NFL Draft, Part 3 (rounds 3-7)
As the Detroit Lions picked another tight end (Isaac Nauta, a name most everyone here likely remembers as being a Michigan recruiting target a few seasons back) with pick #225 of the 7th round, it's time to finally get a general thread up for reactions and predictions from the board.
General consensus on the MGoBoard so far is that the front office of the Lions is still as clueless as ever. I think that's a good assessment overall. Any differing opinions?
What about fans of other NFL teams? How's your team's draft going?
And as the 2019 draft winds down, what are your thoughts on the likely undrafted free agent Wolverines (probably including Karan Higdon)?
Lions did a good job today. Bryant and Amani are potential starters. Others guys have a good chance to contribute.
Day Two was awful.
Amani O. was definitely a good pick. Lots of value there.
Amazing that Nauta was a five star TE coming out of IMG and ended up getting drafted after Gentry, who was a converted QB.
Will be interesting to watch the careers of Nauta, Gentry and Hockenson(?). I think the Lions made a big mistake taking any TE that high, but this will make for an interesting case study being that all of them were on our collective radar. Personally, I'm hoping Irv Smith outplays them all ?
Why would you wish he outplayed a Michigan man?
Guessing he's a Vikings fan?
Because he's a Vikings fan.
SKOL!!!!
Bingo
I wonder if all that sitting out was worth it to Karan. In retrospect, maybe he should have played in the games.
Ugh.
I wonder if anyone will learn a lesson from this? Hopefully others players take notice. If I were a GM, healthy players skipping games would be a red flag.
Is there really a lesson? Plenty of players sat out the bowl game, and have been drafted.
- Ed Oliver
- Rashan Gary
- Noah Fant
- Deandre Baker
- N'Keal Harry
- Deebo Samuel
- Greedy Williams
- Justin Layne
- Will Grier
- Justice Hill
- Kelvin Harmon
I'm pretty sure NFL front offices have shown consistently that they don't care if players sit out the postseason.
With enough talent, you can get away with it. Higdon was someone who was never an elite talent, definitely needed an extra game on film given the egg that he and the rest of the team laid in Columbus, and still skipped his final game even though he was a team captain. I always thought the move seemed a bit arrogant, especially since he didn't have a lingering injury like Bush, Gary and Winovich (who played anyway, and I'll always love him for that).
What exactly is 15-20 more carries in a bowl game going to tell talent evaluators that they didn't already gather from Hidgon's previous 470+ carries?
If Higdon was a 1-year starter, then yeah I can see how 1 more game out of 12-13 total games would make an impact, but he had 3 years worth of film to be evaluated on already.
Maybe that he's not arrogant and/or a leader? Do you think Chase's team-first mentality and leadership didn't play into New England selecting him?
NFL teams evaluate absolutely everything, and if an un-injured team captain who doesn't have first (or second, or third) round talent bails on his team after a tough loss, that's probably going to raise a red flag or two.
I agree, it's maybe enough to be a tipping point against Higdon for teams on the fence, given that he was a late-round prospect at best.
Again, though, it's possibly better for Higdon in the long run to be an undrafted FA than a 7th rounder, as long as he is careful to pick a team that has an open spot at RB available.
This argument is patently ridiculous. Chase was a mid-second round talent and the Pats nabbed him in the third. The Pats have a great team first culture, but have taken plenty of non-team first players (hi LaGarrett Blount) and molded them to their culture.
I do agree the NFL evaluates everything, but there was no issue with Bosa, who sat out the whole dang season rather than a meaningless bowl game.
Furthermore, Karan came back for his senior year. He played 12 additional games for the team that all the early entrants in the entire draft didn't
Exactly! If you can play, they could care less about skipping a bowl game. The better question is...In Karan’s mind should he have left after last year? On one side he did have a pretty good season and helped his team to the cusp of playoff contention, on the other if he was going to go undrafted anyway would it had been better to try and get to the NFL a year earlier with more tread on your tires.
The thing with Higdon that made no sense, was sitting out the bowl game, but then playing in the Senior Bowl. It just made abandoning the team sting more.
I think it sucks that he didn't play in the bowl, and it definitely made me not give a shit what happens to him in the NFL, but regardless of the bowl game going to the Senior Bowl made a ton of sense.
He was always a marginal NFL player, so of course getting real face time with NFL scouts/coaches was a good idea. The Senior Bowl raised his stock, supposedly, because he seemed more talented than our scheme made him look. I guess it wasn't enough though.
Him sitting out the bowl game was not the reason he went undrafted.
I don't think that's much of a factor. See: Bush, Devin.
It's probably better if he goes undrafted at this point so he can pick which camp he wants to go to.
I thought Bush was injured
April 27th, 2019 at 10:26 PM ^
He was hurt but could have played was the word via various insiders. Basically the same as Higdon who spoke about needing weeks to get his body back after carrying a big load. Neither captain went to the game or practiced.
I could be wrong and no two situations are alike but these were pretty similar.
Is it Festivus yet? I would really like to start airing out my grievances with some of you, it’s absolutely disgusting how quick some of you are to jump on this poor kids ass. You the WD, and Maizens of the world are some world class assholes.
Hold on. Aren't fans allowed to not be enthralled with a guy who bails on his teammates, especially as a Captain?
Of course it was his prerogative not to play in the Peach Bowl, just like it's our prerogative to be upset with that fact.
Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person because of one decision, but it was still a selfish move.
You might have a point, but higdons main draft problem is that he's a running back.
One game wasnt going to make a difference. Not to mention the effort was a joke anyways. RBs are starting to become a dime a dozen in the NFL.
Looks like you’re right. Mike Weber going to the Cowboys in the 7th round. I can remember everyone around here being so upset when he ended up at OSU. A 7th rounder.
Weird take, given that drafted in the 7th round > never drafted, like the guy who we ended up with.
Granted. Just saying MW wasn’t some early round super stud. It appears the RB position isn’t valued in the NFL anymore.
I agree on the overall comment that RB aren't nearly as valuable in today's pass-happy offenses, but I highly doubt teams like the Cowboys, Giants, and Rams regret spending a top-10 pick on Zeke, Saquon or Gurley.
I agree with you about MW, and I'm definitely not picking an argument. He was a 5 star mostly due to being a man playing against boys in HS. Once everyone grew up, he was good (probably better than Higdon when not injured) but not great.
However, last year a certain RB was taken number 2, so the NFL will draft the right RB super early.
And your response would have been had he played and got injured and then not drafted:
Higdon's decision to play in the bowl game and not sit out of it is proving to be one of the most boneheaded things a Michigan football player has ever done.
And a Captain. Bo would have loved that.
Pitch the ball to Breaston, Ecker
Lions took another TE.
Barry was the only reason to watch the Lions as a kid. Otherwise, I got sick of the losing and adopted the Steelers in the mid 90s. (Devin Bush is gonna kill it) Still wonder if the Lions could have made a Hershel Walker type trade with the Dolphins. Trade Barry there, get 2-3 first round picks and rebuild like the Cowboys did. But nope! Would have been cool to see if Barry and Marino could have won a S.B. together....
I really thought some team would take a flyer on Karan Hidgon by now.
The last RB drafted from Michigan was Mike Hart (6th round, #202 overall) in 2008, oof.
If you put any stock whatsoever in the ratings on NFL.com, at least 5 RBs who are rated lower than Higdon have gone off the board today alone, including one guy from Auburn who was rated so lowly that he didn't even have a rating other than "needs time in developmental league."
I can't believe that sitting out a bowl game by itself caused this.
Even wilder Michigan hasn't had a back who earned significant NFL carries since A Train.
Who's the last Michigan offensive skill player to make the league and get a significant run? Our offense has been pretty poor for so long.
Braylon?
Or Funchess maybe? It's pretty slim pickings. I hope Harbaugh/Gattis get some first round guys into the NFL.
April 27th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
Funchess counts for sure. Only Michigan offensive skill players in/around the league are Brady, Funchess, the 2016 guys who have yet to launch (but could still find roles) and now Gentry and Higdon.
TBD on how high DPJ, Nico and Tarik will go but that room should lead to NFL production sooner than later. TE room will pump out NFL players and the QB room will have draft picks to show soon. Hopefully they can get the RB tradition back up and running, too.
Hopefully Higdon had enough film for the NFL to select him.
Didn’t know Higdon and JBB were sitting out the NFL draft as well.
Maybe they’re at home scrapbooking or designing their own life-like avatars to impress the ladies
Savage.
how is anybody attributing higdon's fall to skipping the bowl game? makes no sense why would teams would care especially because he did that to better his pro chances