Three Sooners, three huddles, one Sunday

When the 2026 NFL season opens this week, three men who once lined up under center in Norman will do it again on Sundays that actually count. Jalen Hurts, Super Bowl MVP, hosts Washington at the Linc. Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman winner, opens at Cincinnati. Kyler Murray, named Minnesota’s starter over J.J. McCarthy in August, debuts in purple against Green Bay.

That is not a trivia line. It is the latest proof that Oklahoma’s quarterback room has been a professional pipeline for a decade. Hurts spent one season in crimson and left as a Heisman runner-up. Mayfield spent three and left as the face of the program. Murray spent two, won the Heisman, and became the only athlete drafted in the first round of both the MLB and NFL drafts.

They will not be alone. Forty-one former Sooners appear on NFL rosters as of September 7, according to Oklahoma’s official tracker. Creed Humphrey still snaps in Kansas City. CeeDee Lamb still commands Dallas’s offense. Trent Williams, who left Norman in 2009, is still the left tackle every edge rusher in the NFC West has to plan for.

The densest cluster is Monday night. When Denver visits Kansas City, eight Sooners will be in the building: Nik Bonitto, Marvin Mims Jr., and Ben Powers on the Broncos side; Humphrey, R Mason Thomas, James Winchester, Ethan Downs, and Jaydn Ott with the Chiefs. Arrowhead has been a Sooner annex for years. It will be again.

Murray’s situation is the newest. Minnesota signed him in March after Arizona released him, then spent camp choosing between a veteran on a one-year deal and a former top-ten pick who had not seized the job. Kevin O’Connell chose Murray. The first month — Packers at home, Bears on the road, Mayfield in Tampa — will decide whether the bet looks like a bridge or a reboot.

Watch the pocket on Sunday. Somewhere in it, a Sooner will be throwing.