Michigan Football: Chiefs Take Jehu Chesson In The Fourth Round

Michigan saw two of its players come off the board on back-to-back picks in the fourth round, when the Bengals selected defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow at No. 138 overall, and the Chiefs took wide receiver Jehu Chesson at No. 139.

Chesson, who graduated high school from Ladue Horton Watkins in St. Louis, will remain close to home in Kansas City.

The receiver had a very productive career at Michigan, compiling 114 catches, 1,639 yards and 12 touchdown catches in his career. His best season came in 2015, when he was named an All-Big Ten first-teamer by the coaches, and took home the Bo Schembechler Team MVP award.

However, he injured himself in the 41-7 annihilation of Florida in the 2016 Citrus Bowl, and never seemed to fully recover. Chesson hauled in 35 catches for 500 yards in 2016, but only caught two touchdowns.

ESPN’s Todd McShay spoke about Chesson’s breakout 2015 season.

“He had a breakout year in 2015, and after watching his tape in the summer, I thought he could be a third round draft pick,” he said. “He’s got a really good combination of size, speed, and ball skills, and he has elite intangibles and football character. 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.”

McShay’s partner at ESPN, Mel Kiper, explained that Chesson needs to become more consistent.

“You expected big things from Chesson,” Kiper said. “He has talent, but he needs to become more consistent and be quicker out of his breaks. Coming into the year, we thought he’d be the higher receiver drafted out of Michigan, but instead it was Darboh. Kansas City will try to develop him and get him back to what we saw a couple years ago.”

Meanwhile, Mike Mayock of NFL Network feels that we haven’t seen the best of Chesson yet.

“Chesson is 6-3, 204, and a physical kid who is good on special teams and can return kicks,” he said. “So we have two Michigan receivers in Darboh and Chesson who both went quickly. I think their best football is ahead of them, because they had an inconsistent pass game at Michigan. They both have height, they’re fast, tough, and I think they’re going to be better NFL players than they were college players – and they were good college players.”

Finally, NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, who is a well-known Michigan supporter and alum, gave props to the man who brought Chesson to Ann Arbor.

“Let’s give a shout out to Brady Hoke,” Eisen said. “These are a lot of players that Hoke brought to campus, and Jim Harbaugh was coaching them up the last couple of years here.”

Chesson became the second Michigan receiver drafted behind the aforementioned Darboh, marking the first time since 2008 that the Wolverines saw two receivers taken in one draft (Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington).