TJ is gone

"His decision cemented the tough reality for developmental college football programs such as Iowa’s: They can no longer count on developing their most talented players into a fourth or fifth season."

..........fair point from recent Chad Leistikow article.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Cook intrigues me. He was getting some reps here and there towards the end of the year. Be pretty fun if he takes the reins and runs with them. Beyers is an athletic kid hope he can stay healthy. Weiting is obviously more of a blocker and damn good at it. I think we'll be alright in the TE department
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Tyler would be a hell of a matchup at TE.

Yes, I know you are talking about Drew, seeing as his old man doesn't have any eligibility remaining. He will definitely be in the mix.

I'm not home right now. If I was I might have the Alexa cue up "Tuesday's Gone" by Lynard Skynard and change the lyrics to "TJ's Gone". But I'm not and I can't sing.

Best of luck to TJ Hockensen and his NFL opportunity. This upcoming draft will be a great viewing opportunity for Iowa fans.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Hopefully it's not the leg he pisses down when he coaches against Northwestern and Wisconsin.:)
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By the way, if you guys would like the Hawkeyes to beat Northwestern let me know. I've been at the last 5 home losses and none of the wins in that same time period. Which isn't saying much for those who live close but I'm five hours away and only go to two home games a year. There is a strong correlation between Fryowa attending NW games in Kinnick and us losing.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
You don’t know that. Nobody will ever really know for sure. I’m not arguing it’s a bad decision only noting that you have no idea either.

What if he falls to the 3rd round in a very deep TE class this year? Mark Andrews went in the 3rd round last year and signed a contract worth $3.4 million with only $836,000 guaranteed.

Say T.J. came back to Iowa tore it up another year, seasoned his skills and increased his testing numbers and was drafted in the 1st round in 2020. Hayden Hurst was drafted in the first round last year and signed a contract worth $11 million with over $10 million guaranteed. See the difference?

Again I’m not arguing T.J. made the wrong decision, if I were in his shoes I’d probably do the same. Hopefully he tests well in goes on the first two rounds. Point being you don’t know that it was definitely the right decision.
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"only 836,000 guaranteed"? As opposed to coming back to Iowa and tearing up his knee, rather than the playing field...and he doesn't get drafted. Gets no $ guaranteed. It's all about risk/reward. He cannot get a higher award than the Mackey Award. It will be very difficult for him to have a more productive year in 2019, without a player like Fant taking defensive pressure off of him. The only way for him to increase his testing numbers at this point, would be for him to specifically train for those tests. Which he has now been doing for the past 2 weeks and will continue to do until the NFL combine. I'm just not sure he will improve his stock enough to outweigh the risks. That's probably what NFL draft people told him and that's probably why he chose to leave.
 
Fryowa said:
By the way, if you guys would like the Hawkeyes to beat Northwestern let me know. I've been at the last 5 home losses and none of the wins in that same time period. Which isn't saying much for those who live close but I'm five hours away and only go to two home games a year. There is a strong correlation between Fryowa attending NW games in Kinnick and us losing.
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You should come for Michigan games. They haven't beaten us at home since 2005 and it took OT, and a late punt return TD to send it into overtime, for them to win that year.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
It is the old question of where his draft stock is right now and if can improve next year WITHOUT getting injured. That is another 12-13 games of hoping you make it through. His stock is very high right now and remember Fant won't be there next year so there is a good chance he may get the or a very good defender on him every game. In addition, he's prob heard back from NFL execs with positive information.
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Agreed. There is tons of information to process and people could argue either side of this for days.

An interesting point on the NFL draft advisors. During the Chiefs game on Saturday they said 3 of 4 “Advisors” told Mahomes he’d be a 3rd round pick. He ended as a top 15 pick. Point being those advisors don’t always get it right.

To refute your point about injuries. See my last post. If T.J. did fall to the 3rd round he only would get about $800,000 ish guaranteed. So if he sustained a major injury in the NFL that’s about all he would get. Iowa already said it would take out an insurance policy for T.J. so his insurance proceeds would likely be near that if he sustained a major injury next year in college.

I think what people continue to underestimate in this process is just how important your draft position is to your contract. There is some great money for 1st rounders and decent in 2nd round but after that it’s not as great as it’s cracked up to be. Just because a few mock drafts and some “advisors” tell you your a 1st or 2nd doesn’t mean that’s always what happens on draft day. From what I’m being told this is a fairly deep TE class. Who knows how it will play out.

Again I’m not arguing that T.J. made the wrong decision, I’m just providing a few of the counter arguments. It’s likely why he struggled with this decision for so long. Hopefully it will work out well and he will hear his name called in the top 2 rounds.
 
lightning1 said:
"only 836,000 guaranteed"? As opposed to coming back to Iowa and tearing up his knee, rather than the playing field...and he doesn't get drafted. Gets no $ guaranteed. It's all about risk/reward. He cannot get a higher award than the Mackey Award. It will be very difficult for him to have a more productive year in 2019, without a player like Fant taking defensive pressure off of him. The only way for him to increase his testing numbers at this point, would be for him to specifically train for those tests. Which he has now been doing for the past 2 weeks and will continue to do until the NFL combine. I'm just not sure he will improve his stock enough to outweigh the risks. That's probably what NFL draft people told him and that's probably why he chose to leave.
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Jake Butt got a tax free $536,000 from his insurance proceeds. Have to imagine T.J.’s would be pretty similar.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
That just tells you the love he has like he mentioned. This makes me respect him even more instead of just looking at the cash grab. But, I don't blame him a bit and he definitely made the correct decision. People have the dream of being in his position and very very few ever get that opportunity. You have to do it Hock. You have a great future ahead of you no matter what decision you made or what happens. You have options.

Good luck to all who left early.
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For sure he pretty much had to. If he kills it in the underwear part of the combine and there's no reason to think he won't do well in interviews why wouldn't he be right behind or even in front of Fant in the draft? The guy is that dang good. I know upside is a huge thing and they think Fant being able to go outside some increases his value. The NFL will probably maintain that line of thinking with Fant and still take him higher. But TJ may have a bigger overall impact in the league sooner... We'll see.
 
All I know is if I'm John Lynch my ass is trying to draft either Fant or Hockenson.

And if I'm being honest, I'm taking Hockenson over Fant. He's a much better blocker.

Having Gronknandez 2.0 on your team could turn a franchise around
 
Northside Hawk said:
You should come for Michigan games. They haven't beaten us at home since 2005 and it took OT, and a late punt return TD to send it into overtime, for them to win that year.
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That game was like a blackout or something and I wore a different shirt than I wanted to due to the color regulations. We hadn't lost a game when I wore my lucky shirt. I take the blame for that one, I let peer pressure and some moron in the marketing department think for me.
 
Fryowa said:
All I know is if I'm John Lynch my ass is trying to draft either Fant or Hockenson.

And if I'm being honest, I'm taking Hockenson over Fant. He's a much better blocker.

Having Gronknandez 2.0 on your team could turn a franchise around
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If their shrewd they'd be smart to do it.. I doubt they'd do it with the #2 overall pick though. So it'd depend on if they trade down or use their 2nd round pick for it. Good chance one of them is there then...
The 9ers have drafted defensive lineman like 3 or 4 yrs strait with their first pick. Which also so happens to be what's projected to be up at the top of this draft. Like 4 or 5 of the top 10 or so pretty easily. So if little ole Kyler Murray picks football today that could change things up if anyone might want to trade up to #2 to get him. I don't see anyone head over heels in love with Haskins at OSU enough to do that. But that Murray kid has created quite the stir. The 9ers aren't afraid to trade down...
 
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I think it's kinda interesting that a few of those guys can be placed into either a Fant (Miamen, Beyer?) or Hockenson (LaPorta, Cook?, Lee?) type mold.

While we're obviously gonna take a huge hit production wise, Kirk and Brian's track record with TEs says that at least one of those guys will become a dependable target, good for ~300 yards and 3-4 TDs. Hopefully the WR development can continue to pick up the slack.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
For sure he pretty much had to. If he kills it in the underwear part of the combine and there's no reason to think he won't do well in interviews why wouldn't he be right behind or even in front of Fant in the draft? The guy is that dang good. I know upside is a huge thing and they think Fant being able to go outside some increases his value. The NFL will probably maintain that line of thinking with Fant and still take him higher. But TJ may have a bigger overall impact in the league sooner... We'll see.
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Also, I think you need to take into account the success that Kittle had his first year in the NFL. He just exploded and is pretty fresh in the minds of a lot of NFL execs and fans. That can only bode well for these two in the draft this year. Take advantage of it.
 
This will hurt, big time, at least in theory. Remember that we also lose Easley, who actually had pretty solid stats in his time as a Hawk. When the big dogs lose kids to the draft, they just plug in the next 4 star. Damn.
 
Iowa getting 4 into the NFL is nothing but a huge positive for the program. Great high school players want to play in the NFL someday. Iowa has a terrific record of making that happen for recruits. It is a great story and word is getting out now that if you want to play in the NFL, come to Iowa to be developed.
 
Now that the quadfecta is complete (Fant, Hooker, tall Nelson, Hock) combined with the schedule, combined with Stanley returning, I think it's safe to say the Hawks are officially fvcked in 2019.:(
 
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