Missouri St. and Northwest Missouri D-linemen picked in 5th, 6th rounds of NFL Draft
Defensive linemen from Missouri State and Northwest Missouri State got on the board in the 2022 NFL Draft.
With the 159th overall selection in Saturday’s fifth round of the draft, the Indianapolis Colts selected Missouri State defensive lineman Eric Johnson.
In the sixth round, the New England Patriots picked defensive lineman Sam Roberts 200th overall.
Johnson, a Plainfield, Illinois native, is the 18th Missouri State player drafted to the NFL and the first Bear to join the league via the draft since 2011, when the Dallas Cowboys picked David Arkin in Round 4.
Johnson is a big guy, standing 6-foot-5 and playing at around 300 pounds, but he remained remarkably healthy throughout most of his college career, appearing in a school-record 55 consecutive games as a five-year starter for Missouri State.
He saw his draft stock soar of late thanks to some head-turning production at the NFLPA Bowl and Senior Bowl. Those performances came after he’d earned All-Missouri Valley second-team recognition for a final college season in which he recorded 43 total tackles, including 6.5 for a loss, and three blocked kicks.
Johnson was a key player for coach Bobby Petrino’s 2020-21 MVFC co-champions squad and 2021 MVFC runners-up.
Meanwhile, the Patriots’ selection of Roberts, a defensive tackle from Waynesville, Mo., makes him the seventh Bearcats player to be drafted into the league. He’s the first Northwest player selected since 2014, when defensive back Brandon Dixon went in the sixth round to the New York Jets.
As last season’s winner of the Cliff Harris Award, given annually to the nation’s small college defensive player of the year, Roberts no doubt gained momentum with strong performances in the Hula Bowl and East-West Shrine Game.
But he really showed what he could do throughout his college career at Maryville, especially in 2021, when his 18 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 13 games garnered him Division II first-team All-America status.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 2:32 PM.