INDIANAPOLIS — Jabrill Peppers has become accustomed to the questions: Is he a safety? A linebacker?
The answer seems obvious to the Michigan standout.
“What do I look like?” he asked the crowd gathered around inside the Indiana Convention Center at the NFL Scouting Combine last week. “I’m a safety.”
For the NFL, it’s not that simple — which is why Peppers was wearing a shirt with the letters “LB,” for linebacker, emblazoned across his chest while discussing where he expects to play in the NFL.
Peppers, an exceptional athlete projected as a late first-round pick in the upcoming draft, is caught in the margins where the NFL’s traditional linguistics no longer align precisely with the game itself.