What Longhorns need to prove at the NFL Combine: Jack Endries

The 2026 NFL Combine starts Monday in Indianapolis, and seven members of the 2025 Texas Longhorns will be in attendance.

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The combine functions as the most important interview for a young football prospect, and the Longhorns have two offensive players who will look to prove to a NFL franchise that they’re worthy of a selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Here’s what tight end Jack Endries should try to prove in Lucas Oil Stadium next week.

TE Jack Endries

2025 stats: 33 catches, 346 yards, 3 TDs

Endries was a celebrated addition to the 2025 Longhorns after Texas grabbed him out of the transfer portal from Cal. A receiving tight end in the H mold more than an in-line Y, Endries was asked to be a do-it-all tight end for the Longhorns offense anyway.

The receiving ability was regularly on display, especially in the early part of the year. Before conference play started, Endries had seven catches for 106 yards and two scores, with both trips to the end zone taking place in the San Jose State game. He remained a regular target for Arch Manning, but he was often just a checkdown. Against Florida, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, he had five catches for five yards.

The offensive issues in the month of October trickled down to affect Endries. The Longhorns had to figure out how to move the ball, and getting it into the hands of players like Ryan Wingo, Emmett Mosley V, and Parker Livingstone took precedence. The time for checkdowns wasn’t often available to Manning, who would look to gain yards with his legs as opposed to check it down to the tight end in the way Quinn Ewers did with Gunnar Helm so often the year prior.

As the passing offense opened up when Texas deployed its best starting five on the O-line, Endries benefitted. He never found the end zone again in the regular season, but he posted quality stat lines versus Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas. His 54-yard catch and run versus Texas A&M to set up a late touchdown for the Longhorns was one of the highlights of the year.

Endries may have saved his best game for last with a five-catch, 35-yard, one-touchdown day against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. The decision regarding whether to leave Texas after one year or return for 2026 was a tough one for Endries, but he elected to stand on a solid three-year career as a pass-catching tight end and declare for the draft.

He’s a quality prospect as far as receiving tight ends go. Pro Football focus did not assess him with a drop. In his five contested catch opportunities, he hauled in three of them. But he never was much of a downfield threat, with an average depth of target of 8.2 and a yards per route run of 1.07. To compare, Wingo’s ADOT was 12.9 and his yds/rr was 2.35.

Endries will have the chance to showcase his athleticism and hands in drills, but he’ll need to do a couple of things to let professional franchises know he’s worthy of a pick.

First is his measurements have to stack up right. Texas listed him at 6-foot-4 and 236 pounds. That’s the same height Ja’Tavion Sanders had at his combine, but nine pounds lighter.

He’ll also need to post quality strength numbers. The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Harold Fannin Jr. knocked out 22 reps on the bench press at the 2025 combine. Endries was regularly graded as a good blocker by PFF, but that doesn’t do much to show if he was handling things one-on-one or if he was working in concert with others.

If Endries is able to showcase strength while still being one of the more fleet-of-foot tight ends in the class, something reflected in his 124 catches for 1376 yards in three collegiate seasons, he’ll likely find himself in a good position for an early pick in day three.

He is ranked as the No. 7 tight end prospect in the draft according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper behind notable names like Kenyon Sadiq and Max Klare. A good week in Indianapolis and Endries is likely to continue the Longhorns’ run of having a tight end selected in the NFL Draft.