Meet the Prospect: Jabrill Peppers

Name: Jabrill Peppers Position: Safety School: Michigan Ht/Wt: 5-11, 213 40 dash: 4.46 Bench: 19 reps Vertical: 35.5 inches Broad: 128.0 inches How he fits: Peppers played a hybrid linebacker position at Michigan last season, but he projects more as a safety in this league.Peppers has tremendous speed and great strength, and can really be a jack-of-all-trades to a creative defensive coordinator like Teryl Austin. He could play safety, slot cornerback or even some dime linebacker. He notched 72 tackles (16 for loss), four sacks and one interception last year, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy (finished fifth). The Lions return starting safeties Glover Quin and Tavon Wilson, but both players are entering the final year of their contracts. Peppers and second-year strong safety Miles Killebrew could potentially be the future at the position. Peppers' best position might actually be at running back, where he averaged 6.2 yards per carry on 27 attempts for the Wolverines last season. He might have to work his way into a role on defense, but Peppers could step in and immediately have an impact as a return man. He averaged 14.8 yards per punt return last season with a touchdown. He averaged 26.0 yards per kickoff return. Key observations: It’s no surprise Peppers was the 2016 Paul Hornug Award winner as the nation's most versatile player. He was the first player in Big Ten history to win three individual awards within the conference (Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year and Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year) What they had to say about him: “The ultimate Swiss Army Knife on the collegiate level, and will likely play a hybrid role on the next level that allows him to blitz, cover and chase. Peppers' draft value will be helped by his return ability and that is a role he should maintain throughout the earlier stages of his career. While Peppers doesn't have the production teams expect from first-round defenders, he should benefit from a role that is more clearly defined on the next level.” – Lance Zierlein, NFL.com How he stacks up: NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock considers Peppers to be the best safety in this draft, ahead of LSU’s Jamal Adams and Ohio State’s Malik Hooker. CBSSports.com lists Peppers as the second-best strong safety prospect in the draft behind Adams. Peppers comes in at No. 30 on Daniel Jeremiah’s list of the top 50 players available in this draft. ESPN’s Todd McShay has him as the sixth-best safety on his list of the top 10 at the position. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. considers Peppers the fourth-best safety in this class. What he had to say: “The bottom line is I’m a ball player and I’m a hell of a ball player. And I intend to run fast, I intend to look smooth doing whatever it is I’m asked to do. And after a couple of interviews I think these coaches pretty much know what they’re gonna get. I’m just gonna keep improving to the best of my ability, stay grounded, ignore all the outside noise, nothing else matters to me, besides what they think and besides the way I play.”