The 2020 NFL draft is in the books, and the Michigan Wolverines football program's 10 picks were tied with Ohio State for the second best showing of any college (LSU had the most with 14).
The weekend went slightly better than expected for the Maize and Blue, who were pegged by most mock drafts to have eight or nine selections in the weeks leading up to the annual event.
We begin to close the book on the 2020 draft by creating a list of superlatives, examining which Wolverine will be the best fit with his new team, which draftee is most likely to make a position change at the next level and more.
Perfect fit — Ben Bredeson (Baltimore Ravens)
The Baltimore Ravens have adopted a blue collar, hardworking mentality during head coach John Harbaugh’s tenure in The Charm City (since 2008), and no Michigan prospect in this year’s draft personified that sentiment better than Bredeson.
The no-nonsense offensive lineman started 46 of the 50 career games he appeared in at U-M, and showed incredible durability by earning the starting assignment in every outing but one (missed the 2018 Outback Bowl loss to South Carolina with injury) from Oct. 8, 2016, of his freshman season on.
Bredeson took home Michigan's Toughest Player Award in 2018, while earning two-time captaincy as a junior and senior (one of only 14 players in U-M history to lay claim to that feat).
John Harbaugh has become quite fond of drafting the athletes his brother, Jim, has produced in Ann Arbor, with Bredeson’s selection being the third Wolverine the Ravens have taken since 2016 (defensive linemen Willie Henry in 2016 and Chris Wormley in 2017 were the previous two).
"I could read the text my dad gave me," John Harbaugh said. "I remember it started out with, 'You're going to love this guy.' Jim said the same thing — [Ben is a] leader by example, no nonsense, all football all the time, really motivated and a very competitive guy.
"He's got a photographic memory too, so he's a really smart guy. They said he's everything you want in a football player and a person. I think that went a long way, and I think those are the kinds of guys [Ravens GM] Eric DeCosta likes to draft — smart, tough guys who are going to come to the building and be all in, all the time.
"That's our kind of guy."
Biggest Steal — Donovan Peoples-Jones (Cleveland Browns)
Most mock drafts pegged Peoples-Jones to be anywhere from a third to a fifth round pick, with no major outlets expecting him to still be available in the sixth round. The wideout posted underwhelming statistics as a junior at Michigan in 2019 (just 34 receptions for 438 yards and six touchdowns), but wowed evaluators during late February’s NFL combine in Indianapolis when he posted outstanding numbers.
He ran a 4.48 40-yard dash and recorded a 44.5” vertical jump, the latter of which was the second best tally for any wideout at the event since 2006 and just two inches shy of a combine record.
Cleveland snatched him up with the eighth pick of the sixth round (No. 187 overall), a spot he wasn’t expected to fall to by experts. ESPN’s Matt Bowen called the Browns’ selection the best pick of the sixth round, while Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News tabbed it as one of the eight best late-round steals of the draft.
"He is a guy who really has tremendous athletic ability, as far as being able to take the ball out of the air and adjust to the badly thrown balls,” ESPN NFL draft analyst Louis Riddick said.
“He runs some really nice speed cut routes — the deep overs, the slot fades, where he’s making contested catches. He can really contort his body and make some circus-type catches.
"Peoples-Jones also has return ability. I just really think all his good football is ahead of him because I think the offense at Michigan didn’t really feature him — the quarterback play wasn’t really good enough.
"All of it is ahead of him now. Hopefully he can get with the program here in Cleveland and they can really highlight his strengths, which is making some of tough catches down the field."
Drafted Higher Than Expected — Michael Danna (Kansas City Chiefs)
The Kansas City Chiefs’ selection of Danna in the fifth round was arguably the biggest surprise surrounding the Michigan prospects in the 2020 draft, with most analysts expecting him to go unselected heading into the event.
The former Central Michigan Chippewa (played there from 2015-18 before transferring to U-M as a fifth-year senior in 2019) didn’t even receive an invitation to the NFL combine, with Danna and linebacker Jordan Glasgow standing as the only two of U-M’s 13 draftable prospects who did not head down to Indianapolis in February.
Both of them would have had an opportunity to showcase their abilities in front of NFL scouts for the school’s Pro Day on March 13, but it was canceled due to the coronavirus.
The defensive end, however, participated in the postseason East-West Shrine Game for graduating collegiate players in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Jan. 18, receiving 30 defensive snaps and chipping in half a sack.
