In an interview on the Joe Rose show on Thursday morning ahead of the NFL Draft, Miami Hurricanes linebacker Shaq Quarterman stated that the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders are the most interested in him.
During an interview on the Joe Rose Show on Thursday morning with the host and co-host Zach Krantz, Miami Hurricanes linebacker Shaq Quarterman shared the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders have been the NFL teams showing the most interest in him ahead of the NFL Draft.
Shaq Quarterman is the 19th ranked linebacker entering the 2020 NFL Draft according to Matt Miller of the Bleacher Report. Miller projects Quarterman to be selected 207th in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. Quarterman would join former teammate safety Jaquan Johnson in Buffalo.
Buffalo is mostly young in their starting LB corps. Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano were drafted by the Bills in each of the last two seasons. Buffalo signed veteran A.J. Klein from the New Orleans Saints last month to start next to the two young LBs in the middle of the Buffalo defense. Quarterman would add depth.
The reality is after starting all 52 Miami football games the past four seasons, Quarterman is going to have to begin his career as a backup in the NFL. Playing a 4-3 defense, Cincinnati is projected to start Germaine Pratt who returns as the Bengals weakside LB, Hardy Nickerson in the middle and Jordan Evans on the strongside.
Nickerson is in his fourth season in the NFL, all with Cincinnati. Pratt is entering his second season with the Bengals after being drafted in the third round in 2019. Evans is projected to move up to start on the strongside in his fourth season with Cincinnati after being a sixth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Atlanta returns only one starter at LB in 2020. Deion Jones was a second-round pick by the Falcons in 2016. Jones will be the starting MLB for Atlanta. The likelihood is that Quarterman would be drafted to back him up. Edmond Robinson and Foyesade Oluokun are projected to be the other starting LBs for the Falcons.
Robinson has not played in the NFL since 2017 after being a seventh-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. A star in the XFL this season, Robinson was signed as a free agent by Atlanta last month. Oluokun was a sixth-round pick by the Falcons in 2018. According to ESPN, Atlanta currently has just two backup LBs.
The Las Vegas Raiders enter the 2020 NFL Draft with their first in Sin City. The Raiders were scheduled to host the draft before the worldwide quarantine was put in place. Las Vegas signed Nick Kwiatkowski and Cory Littleton in free agency from the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams in the offseason.
Kwiatkowski who was a part-time starter in Chicago is projected to be the MLB for the Raiders in 2020. Littleton is expected to be the starting WLB and returning starter Nicholas Morrow is expected to start as the SLB. Littleton and Kwiatkowski are 26 and Morrow is 24. The Raiders are currently three deep at LB.
Quarterman would have a tough competition to make the Raiders. It is tough to project where players will be drafted the deep the draft goes. With Quarterman likely to be taken in the sixth round, he will face a tough competition to make an NFL Roster. Based on his success and leadership at Miami expect him in the NFL.