Status of (39) Michigan players in the NFL

For bowl games, you bet.

Best fielder of punts I have ever seen. 

H

Edit: Sorry. Didnt mean to reply the lone H.

Well, it's been weak in recent years. But that also depends on the period we are discussing. The funny thing about offensive linemen is that they tend to enjoy longer NFL careers than other position players.

Not sure if your criticism about an apparent dropoff of Oline players refers to Lloyd Carr's stint as head coach as the starting point of the weakness since he actually worked for the program from 1980 through 2007, which also includes part of the Schembechler and Moeller era.

But during Lloyd's head coaching tenure which began in 1995, which included Mattison and Hoke on staff with him during part of that period, Michigan had some remarkably great Oline talent. And that included Steve Hutchinson, a regular NFL all-pro, who was moved from Dline to Oline at Michigan. Look at the starting Oline in 1997 which nobody thought was great and tell me what you think.  Jon Jansen had a long NFL career. So, did Jeff Backus.

Michigan has had first round picks from its Oline in both Jake Long and Taylor Lewan, also regular all-pros. They have also had Rimington Award finalists and winners at center. Anecdotally, at least, I would say any dropoff in Michigan Oline talent is more perception than anything else. I mean who or what comparison are you actually making?

There were 35 former Michigan players who appeared on 2017 opening-day rosters in the NFL with at least 7 starting one game with Peppers leading the way with 13 starts among 37 in total. The number of NFL roster players from Michigan a year ago trailed only Ohio State's 42  and ranked 10th among all schools with LSU holding the lead at 51. Among the former Michigan Oline players in the league who started were Lewan and Patrick Omameh. Other former UM Oline players making the cut included Mason, a third round of the Arizona Cardinals and 97th overall, along with Erik Magnuson and Ben Braden.

Out of all the OL listed Lewan is the only true tackle. You can make the argument Braden is best at tackle since that is where he is currently backing up but I think he's a better guard and will end up there if he hangs around in the NFL. We have been making our best interior linemen play tackle for years. Cole, Magnuson, Schofield, Braden kicked out for his senior year too after injury due to the usual lack of tackle depth. JBB belongs at guard as well. 2011 might be the last year we started all 5 guys at their most natural positions.

This is bad. Ideally you want lots of tackle prospects and the ones who get beat out still have a good chance to be solid guards. It usually doesn't workout as well vice versa. Recruit more tackles!

I believe Funk was a terrible OL coach and Drevno was a much better coach but overwhelmed his players leaving them often confused.

The link, which has us 1st, even states we are falling off the wagon and only rated that high based on old timers like Long, Hutch, and Backus. And the link is from April, 2016.

The last few years of the Carr era weren't great either.