The Houston Texans should take a look into Texas Southern’s Michael Badejo.
Although Texas Southern’s season didn’t make a lot of noise, their defensive end has the potential to do just that if given a chance. Michael Badejo (pronounced bad-uh-joe), a fifth-year player out of Arlington, Texas showed why NFL Scouts and teams should be interested in his skills.
Coming at 6’2″ and 265 pounds, Badejo had the following stats in the 2022 season:
- 30 tackles
- Four sacks
- 7.5 tackles for loss
- One forced fumble
Badejo finished his Texas Southern career with these impressive accomplishments as well (career stats included):
- HBCU-All American
- 4x All SWAC, Team Captain, Dean List, Honors List
- Phille Steele All SWAC Award
- 100 Total Tackles, 10.5 Sacks 12.5 TFL 2 PBU, 3 FF
- Played in the first annual HBCU Legacy Bowl
As for Badejo’s skills, he has a great ability to obliterate an offensive lineman’s hands. Whether it’s a hand pick (grab wrists and drive them upwards) or a swat move, Badejo made offensive linemen work to block him throughout his career.
Two more things that make Badejo stand out are his motor and his unwillingness to quit on a play. Badejo can be seen in his highlight film chasing down ball carriers (using his 4.76 40-yard dash speed) and firing up his team.
His passion for the game cannot be taught and is something that the Texans need more of on defense, as there wasn’t a clear emotional leader on the field last season.
Badejo would be a mid to late-round pick, somewhere in the fifth to the sixth-round range. Badejo would need some work in the run defense aspect, but that’s nothing that Lovie Smith can’t fix or help.
Badejo could join Ray Lopez and potentially another draft prospect (Ty’Ran Dixon) in making one of the more well-rounded defensive lines in the league. Having a solid rotation of players would only help the Houston Texans in their quest to get better.