The rebooted USFL held its inaugural draft on Tuesday. The first pick in it belonged to the Michigan Panthers. They selected a player the locals will be familiar with, former Michigan Wolverines quarterback Shea Patterson.
FIRST OVERALL 🙌🐾
The Panthers select QB @SheaPatterson_1 with the No. 1 pick in the #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/7Rm8W7BDWc
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
Congratulations, @SheaPatterson_1 on being the first overall pick in the #USFLDraft ! #GoBlue https://t.co/A9cLeEMP8z
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) February 23, 2022
Patterson was Michigan’s quarterback for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Over those years, he completed 60.1% of his passes for 5,661 yards with 45 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
His pro career has not been long, but he’s already firmly in the journeyman camp. Patterson went undrafted in 2020 and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs but was cut in July. After a brief tenure with the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions, he stayed in the CFL and signed with the Montreal Alouettes for the 2021 season. Patterson got into five games but didn’t attempt a pass.
While Patterson hasn’t seen a lot of action on the gridiron recently, his selection drew a big reaction.
One fan wanted to see another former University of Michigan quarterback taken.
Really fumbled the bag by not taking Tom Brady here https://t.co/xjYI0rjOXu
— Atlanta Nole 🍢 (@nole_atl) February 23, 2022
We can’t argue with that. Tom Brady would have made a bigger splash.
Other fans had a wide variety of reactions.
Good for you @SheaPatterson_1 https://t.co/6jFbymmxNv
— MaizeNBlueKit (@akm515) February 23, 2022
Jeff Fisher has his guy! https://t.co/gk8vg7t7xK
— Zach (@Thrawn1019) February 23, 2022
This is either really really good or really really bad for the Anti-Shea Patterson Establishment https://t.co/UE0B0L9ftY
— Ethan (@thebigswerve) February 23, 2022
He might go crazy in this league https://t.co/c86QpGJybr
— NAWF (@LeoDaFlair) February 23, 2022
I am officially a Michigan panthers fan https://t.co/lSaM3IVCvY
— Landen Mitchelson (@landenmitch12) February 23, 2022
LMAOOOOO y’all never winning a game https://t.co/nRjBBTpzl9
— Alex (@6AFlynn) February 23, 2022
And they said Jim Harbaugh had lost his quarterback whisperer touch https://t.co/It7v1da6AX
— lukezim (@lukezim) February 23, 2022
When he transferred to Michigan they said he’d be the first pick of the draft.
Apparently they weren’t wrong. https://t.co/SnEPBjwMFv
— Jeff Riger (@riger1984) February 23, 2022
If nothing else, we can say this about Patterson’s selection. It isn’t boring. People definitely know who the guy is. And for a new league looking to make a splash, name recognition is important.
Time will tell if he can ignite his professional NFL career in the same place his collegiate career came to an end.
