Michigan Football Defenders See Rising Stock Ahead of NFL Draft

A pair of Michigan football defensive prospects have been getting a lot of buzz lately around the scouting community ahead of next month’s NFL Draft. 

While the NFL Draft ultimately remains a total mystery until the chaos unfolds in late April, fans can get glimpses into the thought process of NFL decision-makers by following a handful of plugged-in NFL Draft insiders.

And two of those insiders have been trumpeting up a pair of Michigan football defenders lately, with high marks for defensive tackle Mazi Smith and cornerback D.J. Turner suggesting the two could very well end up going higher than many expected.

Starting off with Smith, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout for the Eagles, Browns, and Ravens, recently released his latest mock draft. His projections featured Michigan football defensive tackle Mazi Smith making an appearance in the first round of the draft, landing with the Dallas Cowboys with the 26th overall pick. About the pick, Jeremiah noted:

"Smith has generated a lot of buzz in personnel circles for his combination of athleticism and power. His best football is ahead of him and he’d fill a need in Dallas."

And it is easy to see that unfolding here with about a month to go. Most recently, Smith put up a Combine-best 34 reps on the bench press to demonstrate the powerful player he is. While he did not test in other portions of the Combine, he did participate in the on-field positional work and was reported to have done a very impressive job there.

There’s also been a lot of buzz that the Pittsburgh Steelers are heavily interested in the burly nose tackle, with ProFootball Network’s Tony Pauline reporting that Smith even met twice with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin the week of the Michigan football Pro Day.

With the Steelers holding picks at 17th overall (first-round) and 32nd overall (second-round), along with Jeremiah’s sources also suggesting he’s a hot commodity in NFL circles, it seems likely that Smith will be able to land in the first round of the NFL Draft next month.

Michigan football’s DJ Turner is also on the rise

The other Michigan defender making some noise in NFL Draft scouting circles is cornerback D.J. Turner. It started off with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein grading him as the fifth-ranked cornerback in this class, ahead of several other projected first-round talents like Maryland’s Deonte Banks or potentially Georgia’s Kelee Ringo.

And now, it’s been followed up by ESPN’s Matt Miller tweeting about his lofty view of Turner as well, grading him out as an “early Round 2 selection”.

But that wasn’t all the buzz on Turner, as ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. also chimed in with some high remarks on Turner, suggesting “I think he’s got a chance to sneak into the late first (round).”

While NFL Draft analysts are not the end-all authority on where these former Michigan football stars will end up, it is a strong indication that both Mazi Smith and D.J. Turner are crushing the offseason process, and are both headed toward fairly early selection in next month’s NFL Draft.