The 2017 NFL Draft started off with a bang — Chicago jumped up to take North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky in a surprising second pick in the first round after trading with San Francisco, and skill players flew off the board from there faster than in years past.
The unpredictable theme continued with Hawkeye prospects. Two players in particular, C.J. Beathard and Desmond King, found NFL homes at different rounds than their draft stock had projected, sparking a debate: Which selection was the bigger surprise?
C.J. Beathard
C.J. Beathard wasn’t projected by many to be the first Hawkeye taken in the draft. His stock bounced between a sixth- or seventh-round pick, but he was drafted in the third round.
San Francisco traded with Minnesota to move up and secure a late-third-round pick, taking Beathard with the 104th selection in the draft and making him the highest Hawkeye quarterback drafted since Mark Vlasic in 1987 and the second signal-caller selected in the Kirk Ferentz era after Ricky Stanzi in 2011.
Beathard’s projections came after Iowa followed up a 12-2 campaign in 2015 with an 8-5 record in 2016. The offense was not as productive, and while the blame didn’t fall solely on his shoulders, there was a noticeable difference.
Beathard completed 56.5-percent of his throws, racking up 1,929 yards and 17 touchdowns (880 yards fewer and the same number of TDs, despite playing in only 13 games compared with 14 the year before). He also threw 10 interceptions, double his 2015 total.
Playing in a pro-style offense at Iowa gave Beathard an advantage over some of the quarterbacks available at the time of his selection.
The sixth quarterback selected in the draft, Beathard entered the weekend ranked as the ninth-best passer in the class.
Joshua Dobbs (5th), Nathan Peterman (6th), and Brad Kaaya (8th), all quarterbacks viewed with higher potential, were all on the board at the time of the 49ers’ pick, adding even more surprise to the selection. San Francisco does not have a guaranteed starter with Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley on the roster, meaning Beathard has a legitimate chance of earning starting reps, something most Hawkeye fans did envision.
— Adam Hensley
Desmond King
Desmond King is an extremely talented football player. He was not a first-round talent. You would be hard-pressed to find many people who disagree with those statements.
As annoying as it is that King was looked down upon for his 40-yard dash time, it made the dream of him going in the first two rounds practically impossible.
But to fall out of the third round, and then the fourth round, and into the fifth, was extremely surprising to me.
To start, King was one of the better playmaking corners in the draft. NFL teams looked at his senior season and said, “Oh his numbers are way down this year.” That’s because opposing quarterbacks and offensive coordinators respected his game so much that they refused to throw toward his area code.
Winning a college football award doesn’t automatically mean you are going to be an NFL star. Looking at some former Heisman Trophy winners proves that point — Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel aren’t vying for a Super Bowl anytime soon. But King’s versatility and instincts do make him an elite prospect, and falling to the fifth round was confusing.
I don’t see his speed as being an issue, because he plays fast. There is a difference between people who can run a fast 40 and people who can strap on pads and play fast.
What I see from King on the field is a guy who plays lockdown defense on the outside, in both zone and press coverage, and a guy who consistently ran away from people when he had the ball in his hands — both on special teams and interception returns.
The Chargers got a steal in the fifth round selecting King.
— Blake Dowson