Four former Wisconsin football players were taken in the third round of the NFL Draft Saturday.
Defensive lineman Matt Shaughnessy, linebacker DeAndre Levy, offensive lineman Kraig Urbik and tight end Travis Beckum will enter the NFL with teams ranging from the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers to the 0-16 Detroit Lions.
Shaughnessy was the first Badger drafted when the Oakland Raiders selected him with the seventh pick of the third round. Shaughnessy will try to help rebuild the lackluster Raiders defense, which ranks near the bottom of the league in most defensive categories.
In his final season at Wisconsin, Shaughnessy had eight tackles for a loss, including four sacks.
The Detroit Lions, who received the round's 12th pick in a trade, selected the next former Wisconsin player in DeAndre Levy, who had 73 tackles and five sacks in 2008. Detroit will also look to Levy as part of their rebuilding process, after the Lions became the first NFL team to go an entire season without a win since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Detroit's defense was the worst in the NFL last season, giving up an average of 404.4 yards per game in 2008, and could also help the Lions with special teams according to some analysts. Levy will join overall No. 1 pick Matthew Stafford of Georgia and fellow Big Ten product Derrick Williams of Penn State as part of the Detroit's 2009 draft class.
Three picks later, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Kraig Urbik, who will try to strengthen the offensive line that helped the Steelers win their sixth Super Bowl title in January. Urbik told Steelers.com after being drafted that he was excited about playing for a team that has had as much success at Pittsburgh.
""I've been closely watching them and it's definitely a dream come true to be a part of their organization,"" he said.
At the end of the third round, and with the 100th pick overall, the New York Giants took Travis Beckum, who returned to Wisconsin for his senior year despite offers to move up to the pros. Beckum planned to spend 2008 raising his draft stock, but was sidelined after suffering a season-ending knee injury against Illinois.
Despite only playing in six games last year, Beckum still racked up 264 yards and averaged 44 yards per game, and will try to bring that production to the Giants, who went 12-4 in the 2008 NFL regular season.
Other former Badgers went undrafted in the first seven rounds, including linebacker Jonathan Casillas, cornerback Allen Langford, and running back P.J. Hill.
While Casillas was one of the most productive members of the Wisconsin defense in 2008, he had issues with injuries, missing three games last season.
Hill, who skipped his senior year to enter the draft, was arrested in March on suspicion of driving under the influence and a hit-and-run. The combination of his off-field incidents and injury problems during his time at Wisconsin hurt his appeal to NFL teams, and may have cost him a spot in the pros.
