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Texas A&M DT Justin Madubuike was able to get in a top 30 visit w/ the #Titans prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He's also held pre-draft meetings with the #Saints, #Vikings & #Bengals over FaceTime recently.
— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) March 30, 2020
NFL teams are adjusting to the new reality of doing business during the coronavirus pandemic, forced to interview draft prospects remotely over video chat services like FaceTime. The New Orleans Saints are one franchise that has embraced that option, having reportedly met with several prospects at linebacker remotely. Now we have another name on their board in Texas A&M defensive lineman Justin Madubuike.
Justin Melo over at Draft Wire reported that Madubuike spoke with the Saints and several other teams, including the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. Before NFL-mandated travel restrictions were put in place, Madubuike also made a formal visit to the Tennessee Titans facility as one of 30 trips teams are each allowed to host.
So why all the interest? Madubuike has been a force for the Aggies, putting up impressive college game tape filled with bright moments. He declared for the draft early after his junior year, having put up 40-plus tackles in each of the last two years (with a combined 105 tackles in his career, totaling 24.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks). He also logged five forced fumbles and four pass breakups in his time at College Station. On top of that, Madubuike intercepted a pass and returned it 18 yards in 2019, no small thing for a 6-foot-3, 293-pound wrecking ball.
Madubuike was a participant at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, where he turned in performances in the 40-yard dash (4.83 seconds) and the three-cone drill (7.37 seconds) that are great for an athlete of his size, while also impressing with 31 reps on the 225-pound bench press. He’s obviously put in the work teams want to see in the weight room.
If he aces his interviews with NFL personnel, Madubuike should be a slam-dunk pick on the second day of April’s draft (which features rounds two and three). While the Saints have their starting interior duo locked in between David Onyemata and Malcom Brown, former first-round pick Sheldon Rankins is no sure thing to hit the ground running in a contract year.
If there’s going to be another delay in his recovery (Rankins missed time early last season from a previously-torn Achilles tendon, and ended the year on injured reserve), someone like Madubuike might make sense as a long-term investment on the depth chart. He and Saints fan folk hero Shy Tuttle would allow the Saints to run very deep at an important position for the foreseeable future.
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