Ranking Baylor NFL Draft Departures From Most Impactful to Least Impactful

The Baylor Bears had four players head off to the NFL after this weekend’s NFL Draft.

In a shocking development, the two players drafted were likely not the ones that were on your bingo card. Defensive lineman Jackie Marshall and wide receiver Josh Cameron were the two players who heard their names called during the draft.

Tight end Michael Trigg and quarterback Sawyer Robertson both fell out of the draft before signing with the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively.

Regardless of where those players ended up, and when they heard their names called, they were not coming back to Waco for another season.

They are off to the next phase of their football careers, and the Bears are now tasked with replacing them. So taking into account with who is on the roster, and who is not, what players are the most impactful departures for Baylor for the 2026 season? Here’s what we have ranked in order from least impactful, to most impactful.

Defensive Lineman Jackie Marshall

Marshall was not on a lot of radars prior to the draft, so naturally, he was the first player from Baylor taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round.

Marshall had a big showing at the NFL Combine. Marshall topped all defensive linemen in the 20-yard shuffle with a nice 4.68-second time. The next best defensive lineman was Kaleb Proctor out of Southeastern Louisiana, with 4.71 seconds. Proctor was a fourth round pick by the Arizona Cardinals There were two offensive linemen who beat Marshall's time: Gennings Dunker (4.63) and Spencer Fano (4.67). Those players both went before Marshall as well.

To replace him at Baylor it will likely be done by committee, the Bears have a larger goal in mind.

"Yeah, honestly, it's kind of what you said. It's havoc," said new defensive line coach Jacori Greer. "You know, we talk about creating negative plays. And it may not be a sack. It may be getting the quarterback off the spot. It's being disruptive. Every single play we're out there. And so, if we can consistently do that against a good old line like we have, I feel really good about playing other teams in the 12th."

Tight End Michael Trigg

From a Baylor perspective, Trigg going undrafted was the biggest surprise of the weekend. There were some publications that had Trigg projected to go in the top-100 at one point during the predraft process.

“He needs to cut down on the drops, but it looks like he’s catching a Nerf football when he “little brothers” defenders at the catch point. He is more competitive than dynamic with the ball in his hands but is a threat for extra yards on As a blocker, he flashes adequate strength but little consistency in his execution,” said Dane Brugler in The Beast

Instead, he went undrafted and now will try and make his name with the Dallas Cowboys.

Baylor will also have the difficult task of replacing him.

Luckily, they were able to grab a tight end in the transfer portal who has played with their new quarterback in Tony Livingston.

Livingston had four touchdowns and 227 yards in the past two seasons at Florida. He never had the opportunity to emerge as a true starting tight end at Florida, as he was buried behind several talented prospects. Now, he’s roommates with his new and former quarterback.

The instant rapport that Livingston has should ease some of the loss of Trigg and the dynamic ability he brought to Baylor’s offense.

Quarterback Sawyer Robertson

Quarterback is the toughest position in football to replace. So regardless of what Baylor did in the portal to replace Sawyer Robertson, they knew what Robertson would bring to the team.

DJ Lagway has plenty of talent, but has yet to prove it at the collegiate level, much less in Waco.

The Bears are hoping that Lagway is able to reach his potential and lead another high-powered offense in Waco in a year where they need to win and win big.

Lagway threw for more than 2,200 yards last year with 16 touchdown passes. There are some parts of his game he needs to clean up, notably with taking care of the football. Lagway threw 14 interceptions last year.

Robertson threw for just under 3,700 yards, 31 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions. He was a significantly better passer than Lagway was a season ago.

That can change with time. Lagway has plenty of room to develop, but the Bears have their work cut out for them to replace their former star signal caller.

Wide Receiver Josh Cameron

Cameron tops our list of the most impactful player to replace simply because of the unknown of those who are set to replace him. When Cameron made his decision to leave for the NFL, the Bears hit the transfer portal and hit it hard. The issue, of course, was that the players they’ve brought in were largely unproven. Top talents like Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith are not hitting the transfer portal, to be fair, but Baylor has some work to do in order to replace Cameron’s production from a season ago.

“A big-bodied target, Cameron is a physical presence on the outside and has above-average ball skills (1.4 percent drop rate). He is an adequate athlete, by NFL standards, who tracks the ball well at every level and tramples defensive backs after the catch,” Dane Brugler of The Athletic said in his draft guide.

Cameron finished the 2025 season with 872 yards on 69 receptions and nine touchdowns, and parlayed that into an invite to the Senior Bowl.

Of the receivers brought in, the biggest name of the transfer bunch is Dre’lon Miller who spent the last two seasons playing for Deion Sanders at Colorado before coming back to Texas. He was not alone, as Baylor brought in another talented transfer in Oklahoma State transfer Gavin Freeman

Miller caught 20 passes for 158 yards and just one touchdown last season for the Buffaloes.

Freeman caught 53 passes for 481 yards and four touchdowns at Oklahoma State.

Essentially, the Bears will be breaking in a whole new offense, which is almost the norm these days in college football, but it still is not ideal.

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