2020 NFL Draft: Markus Bailey is ready to hit the ground running

After tearing his ACL only 2 games into the 2019 season, Markus Bailey has been medically cleared with the 2020 NFL Draft approaching.

Markus Bailey has officially been medically cleared after tearing his ACL during practice after only participating in two-games for the Purdue Boilermakers. Before going down with the injury, Bailey had himself a solid shot to be a top-50 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but after his injury, it may be tough to find a slot in the top-100.

Despite being medically cleared, it may still be tough for Bailey to find a path to being selected on the first two days of the draft with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Teams are not allowed to bring prospects into their facilities for interviews and medical checks and are instead forced to doing them over the computer. Without the proper tools in place to get Bailey in front of each team and their doctors, it may force him to fall in the draft.

If this is the case, Bailey could end up bringing a ton of value to whichever team decides to draft him. Before the 2019 season began, Bailey was listed as a top 5 linebacker according to Dane Brugler, an NFL draft analyst for The Athletic. Bailey is excellent in coverage which is becoming extremely important for linebackers in today’s NFL; linebackers are forced into coverage more than they ever have in the past and getting a guy who can do it at a high level is important because it allows you to expend resources on other positions.

Markus Bailey has been fighting an uphill battle every since going down with his ACL injury and with it being his second time getting this injury teams are going to have their questions and it’s likely going to cause him to fall. If Bailey can find the field more often than he did in his college career, he could be in for a successful career.