Why Undrafted?: Shayne Skov, ILB, Stanford
By Charlie Campbell, @draftcampbell
Over the past few seasons, Skov was one of the leaders of Stanford’s tough defense. The Cardinals featured a physical front seven that played an NFL brand of football. It was that front seven that derailed Oregon’s National Championship hopes the past two seasons by stuffing the Ducks’ potent ground game. In both of those wins by Stanford, Skov came up huge. With that being the case, it was surprising that he wasn’t selected in the 2014 NFL Draft.
League contacts gave me a a few reasons Skov went undrafted. First of all was a lack of speed. Skov struggled to run well in his pre-draft workouts, so teams questioned whether he had the quickness to be effective in the NFL. Secondly, there were some medical concerns as Skov had a torn ACL in 2011. He also had a DUI arrest.
Another question that teams had regarding Skov was consistency. He played great against Oregon and in other big games, but against weaker opponents, he would play down to his competition at times. Skov’s career production levels were just good, rather than great, as a result.
After going undrafted, Skov reunited with Jim Harbaugh. Skov could still be in an uphill battle to make the 49ers’ final 53-man roster. San Francisco has two good starters and drafted Chris Borland in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Skov will have to stand out on special teams to survive the cuts. It wouldn’t be surprising if the 49ers try to stash Skov on the practice squad as insurance in case one of their veterans is injured. Skov has potential as a run-defender and is a good fit in a 3-4, but he’ll need to improve his pass coverage in order to get more playing time and stick in the NFL.
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