Value of Onwenu, Uche and Winovich to Patriots
https://www.patspulpit.com/2020/12/18/22178328/10-patriots-protect-expansion-draft
The linked article suggests that Onwenu, Uche and Winovich should be among the ten players protected by the Patriots in the event of a NFL expansion draft.
"OT Michael Onwenu: Onwenu has been one of the most consistent rookies in the league this season. The sixth-rounder looks like an absolute steal, and a stud who should be a stalwart along New England’s offensive line for years to come."
"LB Josh Uche: Uche has shown incredible explosiveness off the edge, and is exactly the type of player you need in today’s NFL."
"LB Chase Winovich: Winovich is a force off the edge and improving as a run defender as well."
December 18th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
That is a lot of talent from one school. Just missing one more Michigan player on that roster.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^
I hate OSU.
December 18th, 2020 at 6:03 PM ^
logged in just to upvote
December 18th, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
Winovich is amazing to me. He was a just a guy coming out of Pennsylvania. Couldn't find a position for several years. Looked like a guy who would get his degree and move on from football. Forgotten to all but the most die hard Michigan fan. Now he's an important player on an NFL team. Good for him.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
247 listed him as a 4-star and 24th overall nationally at his then-position of outside LB.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:34 AM ^
Think he meant when he was an underclassman.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
Pretty sure this post used to say "he went in the 3rd round so....."
December 18th, 2020 at 4:43 PM ^
Like him or hate him DB and staff found the right fit for him and he took off. His last 2 years were really good. The main thing about him is he NEVER stopped and seem to always give 100% effort even if he was out of a play he was always hustling. Plus he seems to have great character. Really happy for him. Both offense and defense over the past couple of years we lost a lot of good players to the NFL.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:35 PM ^
Seems like he is a good guy all around. I think that he was also Academic All-Big Ten in a tough engineering major. Like maybe Aerospace? Renaissance man?
December 18th, 2020 at 11:35 PM ^
Seems like he is a good guy all around. I think that he was also Academic All-Big Ten in a tough engineering major. Like maybe Aerospace? Renaissance man?
December 18th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
I was trying to come up with some reasonable second comment for this but I couldn't come up with anything so I have to admit that I double posted.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
How does Onwenu go in the 6th? Was there fear of getting too fat? Scouts just ate crow... Seems so odd...especially when the Ravens didn't take him earlier with the info from brother...
December 18th, 2020 at 11:35 AM ^
The same reason DPJ went in the 6th round.
Both were just good college players with physical gifts.
Both look better in the pros than they did at Michigan .
December 18th, 2020 at 11:39 AM ^
DPJ, maybe, but Onwenu was excellent here if memory serves. Seems like a straight up miss by nfl scouts
December 18th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
This isn't necessarily a judgement on just him, but I was really underwhelmed by Michigan's offensive line last year. I thought they might finally be able to stack up against teams and beat teams just by pushing them back off the line of scrimmage. But, nope, still couldn't move the line in the kind of way Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Alabama blow us off the line of scrimmage.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
I agree here. We don't recruit like some of those teams, but we definitely always have the size and talent to fire off the ball and reset the line of scrimmage a yard or two downfield, especially against virtually half our schedule. I continue to find it frustrating that we don't have the ability to do what Wisconsin does when I feel we can plainly see the talent and size is there.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
It's extremely taboo to say anything negative about Warriner, but so far the results just haven't been impressive. Not bad, but not especially good either.
December 18th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
True that the OL has not been a strength. But I suspect that has a lot to do with the schizophrenic nature of our offense. It it speed in space? West coast offense? Manball? How do you organize an offensive line when the offense is constantly changing?
December 18th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
" I thought they might finally be able to stack up against teams and beat teams just by pushing them back off the line of scrimmage."
I think this isn't really possible against legitimate competition anymore. That we couldn't do it with 4 drafted lineman suggests we're probably not going to buck this trend.
December 18th, 2020 at 3:24 PM ^
If that isn't possible against legitimate competition then Michigan isn't legitimate competition because teams do that against us.
December 18th, 2020 at 4:04 PM ^
You said it, not me.
December 18th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
Yeah, the line as a unit wasn’t great, but Onwenu was pretty dominant individually.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
excellent may be a bit of a stretch; he was good to very good, but he made plenty of mistakes and we had some issues with him in UFRs at times. He definitely was good enough to start on the line in the big ten and do so for a few years, but he also never really seemed to put it all together completely at UM. A guy that probably would have been an All American if Warriner were at UM his whole career, but he had that whole Greg Frey thing for a while. Regardless, I think it appears, at least on the surface, that he took yet another "next step" between finishing his career at Michigan and prepping for the NFL. As soon as he was given an opportunity to play in the NFL, he started mauling. And who knows, maybe a lot of that has to do with the players around him and the coaching and schemes he is in now. Regardless, this is a planetary sized human that would have been exactly who you want to run behind in JH's manball type offense
December 18th, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
Onwenu lost a lot of weight which made him more mobile without sacrificing power. There was a concern that his mobility would be a big issue in the NFL since he can get crossed up by quicker DL. That's why he went to 6th round
December 18th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Iirc, PFF loved Onwenu last year.
December 18th, 2020 at 3:26 PM ^
PFF is ass. They also projected Vincent Gray as being the best Michigan defensive back of the Harbaugh era.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
People seemed very concerned about his lateral agility when dealing with pass-rushers. He's been exposed a bit with edge rushers (I think Leonard Floyd gave him the business), but they are playing him out of position at RT due to the fact that they already have a really good interior OL. He will be a standout guard when he settles down there
December 18th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Michigan has had 29 players drafted in the last four drafts (2017-20).
Detroit has had 33 draft picks in that same time span, and didn't pick a single Wolverine.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Just protecting players from their own state, nothing to see here
December 18th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
Yup, Good Guy Loins!
December 18th, 2020 at 2:05 PM ^
It's like the ghost of Russ Thomas returned to possess some bodies in the Lions front office.
December 18th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
This is really interesting to think about given the quantity of Michigan players drafted and the crappy performance of the Lions during that time. But in reality, while Michigan has churned out a lot of "solid" NFL guys who are part of rotations on their teams....how many impact players have they really had where the Lions are kicking themselves for not drafting them?
- Devin Bush
- Jabril Peppers?
- Taco Charlton or Frank Clark maybe?
- To be fair, they had Glasgow and let him go. I guess they probably wish they had Cole, Ruiz, or Onwenu
Most of the other guys are either too young to know how good they're going to be or still rotational pieces. I'm glad this piece highlighted Uche and Winovich, but they haven't even been consistent starters for the Pats yet.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:26 PM ^
I wish we still had them!