Mizzou’s Elliott picked by Browns in NFL Draft’s 3rd round; Albert O to Broncos in 4th
The first Missouri Tiger off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft was defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, selected Friday in the third round (No. 88 overall) by the Cleveland Browns.
Elliott’s selection makes it 16 straight NFL Drafts in which a Mizzou player has been selected. Elliott was the only former Tiger to be drafted Friday, when the second and third rounds of the draft took place. Elliott’s highly regarded teammate, tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round on Saturday.
Elliott, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound team captain last season, declared early for this year’s draft. A talented player in the trenches, he was impressive as a full-time starter in 2019, recording 44 tackles and 2.5 sacks en route to a second-team All-America selection.
A former four-star recruit, Elliott started his college career at Texas, playing as a reserve during the 2016 season. He transferred to Mizzou after former Longhorns coach Charlie Strong was fired. In Columbia, Elliott rejoined Mizzou defensive line coach Brick Haley, who’d coached him in and recruited him to Austin.
Once he got to MU, the Missouri City, Texas, native sat out his first season with the Tigers in 2017. He developed into a solid player as a redshirt sophomore in 2018, earning All-SEC second-team recognition from Pro Football Focus.
He made a statement in the Tigers’ 2018 regular-season finale against Arkansas, collecting five tackles (four for loss), three sacks and a forced fumble.
The 6-foot-4 defensive tackle is projected to be a potential NFL starter within his first two years; his flexibility and explosiveness are seen as pluses.
The Browns recently hired a new head coach in Kevin Stefanski. Former Mizzou defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson is also on Cleveland’s roster.
Other MU players hoping to be drafted Saturday include quarterback Kelly Bryant; offensive linemen Yasir Durant, Trystan Colon-Castillo and Tre’Vour Wallace-Sims; linebacker Cale Garrett; cornerback DeMarkus Acy; punter/kicker Tucker McCann; and wide receivers Richaud Floyd, Jonathan Nance and Johnathon Johnson.
In various recent mock drafts, Acy, Colon-Castillo, Durant and others were projected as later-round picks. Saturday’s final rounds start at 11 a.m. and conclude with the so-called Mr. Irrelevant, pick No. 255 in Round 7.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 10:30 PM.