Michigan Football: Donovan Peoples-Jones won’t last long in round 4

Former Michigan football wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones didn’t hear his name called Thursday or Friday at the NFL draft, what about on Saturday?

As a Michigan football fan, one of the most surprising things to me was the fact that Donovan Peoples-Jones wasn’t selected on the second day of the 2020 NFL draft.

Looking back, I have been critical of Peoples-Jones’ decision to enter the draft because clearly, had he returned and been highly productive, he could have gone much higher. Teams obviously aren’t impressed with his production, or lack of it and maybe that’s why he’s fallen.

But make no mistake, Peoples-Jones is still a first-round talent. He didn’t always play up to that level with Michigan football, but at times, he was dominant. He caught the long touchdown against Michigan State, which will forever be the play he’s remembered for and he also proved to be a talented red-zone target.

Certainly, Peoples-Jones’ career with the Wolverines can be considered slightly disappointing. The former No. 1 wide receiver recruit in 2017, never dominated in Ann Arbor the way people hoped he would, the way others that went in the first-round did in college.

Yet, to be fair, Peoples-Jones didn’t get much help from the quarterback play. His first season with Michigan football was a disaster. Wilton Speight got hurt and then after Brandon Peters showed some promise, before he was hurt too.

John O’Korn ended up taking a lot of snaps that season, which wasn’t a good thing. However, even with Shea Patterson throwing him the ball, Peoples-Jones never took off, even though he did haul in 14 touchdown receptions the past two seasons.

Still, it was stunning to see a team like Green Bay, a team that needs a receiver, pass on Peoples-Jones in the third round for a little known tight end. Other receivers went ahead of the former Michigan standout too, 17 in all went on the first two days.

I’ll admit, I was an adamant believer that Peoples-Jones would be gone by the end of day two. In most years, he looked like a late second-rounder, but with the depth at wideout, seeing him fall into the third was reasonable.

He’s the classic boom or bust receiver type that usually goes in this round. Mario Manningham was a third-round of the New York Giants back in the day and Peoples-Jones seemed ideal in that range of picks.

But now day two of the NFL draft has come and gone and Peoples-Jones is still waiting. He’s keeping a positive attitude on Twitter and again, it’d be stunning if he wasn’t one of the first receivers taken Saturday.

In all reality, he should be one of the first players taken in round four of the draft, yet for some reason, teams are overlooking him and we’ll see how long the wait continues Saturday.