Michigan Football: 3 2020 NFL draft predictions for Wolverines

Patterson will get picked

Another name that will be interesting to watch come Saturday is former Michigan football quarterback Shea Patterson, who won 19 games in Ann Arbor but was inconsistent during his time with the Wolverines.

Patterson has decent size for a quarterback and he’s an athlete. The issue is that he needs a lot of development before he will be able to be an NFL starter or even a solid backup.

In the NFL, you have to be able to perform under pressure, meaning in the pocket and Patterson hasn’t really proven he can do that. He’s good at running around and making things happen, which isn’t necessarily a bad trait for a backup, but he needs to polish his game if he wants to stick.

That being said, Patterson has played a lot of college football and he does have arm talent. In the right system, with the right coach, Patterson could actually have a lengthy NFL career. Ryan Fitzpatrick has hung around forever and Patterson has as much, if not more, ability than he does.

After last season, Patterson became a punching bag for Michigan football fans. But in college, he threw for 8,800 yards, 68 touchdowns and 27 interceptions, while completing 60 percent of his attempts. Those aren’t great numbers, yet they could have been much worse.

And by the time the sixth or seventh round rolls around Saturday, teams looking for a quarterback will find some attractive qualities in Patterson, who, even if it comes as an undrafted free agent will be competing for a backup job somewhere in the NFL next season.