Michigan football undrafted free agents: Here's who signed where after 2022 NFL draft

Five Michigan football standouts realized a dream when their names were called during the 2022 NFL draft.

Five more Wolverines — including several who left school early — missed out and began looking for their next employers as undrafted free agents.

For dozens of NFL hopefuls, the mass frenzy of signings began as soon as the final pick of the seventh round was submitted. Here’s a look at where some former U-M standouts landed:

DB Vincent Gray

New Orleans Saints: He started all 14 games last season and was U-M’s second-highest graded cornerback after DJ Turner, according to Pro Football Focus. Gray’s eight passes defended matched his total from the previous two seasons combined, though he finished his career without an interception. Has decent size and length for the position at 6 feet 2 and 192 pounds. Lacks top-end speed to match fast receivers and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds — tied for fourth-slowest among corners at the combine.

S Brad Hawkins

Atlanta Falcons: Hawkins was the leader of Michigan's secondary last season both on and off the field. He finished fifth in tackles with 60 (including three for loss) and chipped in four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Though he was listed by Michigan at 221 pounds, Hawkins weighed just 207 pounds at pro day in what might have been an attempt to improve his quickness, which was the biggest question about his game. Hawkins ran better than expected with a time of 4.57 seconds in the 40-yard dash. His 37-inch vertical leap would have tied for fourth among safeties at the combine and his total of 20 reps on the bench press would have ranked fourth. He could be a valuable special teams asset in the NFL.

DL Christopher Hinton

New York Giants: Hinton raised some eyebrows by passing on two years of eligibility and declaring for the draft as a junior. When he wasn’t selected, Hinton signed with the Giants. He tallied 33 tackles, one forced fumble and two fumbles recovered in 593 snaps last season as a starting defensive tackle alongside Mazi Smith. Though Hinton proved reasonably stout at the point of attack, he offered little in the way of penetration and finished with 1½ tackles for loss — a number bettered by 12 of his teammates. He ranked fourth on the team in pressures with 17 and was credited with 1 sack. The decision to leave early will be heavily scrutinized if Hinton fails to catch on in the NFL.

LB Josh Ross

Baltimore Ravens: A team captain and Michigan’s leading tackler last season, Ross signed with the Ravens, where he will reunite with defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and second-round pick David Ojabo. Ross was a force in the middle of Macdonald’s defense and posted a career-high 106 tackles, including nine tackles for loss and half a sack. He ran the 40-yard dash in a pedestrian time of 4.79 seconds at the combine and posted even slower times at Michigan’s pro day (4.90 and 4.87) to damage a borderline draft profile. Ross’ best path to success in the NFL might be on special teams.

DL Donovan Jeter

Pittsburgh Steelers: Jeter was a highly rated four-star prospect out of Pennsylvania with scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Tennessee, among others. But things never really clicked for Jeter in Ann Arbor, where he finished his career without a sack. Jeter made a career-high 24 tackles (including two for loss) last season while playing 287 snaps — third-most among Michigan's interior defensive lineman. At pro day, Jeter posted 26 reps on the bench press, a vertical leap of 31 inches and an impressive three-cone time of 7.8 seconds that would have ranked third at the combine among defensive tackles.

WR Daylen Baldwin

New York Giants: It's a move from "Go Blue" to "Big Blue" for the Waterford Mott product, who had 17 catches for 256 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolverines last season. His debut with Michigan, after two years at Jackson State (2019-20) and two at Morgan State (2017-18), produced hope that he was a downfield threat that could stretch the field despite the Wolverines' ground-focused attack: He caught a 69-yard bomb from freshman J.J. McCarthy that was highlight-reel worthy for the QB's throw across his body. Baldwin also had a 56-yard TD catch in Michigan's win over Wisconsin; those two TDs accounted for nearly half of his total yards as a Wolverines. But he had a solid track record at Jackson State, with a SWAC-leading 27 catches for 540 yards in six games during the season played in the spring of 2021.

Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football undrafted free agents after 2022 NFL draft