Vernon
Broughton.
Vernon
Broughton.
Texas· 6'5"· 311 lb
"A long, high-cut base end with a dominant 2024 campaign, Broughton's value hinges on whether his late-career production was a fluke or a sign of finally reaching his immense potential."Pre-draft read
A five-year Texas project who only became a full-time starter as a senior, Broughton played mostly as a base 4i/5-technique with the frame to kick inside on passing downs. His game starts with length and extension: he locks out on down blocks, keeps his chest clean, and stacks the point of attack instead of getting washed.
As a rusher he is a builder, not a burster. The get-off is average and he rarely wins in two steps, but the long-arm and club-swim show up when he keeps his pads down, and he converts speed to power against guards who set soft. Against the run he can two-gap in a pinch. The signature is late-down disruption from a rangy frame that plays longer than most interior blockers can handle.
Multiple front that lets him play base end on early downs and slide to 3-technique in obvious passing situations.
Year 1: two-down base end in a rotation. Ceiling: starting five-technique who plays 45 snaps a game and gives you situational interior rush.
Attacking one-gap penetration front that asks him to win with get-off and quickness on the snap, where his average first step erases his length advantage.
He is a control player first — pay him in gap integrity, not in sacks.
Vernon Broughton Highlights at Texas
Team-produced draft reel showing his gap control and late-down finish.
Vernon Broughton College Football Highlights | Texas Defensive Tackle
Draft film cut focused on his long-arm and extension against SEC interior blockers.
Vernon Broughton Texas Highlights
Senior-season compilation including the Texas A&M two-sack game.
Broughton is a size-and-length interior defender whose evaluation was always about projection rather than production. He looks the part at 6-5 and 311 pounds with 35-inch arms, and the tape shows a defender who can hold his gap, reset the line of scrimmage, and play with functional power once he gets extended. The football identity is that of a rotational base end in an odd front or a two-down 3-technique in a four-man look.
The context matters. He was a top-100 recruit who took four years to earn a starting job behind a loaded Texas front, then broke out in 2024 with 39 tackles, five tackles for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries in 16 games. The signature game came against Texas A&M: two sacks and the game-sealing fumble recovery, worth SEC co-defensive player of the week. The flags were obvious too, with a career that produced only 6.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss across 56 games.
The board had him as a Day 3 to late Day 2 developmental piece, and he did not run drills at the combine after withdrawing from the Senior Bowl, so teams were buying frame, SEC exposure and one good season. New Orleans taking him at 71 was a bet on traits over resume in a line room that needed young bodies.
- 01
Frame and length
6-5, 311 pounds with 35-inch arms gives him the extension to keep blockers off his chest and control gaps at the point of attack.
- 02
Anchor versus down blocks
sinks his hips and resets the line of scrimmage rather than getting displaced when doubled inside.
- 03
Long-arm conversion
turns a soft guard set into backward movement by locking out one arm and walking the pocket down.
- 04
Late-down disruption
flashes hand counters and finish, most visibly in the 2024 Texas A&M game with two sacks and a fumble recovery.
- 05
Positional flex
took snaps from 3-technique to 5-technique for Texas, which fits multiple-front defenses that rotate alignments by down.
- 01
Thin production
6.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss over 56 college games for a player with this much physical ability.
- 02
Average get-off
rarely wins with first-step quickness, so pressure arrives late and depends on the blocker making a mistake.
- 03
High-cut leverage
plays tall against low, compact interior blockers and can be rooted out when his pads rise.
- 04
Late developer with no testing
one year as a full-time starter, no combine drills, and he withdrew from the Senior Bowl invitation.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Texas | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Texas | 12 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Texas | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Texas | 14 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Texas | 16 | 39 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 56 | 67 | 6.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational interior body who holds up on early downs without meaningful rush production.
Long base end who carved out a decade-long starting role on extension and gap control.
Big frame, thin production, bounced between rosters as a depth piece.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New Orleans drafted him into a defensive line rotation that needed young interior bodies, and he opened 2025 behind Bryan Bresee and Davon Godchaux. He was inactive in Week 1, then debuted in Week 2 against San Francisco and put three tackles on the sheet before a hip injury ended his night. The Saints placed him on injured reserve on September 17, closing his rookie season at one game and three tackles with no other statistical footprint.
That leaves the evaluation exactly where it was on draft night, only a year later. There is nothing in one half of football to confirm or kill the projection, and the developmental clock is tighter for a rookie who turned 24 that summer with a single season of real starting experience anywhere. The honest read is that 2026 camp is his actual rookie year: if the get-off and hand plan look sharper, the length is still worth a rotation spot; if not, a third-round pick with 13 tackles for loss in five college years becomes a hard roster case.