The Wolverine

June-July 2017

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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32 THE WOLVERINE JUNE/JULY 2017 Cornerback Jourdan Lewis was the next Wolverine to come off the board at No. 92 overall, although he lasted much longer than most expected due to a recent arrest. Lewis noted on his post-draft conference call that he thinks all charges will be dropped. Provided he doesn't have to face dis- ciplinary action from the league, he should be in the mix for playing time right away in Dallas, whose secondary was gutted this offseason. "This guy was the best player on the board 30 picks ago, 40 picks ago," ESPN's Todd McShay commented. "He's the best nickel cornerback in this draft. I understand why he fell, but I don't know that there's a better cornerback in terms of cover instincts and the ability to stay in the hip pocket of a receiver." CBS Sports draft expert Dane Bru- gler ranked Lewis 45th overall on his big board of the best available play- ers entering the draft and said Lewis "deserved first-round consideration," dubbing him a "home run" late in the third. The Cowboys felt the same way. "Our guys did a tremendous job researching this situation and doing their due diligence," head coach Jason Garrett said. "What came from it was that we feel really strongly about this player, not only as a player but as a person. Greg Jackson, our secondary coach, was on the staff at Michigan and he knows him well. "We know their coaches well. All the due diligence we did made us feel very comfortable in this situation." The next third-round choice was also a defensive back, but he was a riser not a faller compared to expectations coming into the draft. The Seattle Se- ahawks tabbed Delano Hill with the 95th overall selection, adding another big piece to the league's most intimi- dating secondary. Head coach Pete Carroll noted that Hill brings some position versatility with him, which could help him get on the field early. His special teams skills will also be an asset they plan to utilize. "He looked like a second-round pick in the Ohio State and Michigan State games," Mel Kiper Jr. noted on the ESPN broadcast. "But he didn't always play to that level. Running a 4.47 at the combine at 6-1, 216 [pounds] certainly got everybody's attention." Darboh was also selected by the Se- ahawks to cap the U-M run in the third round, coming off the board at No. 106, to become the first offensive Wolverine drafted in 2017. His unique story — including leav- ing war-torn Sierra Leone to come to the U.S. as a 7-year-old orphan — stood out to the franchise, as well as his on-field talent. "He's young in football and looks like a professional wide receiver," Se- ahawks general manager John Schnei- der said. "That's probably the most amazing thing about his story. We see him as a blue-grit kid that's overcome a ton in his life. … He's one of those kids that checks off all the boxes." DAY-THREE DRAFTEES Michigan didn't have to wait long until day three of the draft, which fea- tured rounds 4-7, got some maize-and- blue flavor with Gedeon going to the Minnesota Vikings with the 14th pick of the fourth round (No. 120 overall). After waiting his turn to man the middle of the Wolverine defense, the linebacker excelled, leading the team with 106 tackles. He then turned heads by testing better than expected at the NFL Combine. "Really solid pick," Mayock noted. "He's 6-1, 244 and made an awful lot of plays this year at Michigan. … He brings toughness, and that's what [Vi- kings general manager] Rick Spielman wants, and that's what [Vikings head coach] Mike Zimmer wants." McShay took it a step further and said Gedeon "could push for early playing time." Glasgow was the next to hear his name called, following brother Gra- ham's path from U-M walk-on to the NFL Draft. He was tabbed with the 138th pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, and although some analysts predicted a move to the offensive line — where his big brother plays — Kiper raved about his potential on defense, saying Glasgow reminded him of the Buffalo Bills' Kyle Williams, a fifth-round pick out of LSU in 2006 who is a five-time Pro Bowler. "This is an active, alert football player, who hustles all the time," Kiper continued. "He is one of the top-notch run defenders I thought." With the very next pick, No. 139 overall, wideout Jehu Chesson joined Darboh in the drafted pool to give U-M a pair of receivers in the same draft for the first time since 2008 (third- rounder Mario Manningham and sev- enth-rounder Adrian Arrington). "We have two Michigan receivers in Darboh and Chesson who both went quickly," Mayock observed on NFL Network. "I think their best football is ahead of them because they had an inconsistent pass game at Michigan. They both have height, and they're fast, tough. I think they're going to be better NFL players than they were col- lege players — and they were good college players." Over on ESPN, McShay said after the 2015 campaign he thought Ches- son could be a third-round pick, al- though he ended up falling only one round from that projection after a less-productive senior season that was hampered by an injury suffered in the Citrus Bowl at the end of his redshirt junior campaign. "He's got a good combination of size, speed and ball skills, and he has elite intangibles and football charac- ter," McShay said. "I would also argue there's not a receiver in this class who is more effective and gives better effort than Chesson as a run blocker." Tight end Jake Butt's draft stock also fell due to a knee injury suffered in a bowl game — this one a more serious torn ACL in the 2016 Orange Bowl — but the Denver Broncos were ecstatic that he dropped all the way to the fifth round, where they plucked him with the 145th overall pick. Hall of Fame quarterback and Denver general man- ager John Elway tweeted the team was Cornerback Jourdan Lewis was listed as a top-50 draft prospect by most experts but did not come off the board until No. 92 over- all in the third round. PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN

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