Badgers Players that Might Make it in the 2016 NFL

The 2016 NFL draft has come and gone. How did the Badgers prospects fare? A number of Badgers found their way into the NFL this time, either by the draft, or just getting picked up by a team.  Here is the list of Badgers are close to making it into the NFL for 2016.

Joe Schobert/OLB- The most prominent Badgers draft prospect entering was the Badgers outside linebacker. For his 2015 performance, Schobert was named first team all Big Ten and first team All American as well. The Browns made Schobert the first Badger off the board when they drafted him with the first selection in round four. Schobert is not only expected to make the 53-man roster, but he is expected to start as well.

Derek Watt- The other big “high profile” Badgers draft prospect was fullback Derek Watt, who is the brother of J.J. Watt, possibly the best football player in the world at the moment, and older brother of Badgers linebacker T.J. Watt who is expected to replace Joe Schobert. The Chargers drafted Watt in the 6^th round, 198^th overall, and he is expected to be the starting fullback week one.

Joel Stave/QB- The Badgers quarterback from the last few seasons, Joel Stave, was highly publicized and polarized during his time in Madison. Many, including myself, believed the Badgers should have bailed on Stave a long time ago. Despite all of that, Stave ignored the noise, kept plugging along, and finds himself in Minnesota on a priority un drafted free agent deal. Stave is expected to make the Vikings practice squad.

Alex Erickson/WR- The Badgers top senior wide receiver from a year ago is one of two Badgers signed by the Cincinnati Bengals after the draft. Erickson has average measurable and an extremely low ceiling. He has an outside chance of making the Bengals practice squad.

Tyler Marz- The Badgers have been known for putting big boys on both sides of the line in the NFL. Well, this was their lone big buy for this draft and he was signed by the Tennessee Titans. He has an outside chance of making the practice squad in Tennessee.

Tanner McEvoy/WR/S- Originally a quarterback, McEvoy transferred to the Badgers to be the quarterback. After losing the competition to Stave, he moved around, eventually finding a home at both wide receiver and safety. He should make the Seahawks practice squad, and has a high ceiling.

Michael Caputo/SS- The Badgers safety from a year ago signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Saints. He is not expected to make either the 52-man or practice squad, and may not even make it to training camp.

Darius Hillary/CB- The other of the two Badgers signed by the Bengals was cornerback Darius Hillary. The Bengals really like Hillary and he will at least make the practice squad and might even make the 53 man roster.

Isaiah Cage/OG- Not a Badgers, but rather a product of the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds, Cage signed a three year contract with the Colts after the draft was over and could be the first player from that school to play in the NFL since 1987.

Wisconsin Badgers Need a New Quarter Back As Soon As Possible

For his career, current Badgers starting quarterback Joel Stave has a record of 23-8. He has a completion percentage of 59.7, 5,614 passing yards, 43 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions. Just for the record, that is a very poor touchdown to interception ratio. At the core, other than the interceptions, the numbers aren't exactly the worst out there. However, in the world of collegiate athletics, it is a known fact that you need to look underneath the numbers in order to get the truth. By looking both underneath and past the numbers, we find the ugly truth here, Joel Stave is just, plain, terrible.

There are many throws that Stave can't make. I know, I know, at the collegiate level that is to be expected, as most quarterbacks will never play a down in the NFL much less start at the next level, so you can't expect them to be able to make “all the throws”. But still, your quarterback should contribute to your win, or at the very least not get in the way. That is where we have a problem with Stave. Joel Stave doesn't really contribute much to Badgers wins. In fact, the Badgers usually win in spite of Stave getting in the way many times of their attempt to win the game with his poor decisions, and inability to make throws. At this point, you could even ask the question, is Joel Stave improving? Well, not only is he not improving, he seems to be getting worse and worse.

Last year the Badgers tried to switch quarterbacks to TannerMcEvoy, but that didn't work. McEvoy was even worse than Stave. By the way, McEvoy is no longer a quarterback. He is now playing wide receiver and safety. Still, the Badgers have other quarterbacks who deserve a shot with as bad as Stave has been. Last Saturday Stave got hurt with a strange head injury, and Bart Houston entered the game. He played perhaps better than Stave has in quite some time. He should be the starter now. If he falters, there is mega talented redshirt freshman D.J. Gillins from Jacksonville, FL, who is too talented to ignore. They could also try Thad Armstrong, a junior from Ottawa, Illinois, if they wanted to.

The bottom line is there is no reason Stave shouldn't be anywhere other than buried on the depth chart at this point. He has had plenty of chances and has done nothing but play poorly.

Badgers 2014 Not Too Impressive So Far | Big Ten Looking Sloppy Overall

The Badgers came into the 2014 season with high hopes and a new quarterback. Through the first two games of the season, I’m not impressed with this team, period. Joel Stave was the starter for the Badgers for the last two seasons. However that doesn’t mean he played well. He started out okay as the season began a year ago, and got worse as the season progressed to the point of which the bowl game against South Carolina was one of the worst performances by a quarterback I have ever seen in my 28 years I’ve spent on this planet. Simply put, Stave just looked outmatched at every turn for 60 minutes. This led to a quarterback change this off season in Madison. Out steps Joel Stave, in steps South Carolina transfer Tanner McEvoy. To tell you the truth, McEvoy has not looked that much better running this offense. Unless he improves, it looks like the Badgers will need to find yet another quarterback. In fact, I would say it is time for them to expend some out of State recruiting resources into find a solid quarterback.

As far as the rest of this team is concerned, I’m not impressed with the rest of you all either. I was not impressed with the defensive meltdown against LSU to open the season. I was not impressed with the fact that they had a one score lead entering the third quarter, at home, against Western Illinois. That was a team they should have buried by halftime if they were as good as their ranking says they are.

The Badgers have a game upcoming this Saturday at home against Bowling Green. The line has the Badgers as 27 point favorites, but with the way this season has started, I am not sure if it should be that high. I think they will win, but the final score may be much closer than that, say 34-20.

Big Ten Looking Bad So Far

Here is the good news for the Badgers, the rest of the Big Ten hasn’t looked that much better either. Michigan State’s defense blew a lead against Oregon and lost, although that is no big deal. Ohio State lost at home to Virginia Tech who turned around and lost last Saturday to East Carolina. The Badgers are still the favorites to come out of their own division to play in the Big Ten title game, so they could coast all the way there with all sorts of problems and not have to do anything about them. I will tell you this, no Big Ten team will be in the playoff this year.

Badgers Look For Yet Another Quarterback For 2014 Season

It's another off-season, so that means its time for another spring quarterback race for the Wisconsin Badgers. Seemingly becoming an annual event, head coach Gary Anderson and his offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig spoke to reporters earlier this month, raising speculation that they were open to contenders for what was Joel Stave's starting position in 2013. Ludwig told a press conference on March fourth that he was looking forward to a competitive upcoming camp in terms of the quarterback position. He maintained that, as of now, Stave remains the returning starter, though he admitted the junior's season-ending broken collarbone in 2012 and two injuries this year were a concern.

Ludwig's talk of starting quarterback alternatives came as a surprise to many Wisconsin fans and analysts, who generally assumed that Stave would have all-but clinched the position with his dominating advantage of experience. A fourth-year junior, the Greenfield native holds a 13-6 record as the Badgers starter, the position he maintained all of last season and six games in 2012. His numbers as a full-time starter in 2013 were notable, including 22 touchdowns on a 62 percent completion rate. 13 interceptions were a black mark on his stat-sheet, though his performance was enough to garner a berth into the 2014 Capital One Bowl.

In his second year at the helm of the program, Anderson would probably like a starter with at least 500 pass attempts as a Badger. Unfortunately, the former Utah State head coach inherited a team that has seen instability at the position for the better half of a decade. Between his two seasons, Stave leads the four-some competing in this year's race by an impressive 454 throws. Sophomore Bart Houston claims the only other in-game experience on the Wisconsin roster, playing in two games last season with one pass attempted.

Stave and Houston are joined by converted junior safety Tanner McEvoy and incoming freshman D.J. Gillins in the corps’s spring camp this year. McEvoy also competed for the starting quarterback position in 2013's camp, and impressed with his ability to run and throw, but ultimately was moved back to safety after falling behind. At six-and-a-half feet and 223-pounds, McEvoy told reporters that he felt much more confident going into this year's competition with more muscle and a solid year in the program. Ludwig and Anderson reflected that confidence, both acknowledging that they are excited about the prospects advances over a year ago.

Ludwig's thoughts on the young Gillins were a bit more blunt. The Jacksonville native was an early enrollee at Wisconsin just a month ago when he signed with the team on national signing day. Though one of the most touted prospects in the country, Ludwig told reports that Gillins should not worry about becoming the starter his freshman season.