Why Michael Bennett Will Be the Best Pro Taken in the 2015 NFL Draft

Unless you have a prospect of the level of Andrew Luck or John Elway, the NFL draft isn’t won at the top. It’s won it the later rounds, when those diamonds in the rough are discovered for not as huge a price.

Tom Brady was famously drafted in the sixth round of the draft, and he has gone on to be one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. The Seattle Seahawks won last season’s Super Bowl on the shoulders of a number of players they selected later in the draft.

So while this Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston are the clear top draft prospects, it is those that are going to go behind them that represent the real value of the draft.

One player who has gone about his game quietly all season but will provide a huge boost to whatever NFL team decides to draft him is Ohio State defensive lineman Michael Bennett.

The senior capped off his final season in Columbus with a national championship and finished the season on a number of All-American and All-Big Ten teams.

The biggest issue for Bennett, though, who is considered a second-round prospect this year, has been the focus on another Buckeyes lineman.

Joey Bosa, who isn’t eligible for the draft until next year, has many scouts drooling over his skill set and body size, and that has left Bennett seemingly out to dry.

The Centerville, Ohio native has tallied 14 tackles for loss and seven sacks this season and has been a force inside for the Buckeyes in their title run.

As Dane Brugler of CBS Sports says, Bennett “displays outstanding balance and coordination through contact to work off blocks and keep his feet to be a factor in plays. He ‘wins’ with quickness out of his stance and uses his leverage, leg drive and strong grip to latch-and-rip past blockers and penetrate the backfield.”

Although Bennett is coming off of a successful senior season, he didn’t quite live up to the hype surrounding him heading out of last year.

If Bennett had elected to leave school at the end of last season instead of staying for his senior year, many outlets had him projected as a top 10-15 prospect. But inconsistent play at the beginning of the season saw him drop too far down draft boards for a late rally to truly make a difference.

Following Ohio State’s game against Michigan State this year, during which Bennett recorded two tackles for loss and a sack, Bleacher Report’s lead draft analyst Matt Miller raised Bennett back up a little from where he had fallen.

“Ohio State’s Michael Bennett started the season ranked as my No. 1 defensive end but saw his ranking dip due to inconsistent play,” Miller wrote. “That changed against Michigan State. Bennett showed the promise and production that made him a high-ranking preseason player.”

It was a switch around that time, not a metaphorical one, but a literal switch from nose guard to 3-technique that saw Bennett recapture his form from the previous season.

“For whatever reason, that was where we fit best,” Bennett said of the position switch, per Bill Landis of Cleveland.com. “It worked out really well.”

The new role allowed him to use speed to beat guys, instead of having to go through them like he had to do earlier in the season.

It clearly paid off, with Bennett recording six sacks after the switch, compared to only one in the first eight games of the year.

But despite all the physical tools that Bennett brings to the NFL team that will draft him, it is another aspect of Bennett that makes him stand above the rest.

“I’m talking about his development as a leader and a guy that I can count on,” Urban Meyer said per Patrick Maks of Elevenwarriors.com. “A guy that doesn’t whine and moan and complain about stuff because that’s kind of how he got through it in the old days and that’s not the case at all right now.”

From his demeanor to his ability to his physicality, Bennett seems like a can’t-miss prospect in a draft full of question marks. When he does get drafted, the team that takes him will not regret it.