Mike Sainristil drafted by Washington Commanders in second round of 2024 NFL Draft

Michigan Wolverines defensive back and two-time captain Mike Sainristil is off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft, selected by the Washington Commanders in the second round with the No. 50 overall pick.

This past season at Michigan, Sainristil started all 15 games for the College Football Playoff National Champions, leading all defensive backs on the team with 44 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack. He intercepted a team-high six passes with two returned for touchdowns among his 12 total passes defended. He also had three quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles.

Sainristil is one of the most decorated defensive backs in Michigan history despite only playing the position the last two seasons. He was a first-team All-American in 2023 and a two-time All-Big Ten selection and helped win three Big Ten Championships and make three appearances in the College Fooball Playoff.

“This guy may be – pound-for-pound – the best football player in this draft,” former Alabama head coach Nick Saban said on the draft broadcast.

Booger McFarland added: “Sometimes, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog — and this young man has a ton of fight in him. I think he’s the best nickel back in this draft, a guy that can play inside. If you play inside, you have to have no fear. Come up and make a tackle on a quarterback — it doesn’t matter if he’s 20, 30 pounds bigger than you, it doesn’t matter to Mike Sainristil.

“Now, when you’re in that nickel spot, you’re essentially the third linebacker. Can you come up in a blitz formation and bring it off the edge? Can your defensive coordinator count on you? And also, nickels, you gotta be able to cover. Can you cover guys underneath, come up and make tackles? I played with one of the greatest nickel backs who finally got to the Hall of Fame in Ronde Barber. His ability to play and come up and tackle, to blitz, was there. I’m not saying that this young man is Ronde Barber, but he possesses all the skills, whether it’s run coverage, whether it’s blitzing … and then the other thing I love, when the ball is in the air, can you catch the football in zone coverage, read and diagnose the quarterback’s eyes and then make something happen? I think he can be the best nickel back in this draft. His skills translate really quickly to the National Football League.”

Coming into the NFL Draft, Pro Football Focus had Sainristil as the No. 34 player on its big board.

“Sainristil played receiver in his first three years at Michigan before moving to defensive back full time in 2022,” his PFF profile reads. “He has excellent body control and athletic ability for the position. His feet are quick, controlled and loaded to break on the ball right when he needs to. His long speed isn’t elite, but it is adequate. His wide receiver skill set has translated to cornerback in the form of top-tier ball skills. On top of all that, he is fearlessly physical at the catch point, when attacking blocks and when tackling. Though he tends to go for ankle tackles regularly due to his smaller size, he doesn’t shy away from physicality.”

Sainristil came to Michigan as a three-star recruit and the No. 590 player in the country, per the On3 Industry Ranking. The first three seasons of his career were spent at wide receiver, but former head coach Jim Harbaugh suggested a switch to nickel to replace Daxton Hill ahead of spring ball in 2022.

His selection was the realization of the prophecy made by his head coach during the recruiting process. Now, he has made it to the NFL.

“Coach Harbaugh made a promise while I was being recruited that when my time at Michigan is done, I was gonna be prepared for the next level,” he said at the NFL Combine. “He kept that promise true and that was through every experience on the field and off the field. Everybody in the program from the staff to the players, definitely helped me prepare for this moment. And time and time again, you hear from people who have left the program that there’s no other program that’s going to help me get ready for the NFL like Michigan would.

“So, I’m very appreciative of everything that I went through at Michigan. I’m appreciative of all the guys and all the staff that I was able to go through it with.”

The 2024 NFL Draft takes place in Detroit, 45 minutes down the road from Ann Arbor, and runs from April 25-27 from Campus Martius in the heart of the city.