Ohio State Football: Why Buckeyes are NFL Draft’s biggest winner

The Ohio State football team had another great showing in the NFL Draft. 10 Buckeyes were selected including 3 in the first 19 picks.

The 2020 NFL Draft is now behind us. The Ohio State football team saw ten of its players selected over the course of the weekend. Counting Joe Burrow, the Buckeyes had the top three picks. A little while later, CB Damon Arnette was taken by the Oakland Raiders in the middle of the first round.

The Raiders taking Arnette 19th overall raised some eyebrows. He could have declared early and went in last year‘s NFL Draft. Instead, he listened to his coaches and advisers and returned to school.

They told him he wasn’t ready and could improve his draft stock; and that’s exactly what Damon Arnette was able to accomplish.

Seven of Ohio State’s 10 picks were in the first three rounds. Chase Young and Jeffrey Okudah were both five-star prospects coming out of high school who developed into the second and third overall picks. Just because a player is elite in high school does not mean he will be in college.

QB Shea Patterson was also a highly touted five-star prospect, but he went undrafted. Donovan Peoples-Jones is another example who fell into the sixth round and was drafted by Cleveland. DPJ has the talent to be an elite receiver, but was he fully developed in college?

These examples prove player development matters and is vital to the overall health and success of a program. Like the Buckeyes, the Wolverines also saw 10 players selected in the NFL Draft. However, eight were taken in the fourth round or later.

Not to disregard the talent in Ann Arbor, but questions raise on if players are being developed to their fullest potential. Since 2013, every cornerback who has started at Ohio State has been drafted.

To add to that stat, the Buckeyes have had eight defensive backs drafted in the first round since 2014.

The coaching staff at Ohio State under Urban Meyer and now Ryan are getting the most out of their players. Often there is a debate over which school is the real DBU, but after this year’s draft there can be no doubt. The Buckeyes are constantly producing top-tier talent ready to play in the NFL.

The jobs of the Ohio State coaches are sometimes made easy while recruiting; and a large reason why is the player translation at the professional level. When Ohio State is locked in a recruiting battle with a rival or other elite schools, the coaching staff can simply tell the player to watch the NFL Draft.

Sure, other teams may have as many players drafted as the Buckeyes, but look at when they are drafted as well as how they are able to produce immediately at the professional level. Once the recruit sees the track record, there is hardly any comparison between Ohio State and most of these other schools.

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RB JK Dobbins was drafted 55th overall by the Baltimore Ravens. The addition of Dobbins to that offense makes it the most scary rushing attack in the NFL. Lining up alongside MVP Lamar Jackson and backfield counterpart Mark Ingram could allow Dobbins to lead the Offensive Rookie of the Year race.

The list of examples can go on for hours, but each and every year Ohio State seems to win on NFL Draft weekend. The gap between the Buckeyes and other Big Ten schools has been widening since Urban Meyer‘s arrival. But after another year filled with Buckeyes dominating the early rounds of the draft, the gap is only going to get bigger.

Of course not all early round draft picks will pan out, but Ohio State sure does have a high batting average.