Senior Bowl Director and former NFL scout Jim Nagy invited six Michigan Wolverines football players to his annual event in Mobile, Ala., this past January, with left guard Ben Bredeson, linebacker Khaleke Hudson, tight end Sean McKeon, safety Josh Metellus, quarterback Shea Patterson and linebacker Josh Uche all making the cut.
Nagy was kind enough to swing by this week and provide his take on several of U-M's draft hopefuls (including center Cesar Ruiz and right guard Mike Onwenu, to go along with the aforementioned players), with the following segment focusing on the offensive prospects.
A few of the highlights include Bredeson's high ceiling as he heads into the NFL, and the qualities Patterson possesses that made him such an intriguing prospect to pro clubs prior to the Senior Bowl.
Ben Bredeson
“Ben is someone who is going to start for a long time in the league," Nagy began. "Any time you get a guy out of a program like Michigan who has played as much football as Ben has and possesses the high-end intangibles like toughness and smarts, you're going to be a starter in the NFL.
"Ben is a good athlete and will fit in in any scheme, so he’s open to all 32 teams. He’s not just a finesse, lateral zone-schemed guard and isn’t just a big baller who only fits in a power gap scheme — he can fit with all 32 clubs.
"The guards will start going somewhere in the third round, so I think the third or fourth round is where he’ll end up coming off the board. I think he’ll start for a decade in the league for somebody.”
Sean McKeon
“He did something [injury related] during the week in Mobile [that caused him to miss the game]," Nagy recalled. "We had to replace about seven guys during the week due to injuries.
"Sean was bummed about it, but just didn’t feel like he could continue on throughout the week, so we found a replacement. He got two full days of practice in prior to that though.
"I went back and watched the practice tapes for Sean, and the reason we invited him in the first place is because we really liked him as a player. There aren’t many guys his size anymore at the tight end spot, because so many are undersized pass catchers.
"Sean has a frame where you can at least put him on the end of the line and expect him to occupy some people. He has nice flexibility for a bigger target to do some things in the passing game.
"[Former U-M tight end] Zach Gentry came out the year before and was a fifth round pick to Pittsburgh, and we thought Sean was a little higher level of a player than Gentry was.
"That was the prevailing feeling around the league too after making some calls with teams about him. The goal here is to get all our players drafted, so we felt good about bringing Sean down here.
"I think he’ll fit in right away as a second or third tight end somewhere, depending on the roster. He has the talent to play for a long time in the league.”
