NFL Draft came and went, and it’s been three years since an Eastern Michigan player was selected.

Three players, however, found their opportunities as undrafted rookies this cycle. Two, running back Dontae McMillan and offensive lineman Dodji Dahoue agreed to deals with their teams, and offensive lineman Mickey Rewolinski received a minicamp invite by the Super Bowl champs.

McMillan signed a rookie deal with the Baltimore Ravens. In McMillan’s third year at EMU after picking up a pair of All-Big Sky honors with Weber State, he was a Second Team All-MAC running back with 1,388 yards from scrimmage and 7 total touchdowns.

Dahoue, a West African native listed at 6-foot-9 and 306 pounds last season, making him the perfect size for the New York Giants to sign. Dahoue came to EMU via Santa Rosa Junior College, where he first discovered the game, in 2024. He played 11 games in two seasons, suffered a season-ending injury in the middle of 2025.

Rewolinski is a three-year starter at EMU who has made starts at left tackle and both guard spots, and played in 33 games over his six-year career. Last year, Rewolinski picked up Third Team All-MAC recognition. The Seattle Seahawks invited him to try out for the team at its upcoming minicamp.

NFL teams may hold rookie minicamps in the first or second weekends after the draft to try out new players that they didn’t draft or sign to UDFA deals. Unless, of course, you’re the Detroit Lions, which decided to just not have rookie minicamps this year.

(Sorry, Freddie.)

With three new EMU graduates getting their rookie opportunities into the NFL, it’s time to take a look around the league and see just how many players rep Eastern going into the new year.

Not including the three rookies, there are currently six EMU graduates signed to NFL teams. Well, the actual total is five, but we’re claiming one guy as a sixth.

Pat O’Connor, a former two-time First Team All-MAC Defender for the Eagles in 2014 and 2016, re-signed with Detroit Lions after last season on a practice squad deal. He was initially drafted by Detroit, but was quickly cut and wound up spending the 2017-2023 seasons in Tampa Bay. In 2024, he re-joined the Lions and was last placed on injury reserve late last season. Still, he’s back on the practice squad once again for the 2026 season.

A scrappy, dirty work-type player on defense and special teams, O’Connor has made 52 total tackles in his NFL career, including seven TFL and 2.5 sacks.

Andrew Wylie’s entrance into the league required a bit of moves, but after practicing with three teams in 2017, Kansas City signed and played him in the middle of his rookie journey. In the 2018 season, he started 10 games after one teammate went down with an injury. The next season, Wylie made 11 starts before his injury sidelined him for the team’s first Super Bowl win since 1969. He signed a one-year deal to stay in KC, got to another Super Bowl but lost to the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He stayed on one-year deals for two more seasons, and got his second ring in the 2022-23 season, helping shut down the Philadelphia Eagles’ pass rush.

After years of stringer deals in KC, Wylie signed a 3-year, $24 million deal with the Washington Commander. Last month, he and Washington agreed to keep him in the nation’s capital on a 2-year deal worth $7.5 million.

Wylie was a four-years starter for EMU’s O-line, and was a Third Team All-MAC selection in 2016.

Maxx Crosby enters his seventh year in the big leagues with the Las Vegas Raiders, and has been nothing short of a star in the league. In 2023, he was voted as high as fourth place on the AP Defensive Player of the Year voting, and was a second-team All-Pro for the second time (also in 2021). Coming off of his fifth Pro Bowl selection, Crosby has a career 439 tackles made (278 solo, 133 for loss) with 69.5 sacks, 164 QB hits, 11 fumbles forced and 29 passes broken up.

Just last month, Crosby was slated to not be a ‘Raider for life’ anymore. The Baltimore Ravens, which had never traded a first-round pick before, was set to trade two first-round picks to the Raiders in exchange for the edge defender. But Baltimore was concerned with the results of Crosby’s physical and MRI reports, and the trade would be rescinded.

Crosby remains active with EMU’s football program, as he holds a role as assistant general manager.

In 2022, Crosby signed a 4-year contract with the Raiders worth $98.98 million. Last year, he and Vegas agreed to a 3-year, $106.5 million extension.

As an Eagle, Crosby was a two-time First Team All-MAC defender who racked up 162 tackles (73 solo, 41 for loss), 20 sacks, eight fumbles, one interception (turned into a touchdown), and 5 pass breakups.

While Chad Ryland’s officially going to be recognized as a Maryland Terp, he’s definitely somebody EMU’s fans should still socially claim as their own. Ryland kicked the game-winning field goals for EMU in 2018 at Purdue and 2019 at Illinois, and left holding school records for: career points (309), single-season points (104), career extra points made (141), single-season PATs (47), PATs attempted in a career (145), and PATs attempted in a season (47). He also has a program-best mark of five field goals made against Western Michigan in 2021. In 2021 vs. Ohio, Ryland tied the then-school record of making a 55-yard field goal. (That record would later be tied twice and eventually broken by Jesus Gomez in 2024 at Washington.)

Ryland’s rookie year in the NFL wasn’t particularly great, but he seems to have found his footing (sorry, bad pun) in Arizona. He was 64% on his field goals in 2023, and was cut after losing the Patriots’ kicking job during the 2024 preseason. But, since being signed with Arizona, Ryland improved his field goal percentage to 87.5% and 75.8% in each of the last two years. He was also perfect on his 36 PAT kicks last year. He signed a one-year deal to stick with the Cardinals in March.

Sidy Sow graduated with 56 games played and 54 started for EMU and picked up All-MAC honors three years in a row — Third Team in 2020, and First Team in 2021 and 2022. Sow, from Quebec, was drafted by the Patriots in 2023 and was an immediate starter. However, his time with the Patriots was limited as he was cut before last season, then signed a practice squad deal with the Houston Texans in September. In January, Sow signed a reserve/futures contract to stay with the organizaton.

The only person to ever win a MAC Defensive Player of the Year award is headed back to the NFL after a year in the Canadian league. Jose Ramirez was drafted late in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and hung on with the team through 2024 on a practice deal, but was cut before the 2025 season.

In the CFL, Ramirez played in three games, and made four tackles with one sack before he was released by Hamilton to join the NFL again. He’s currently part of the Eagles’ organization on a futures/reserve deal.

Ramirez, who also played at Arizona and Riverside City College, played 32 games for EMU, and racked up a career 156 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, and six fumbles.

Recently honored before Eastern Michigan’s spring game, Dylan Drummond enters his fourth year in the NFL, third with the Falcons. He played in one game with the Lions in 2023, and nine last year with Atlanta, where he caught 7 passes for 42 yards.

Drummond was an instant contributor with EMU as a true freshman back in 2018. He graduated with 52 games played, 183 passes caught for 2,028 yards, and scored 14 TD in his career. He also had 329 kick return and 149 punt return yards in college.