Michigan Players on active roster, NFL Championships
Michigan is extremely well represented in the NFL championship games next weekend.
Green Bay Packers
- Jon Runyan
- Rashan Gary
- Ben Braden
Kansas City Chiefs
- Frank Clark
- Mike Danna
- Chad Henne
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Tom Brady
I haven't checked, but that is possibly more than any other college team, certainly many more than OSU. Of course, right now I want to see Michigan putting many more players in the NFL.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:04 AM ^
Agreed. I did a review a while back on Michigan QBs in the NFL. Tom Brady and Chad Henne are carrying serious water for us right now.
Since Henne went pro, the ONLY Michigan QBs to stick on pro teams were Denard, who couldn't throw a pass any more (thanks Brady Hoke!) and Jake "Jake Ruddock" Rudock.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:28 AM ^
Denard wasn't an NFL QB for a lot of reasons, namely being a sub par passer regardless of what you think Brady Hoke did to him. Denard trained at the combine at RB/WR and knew he would never be an NFL QB. I think the only bad part about his career was the lack of ingenuity on the behalf of NFL coaches. He should have been used better in the NFL for sure. There are so many things you can do with a RB/WR who has a decent ability to throw. Gadget plays are a minimum.
Todd Collins was in the NFL for a while and started some games for the Washington Redskins about 10 years ago. He had some good performances but was mostly relegated to backup duties.
Elvis Grbac actually played quite a bit and had some really good season but he was mostly average. He started a lot of games, especially considering he was an 8th round draft pick.
Brian Griese had a long career in the league, though much like Grbac he didn't accomplish much. Had some solid years as a starter in Denver though.
I think there was one more guy... can't place his name... oh wait JIM FREAKING HARBAUGH. 14 year career! Voted comeback player of the year, AFC player of the year, and made the pro bowl in 1995! Dude!
January 19th, 2021 at 1:51 AM ^
Denard was probably not an NFL qb but he was not a sub par passer, at least for the RichRod years. RR, for all his many faults, didn’t try to fit that particular square peg in a round hole and built the offense around what Denard could do
January 19th, 2021 at 1:59 AM ^
Nerve damage in his throwing arm didn't help. Just saying.
January 19th, 2021 at 8:03 AM ^
Here's hoping that Jim is named Comeback Coach of the year this coming season, assuming there is a season.
January 19th, 2021 at 8:29 AM ^
The nerve damage in DRob's arm ended any shot he had at QB, but don't be serious about his 'lack' of passing ability previous to that. He is, currently, on various top 10 lists in Michigan football history:
- Career completions: #7 (ahead of #6 Brady and #9 Harbaugh)
- Career passing yards: #5 (ahead of #8 Harbaugh and #9 Brady)
- Career passing TDs: #4 (ahead of #10 Brady, JH not on list)
The idiots that say he couldn't pass, or 'wasn't a QB', are ignoring that he was a version of Lamar Jackson before Jackson was a thing. In Rich Rod's offense, he was devastating. Hoke tried to turn him into Tom Brady - stand in the pocket and look around. That, he could not do. Hoke broke him and Gardner in that way - they both would have continued excelling in Rich Rods offense.
BTW, DRob was a pretty good runner, too. He's only 45 yards behind Mike Hart in career rushing yards, and leads him in every other category... (DRob for RB coach?)
(Disclaimer: I am not a Rich Rod fan, it was time for him to go...)
January 19th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
People who sneer at Denard's ability as a passer never watched Michigan legend Ricky Leach, who for some reason rarely gets trashed for his shortcomings in that department.
January 19th, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
I get what you're saying about Leach. But he also played when, for many coaches, a forward pass was anathema. When you play in the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust era, you're probably not going to put up big passing numbers.
January 19th, 2021 at 10:48 AM ^
Dude. In my Diary, I mentioned every single one of those players. And all the other ones you've forgotten about. My point, since you don't seem to have gotten it, is that when Brady and Henne are gone, Michigan won't have pro QBs they can point to for recruits.
And Brady Hoke ruined Denard, both by what he asked Denard to do and by ignoring an injury which ended Denard's ability to throw.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
I think you're missing the point, which was that from Harbaugh to Henne, we had an amazing run of putting QBs into the NFL, but since Henne there have been almost none, and that once Brady and Henne retire, that'll be the end of our NFL QBs unless things turn around in a hurry.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:36 AM ^
I don't get to watch much of the NFL. I know Brady and Henne's situations. Frank Clark starts? I assume Danna is a backup? What about the guys in Green Bay? Do any of them start? No idea how Rashan Gary has been doing since I heard they'd use him as a sort of 3-4 OLB when he was drafted.
January 19th, 2021 at 5:35 AM ^
After a slow start to his pro career, Gary is starting to heat up. He’s earned more pt as the year moved along, and last weekend had 1.5 sacks in their playoff game.
January 19th, 2021 at 6:28 AM ^
Gary had a pretty rocky rookie year but did real well this year. He had the clinching sack on 4th down last week vs LA.
January 19th, 2021 at 10:17 AM ^
Green Bay has a couple of really good rush ends/LBs that start in front of Gary currently. Gary has been slowly coming along this year after a rough rookie year. As other have mentioned, he had a great playoff game. PFF rated him the highest among GB defenders.
January 19th, 2021 at 7:02 AM ^
Gary doesn’t count because he was a bust in college. Runyon only plays because of his dad. Braden doesn’t count because he didn’t have a ‘commitable’ Spartan offer. Clark was kicked off the team. Danna was a transfer and counts for CMU. Henne never beat OSU and needed miracles to beat MSU. Brady doesn’t count because everyone wanted Henson. Also, congrats to former Spartan Nick Foles on his Super Bowl win!
-RCMB
January 19th, 2021 at 7:26 AM ^
And more on the full rosters (practice/opt out of season or injured)
KC Patrick Omanath and Taco
GBay Devin Funchess
TBay Matt Wile Punter
looks like Buffalo is the only NFL team without a Wolverine somewhere on their "full rosters" active.pup,IR,practice squad
https://www.nfl.com/teams/
January 19th, 2021 at 8:30 AM ^
Patrick Omameh...
Spell check got you!!
January 19th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Omanath is a word? I think just bad spelling got him.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
Welcome to India.
January 19th, 2021 at 7:34 AM ^
This is all great news and all, but we need to beat OSU...
January 19th, 2021 at 8:09 AM ^
Not players and likely not fully exhaustive but:
Adam Stenavich - Offensive Line coach (Green Bay)
Larry Foote - Linebackers coach (Tampa Bay)
Harold Goodwin - Assistant Head Coach (Tampa Bay)
John Spytek - Director of Player Personnel (Tampa Bay)
January 19th, 2021 at 9:26 AM ^
Is that a faint semblance of a Lloyd coaching tree?
January 19th, 2021 at 8:27 AM ^
The first conference championship game for most.
January 19th, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
If Mahomes isn't able to play this weekend, there will definitely be some chit chat about there being 2 Michigan QBs starting this weekend. Could be a nice little recruiting plug for us
January 19th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
Mississippi State has 4 current Packers: Elgton Jenkins, Preston Smith, Hunter Bradley, and Will Bradley
and five current Chiefs: Darryl Williams, Marinas Rankin, Braxton Hoyett, Chris Jones, and Willie Gay
but no Bills or Buccaneers.
They will have either 0, 4, 5, or 9 Super Bowl participants.