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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Despite being a dependable tight end in his Michigan tenure, Sean McKeon never got the call from an NFL team during the 2020 draft.
With 60 catches for 668 yards and 6 TD, McKeon was a key part of the offense between 2017-19, but also was a solid blocker, grading out progressively better in run and pass blocking year-over-year.
Though he wasn’t one of the 255 selectees, McKeon didn’t have to wait long to get a call to join an NFL franchise, with the Dallas Cowboys picking him up as an undrafted free agent. Though it appeared he had something of an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster, he did, and has now played in seven of the Cowboys nine games thus far.
When he didn’t get the call that he was being picked in the 2020 NFL Draft, it came as a huge surprise to his former position coach in Sherrone Moore. However, making the roster and seeing time in games was no surprise to the man who oversaw McKeon’s development in the final two seasons of his college career.
“When he went undrafted, I was in shock!” Moore said. “There was no way that I thought he would go undrafted. And then when he got picked up immediately, I already kinda knew he was a priority free agent for a couple teams. I knew he would make the 53-man roster. I knew how valuable he would be for a team (because) of his intelligence, how cerebral he is – what he does off and on the field, I knew he’d make the 53-man roster.”
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Thus far, McKeon hasn’t registered any stats, but he’s increasingly seeing more time both on offense as well as on special teams. With six offensive snaps and nine on special teams in Week 9 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was the most he’s seen the field all season.
Though McKeon has just 25 total offensive snaps and 44 on teams under his belt, the Massachusetts native is taking a similar trajectory as his Michigan career, getting a little time early before starting to work his way into games. As far as how Moore sees it, he’s just excited to watch his progression from when he had him as a coach to now as he takes the field for ‘America’s Team.’
“Once he made it, it wasn’t really a surprise.” Moore said. “I talked to him, I think, that day. And he was just like, ‘I made the team.’ He just kinda felt it and knew it and guys in our room were extremely happy for him, extremely excited to watch him play. We’ve pulled up cut-ups of him in practice for our guys to look at. So it’s been fun to watch his development and see him at the next level.”
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