Syracuse Football: SU 1st round NFL Draft drought will end in 2021

When will we see a Syracuse football player taken in the first round? Well, we asked the fans and they had some interesting answers.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Syracuse football player walk across the stage and embrace the NFL commish with an awkward hug. It hasn’t happened since 2012 (Chandler Jones) and 2013 (Justin Pugh).

Although prior to that double-dip it had been over a decade since Syracuse had a first-round selection. In the entire 21st century, there have only been five former Orange players taken in the opening round.

For context in that same span, the Alabama Crimson Tide have had 31 players selected. When will we see the next Syracuse player taken in the opening round of the draft?

After the 2019 NFL Draft concluded with another SU-less first round, we decided to ask the fans what they thought and here were the results via our Twitter page:

Andre Cisco

• This shouldn’t be overly surprising. Andre Cisco was expected to make an immediate impact, but I don’t think even his biggest supporters thought he would lead college football in interceptions with seven as a freshman. The sky is the limit for this kid and the great challenge for Dino Babers and his staff moving forward is to make sure Andre’s head doesn’t explode from all the hype that is being thrown his way. Despite all the success he had in 2018, there’s still more he can improve on and that should be scary for anyone facing the Orange in 2019 and beyond.

Alton Robinson

• Alton Robinson has come a very long way to get to this point. He finished second in the fan voting here and this is his final opportunity in Orange with him being a senior in 2019. If he can put up another double-digit sack season, perhaps SU will end that first round drought a few years sooner than we thought.

Tommy DeVito

• The hype train is real for Tommy and I thought he would get even more fan love than he did finishing in third place. But nonetheless, DeVito has the tools to be the first Syracuse quarterback taken in the first round since Donovan McNabb was the second overall pick back in 1999. He’s got a ton of tools around him in 2019 and we’ll see if the kid can live up to the hype of being the savior of the program.

Kendall Coleman

• Now I get it, it’s a poll, someone had to finish last. But I feel like this is the national optic as well: people haven’t noticed Kendall Coleman and I ask why? I spoke with a national scout at the Syracuse vs Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium late in the season and he said Coleman just popped up on his radar late. Mark my words: Kendall Coleman will be a fringe first-rounder in the 2020 NFL Draft. As a freshman he played in 12 games and started 11 in the ACC, that doesn’t happen every day, this kid is special.