Rousseau responds to draft criticism

Hurricanes defensive end opted out of 2020 season

Miami Hurricanes defensive end and NFL draft prospect Gregory Rousseau has not played in a game or suffered a serious injury since last year’s draft. Yet he has slipped from someone thought to be a top-10 2021 draft choice at the same time last year to a prospect many speculate may fall out of Thursday night’s first round.

Rousseau, who made the decision to opt out of the 2020 season like several other top prospects, is now a year and a half separated from his 15 ½-sack season as a redshirt freshman in 2019 that initially left scouts and analysts enamored with him. Many other players boosted their own stock in that span.

One of them, fellow Hurricanes edge defender Jaelan Phillips, outperformed him in most of the combine-style drills at the Hurricanes’ Pro Day last month, Rousseau’s lone public display of his athleticism and skill set since December of 2019.

Regardless, the 6-6 ½, 266-pound pass rusher is taking the criticism in stride and keeping things in perspective, even if his worst-case scenario plays out and he has to wait until Friday night to hear his name called in the second round as he attends the draft in Cleveland.

“Who wants to fall to the second round,

especially when you’re going there in person?” Rousseau told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday night. “But if it happens, it’s God’s plan. It is what it is.

“For me, the way I look at it, it’s a lot of people out there in the world that wish they could be in my position, even if they were going to go to the draft and fall out the first round. There’s people that would pay all the money they got just to get that opportunity. I see it as it’s a blessing to be in the NFL regardless. I’m not going to be distraught or anything. If it happens to me, I’m just going to be ready to see what team calls me on Friday.

“You got to keep things in perspective in life. The competitor in me wants to go as high as possible, but life is not always going to give you what you want.”

Amid the rumors that he’s falling behind Michigan defensive end Kwity Paye and Phillips, who had a greater role on the 2020 Hurricanes due to Rousseau’s decision not to play because of the pandemic, agent Drew Rosenhaus and former UM great Calais Campbell have defended Rousseau.

Rosenhaus publicly stated that he has multiple teams telling him they won’t let Rousseau slide past them if he falls to them in the first round. Campbell, a six-time Pro Bowl defensive end now with the Baltimore Ravens after being a second-round pick out of Miami in 2008, called Rousseau a “playmaker” and said teams shouldn’t “overthink this one” in a tweeted response to one scout’s negative assessment of him to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Rousseau appreciates the support from his agent and Campbell, who he calls a mentor over the past two years, but he knows his draft position will ultimately come down to teams’ true evaluations of him.

“At the end of the day, though, it’s all about what the teams think,” he said. “It’s not about what analysts think or your agent or whatever. Just what team likes you and what team believes in you.”

Rousseau has heard teams tell him similar things to what Rosenhaus said, but he understands things can change come draft night.

“You never really know,” he said. “A team can tell you, ‘We’re going to get you if you’re here,’ and then they trade out the first round or they take another guy. I take everything with a grain of salt. Every team could tell me they’re going to get me, but I’m not going to believe it till I see it.”

What has Rousseau heard in terms of why his stock has fallen?

“I really don’t know,” he said. “Maybe because I was a younger dude on my tape and I was a [redshirt] freshman. I was, like, more raw.”

Rousseau played about 25 pounds lighter in the 2019 season, so how he looks in his highlights from that 15 ½-sack season is not his current frame. He may not have looked as fluid or explosive as teams would like at Pro Day, but his 83 ¼-inch wingspan and 11-inch hands are highly desirable at the next level. Miami coach Manny Diaz also has praised his relentless motor on the pass rush.

“I’m just a football player,” Rousseau said. “I’m not like a super athlete or anything like that. I’m just a ball player. I love being here in between the white lines and getting after it. I love pass rushing. I like stopping the run. I love football. I don’t live for like the drills or how fast can I touch this cone. It’s just not me.”

What’s Rousseau’s personal opinion of where he should get drafted? He says top 10.

“I feel like, the numbers I put up, they speak for themselves. And I did it as a freshman. I feel like that should mean something,” he said. “It’s not in my hands anymore. I did what I did on the field. I did what I did in my interviews, Pro Day, this and that, but I can’t really do anything else more to control it. Just got to see how the cookie crumbles now.”

A Coconut Creek native who attended Champagnat Catholic in Hialeah, Rousseau is childhood friends with former NFL firstround picks to come from Broward County in receivers Calvin Ridley and Jerry Jeudy. The advice he hears from them is to keep working.

Regardless of what transpires on Thursday, Rousseau vows he will be extra motivated entering his professional career.