2019 NFL Draft: Top 10 late round sleeper picks, ranked

7. Drue Tranquill – Notre Dame, Linebacker

Notre Dame’s Drue Tranquill showed true grit when it came to helping the Irish assemble a stalwart defense on their way to the College Football Playoff in 2018 –– playing through a fractured hand for most of the season.

Tranquill also overcame an ACL injury sustained during his sophomore season in 2015, which set him back a year and cut his season short after just three games. After bouncing back from the ACL tear, Tranquill started all 12 games in the 2016 season before transitioning from safety to linebacker.

This transition proved seamless as he had some of his best career numbers while playing in the box. In 2017, the split between his solo and assisted tackles was pretty even. In 2018, Tranquill recorded the most solo tackles in his Irish career (63) while upping his total tackles to 86, which was one more than his previous season high.

Tranquill has a hard nose for the football and attacks defenders mercilessly –– often administering a hard enough blow to bring a ball carrier down on his own.

His background as a safety helps him sniff out passing routes (like on the curl to flat coverage for example) better than most inside linebackers. For this very reason, he also excels and naturally can cover receivers downfield, such as picking up a running back running a late route to the weak side.

This rare versatility should make Tranquill and appealing choice when it comes to nabbing a late-round selection.