After ‘up-and-down’ UK career, Jager Burton expected to be picked in NFL draft
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jager Burton shifted from projected backup to starting center for Kentucky in the 2025 season.
- As a senior he allowed two sacks and nine pressures across a team-high 830 snaps.
- The Athletic projects Burton to go in the fifth or sixth round, and he offers guard and center versatility.
A year ago, Jager Burton’s time as a starting offenisve lineman for his hometown school appeared to be coming to an end.
Burton had endured an inconsistent 2024 season as Kentucky’s left guard, and UK coaches had prioritized former Arkansas guard Joshua Braun as a transfer portal addition to start opposite returning right guard Jalen Farmer. Burton entered spring practice before his final college season as a projected backup who could fill in at any of the three interior line positions in a pinch.
But when former UK coach Mark Stoops opened spring practice to reporters for the first time, Burton was working with the first team offense line. Instead of returning to guard, he was operating as the No. 1 center, a position he had attempted to play in 2023 before coaches abandoned the experiment.
Even then, it looked like Burton might just be keeping the center spot warm while Western Kentucky transfer Evan Wibberley, another top portal target for the staff, worked to gain needed strength in an SEC workout regimen.
Rather than cede the job to Wibberley, Burton thrived. Now, just more than a year after it looked like his playing career might be nearing an inauspicious end, Burton is expected to be picked in this weekend’s NFL draft.
“I had a very up-and-down career,” Burton said at the NFL combine last month. “...I went through adversity. I never wavered from it. I showed up every day, came to work, whether it was going good, bad.
“I think for me, that’s just my biggest selling point. I know what happens when adversity hits. I know how I’m going to react. I know how to get over it.”
As a senior, Burton surrendered just two sacks and nine pressures in a team-high 830 snaps. He was flagged for just two penalties while starting at center in all 12 games. Burton was credited with 23 knockdown blocks.
That performance was often overshadowed by Kentucky’s general offensive struggles and the ever-present focus on whether Stoops would return as coach.
Burton backed it up with a strong showing at the NFL combine, running the 40-yard dash in 4.94 seconds, sixth-fastest of all offensive linemen at the event.
“He’s been a great leader for us, a very solid player, and then taken it to another level this year at center,” Stoops said late in the 2025 season. “A lot of stress on him and a lot of pressure, and he’s done very well in anchoring that offensive line, so he’s been very good.”
The Athletic ranks Burton as the No. 9 center in the 2026 draft class. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper ranks him 10th at the position.
Burton may have to wait until Saturday to hear his name called — The Athletic projects him to go in the fifth or sixth round — but his versatility should make him a safe bet to be picked in the three-day draft.
That versatility was in question a year ago when Burton had struggled at guard and looked incapable of playing center. When former UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser, now with the Miami Dolphins, moved him to the position in 2023, he lasted just three games before moving back to right guard.
As a senior, Burton erased the bad memory of that performance, showing scouts he could play guard or center at the next level.
Now, the former Frederick Douglass High School star could join a string of UK centers to play in the NFL that includes current pros Luke Fortner and Eli Cox. Former UK teammates Jalen Farmer, Kendrick Law, Seth McGowan, David Gusta and Braun could also be drafted this week.
“I was a highly rated guy coming out of high school, and I put a lot of expectations on myself, along with I knew there were a lot of expectations from coaches and fans, honestly,” he said. “So for me, I just had pressure on me since I was like 16, and I didn’t feel like I lived up to my standard when I was younger, especially at Kentucky.
“I did take it personally in the sense of myself. Just kept showing up and came to work, and I ended up, I feel, having a really big, good year, kind of living up to what I was supposed to be this year. I am really proud of the way I fought through that adversity.”