Hawkeye rookies on active rosters in NFL

L

lilrabbi

Well-Known Member
By my count there are 9 ex-Hawk rookies that are currently on 53-man active rosters in the NFL. Does any other school have that many? Is there a website that tracks that kind of thing? That is a ton of talent to replace. I don't think we realized how good some of those guys were when they were on the team.

And this isn't to say, "we're replacing a lot of starters." This IS to say, "we are replacing 9 NFL caliber players, 3 or 4 of which will be starters at some point this season." By this measure, this could be the biggest "rebuilding year" Kirk Ferentz has ever faced.

What say you?
 
Dope smoking crack addict chemistry destroyers.

Another question: how did those kids become NFL caliber players?
 
I'll accept that. I wasn't trying to start an argument or prove any point other than the fact that we lost a ton of talent last year and that I'm proud the Hawks have the most active-roster rookies in the NFL this year. It is better than saying everyone needs to be fired and benched and I'm going to be a NW fan or lacrosse fan or whatever other stupid things people are saying after the loss.
 
lilrabbi said:
I'll accept that. I wasn't trying to start an argument or prove any point other than the fact that we lost a ton of talent last year and that I'm proud the Hawks have the most active-roster rookies in the NFL this year. It is better than saying everyone needs to be fired and benched and I'm going to be a NW fan or lacrosse fan or whatever other stupid things people are saying after the loss.
Click to expand...


Or maybe you should just figure out the answer to your formulas is that KF is way overrated as a coach. We barely won 8 games with that loaded team and did the same thing again with the Shonn Greene team that blew several leads late.
 
We also forget that in addition to the 9 rooks on the 53 man active roster from last year's team (all of which are not main-line starters by the way but still impressive).... we lost another 5-7 the year before to the NFL several of which are/were main-line starters in the NFL.

It was the loss of those 5-7 and the new guys in their spots + injuries to some of the experienced replacements that had an impact on our play in close losses.

This year we are really going to feel the effects, especially on defense and special teams.

Need to continue re-stocking and developing the next set of future players to go on the next 2-3 year run. Easier said than done but KF has gone on 2, 2-3 year runs so he has demonstrated to me that it can be done (one time being a fluke).
 
So we have a staff that can develop NFL talent and cannot translate it into wins over teams that are HANDLED by other people.
 
MoseSchrute said:
So we have a staff that can develop NFL talent and cannot translate it into wins over teams that are HANDLED by other people.
Click to expand...

I think that is a fair point.

We have produced a lot of pro-players and probably 2-3 excellent players in Bob Sanders(prior to injuries), Eric Steinback (former pro-bowler i think) and Dallas Clark(pro-bowler).

Many of the other guys are solid, contributing players. I think you hear a lot of NFL chatter that we produce guys that are tough, have excellent technique and work-ethic and fit pro-schemes. What we do not see outside of maybe the three above are elite, freakish athletes.

What I am trying to say I don't know that we are loaded with guys who have that natural freakish ability to make the special play to close out a game. As an example Pryor (former OSU) who was not a great throwing QB but could make a play like the one last year to seal the game with a 4-12 run that made everyone else look like they were in slow motion including 3 NFL defensive lineman.

Do we have that guy that can jump a route at the end of regulation or in OT, come off the edge and bury the QB, bust the 65 yard TD run, etc. etc.? If so, how many? I tend to think we do not have many if any and have to win by playing team concepts. The problem is we usually have holes somewhere.
 
Great NFLers: Greenway just signed the biggest contract ever by an outside 4-3 linebacker, so he must be pretty good. You have guys like Greeene, Moeaki, and Koulianos who had that freakish good talent, but for different reasons never quite reached their potential (except Greene in his last year).

Again, I'm not here to trash/bash the coaching staff or the current players or whatever. I'm just saying we need to step back and reflect on the accomplishment of having the most active NFL rookies of any school - Auburn, Alabama, USC, Michigan, tOSU, etc. etc. all have fewer. That is an astounding thought.

The "freakish athlete" point drives home even more the good job that KF has done at Iowa. We never have recruited the best of the best high schoolers. Probably no coach could bring that kind of talent to Iowa. But KF and his staff develop players, even if they are a little too conservative on game day or don't take ISU seriously enough. What if we didn't lose to ISU with Banks and Clark? How many games would we have lost through the year without those lessons learned?
 
lilrabbi said:
Great NFLers: Greenway just signed the biggest contract ever by an outside 4-3 linebacker, so he must be pretty good. You have guys like Greeene, Moeaki, and Koulianos who had that freakish good talent, but for different reasons never quite reached their potential (except Greene in his last year).

Again, I'm not here to trash/bash the coaching staff or the current players or whatever. I'm just saying we need to step back and reflect on the accomplishment of having the most active NFL rookies of any school - Auburn, Alabama, USC, Michigan, tOSU, etc. etc. all have fewer. That is an astounding thought.

The "freakish athlete" point drives home even more the good job that KF has done at Iowa. We never have recruited the best of the best high schoolers. Probably no coach could bring that kind of talent to Iowa. But KF and his staff develop players, even if they are a little too conservative on game day or don't take ISU seriously enough. What if we didn't lose to ISU with Banks and Clark? How many games would we have lost through the year without those lessons learned?
Click to expand...

Good catch on greenway, moeaki(if he could stay healthy) and DJK (had he not gotten himself in trouble)

I do agree... we are not pulling in 5 stars on a regular basis nor does a 5 star rating guarantee a player will be a freak either. Football is very difficult to project players and play with inexperience at a number of positions.

Despite the loss and prospects of a tough season I am not down on our program. KF has proven to me that he can get a group of kids and go on a 2-3 year run of very good football.... is he without faults or not deserve any criticsm I would say no though either.
 
hawkfan2679 said:
"How on earth did we only get to 8-5 (dropped TD pass away from 7-6 and a birth in the Texas Bowl) with 9 future NFLers on the roster?"
Click to expand...


Exaclty, I am tired of hearing about poor Iowa if we have all this talent playing in the NFL why can we not beat lesser teams. Do you think AlabM would go 8-5 and a dropped pass from 7-6 with 8 players from a team now playing in the NFL, and would Alabama fans take that.
 
Last edited:
We put that many players in the NFL, yet according to the announcers of yesterday's game, they quoted KF as saying "We don't have the type of program that can recruit nationally."

Um, excuse me? I was really bothered to hear that. Guess we'd better just stay in our place and only recruit the state of Iowa then.

You have 3 straight top-10 finishes from 02-04, another one in 09, yet we can't recruit nationally? Nice way to convert any program momentum into better recruits.
 
goiahawks said:
Fire Ferentz! All he does is make kids better and gets them to the NFL. You guys are nuts!
Click to expand...



As always you are not understanding what we are talking about no one is saying fire KF we are just saying we need too make some changes with all of this talent and we struggle to go 8-5.

It is ok to question KF does not me want him fired it is ok for tough questions, and look at what we do and make some changes. Lets not be happy with 8-5 with 9 NFL players on the roster that is not good enough. So if the talent is good enough the problem must be with the coaching need some fresh ideas.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
We put that many players in the NFL, yet according to the announcers of yesterday's game, they quoted KF as saying "We don't have the type of program that can recruit nationally."

Um, excuse me? I was really bothered to hear that. Guess we'd better just stay in our place and only recruit the state of Iowa then.

You have 3 straight top-10 finishes from 02-04, another one in 09, yet we can't recruit nationally? Nice way to convert any program momentum into better recruits.
Click to expand...


Exactly because KF likes to play the poor old Iowa card so it can keep the heat off of him and his staff with the University. Why can we not recruit nationally tell me. We play every game on national TV we sell out every home game and have a tremendous fan base lets stop the Poor old IOWA crap. Nebraska has done really well nationallly with less for a long time.
 
Ferentz does a good job of signing and developing personnel for linemen and TE's.........many of which are starting in the NFL.

Skill players / difference makers......a different story, not many have been starters in the NFL let alone make the cut. We could have used one or two yesterday :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top