Former Wolverines in the NFL: Week 18 + Playoff Rooting Interests

The NFL regular season concluded with a bang on Sunday night thanks to the Lions thrilling vanquishing of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Several former Wolverines had banner days in Week 18 and a whole host are headed to the playoffs.

Here’s who stood out in Week 18:

David Ojabo, LB Baltimore Ravens

In Ojabo’s NFL debut, he wasn’t able to appear on the stat sheet. This week, he made his first career tackle and it was a doozy. Ojabo sacked Joe Burrow on his own two-yard line and forced a fumble in the process. The Ravens were able to recover the fumble in a critical moment. Following his recovery from an ACL injury, it’s great to see Ojabo make a difference in the NFL.

David and the Ravens fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-16.

Aidan Hutchinson, DE Detroit Lions

It’s hard to understate just how well Hutchinson has played for the Lions in his rookie year. The frontrunner for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Aidan showed out in primetime in Lambeau to the tune of four tackles and two sacks on Aaron Rodgers. He followed that up with a post-game Lambeau leap into the Lions faithful who made the trip to Green Bay.

Hutchinson has a chance to become one of the best former Wolverines in the NFL of all time if he continues to progress throughout his career. He finished his rookie campaign with 52 tackles (34 of which solo), 9.5 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 2 fumble recoveries.

Aidan and the Lions defeated the Green Bay Packers, 20-16.

Khaleke Hudson, LB Washington Commanders

Having just completed his third season in the NFL, Hudson has been a solid special teams player with sporadic snaps at linebacker with Washington. Coming into this week, Hudson had four tackles on the season as a whole in 2022. On Sunday against the Cowboys, Khaleke recorded seven tackles in this game alone! This was the second best game of Hudson’s career, behind only an eight tackle performance against the Seahawks in 2020.

Khaleke and the Commanders shockingly defeated the Cowboys, 26-6.

Honorable Mentions

• Mike Danna, DE Kansas City: 3 tackles, 2 sacks
• Josh Metellus, S Minnesota: 3 tackles, 3 pass deflections
• Dax Hill, S Cincinnati: 2 tackles
• Chase Winovich, DE Cleveland: 5 tackles
• Christopher Hinton, DT Los Angeles Chargers: 2 tackles

With the playoffs starting this weekend, we wanted to provide you with a list of which Wolverines are on playoff rosters. If you’re like me and you root for your favorite Wolverines once your NFL team is out, we hope this helps:

NFC

1. Philadelphia: DE Brandon Graham
2. San Francisco: CB Ambry Thomas
3. Minnesota: S Josh Metellus
4. Tampa Bay: QB Tom Brady
5. Dallas: TE Sean McKeon
6. New York (Giants): G Ben Bredeson
7. Seattle: none

AFC

1. Kansas City: DE Frank Clark, DE Mike Danna, QB Chad Henne
2. Buffalo: none
3. Cincinnati: RB Chris Evans, S Dax Hill
4. Jacksonville: none
5. Los Angeles (Chargers): DT Christopher Hinton
6. Baltimore: LB David Ojabo
7. Miami: none