5. Jabrill Peppers is an intriguing, possibly perplexing prospect
Though Peppers didn’t do anything of a physical nature on Friday, he did make an announcement that shows just how unique of a player he is. The former Michigan star will be participating in workouts with the linebackers on Sunday, then he’ll head back onto the field Monday to participate with defensive backs (more on that here).
This just shows how much of a puzzle Peppers must be for NFL personnel experts. Likely, he wouldn’t have agreed to something like this unless he was being informed that NFL scouts and front-office people wanted to see him in front of both groups.
A player many view as a hybrid, much like Deone Bucannon is for the Arizona Cardinals, Peppers is almost certainly going to thrive as an in-the-box safety at the NFL level, if he thrives at all. During his career at Michigan, he showed the ability to stick to his man defensively but isn’t a ball hawk by any standard, bringing in just one interception, and that came on a tipped pass.
Making things a bit more complex still is the fact that Peppers showed up to the combine a bit smaller even than most anticipated. He measured in under 5-foot-11 and weighed just 213 pounds. Bucannon is 6-foot-1 and 216 pounds (listed) and has worked out tremendously for the Cardinals, but he’s also in a very unique situation where he’s being utilized perfectly for his talents.
Will the same thing happen for Peppers? We’ll be watching closely in the years to come to find an answer to that question.