Iowa football: NFL Draft disrespect continues for Hawkeye defensive backs

This year marks the fourth time in less than a decade that the Iowa football program’s DBs fell later than expected in the NFL Draft.

I’ll be honest, I should have seen this coming. It seems to happen literally every year to Phil Parker’s defensive backfield with the Iowa football program. The Hawks produce a great defensive back who has a ton of hype, and then they fall in that year’s NFL Draft.

It happened to Micah Hyde. It happened to Desmond King, and it even happened to Josh Jackson.

I really thought though that it would be different for Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Amani Hooker this year. His versatility fits perfect with today’s growing trend of defenses going small to handle the rise in spread looks in the NFL. He can line up deep in a cover 2 or come up into the box and play the run if needed, and he can also move over to the slot if necessary.

The downfall of Iowa football defensive backs is usually athleticism concerns, but Hooker managed to squash those concerns with an impressive display at this years 2019 NFL Combine.

Iowa football player and Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Amani Hooker was projected to be a mid-third round pick at the very worst, but unfortunately didn’t hear his name called Friday night on day two of the NFL Draft. Instead, the junior safety had to wait another day to get the call of a lifetime, which finally came part way through the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

With the 14th pick in the fourth round, the Tennessee Titans selected Amani Hooker to come in and be a reserve safety behind Kenny Vaccaro. They clearly thought highly of the All-American safety as they traded up with the New York Jets to acquire him five picks before their original draft pick.

Under Mike Vrabel, Hooker will have the opportunity to learn from a great defensive mind with Patriots roots and play behind a veteran safety in Kenny Vaccaro that can help ease the transition for the safety.

It’ll be interesting though to exactly what role Hooker plays considering Vaccaro just signed a 4 year/$26 million contract extension this offseason.

Either way, congratulations to Amani Hooker, and I can beyond excited to watch him prove NFL executives wrong as have past Iowa football defensive backs have done.