Louisville Football: Projections for Cardinals in the 2018 NFL Draft
By Jacob Lane
Louisville football has a strong history of getting players drafted in the top rounds of the NFL draft. That trend will no doubt continue next week during the 2018 NFL Draft.
Charlie Strong and Bobby Petrino have both recruited, developed, and sent a lot of talent off to the NFL, which is a reason that Louisville football is busting onto the national scene. It’s incredible to look and see names like Teddy Bridgewater, DeVante Parker, Calvin Pryor, James Sample, James Burgess, Eli Rogers, Jamon Brown, Preston Brown, Harry Douglas, Bilal Powell, Sheldon Rankins, and plenty of others having extremely successful careers in the NFL.
While Louisville only had two players drafted in the 2017 NFL Draft (Colin Holba, Joshua Harvey-Clemons), both of which were in the later parts of the draft, it doesn’t take away from the success they’ve experienced over the last 10 years.
Since 2009 Louisville football has had six players drafted in the first round, and a total of 23 players drafted. In 2014 the Cards saw three players drafted in the first round of the draft, which was tied with Texas A&M for the most that year.
Below is the list of players drafted in the first round alone since 2009.
Player Year
Sheldon Rankins 2016
DeVante Parker 2015
Calvin Pryor 2014
Marcus Smith 2014
Teddy Bridgewater 2014
Eric Wood 2009
Louisville is expected to have several players drafted in this years draft, including two, maybe even three first rounders.
Here’s an update on each player who is “projected” to be drafted, or has a chance at being drafted during the 7 round, 256 pick NFL draft.