Michigan's four defenders — linebacker Devin Bush, cornerback David Long, and defensive ends Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich — put on a show at the NFL combine earlier this month, and draft analyst Dion Caputi of NationalFootballPost.com was kind enough to swing by and share his thoughts on how the quartet performed.
Caputi had significant praise for each of them, noting they all raised their draft stock in one way or another.
We begin by examining what the analyst had to say about Bush...
Devin Bush
“He entered the process being a first-round lock to most people," Caputi explained. "Despite his size and lack of height in a lot of people’s eyes, a modern NFL linebacker doesn’t require a 6-3 or 6-4 frame like the elite linebackers of two decades ago did.
"It’s a new league and he profiles into it perfectly. Bush battled [LSU's] Devin White neck-and-neck in the workouts all day from an athletic and testing standpoint, and those two are head and shoulders above the rest of the linebacker — at least the interior ones.
"Bush’s athletic testing was terrific — he had a tremendous vertical leap and ran a 4.44 flat officially in the 40, which placed him 0.02 behind Devin White in the top-three of the linebacker group.
"Bush is a little thicker than Devin White, so that was actually a more impressive number between the two of them.
"I’m excited about what he can bring to an NFL defense, because I think he’ll add an element that Ryan Shazier brought to Pittsburgh — quick twitch and good lateral movement sideline-to-sideline, which makes him a four-down linebacker in the NFL.
"That alone makes him a first-round pick.”
