I was a little surprised no one took him last night.
Was his injury that bad?
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Todd Bowles knows his defensive backs, seeing how he was a very good one as a player, and had been a secondary coach for a very long time.
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I can't blame his choice of leaving ND early. This was probably the best choice for him, since as a 2nd or 3rd rounder, most rookie contracts are 4 years or less, as opposed to the longer term deals for 1st rounders.
Hip labrum tears that require surgery can take up to 9 months for ordinary people to regain full strength.
For athletes, especially those with realistic NFL aspirations, it could take even longer before they get back to their peaks, since they'll have to undoubtedly undergo significant PT to get the muscles back in shape.
Had he come back, the odds are more than good that he would miss part of the season season, and that would push him even further down the ranks.
Jahdae Barron from Texas who I recall a lot of talk about being one of the top corners in college, and Maxwell Hairston from Kentucky who had a shoulder injury. Both ran sub 4.4 at the combine.
The Michigan guy who everyone was trying to say was better than BenMo didn't get picked in the first either, so it is possible that even if he didn't get hurt, he would still have ended up in the second round.
Pre-injury he was framed as a day 1 guy.
As noted by one well-regarded analyst:
"- Slight, muscular frame and lacks ideal mass
- Lack of ideal play strength popped up on each tape — offenses found success running to his side
- Great compete in run game but has his share of missed tackles (see 2024 Louisville tape)
- Spends too much time hung up on perimeter blocks
- Physical receivers can outmuscle his jam, leaving him off balance early in route
- Will get caught with fistful of opponent’s jersey (holding penalty wiped out a Xavier Watts interception on 2024 Stanford tape)
- Two hip surgeries over past four years — missed most of junior season at Notre Dame after undergoing hip surgery (Oct. 2024); hip labral repair surgery as junior in high school (Dec. 2020), which required a nine-month recovery; missed one game because of quad strain (Oct. 2023); missed most of 2024 spring practices because of right shoulder injury, which required surgery (March 2024)"
While Morrison zoomed up the boards because of many splash plays he made in '23, he didn't add to that in '24 perhaps due to injury so he remains a little mysterious and risky as a 1st round pick. Someone will get a real good player today.
CBs were not a hot commodity on day 1. Only two were taken @ 20 and 30 which is low for a premium position. The guy from Michigan, Will Johnson, who many regarded as among the top CBs, is also still untaken due to injury.
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There is bound to be a run on CBs since so few have been taken.
I would guess that there will be a team with multiple picks today(i.e., Browns/Texans have 4/5 respectively) will take a "risk" so to speak on a guy that projects as a starter.
but teams are leery of a high investment for what they think has the potential to be a recurrent issue down the road.
Since it was one that needed surgical repair, that takes 6-9 months to recover for most ordinary folks.
The good news is that he can be back to full strength.
The bad news is that for an athlete who plays at the highest level, to get back to full strength on the field will to take closer to that 9 months time period, or even more. For tears that are more severe, a 12 month recovery time period for an athlete isn't out of the norm.
My guess? He's probably not going to be ready to hit the ground running when July comes around.
This is also why sticking around for another year might not have been a good idea, since he could have missed a good portion of the season.
Cause for a guy with his abilities, that really sucks