Nakobe Dean Falling? Latest on NFL Draft
Nakobe Dean didn't take long during his time at Georgia to begin to make an impact on the football field. Even with the likes of NFL linebackers like Tae Crowder and Monty Rice in the linebacker room, as well as fellow members of the 2022 NFL Draft class Quay Walker and Channing Tindall who are his elder, Nakobe Dean managed to make headway as a true freshman in 2019.
As primarily a third-down package player in his freshman season, Dean racked up 25 tackles on his way to being named Defensive Newcomer of the year. HIs sophomore season, it was Nakobe Dean's room. He became the leader of a defense that led the nation in rushing yards allowed per game thanks in part to Dean's team-high 71 tackles.
In his third and final year, Dean put on an absolute show. Pick sixes in Jacksonville, 6.0 sacks on the year, and the heart and soul of a national champion defense. Now, he's off to the NFL.
Though what surely seemed to be a first-round caliber football player and one of the best overall 10 players in this NFL Draft, Dean's NFL Draft stock has dropped as of late.
Georgia's second-ever Butkus Award winner Nakobe Dean did not partake in any on-field drills at the NFL Combine, so this was the first and final on-field look at Nakobe Dean. Dean's NFL Draft stock has been hampered to this point by skepticism regarding his physical ceiling as a prospect. In an NFL Draft class with several lengthy prospects at the linebacker position — including Dean's teammate Quay Walker — the NFL was anxious to see Dean move on the field.
Unfortunately for Dean, he was limited during Wednesday's pro-day events due to a pectoral strain, per Kirby Smart.
Now, as the dust settles from pro days around the NFL Draft landscape big boards are shuffling, and Dean's name appears to be dropping.
In Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network's latest NFL Draft Big Board, Dean is one of the biggest fallers of any prospect on the board, having dropped 5 spots from No. 8 overall to No. 13 after the NFL Combine and Pro Day evaluation period.
The mock draft community has responded accordingly as well. Nakobe Dean is routinely the second linebacker taken behind Utah's Devin Lloyd and is falling anywhere from the late first round to early second round after having been discussed in the early first-round prior to the combine and pro day circuit.
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