Michael
Ojemudia.
Michael
Ojemudia.
Iowa· 6'1"· 200 lb· 4.45s 40
"An Iowa-developed boundary corner who was a backup for two seasons, then produced six interceptions and 17 breakups in his last two years and ran 4.45 at 6-1 with 32-inch arms."Pre-draft read
Ojemudia is a long, straight-line corner built for press coverage on the boundary. At 6-1 with 32-inch arms and a 4.45 forty, he disrupts at the line, gets hands on the receiver early and runs with vertical routes. He tackles willingly in run support, standard equipment in the Iowa program.
The trade-off shows when the route breaks. He is stiffer in transition than his timed shuttle suggests, gives ground on quick out-breaking routes and can be beaten by a sudden receiver underneath. He is better facing the quarterback in zone, where he can read and drive. The signature is ball production that arrived late: three interceptions and nine breakups as a senior.
Press-heavy single-high defense that asks its outside corners to jam at the line and run vertically, with zone concepts that let him face the quarterback.
Year 1 outside corner in a rotation with early starting reps, with a ceiling as a durable long-term boundary starter in a press scheme.
A heavy man-coverage defense that travels its corners onto quick slot receivers, which attacks his stiffness in transition on every snap.
Michael Ojemudia, Iowa Career Highlights
Full career reel covering the press technique and ball production that got him drafted.
Michael Ojemudia (Iowa CB) vs Michigan 2019
Single-game all-22 study against a Big Ten passing attack in his All-Big Ten season.
2020 NFL Draft: Iowa DB Michael Ojemudia Highlights
Conference cutup of the senior year that produced three interceptions and nine breakups.
Ojemudia is a classic Iowa development story, which is both the sales pitch and the warning. He barely played as a freshman in 2016, with five tackles in 13 games, and was a rotational piece in 2017, with 29 tackles and one pass breakup. The tape and the production were those of a backup for two full seasons.
The breakthrough came late. In 2018 he started to play the ball, with 39 tackles, three interceptions and six pass breakups. As a senior in 2019 he was a leadership group member and started all 12 games he played, missing one with injury, posting 52 tackles, three interceptions, nine pass breakups and a fumble recovery. He earned second-team All-Big Ten from the media and the Associated Press and third-team from the coaches, on one of the most respected defenses in the country.
The workout backed the tape up. He measured 6-0 and a half and 200 pounds and ran 4.45 with a 36-inch vertical and a 6.87 three-cone, athletic enough for the boundary. Denver, installing a scheme that wanted press corners with length, saw a two-year starter with ball skills who had been coached well and took him at 77 in a cornerback class considered deep.
- 01
Length and press
At 6-1 with 32-inch arms he can jam and reroute receivers at the line, the trait that makes him a scheme fit on the boundary.
- 02
Long speed
A 4.45 forty means he can carry vertical routes down the sideline without needing safety help over the top on every snap.
- 03
Ball production
Six interceptions and 17 pass breakups in college, with three picks and nine breakups in his final season alone.
- 04
Run support
Tackles willingly from the perimeter and sets an edge against the run, a non-negotiable requirement in the program that developed him.
- 05
Athletic profile
A 36-inch vertical and a 6.87 three-cone at 200 pounds clear the testing bar teams set at a position where workouts matter.
- 01
Short-area transition
Stiff out of his breaks and gives ground on quick out-breaking routes, which is how NFL slot and possession receivers eat.
- 02
Late developer
Was essentially a backup for two seasons and produced for only two years, so the sample of him playing well is thin.
- 03
Man coverage against twitch
Struggles to mirror a sudden receiver working underneath, limiting him to specific coverage responsibilities.
- 04
Play strength at the catch point
Can be boxed out by bigger receivers on contested balls despite his own length and frame.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.45sp50
- Vertical
- 36inp50
- Broad jump
- 122inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.87sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.21sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Iowa | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | Iowa | 13 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | Iowa | 13 | 39 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | Iowa | 12 | 52 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| Career | — | 51 | 125 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 0 |
Season lines include bowl games and sum exactly to the career totals of 125 tackles, six interceptions and 17 pass breakups in 51 games, matching both the national database and Iowa's own release, which confirms 52 tackles, three interceptions, nine breakups and a fumble recovery in 2019.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Boundary corner who starts for stretches in the right scheme and moves between teams as a serviceable option.
The ceiling version, where a long press corner with ball skills becomes a productive multi-year starter who takes the football away.
Depth defensive back who survives on special teams and short stints as a fill-in starter.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Denver threw him in immediately and the arc never went up from there. Ojemudia appeared in all 16 games as a rookie in 2020 and started 11, producing 62 tackles, six pass breakups and four forced fumbles, a real workload for a third-round corner and an encouraging season. Then his career effectively stopped. He played two games in 2021 with 11 tackles before injury ended his season, and in 2022 he appeared in three games, played a single defensive snap all year and was inactive for five straight weeks before Denver waived him in December. He finished with 18 NFL games, 73 tackles and no interceptions.
He kept playing anyway. Ojemudia spent 2025 in the UFL, recording 20 tackles and an interception in nine games for the champion DC Defenders, signed with Dallas that August on the strength of that season and a familiar coordinator, and was released later the same month. In hindsight the pick failed on the exact hinge the evaluation identified. A corner whose value depends on press technique and length has no margin when health takes a season away, and a two-year college production sample never turned into a professional baseline. One promising rookie year is the entire return on pick 77.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.