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Nakobe Dean was supposed to be a high selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, but the Georgia product slipped out of the first and second rounds on Thursday and Friday. The Philadelphia Eagles selected him with the No. 83 pick.
The reason behind Dean's fall has come to light. Dean, whose draft stock should have theoretically improved after the Bulldogs won the NCAAF National Championship in January, had a shoulder injury that he declined to address.
Per Austin Gayle of Pro Football Focus, Dean's shoulder/pec malady has become a red flag for NFL teams across the league. This has already cost him money on his rookie-scale contract that he could have used to fix the issue.
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Nakobe Dean's injury was more serious than initially thought
While Dean was as durable as it gets at UGA, missing not a single game during his four-year career in Athens, he did not have a clean bill of health and may have let his toughness cost him dearly.
Dean had labrum surgery after Georgia's 2021 championship campaign and suffered an ankle injury during his freshman year in 2019. Per NFL insider Matt Lombardo, year one for Dean in Philly isn't shaping up to be what anyone had hoped for:
"Per league source, there’s a feeling inside the NFL [that] Nakobe Dean is looking at a redshirt year due to Pec tear and meniscus in knee.
Nakobe Dean and Malik Willis sliding past the second round shocks NFL world
Not only was Nakobe Dean's slip from the first and second rounds a complete shocker, but Malik Willis' similar free-fall has the NFL world questioning every preconceived notion of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Willis was once pegged as a potential top-10 pick but has fallen below Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ridder. The Liberty product's dual-threat abilities were doubted as Lamar Jackson's were, albeit to a far more severe degree.
Willis was selected with the No. 86 pick by the Tennessee Titans in a free-fall that's virtually unmatched in recent years for a talent of his caliber, especially one that impressed at the NFL Combine.
As for Dean, he'll be joining Jordan Davis with the Eagles, who made significant moves on draft night to acquire AJ Brown from the Tennessee Titans. It doesn't look like Dean will be contributing much in 2022.
