Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from the NFL draft

The 2023 NFL draft bids us ado and this is the fallout from one of the most popular sporting events of the year involving the Wolverines.

A total of nine Wolverines were selected over the three-day extravaganza in Kansas City. Dallas picked two, Cincinnati chose a pair, Seattle took a duo as well and lastly, the 49ers nabbed a couple of Michigan football players to add to their organizations. The other one went to Miami. Those were the guys who were supposed to be drafted and that’s how it played out in 2023.

1. Mazi Smith upgrades the Cowboys’ front seven immediately

One of the strongest Wolverines in recent memory lands in the first round into a stable situation. Dallas made his dream come true on Thursday night by welcoming him to the NFC East. The Cowboys needed a body like Smith’s to help slow down the run and eat up double teams to open up gaps for Micah Parsons and others.

ESPN’s draft analyst Louis Riddick did bring up a controversial point when he was drafted by stating that Smith should be “rag dolling” players because of his rare strength. That’s a reasonable argument to make, but maybe Dan Quinn can bring that out of him in Dallas. For Michigan football it’s going to be a difficult task to find someone who can be as powerful as Smith is.

Mazi Smith is exactly what Chris Hinton could have been had he stayed another year at Michigan. Smith has the work ethic to be a first-rounder for sure, but he has to show up more consistently on the field. Smith can be the anchor to the ship for a middle-of-the-pack defense.