The 2016 NFL draft has come and gone and the Hawkeyes saw one former player get picked. That was Austin Blythe, who went to Indianapolis in the 7th round. It was pick number 248 out of 253.Iowa was six slots away from being shut out of the NFL draft for the first time since the late 1970’s….which makes the 2015 season all the more amazing to me. -45 Big Ten players had been selected before pick number 248, which was already the highest total for the league since the draft went to the seven-round format. To that point, none of them had been former Hawkeyes, the only team in the league who went 8-0 during the regular season last year. -The Big Ten finished with 13 defensive linemen taken in the draft, with the next nearest conference seeing six players drafted. None of those were from Iowa, but Drew Ott most certainly would have been selected had be not been injured. Desmond King would have been picked no later than the second or third round had he turned pro after this past season, and as I just mentioned, Ott would have been there had he not gotten hurt. Still, it was fairly shocking when a Purdue player was taken at #189, to see that Iowa was the lone program in the Big Ten who had not had a draft pick to that point…and they were six picks away from being shut out. On the other side of the coin, Ohio State set all kinds of records in this draft. …
Continue Reading: There Must Be a Lot of Talent in Iowa City
