Maryland sure dominated the seventh-round of yesterday’s NFL Draft, with Moise Fokou (Philadelphia), Jaimie Thomas (Indianapolis) and Dan Gronkowski (Detroit) all flying off the board.
The five drafted players (Darrius Heyward-Bey and Kevin Barnes) matched 2004 as the most Terp-filled draft since Ralph Friedgen. And while the difference between being a seventh-round pick and an undrafted free agent is (a) Not getting to choose your destination and (b) getting to tell your grandkids you were a draft pick, the late run certainly made Maryland look a bit better.
(If you want proof that being drafted isn’t necessarily crucial, just look at Stephon Heyer’s career with Washington).
Looking back on what the expectations were near the start of last season, it would seem like a mild surprise Edwin Williams went unselected. At the time, Barnes was probably an underappreciated commodity, but that inaccuracy was quickly fixed. And Fokou has to go down as one of the Terps’ better draft stories.
Anyway, check back in throughout the next couple days as a plethora of Maryland players ink free-agent deals.
