In Rashan Gary's case, for me it's just a situation where I'm going to bet on the talent and the film over the production or Wonderlic.
Secondly, the production kinda was there. Not so much in terms of double digit sacks, but nobody produces double digit sacks for Michigan. Taco Charlton was able to produce double digit sacks for Michigan his Senior year but obviously doesn't mean anything. He was never going to be a double digit sack guy in the NFL.
You pretty much have to go back a decade to Brandon Graham to find a guy that was able to produce double digit sacks for Michigan that mean anything. Rashan Gary has the talent to be a double digit sack guy in the NFL, unlike Charlton. More importantly, he has the talent and ability to beat his man and pressure quarterbacks and affect both the passing game and running game.
People act like Chase Winovich had 20 sacks or something. He didn't even lead the team in sacks. He only had 5. Gary had 3.5 in 4 less games played.
Winovich only had 2 more sacks than Gary last year (8 to 6).
But when you look at the pressures and ability to hurry opposing quarterbacks over the past 3 years, Gary edges out Winovich in that category by a slight margin. All while playing less games and with a bum shoulder this past season.
I just think it's a case where if you look at all the double digit sack guys in college over the past several years - guys who ended up leading or nearly leading the nation in sacks, you see a whole lot of nothing in the NFL. Very, very, very few are able to duplicate those numbers in the NFL. Quarterbacks in the NFL get the ball out quicker.
Do people really think Sutton Smith is going to rack up sacks at a higher rate in the NFL than Rashan Gary? Smith had 29 sacks over the past 2 years at NIU. He couldn't even stay on his feet at the Senior Bowl. He's too small. Guys like Dalton Risner were tossing him like a ball of paper. Just no chance.