As the 2021 college football season came to an end, Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden was considered a top 100 prospect and a likely Day 2 pick in the 2022 NFL draft. However, that’s not how things shook out.
McFadden’s stock steadily declined from January on and when the draft did finally arrive, he fell out of Day 2. However, the slide ended in Round 5 when McFadden finally had his name called by the New York Giants.
Although he’s thrilled to be with the Giants, McFadden developed a little chip on his shoulder over his fall.
“I think it just puts a chip on your shoulder,” McFadden told reporters on Saturday “You know, you want to get better and you want to, everybody wants to play, and kind of being overlooked like that, it makes you want to play even more and it makes you go harder.”
Of course, McFadden was somewhat of a late bloomer. He wasn’t particularly good at football until later in his high school career and there’s a lot of development to be had.
“I didn’t play in high school till my junior year, and you know, was kind of overlooked at an early age, but yeah, definitely,” McFadden admitted. “I played football every year since I was six. I just wasn’t good at it.
“I’d say once I got to varsity, just the coaches kind of made it simpler for me, and I played pretty much like an edge rusher my junior year, and that just enabled me to kind of run around and hit people and just play fast. So that’s kind of what changed.”
Now McFadden wants to reach his full potential with the Giants and while it’s been a little overwhelming early on, he remains confident that 31 other teams will regret passing on him.
