One Transfer Who Will Help Ease NFL Draft Losses - and One Who Won't

What transfer player can help Michigan reload at a position of need?

West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Khalil Wilkins runs away from Utah Utes defensive end John Henry Daley | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Michigan just had six players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft over the weekend. Some of those players are easier to replace than others, and Michigan will be tasked with finding guys to step up following their departures.

Without a doubt, the position that was impacted the most was the edge rusher position. Derrick Moore went in the second round to the Ravens, and Jaishawn Barham went in the third round to the Cowboys. That's a lot of pass rush juice that they lost off the edge, so let's dive into one transfer player that will help ease the draft losses, and one who won't.

John Henry Daley

With the new staff coming over from Utah, they were fortunate enough to already have really good relationships with some key players from that Utah team. John Henry Daley is one such player who followed Coach Whittingham over, and he was arguably Utah's best player in 2025. As a redshirt sophomore in 2025 he really exploded on the scene with 48 total tackles, 17.5 TFL, and 11.5 sacks.

He did however have a serious injury for Utah towards the end of the season so his health will be something to monitor for this season. So far the coaches seem optimistic that he will be full go this summer and be fully healthy by the time fall camp rolls around.

If that is truly the case, he will be a plug and play replacement at the edge position for Derrick Moore. Expecting him to replicate the same stat line maybe isn't fair because the Big Ten is a much better trench play conference than the Big Twelve is, but expecting him to approach 15 TFL and 10 sacks this season for Michigan is not too much to expect. He could even be an All-American type player for Michigan as soon as 2026. John Henry Daley is an easy pick for one transfer player who will help offset Michigan's NFL Draft losses.

Max Alford

Max Alford is a transfer linebacker from BYU who followed over defensive coordinator Jay Hill. As a junior last year at BYU, he recorded 21 tackles, 2 TFL, and 1 sack. He was more of a reserve linebacker for the Cougars, and that's likely what he will be at Michigan in 2026 as well. The leading candidates to start at the linebacker positions are returners Troy Bowles, Chase Taylor, Nathaniel Osusu-Boateng, and ND State transfer Nathaniel Staehling. Between those four, they should serve as the two deep for Michigan at the linebacker position in Jay Hill's new 4-2-5 defensive scheme.

Max Alford, along with Aisea Moa will likely serve as the reserve linebackers as experienced depth players for Michigan this season. Jimmy Rolder's departure does leave a bit of an experience gap at linebacker for Michigan, but I'm betting on Staehling and the three returners to factor much more heavily into replacing Rolder than either of the other two transfer linebackers in Max Alford and Aisea Moa.