NFL Draft Stock Watch for UM Players

With the free agency frenzy beginning to die down, we're about a month out from the NFL draft. As far as Wolverines go, here are my general impressions (compiled from places like The Draft Network, Stick To Football, Rotoworld, the Athletic) of where we can expect them to go off the board:

Cesar Ruiz: 1st-2nd Round

Cesar has been shooting up everyone's rankings post-combine and is now considered the top-ranked interior offensive lineman by the majority of draft experts. The only question is with the abundance of quality offensive tackles in this year's draft (perhaps as many as 5-6 OTs will go R1), how early does a team pull the trigger on an interior lineman? At the moment, he's projected to go off the board sometime between picks #20-40, but I think his actual landing spot will be closer to #20 than #40. 

Joshua Uche: 2nd Round

Joshua's draft stock really started climbing during the Senior Bowl, though my feeling he's hit his prospect ceiling a bit in terms of draft projections. He's pretty routinely listed between #5-10 for EDGE rushers depending on the scout. From what I hear, Uche becomes a viable selection the moment Wisconsin's Zack Baun comes off the board (which right now is late R1/early R2). My best is that Joshua's name is called right around pick #50. 

Donovan People-Jones: 2nd-3rd Round

DPJ certainly helped himself at the combine, the only problem is this might be the deepest WR draft of the past decade. DPJ is typically ranked around being the #10 receiver in the class, firmly establishing himself in the third tier of WRs (tier 1 being Jeudy, Lamb, and Ruggs; tier 2 being Shenault, Jefferson, Reagor + some others). I think in any other year, he'd be pretty set in stone as a 2nd round pick. but with the depth of this position, I think he falls to the first half of the third round (around pick #75).

Ben Bredeson: 3rd-4th Round

This interior line class is perhaps the most shallow position in this year's draft class, which opens the door for Bredeson to step in as a team's Day-1 starter at guard. Ben is generally regarded as the consensus next UM player off the board after Ruiz, Uche, and DPJ. 

Jon Runyan: 4th-5th Round

Whenever you get outside the top 100 or so players, it starts getting tough to project if players will get drafted at all, let alone where they will be picked. Like I said, this is a very deep draft at offensive tackle, but a very shallow draft at offensive guard. My gut feeling is that once the top 10 tackles and top 6/7 guards are off the board, a team is going to appreciate Runyan's versatility to play as a swing tackle-guard and substitute anywhere on the offensive line. There's also the belief that Runyan's best natural fit has always been at guard and that he played tackle at UM out of necessity, and his movement abilities and potential at guard might catch a team's eye.

Mike Onwenu: 5th-6th Round

Big Mike Onwenu will get dinged a bit because he's not necessarily scheme-versatile, but with his size and strength, he's a natural fit for any team that runs a power-blocking scheme. 

6th Round - 7th Round - UDFA

Khaleke Hudson - Khaleke turned some heads with his strength numbers at the combine, but his struggles in coverage will hurt him severely and his lack of a natural position. We Michigan fans know the amazing special teams player that he is and that will help him get drafted more than anything else. 

Lavert Hill - Lavert is typically ranked between #20-30 for cornerbacks on most post-combine lists. He's being knocked most for his lack of stature/length and his reputation of getting handsy with receivers. Hill could have jumped into the #15-20 range for CBs with a little better athletic testing at the combine, but, at the moment, he's slated to go off the board after more "toolsy" corners like Nebraska Lamar Jackson or MSU's Josiah Scott. 

Sean McKeon - McKeon is considered a well-rounded but unspectacular Michigan tight end in one of the weaker TE classes in recent memory. We saw the Steelers take Gentry in the 5th round last year, so I can see a team rolling the dice on Sean late in the draft, even if his upside is rather low. 

Jordan Glasgow - Jordan had a really nice senior season and has NFL bloodlines... I think the lack of a Michigan pro-day really hurt Jordan's chances at being selected more than almost any other player, but he's got an outside chance at being drafted. 

Mike Danna - Another NFL Combine snub really hurt by the lack of an official pro-day, but teams might look at his stats from his time at Central and saw that he made the jump to Big Ten play pretty well and take a flier on him very late in the draft.

Josh Metellus - Michigan has had a few surprise selections of their safeties in the past: Delano Hill went off the board in the first 100 picks to the Seahawks and Stevie Brown was picked by the Chargers out of nowhere and went on to have a very nice NFL career. I don't think it's likely that Josh gets drafted, but stranger things have happened.

Shae Patterson - Shae hasn't really helped himself all that much in the pre-draft process and finds himself outside the top 10 of most QB scouting lists, but he did test well athletically for QB, so perhaps a team rolls the dice on his traits and picks him toward the end of the draft.