jenkins was listed as a selection in almost all of the first-round mock drafts leading up Thursday night’s opening round in Cleveland. The 6-6, 320-pound Jenkins was most often projected to go to the Chicago Bears with the 20th selection. The problem there was the Bears traded up to the 11th pick and took Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.

There were four offensive tackles picked in the first round as Penei Sewell went to the Detroit Lions with the seventh pick, Rashawn Slater of Northwestern went to the Chargers with the 13th pick, the Las Vegas Raiders picked Alabama’s Alex Leatherwood at 17, and the Minnesota Vikings nabbed Christian Darrisaw with the 23rd pick.

Both Tulsa (Zaven Collins to Arizona with 16th pick) and Houston (Peyton Turner to New Orleans with 29th selection) had first-round picks when the Big 12 was completely shut out.

North Dakota State with Trey Lance had more first round picks than the Big 12.

There were more Penn State linebackers that opted out of last season drafted in the first round than the Big 12 as there were two with Micah Parsons to Dallas and Jason Oweh to Baltimore.

Here’s our updated projections on where Oklahoma State draft prospects will be picked as the second and third rounds will take place on Friday.