2022 Inaugural USFL Draft Results
FIRST OVERALL 🙌🐾
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
The Panthers select QB @SheaPatterson_1 with the No. 1 pick in the #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/7Rm8W7BDWc
The new version of the USFL kicked off its draft on Tuesday night, and the first pick was none other than former Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson. Altogether, the draft was full of names that you either didn’t know or were a blip for a bit on the college scene before disappearing, such as former Maryland cornerback/returner Will Likely, Ohio State WR Johnnie Dixon, and Memphis QB Paxton Lynch (who was a high draft pick by the Denver Broncos once upon a time).
The USFL did something unique with their draft: they used alternating orders each round, and each round was for one position only. So the first round was only quarterbacks, the second round was only defensive ends, etc. I think that’s a good way to start off the league, so every team gets at least a chance to grab the best player at one position. But because of that, the round in which a player was picked was irrelevant to an extent; for example, defensive tackles couldn’t even be drafted until the 24th round.
Below are the players picked from the Wolverines:
Round 1, #1 overall: QB Shea Patterson (Michigan Panthers)
Round 2, #10 overall: DE Carlo Kemp (Pittsburgh Maulers)
Round 7: OT Juwann Bushell-Beatty (Tampa Bay Bandits)
Round 8: CB Channing Stribling (Philadelphia Stars)
Round 28: RB De’Veon Smith (Pittsburgh Maulers)
Former Michigan commit Mike Weber, who played his college football at Ohio State, was a 27th round pick by the New Jersey Generals.