It can be easy to give up quickly on a third-round pick. The question marks in their games that led to being a mid-round pick can be exposed at the NFL level. For players tied to NFL veterans via trade in their draft selection, there’s an extra sense of pressure from the fans wise enough to connect the dots.
Still, those players have an advantage as a higher mid-round pick to stick around, learn, and grow for the next season. Green Bay Packers linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper proved to be a shining example of that this summer after a rough start to his NFL career last season.