Two Minnesota Golden Gophers players were selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft as Jordan Howden was picked by the New Orleans Saints and Terell Smith was selected by the Chicago Bears.
Howden was the 146th overall pick in the draft after spending five years with the Gophers. He played in 59 games with 49 starts, collecting 240 tackles, 24 passes defended, 5.5 sacks and four interceptions. Howden was also an honorable mention All-Big Ten Selection in his senior season.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein projected Howden as a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, citing his intelligence and athleticism as strengths but noted that he needs to work on his technique at the next level.
“Howden is a football-savvy free safety with good instincts and play recognition but a lack of acceleration, which could create a plethora of problems for him on the pro level,” Zierlein wrote. “He’s quick to diagnose the run, but will need to improve his tackle technique. A lack of recovery juice could get him mismatched on the pro game, but he sees route combinations well when allowed to play as a two-deep safety.”
Smith was selected 19 picks later at 165th overall after the cornerback after making 38 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions as a fifth-year senior in 2022. He was also selected as a All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by the media.
“Terell Smith is a tall, good-sized, long outside CB with great plant-and-drive explosiveness and quality long speed,” Smith’s scouting report on CBS Sports said. “There’s some tightness in his hips. Driving on comebacks and in-breaking routes are where he thrives. Good, not great at following routes. A bit more reactionary than instinctive as a pure cover man. Also because of his explosion, he can make plays in zone, either drifting downfield or attacking downhill. He needs to get more aggressive attacking/beating blocks but will throw his weight around on runs. He has average ball skills but good awareness as the ball is arriving. He checks the physical and most of the athleticism boxes wanted in a mid-round CB in today’s NFL.”
The selections mark the second and third Gophers to be selected in this year’s draft as John Michael Schmitz was selected by the New York Giants with the 57th overall pick on Friday night.
