Iowa’s Cooper DeJean getting ready to make NFL dreams a reality
Iowa football’s Cooper DeJean discusses a variety of topics ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The 2024 NFL Draft begins Thursday and ends Saturday, and a few former Iowa football stars are hoping to hear their name called.
It’s a exciting and nerve-wracking time for these young athletes, especially the fringe prospects who may or may not be selected with one of the 257 total picks. Even for top draft candidates, how high or low someone is chosen can be unpredictable and ever-changing, even on draft night.
Sometimes, players even slip significantly down draft boards from where they were originally projected, and some out of draft consideration entirely.
The Hawkeyes produced four draft picks last spring: Lukas Van Ness (DL, 13th overall, Green Bay Packers), Jack Campbell (LB, 18th overall, Detroit Lions), Sam LaPorta (TE, 34th overall, Detroit Lions) and Riley Moss (DB, 83rd overall, Denver Broncos).
Seth Benson (LB, Denver Broncos), Monte Pottebaum (FB, Pittsburgh Steelers) and Kaevon Merriweather (DB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) went undrafted but signed with teams as free agents.
Here’s a look at the worst-case draft scenarios for Iowa football’s top-4 standouts:
More: 2024 NFL mock draft: Where all 4 Iowa Hawkeyes prospects are projected to land
CB Cooper DeJean draft projection: worst-case scenario
DeJean’s realistic worst-case NFL Draft scenario would be falling out of the first round.
Nearly every credible mock draft projects DeJean as a mid-to-late first-round pick, so slipping into the second round would mark a major slide in the cornerback’s stock.
Likely culprits for DeJean’s fall could be his lower-leg fracture in November, which forced him to miss the rest of Iowa’s season. Although college injury history isn’t always indicative of NFL availability one way or the other, such a significant injury to a pivotal part of the body could raise red flags for some franchises.
NFL scouts may also view DeJean as a safety instead of a cornerback at the professional level, which would significantly lower his stock because of the decrease in positional value.
DeJean falling to the second round may or may not affect his chance to compete for playing time, but it would significantly decrease the money he can make on his rookie contract. NFL first-rounders, depending on how highly they are drafted, have contracts between $12.1-$38.5 million, according to The Big Lead.
Second-rounders make $6.3-$9.9 million.
TE Erick All draft projection: worst-case scenario
Hall’s realistic worst-case NFL Draft scenario is being picked in the seventh round.
All is projected by most publications to go in the fifth round, so anything later would be a disappointment, especially considering his potential. All has pro-level size and athleticism but is still raw, so his hope is that a team takes a chance on him.
But teams could, understandably, be scared off by All’s injury history. He played just 10 games over his final two college seasons because of spine surgery in 2023 and tearing his ACL in 2023. And because of that ACL injury, All might not be 100% healthy by the start of training camp, which would be an additional issue teams might not want to deal with.
All also might not benefit from Iowa’s pedigree with producing tight ends since he played only one season with the Hawkeyes. He spent four seasons at Michigan and produced only one campaign of note: 38 receptions, 437 yards and two touchdowns in 2021.
A backend draft selection for All could also make it more difficult to make an NFL roster in his first year, as teams typically carry only three tight ends every week. A higher selection would indicate that a team believes in All’s talent and would give him a longer leash to develop.
P Tory Taylor draft projection: worst-case scenario
Taylor’s realistic worst-case NFL Draft scenario is being picked in the sixth round or later.
Taylor enters the draft with maybe the best pedigree of any punter prospect in recent years, and being drafted at all for a specialist is an accomplishment in itself.
But with such an impressive resume — unanimous All-American after punting 93 times for an NCAA single-season record 48.2 yards per punt — a late selection would be a disappointment and perhaps an indication of devaluation for the punter position in the NFL Draft.
Taylor’s age, 27 years old by the start of the season, might cause trepidation for teams planning to draft their punter for the next decade with a pick. Teams in need of a punter might also just choose to try to fill other gaps in their roster with higher picks and either wait to see if Taylor slides, or sign a free-agent punter.
Taylor’s draft projection is arguably the most unpredictable of all of Iowa’s draft-eligible players.
DL Logan Lee draft projection: worst-case scenario
Lee’s realistic worst-case NFL Draft scenario is going undrafted.
He is projected to be picked in the sixth or seventh rounds by several mock drafts, the latest average slot of Iowa’s top four prospects, so he doesn’t have much wiggle room for his draft stock to fall.
Lee’s impressive combine performance and remarkable durability — three consecutive seasons without missing a game — shot him up draft boards this spring, but depending on how the draft goes, a lot can change by Day 3.
The defensive lineman could get pushed back should other, more highly touted players in his position fall, or if teams shift their approach to other positions in the late rounds if the players they expected to be there start being taken earlier.
The unpredictable factors of the draft only increase as it goes on, so Lee’s stock could rise or fall with every pick.
Gus Martin is a Digital Producer/Content Director for The Des Moines Register. Follow him on X at @GusMartin_DMR.
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Publish date : 2024-04-24 03:00:00
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