Georgia football: 3 quality players who should get drafted on Day 2

Georgia football linebacker, Nakobe Dean

Nakobe Dean should have been a first-round pick, and many Georgia football fans were surprised that he wasn’t. ESPN’s Todd McShay was Dean’s biggest fan throughout the pre-draft process and criticized scouts who said Dean’s measurements were not what teams were looking for in an NFL linebacker.

McShay often said he would be a perfect fit with the New England Patriots, but the Patriots shocked everyone when they took Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange with the 29th pick.

Ultimately, not participating in the NFL combine and being limited at Georgia’s pro day hurt Dean’s draft stock. However, this does not take away from the dominant season he had with the Bulldogs.

The Mississippi native racked up 72 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, and two interceptions. One of those interceptions was a pick-six against Florida near the end of the first half, which put the Gators away for good in that game.

Along with being a National Champion, Dean won the 2021 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s best linebacker. He also majored in mechanical engineering at Georgia and was named a 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar in early April.

Though he is smaller when it comes to the size of a typical linebacker, Nakobe proved to have the talent and IQ to be a dominant linebacker. He was arguably the defense’s leader, getting players set and showing great awareness of how an opposing offense was lining up.

Expect Dean to be one of the early players off the board in the second round. Tampa Bay held the first pick of the second round after a trade with Jacksonville last night, and CBS Sports predicted he would be their pick. He and Devin White would make up one of the best linebacker duos in the NFL.

In my humble opinion, whoever gets Nakobe Dean will ultimately get the steal of the draft.