Terps safety Beau Brade says he will enter NFL draft

Safety Beau Brade will forgo his remaining eligbility and enter the 2024 NFL Draft, he told The Baltimore Banner.

Brade’s decision caps his four-year stint with the Terps, one that ended with a 31-13 win over Auburn in the Music City Bowl, the team’s third consecutive bowl win. He finished his collegiate career with 177 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions.

“I felt like it was my time … had my four years at Maryland,” he said. “I feel like I did everything I could do to help this program and help build this program, and so I feel like my job here is done and I got to pass it off to the next guy.”

A native of Clarksville, Brade played high school football at River Hill. Brade, who will participate in the Senior Bowl, says the agents he’s talked to have projected him to go between the late second and fourth rounds of the draft.

He could’ve entered the draft after his junior year, his first as a full-time starter at safety, joining secondary-mates Deonte Banks and Jakorian Bennett and his roommate, kicker Chad Ryland. But Brade felt like he had more to prove.

He pointed to his disappointing performance in Maryland’s 2022 game against Michigan. Brade missed a season-high four tackles, per Pro Football Focus. He gave up four catches for 33 yards and a touchdown on four targets.

The Wolverines were among the opponents Brade circled this year and he flourished in a narrow Maryland loss. He made a season-high 11 tackles and allowed just two catches for 20 yards.

“I wanted to inflict pain,” he said postgame.

Brade will now go to Florida to train with teammates Tarheeb Still and Ja’Quan Sheppard, who are all hoping to join a long list of former Maryland defensive backs now in the NFL. A year ago, safety Nick Cross was a third-round pick for the Colts. In 2019, Darnell Savage went in the first round to the Green Bay Packers.

Brade wants to improve in a variety of areas, specifically his speed-related testing.

“I’ve never really been the best with running against the clock,” he said.

He also said he wants to learn from those who’ve been where he is trying to go, particularly at the Senior Bowl.

“[The] expertise and advice they have,” he said, “[that’s] something I can take in for myself to propel my game to the next level.”