Former Wisconsin football linebacker Joe Schobert might play on the inside

To make his dreams of playing in the NFL come true, former Wisconsin football linebacker Joe Schobert may need to be a little flexible and try out a different position other than the outside linebacker spot he’s held down during his tenure with the Badgers.

Schobert, who recently finished up his NFL Combine experience, spoke about the potential to switch positions because of his size. Schobert officially measured in at 6 feet, 1-3/8 inches tall and 244 pounds, with 31.5 inch arms and 9-3/4 inch hands.

That means he’s a bit smaller than the prototypical edge rusher, and he doesn’t have the length NFL teams are looking for at the position.

That doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective NFL player, just ask Chris Borland, who fell in the draft because of his short arms.

While at the combine, Schobert said teams have talked to him about moving to an inside linebacker position in a 3-4 defense, a position that would cut down on his opportunities to rush full-bore at the quarterback and instead ask him to make reads from an inside position and drop into pass coverage more often.

Schobert said he isn’t worried about the potential transition inside, as he already got a taste of a different position while playing at the Senior Bowl.

“I think I can play in space. I did at the Senior Bowl, playing in the 4-3 as a Will. And obviously the first couple days, reading the line was a little bit different from playing on the edge. But I was starting to get it, and by the end of the week, I was playing pretty good. It’s definitely something I need to work on if it’s going to happen, but I think it’s something I can do.”

Schobert currently has the best draft grade of any Wisconsin football product, a 5.37 on NFL.com. That gives him a “backup or eventual starter” tag on a grade that has steadily improved after he was listed a 5.15 with “developmental prospect or special teams potential” ahead of the combine.

The 2016 NFL Draft will be held April 28-30 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Stay tuned to Badger of Honor for more coverage of former Wisconsin football players looking to make it in the NFL.