Skip to main content
Join
Team Avatar
Georgia

Todd McShay pays ultimate compliment to Nakobe Dean, provides perfect situation in NFL Draft

SimonGibbs_UserImageby:Simon Gibbs•03/15/22•

SimonGibbs26

On3 image
David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images.

Former Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Nakobe Dean is projected to be selected late in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay loves the pick — so much so, that he says Dean may be the best prospect taken in the No. 21 – No. 32 range of the draft.

McShay projected Dean to get selected at No. 21 in his third NFL Mock Draft, and he believes it could be a perfect marriage in Foxboro playing for the New England Patriots.

CLICK HERE to get 30% OFF your Georgia Bulldogs National Championship apparel

“Can you imagine the player with the best football intelligence in the entire draft class in Nakobe Dean pairing up with Belichick? I just — I would love to see this,” McShay said. “Nakobe Dean worked out at the Combine and people were saying he’s too slow. People were also saying he also has too short arms. He has average arm length for an off-the-ball linebacker. I don’t care what any of these numbers say when it comes to Dean — he plays like a 4-3 linebacker, and he can cover, and he became a great blitzer this past year. I would love to see him in New England.”

Following the NFL Scouting Combine, many scouts criticized Dean for the same reasons McShay noted. However, McShay quickly came to Dean’s defense, saying that those same shortcomings that scouts mentioned don’t show up on Dean’s game film.

“When you look at Nakobe Dean, he didn’t work out (at the NFL Combine),” McShay said. “I think he’s still trying to, after playing in the national championship game, wanting a little bit more time to prepare. He’s not going to run a great time, I know that. He has shorter arms, I know that, that’s fine. But what I do know about him – and it wasn’t that short.

“Every scout you talk to in the league, it drives me crazy. They try to tell me what Nakobe Dean can’t do. ‘Oh, he has short arms, he falls off of tackles, he’s going to get enveloped by bigger blockers in the NFL.’ Well I don’t see that in the SEC for 15 games this past season. His arms weren’t that short, they were right around the average over the five-year combine tally if you go back and look at it. And if he runs somewhere in the 4.5s, 4.6s, great, because he plays like a 4.4 linebacker on tape and that’s what matters.