Michigan Football: Grading Ravens selection of David Ojabo

David Ojabo is the third Wolverine off the board in the NFL Draft, and the AFC North stays the landing spot for Michigan football defenders. Ojabo has been drafted by the Baltimore Ravens as the 45th overall pick. Here’s our grade of the pick. 

Wow, what a perfect spot for Ojabo is my first reaction; you could not handpick a better team for him to go to. But, first, let’s talk about David as a player for Michigan football.

This past season Ojabo accumulated 11.0 sacks, five forced fumbles, and 24 solo tackles. The playmaker for Michigan has impressive athleticism, bend to get to the quarterback, and ball skills.

Those five forced fumbles mean a lot to a team as it was tied for the 3rd most in college football and show a lot to potential draft suitors.

The athleticism has also propelled Ojabo into the draft with a 4.55 40 time and a 35-inch vertical jump; anyone would show interest in an athletic freak like that.

Grading David Ojabo to the Ravens

As sad as the injury was for Ojabo with the torn achilles, this pick makes up for part of it. Ojabo would have been a top 20, top-15 selection in this year’s draft without the injury. He did slide to the 45th overall pick, but we know he will be used right in the Ravens system.

The first reason this is a beautiful fit for Ojabo is that he gets to play for his defensive coordinator from this past season in Mac Macdonald as he left Michigan for the Baltimore Ravens.

Macdonald utilized Ojabo’s speed off the edge and array of pass-rush moves that turned into an unbelievable product from the red-shirt sophomore, which is why I expect Ojabo to flourish in Baltimore.

Ojabo is also joining Jim’s brother John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Ravens. In terms of grading the fit for Ojabo, it’s an A+. The Ravens will not get playing time immediately out of Ojabo, but he will make the most of it when the time does come.

Grade: A+