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Michigan football: Joel Honigford signs with Arizona Cardinals

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•04/30/23•

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(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Michigan football tight end Joel Honigford has signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Arizona Cardinals, according to multiple media reports. He is the second undrafted Wolverine to sign after the draft, joining cornerback Gemon Green (New York Giants).

Honigford started his Michigan career as an offensive lineman before switching to tight end full-time in 2021. He appeared in 45 games in his time in Ann Arbor with six starts at tight end.

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Honigford only had one reception for 10 yards in his career, which came during the 2021 season. Much of his time was spent as an extra blocker, but he worked at Michigan’s pro day on March 17 to prove he could add value to an NFL team.

“I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to really show that,” Honigford said “Today with the route running, I’m kind of playing with house money with that. Nobody’s seen it, so the expectation isn’t very high so I can go out, be relaxed, do what I know I can do and it went well today, so I’m pretty excited about it.”

Michigan football sends its players to the league with a toolkit to be successful in the pros. Honigford thinks that also prepared him for the next level.

“The way we run things here, the fact that coach Harbaugh was a Super Bowl coach and now he’s with us, he knows how to run an NFL program and be successful at that,” Honigford said. “He was getting us in the same kind of pattern as an NFL program.”

Michigan football sent another hefty dose of talent to the 2023 NFL Draft with nine Wolverines selected over the course of the three-day event. The haul was headlined by defensive tackle Mazi Smith (Dallas Cowboys) going in the first round, U-M’s lone night-one selection in this year’s draft.

Three players went on Friday night with tight end Luke Schoonmaker, cornerback DJ Turner and kicker Jake Moody coming off the board in the second and third rounds, respectively. Schoonmaker joined Smith with the Cowboys, while Turner wound up in Cincinnati with the Bengals and former Michigan defensive back mate Daxton Hill. Both players were selected in the second round.

The event’s surprise may have been how high Moody went, though. He became the fourth kicker this century to be selected before day three, coming off the board at No. 99 overall to the San Francisco 49ers.

Day three was a busy one for the Wolverines with five players taken in the fifth through seventh rounds. This included EDGE Mike Morris and center Olu Oluwatimi heading to the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth. Punter Brad Robbins was taken by the Bengals in the sixth round, while offensive tackle Ryan Hayes and wide receiver Ronnie Bell were taken in the seventh by the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

Michigan’s nine selections are the third-most in a draft under head coach Jim Harbaugh. They sent 11 players to the draft in 2017 and 10 more went via the 2020 NFL Draft.

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