Nakobe Dean says falling to third round 'has made my chip grow bigger' | Recap

Day 2 of the NFL draft won’t be able to match the momentous day for the Georgia football program, but that doesn’t mean that players that go Friday night in the second and third rounds won’t have impactful pro careers.

A day after Georgia set a modern-era record for most defensive players to go in the first round in the same draft with five, the Bulldogs could reach its program record for players taken of nine.

Inside linebacker Nakobe Dean isn’t expected to last long.

Nearly half of Georgia's starters on defense go in first round to set NFL draft record

He’s ESPN analyst Mel Kiper and NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah’s top player available.

“Nakobe about to be the biggest steal of draft Mark my words,” tweeted former Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith, who went in the first round to the Bears in 2018.

CBSSports.com has Dean going off the board with the first pick of the second round to Tampa Bay.

“I feel like my mentality stets me apart from anybody in this draft class,” Dean said at UGA’s Pro Day in March. “I feel like I’m the best linebacker in this draft class regardless of what they might think.”

Recap: Five Georgia players go in NFL draft first round

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShy said that Dean “was the best player week in and week out,” on a Georgia defense that had five players go before him.

Other Georgia players projected to go Friday by CBSSports: wide receiver George Pickens also in the second round and inside linebacker Channing Tindall and offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer in the third round.

12:25 a.m.|Nakobe Dean, Eagles GM on why LB slid to third round

Questions swirled about injuries pushing inside linebacker Nakobe Dean down draft boards, something he and Eagles executive vice president/general manager Howie Roseman addressed with the media separately after a third round in which the Eagles drafted Dean.

"It was definitely nerve-wracking, especially not knowing all the way why I was falling like that," Dean said in a video conference with reporters.

He spoke from Las Vegas where he remained even after not getting picked Thursday in the first round.

Dean said he expects to be a full participant next week in rookie mini-camp despite a pectoral injury that Dean talked last month about limiting him at Pro Day to position drills.

"All of the things that he has, he's going to play football with for the Philadelphia Eagles," Roseman said.

Other teams passed on Dean due to injury concerns, Roseman said. Dean had labrum surgery in early 2021 and missed spring practice but played in all 15 games last season.

"This is a unique player," he said. "I will tell you, talking to Nakobe tonight, you're going to have to hold his ass back."

Said Dean: "This has done nothing but make my chip grow bigger. I'm just ready to play, ready to get to work."

Dean isn't expected to need surgery for the pec injury he hurt preparing for the combine, according to Eagles doctors, Roseman said. He said he sought a second opinion from doctors, but nobody told him he needed surgery.

"He'll come in here and take a physical and we'll double check all those things," Roseman said.

Dean said hearing "things that are not true, it's caused me (to lose) a lot of money." He spoke of seeing his mother's face as he fell in the draft but called himself "blessed" to get drafted by the Eagles.

If the Eagles didn't take him, Roseman said another team would soon after. The Eagles considered taking him in the second round.

"He was coming off," he said of the third round. "If we didn't take him, he was gone."

Roseman said there may be "guys with better measurables, but this guy played at the highest level and he was the heartbeat of that team."

11:24 p.m. |Dolphins take Channing Tindall in third as UGA ties draft record

Miami snatched up inside linebacker Channing Tindall near the end of the third round with the 102nd overall pick.

That ties Georgia's record for most draft picks in one year with nine and there are still four more rounds to go Saturday.

Tindall becomes the seventh Georgia defensive player taken in the first three rounds, the most in NFL history, according to ESPN.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Tindall never started a game at Georgia where he rotated with first-round pick Quay Walker and third-round pick Nakobe Dean.

The Columbia, S.C., native had 67 tackles and 5.5 sacks this past season and 12 sacks during his Bulldogs career.

10:26 p.m. |Eagles end Nakobe Dean's wait in the third round

Nakobe Dean’s slide into the third round became a big second day storyline, but he finally went before 10:30 p.m. Friday to the Philadelphia Eagles with the No. 83 overall pick.

He’ll join first round defensive tackle Jordan Davis from Georgia with the Eagles.

Dean, the Butkus Award winning linebacker, led Georgia in tackles in 2020 with 71 and was second in 2021 with 70 and was considered the team’s biggest leader during a national championship season.

He was among 20 prospects that attended the NFL draft on Thursday in Las Vegas, spots usually for those considered to be first round prospects.

The Horn Lake, Miss. native doesn’t have ideal size at 5-foot-11 and 229 pounds for an NFL linebacker. Dean didn’t work out at the NFL combine due to a pectoral injury and did only position drills at Georgia’s Pro Day so didn’t run the 40 at either. He missed spring practice in 2020 after labrum surgery.

“I’m dumbfounded,” Brad Boyette, Dean’s high school coach, said in a text message to the Banner-Herald after 78 picks had come and gone without him being taken.

The NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport tweeted that Dean has a “severe pec strain,” but opted not to have surgery “which has been the cause of concern for some teams. Pete Thamel of ESPN.com tweeted that according to teams Dean’s “size, medicals and how the combination of those project his durability have prompted this slide.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart made his case Thursday before the draft for Dean, who had 6 sacks last season.

"I would say look at the NFL linebacker right now and all the free-release game that teams do,” he said on ESPN. “They’re throwing the ball out of the backfield [to the Christian] McCaffreys, the Dalvin Cooks and all these guys. Who's got to cover that guy? He does. You better have a guy that can run, change the direction and cover. He faced offenses like that. He went against Jams Cook every day in practice. That's the kind of backs you have to face every day in the NFL, and he's perfect for it."

9:23 p.m. |Bills grab Georgia RB James Cook in second round

In a bit of a surprise, Buffalo has taken running back James Cook in the second round with the No. 63 overall pick. He's the seventh Georgia player drafted.

Cook follow his brother, Vikings star running back Dalvin Cook, to the NFL. He brings a dangerous threat who can make plays in space in the passing game.

"I think every linebacker in the AFC East has been put on notice," NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. "Good luck guys. I've seen everybody at the collegiate level try to cover him out of the backfield. not just running routes from backfield, but splitting out at wide receiver. ...He's a nightmare in the passing game."

The 5-foot-11, 199-pound Cook from Miami rushed for 728 yards and 7 touchdowns this past season and had 27 catches for 284 yards and 4 touchdowns.

8:42 p.m. |Steelers take WR George Pickens in the second round

The run of wide receivers in the first round Thursday didn’t include George Pickens.

The former Bulldog star was drafted Friday night.

Six wide receivers went in first round—all in the first 18 picks—and Pickens was the 12th wide receiver to go overall when the Steelers selected him with the 52nd overall pick, the 20th of the second round.

Pickens had 14 touchdowns catches in his first two Georgia seasons, leading the team in 2019 with 49 catches for 727 yards and followed that up with 36 catches for 513 yards in eight games in 2020.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Pickens is coming off a torn ACL that limited him to four games at the end of last season and there were concerns about his maturity level. He was suspended for the first half of the 2020 SEC championship game after getting in a fight at Georgia Tech and squeezed a water bottle on the sideline at an opposing player in one game.

“I’ve never seen a 50-50 guy quite like this guy,” coach Kirby Smart said Thursday on the NFL Network of a player who declared for the draft after his junior season. ”He’s unbelievable when it comes to going up and getting balls and making big time catches. …Some of the plays he’s made in our practices will never be forgotten because he’s made some of the sickest catches.”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was at Georgia's Pro Day in March.

"He was impressive beyond belief at his Pro Day," Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada told reporters. "He showed no signs of any injury. We're really, really excited to get him at any point of the draft."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Will more Georgia football players go in NFL Draft on Friday?