Tarvarus McFadden adopting the right attitude after NFL Draft snub

Former FSU cornerback Tarvarus McFadden talks about getting snubbed by teams during the NFL Draft.

Tarvarus McFadden was sure he was going to get drafted by some team at the 2018 NFL Draft.

After all, he had a great redshirt freshman season that saw him tie for the national lead with eight interceptions in 2016

A lot of pundits had him ranked as one of the top defensive backs in the country going into the 2017 season.

There was a lot of talk about him potentially going in the first or second round, but then the 2017 season started with FSU’s loss against Alabama.

A hurricane forced the Noles to be miss a great deal of time after the Alabama game, including rescheduling two games against Louisiana-Monroe and Miami.

The Miami game was the fourth game of the season and saw McFadden allow a touchdown with mere seconds remaining on the clock to snap the ‘Noles seven game winning streak against their rivals.

It seemed as though McFadden’s confidence disappeared after that play and the rest of the season wasn’t near what FSU fans and obviously NFL teams were expected from him.

To be fair, McFadden acknowledged his play could have been better in a recent interview scrum. He spoke with reporters on a variety of things after signing with the San Francisco 49’ers as an undrafted free agent:

McFadden Interview

Thoughts

I’m not going to recap the entire interview, but there are a few nuggets in there if you haven’t listed to it yet. Basically, McFadden has a chip on his shoulder and feels he should have been drafted.

The crazy thing is sometimes it’s better to go undrafted than to be selected in the sixth or seventh round because players can negotiate with more than one team at that point.

McFadden signed for a base salary of $70,000 guaranteed and $20,000 signing bonus. It was interesting McFadden said he believes the defensive scheme with San Francisco fits him perfectly since they play a lot of man-to-man and Cover 3.

He also mentioned he can learn from former All-Pro Richard Sherman who signed with San Francisco in the offseason.

Can McFadden play man-to-man consistently in the NFL? Does he have the speed to matchup with NFL receivers or the physicality to jam them at the line of scrimmage.

He has the size but sometimes didn’t play as physical as he should have. Of course, his forty yard dash time (4.67) wasn’t impressive but that can be somewhat negated with improved technique at the line of scrimmage.

However, if McFadden appears to be adopting the right attitude amid the disappointment. If he can channel that disappointment into a great work ethic, there’s a solid chance he can play in the NFL for a while in the right system.

Next: 3 Huge Recruiting Needs For 2019

A lot of folk wanna give McFadden a hard time because of last year, but here’s to hoping he can find a role and continue FSU’s legacy at “DBU” in the NFL.