Content available exclusively for subscribers
Not only did the Jets score high marks for their draft, but they might have landed the top undrafted free agent – Michigan cornerback Donovan Warren, who was surprisingly not picked. Here is an extensive conversation with the promising Long Beach, CA native who has the Jets defensive coaches very excited –
Q)How upset are you about not getting drafted?
Warren: Being undrafted, I feel like I have a chip on my shoulder. Every day I’m going out there, I got something to prove. That’s something I’m looking forward to each and every day. That’s just motivation for me.
Q)It seems like one reason you fell through the cracks was the 4.6 forty you ran at the combine. Is it true you had a bad ankle?
Warren: I really didn’t talk too much about [the injury] to people. It definitely hindered me a little bit, but it’s doing much better now and I’m just going to continue to get better.
Q)What is your mindset now?
Warren: My mindset right now is just going competing with the best. I let the rest of that, whatever, whatever happens, happens. I’m just going out there to compete and do what I have to do to prove I’m one of the best.
Q)Why did you come out early?
Warren: After the season, just sitting down with my family, talking. I just felt like it was the best decision for me and my family. That’s the main thing why I came out early.
Q)Did the uncertainty about the CBA next year impact your decision?
Warren: It all factored in, just me and my family, what I felt was best for us. That’s what I felt was best for us, leaving school right now.
Q)What are your thoughts about possible playing safety?
Warren: I’m a defensive back. I love playing football. So whatever I have to do to get on the field – corner, safety – I’m in the defensive backfield. I love to do whatever it is to help the team. Safety is an option. Corner is an option. So whatever a team needs, I’m here.
Q)What did you think when people said your stock would have been higher next year if you stayed in school?
Warren: I’m not hearing none of that.
Q)What are your strengths?
Warren: My strengths, I’m a very smart player, real physical, aggressive, play man, zone.
Q)How do you feel you play in run support?
Warren: Run support, I feel I did good in run support, coming up, making some nice tackles this year. I was satisfied with my tackling ability, how it’s progressed since I was a freshman.
Q)What is your current size: 5-11 ¼, 193.
Q)How do you feel you matchup against bigger receivers?
Warren: Bigger receivers, I feel like I match up real well. I’m a competitor. Anybody that’s in front of me, I feel like I can play with and I can dominate. That’s just my mindset. It doesn’t matter who it is.
Q)Do you need to get stronger?
Warren: I feel like my strength, getting stronger is something I could definitely bulk up on my frame, add a few more pounds. I’m young. I’m still young. I just turned 21. So strength, I could definitely use a little more strength.
Q)How much did it help your maturation process starting from the minute you go on campus at Michigan?
Warren: It helped me a lot because I learned the game, the game of football, about concepts and formations and things at an early age. The game slowed down a lot more. Me playing with three different defensive coordinators and going through three different defenses, I think it’s helped me a lot learning for this next level. Anything they might come up with, I might have seen it already.
Q)Are you more comfortable in man or zone?
Warren:I feel more comfortable in man. I didn’t have many opportunities to play a lot of man this past year, but I feel like I can be a great man coverer.
Q)You seem to love playing one-on-one on an island . . .
Warren: That’s something I thrive on. A guy lines up in front of me, I’m looking to dominate and let him know he’s mine the whole game. So I love playing man to man. That’s just something where the competitor comes out in me.
Q)Has Charles Woodson been a mentor to you?
Warren: Yeah, definitely. Charles Woodson. A great guy, a great player. He’s been a mentor to me since I’ve been at Michigan, somebody that I definitely mold my game after or try to. He just told me to stay focused. He just told me to stay on my grind and keep my head going forward, not looking back.
Q)And how helpful has Mark Carrier been?
Warren: Mark Carrier’s also been a great mentor, my godfather, so he’s definitely had some encouraging words for me. He’s told me to just keep working hard.
Q)What is some advice that Mark has given you?
Warren: It’s a business first and foremost. You have to come to work every day. He just told me to keep working.
Q)A lot of NFL players have come out of your high school in Long Beach . . .
Warren: It’s a great high school to come from. I played against some good competition early on. A lot of guys that’s played in the NFL have come back and worked with us since we were in middle school.
It’s definitely been a great experience coming from that high school, a lot of great athlete like Desean Jackson, Willie McGinest.