One Former Hawkeye Has Best Chance To Make NFL Team As Undrafted Free Agent

Four Iowa Hawkeyes were undrafted free agents after the 2025 NFL Draft. One has the best shot of making a 53-man roster.

Iowa’s Jay Higgins looks on during the team’s practice at Ensworth School in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. | Nicole Hester / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There was always a strong chance that former Iowa Hawkeyes linebacker Jay Higgins was going to go unselected in the 2025 NFL Draft. This is despite the fact that he was a unanimous All-American for the Hawkeyes last season.

The production was there for Higgins at the college level. The look was there, too. He checks in at 6-foot-2, 227 pounds, and he has a nose for the football. That's everything you look for in an NFL linebacker.

The issue for Higgins was that he performed poorly at the NFL Scouting Combine. His 40-yard dash (4.82 seconds) and 10-yard split (1.64 seconds) were the worst amongst any linebacker who tested at the combine.

Higgins saw his stock go from "interesting sleeper pick" to undrafted, likely because of his combine performance. With that said, he was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, and John Steppe of "The Gazette" believes he has a decent chance of actually making the team.

"Higgins’ consolation for not getting drafted is a relatively favorable path to a 53-man roster in Baltimore," Steppe wrote. "The Ravens went into the draft with a need at inside linebacker after Malik Harrison and Chris Board left via free agency. After star player Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson, they have a significant drop-off in experience."

Higgins will be competing with former Iowa State linebacker Jake Hummel, former Temple linebacker William Kwenkeu (both undrafted free agents in 2022) and Baltimore's 129th overall pick in 2025, Cal linebacker Teddye Buchanan.

Smith and Simpson are the starters at inside linebacker and one would think that Baltimore will want to keep at least two backups on the roster who can also play on special teams. Assuming Buchanan is a lock, Higgins' competition will really be Hummel and Kwenkeu.

Higgins notched 124 tackles, four interceptions, five passes defended, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery last season for Iowa. In 2023, he had 171 tackles, one interception, four passes defended, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.

If he can prove in camp that his combine performance was a fluke, he does have a history of being a very consistent and productive linebacker at an NFL factory like Iowa.