Multiple Michigan football players should have elected to return over the NFL draft

Every year, a select few of draft-eligible players contemplate whether to go pro or not. This year, there were some that stood out for Michigan football because they either received positive feedback from the NFL or they didn't want to stick around for the coaching change.

Three names that really were perplexing to hear go pro from the Michigan football program, two of which were invited to the combine are as follows.

Marlin Klein

Watching Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates gush over Klein on their show First Draft made me wonder what I didn't see in Klein myself. They made a good point that he can block and will land a job solely based on those attributes, but as a pass catcher, he was very underwhelming. Beyond the New Mexico performance, Klein was absent from the endzone. It helps that Michigan did such an amazing job in the transfer portal with the additions of JJ Buchanan and the other wideouts that the Wolverines signed, so this loss won't be so painful.

Jimmy Rolder

Rolder would have been a starter and an All-Big Ten preseason candidate had he come back to Michigan. Instead, he'll bet on himself to make an NFL team. The ties to Jim Harbaugh, Jesse Minter, and Mike Macdonald will be beneficial to him in the process, but his climb is not enviable. He would have made more money in NIL than a low-salaried NFL contract. Although Michigan brought in several linebackers, none compares to what Rolder would have returned in terms of production.

Giovanni El-Hadi

After his choice to sit out the bowl game, many were confused as to why. El-Hadi was not on many draft boards to begin with, but was out of eligibility. His best days were behind him when he would fill-in for injured starters. Now he has to work twice as hard to get noticed in draft visits, because he was not invited to the combine.