Husker NFL Draft Tracker 9 Weeks Till the Draft

We are nearly a week away from the start of the NFL Combine which means the NFL Draft talk is starting to heat up. More and more Mock Drafts are coming out, while NFL Draft analysts are starting to release updated rankings. Here is a look at all the news and notes for all nine draft eligible Huskers.

USFL Draft

Before we get into the prospects for the 2022 NFL Draft, there is another draft that took place over the last couple of days, and that’s the USFL team draft. If you didn’t know the USFL is back as they partnered with Fox to bring the league back in the Spring. Since this is a “new” league the teams had a draft to select their teams. We saw two former Huskers get picked up.

Rankings

Pro Football Focus’ Mike Renner put out his Big Board of the Top 150 prospects in the draft. Only two Huskers made the list as JoJo Domann was his 89th rated player, while Cam Taylor-Britt came in at 119th.

NFL Draft Bible on Sports Illustrated’s Ric Serritella released his receiver rankings. Serritella broke his rankings into boundary and slot which saw Samori Toure come in as his 7th rated slot receiver.

Sports Illustrated NFL Draft analyst Kevin Hanson released his first top 100 Big Board of the draft season. JoJo Domann was the only Husker on his list coming in at 88th on the list.

Draft Countdown released their latest rankings which included a consensus ranking from their two writers, Shane Hallam and Brian Bosarge. Five Huskers made the list out of 371 total prospects. Here is where they have each player ranked.

• 150. JoJo Domann
• 174. Cam Taylor-Britt
• 218. Austin Allen
• 224. Cam Jurgens
• 281. Samori Toure

Mock Drafts

Fansided Vikings site, The Viking Age put out a five round mock draft and had JoJo Domann as one of their picks.

At this time, it isn’t known if the Vikings are staying in a 4-3 defense or transitioning to a 3-4 front. No matter what the choice is, Jojo Dobmann could be an interesting option at middle linebacker next to Eric Kendricks or could focus on run support around the edges.

Domann’s final season at Nebraska ended abruptly when surgery was needed to repair a ruptured tendon in a finger on his left hand. Before that injury, he played in 43 games for the Cornhuskers and racked up 208 total tackles (132 solo), 26.5 tackles for a loss including 5.5 sacks, had 15 passes defended, three interceptions, and three fumble recoveries.

Retooling the defense is a much bigger challenge for the team than improving the offense. Having Domann learn from Eric Kendricks while gaming experience would be a huge gain and with how low the Nebraska defender is on many prospect lists, he could be a massive bargain.At this time, it isn’t known if the Vikings are staying in a 4-3 defense or transitioning to a 3-4 front. No matter what the choice is, Jojo Dobmann could be an interesting option at middle linebacker next to Eric Kendricks or could focus on run support around the edges.

Domann’s final season at Nebraska ended abruptly when surgery was needed to repair a ruptured tendon in a finger on his left hand. Before that injury, he played in 43 games for the Cornhuskers and racked up 208 total tackles (132 solo), 26.5 tackles for a loss including 5.5 sacks, had 15 passes defended, three interceptions, and three fumble recoveries.

Retooling the defense is a much bigger challenge for the team than improving the offense. Having Domann learn from Eric Kendricks while gaming experience would be a huge gain and with how low the Nebraska defender is on many prospect lists, he could be a massive bargain.

David Howman of the SB Nation Cowboys site Blogging the Boys did a full seven round mock draft. Howman had three Huskers going in his mock draft. Notably absent is Cam Jurgens who has been getting a lot of love lately. Here is a look at where he had those three Huskers going.

• 104. Jacksonville Jaguars: JoJo Domann, LB – Nebraska
• 114. Seattle Seahawks: Cam Taylor-Britt, CB – Nebraska
• 254. San Francisco 49ers: Samori Toure, WR – Nebraska

Jacob Infante who covers the Bears for SB Nation’s Windy City Gridiron provided his own Bears 7 Round mock that included Cam Taylor-Britt.

Fansided Kansas City site KC Kingdom released their latest Chiefs only mock draft which saw Domann go at the end of the third round.

Round 3 Compensatory Pick
JoJo Domann, LB/S, Nebraska

With Ryan Poles becoming the GM of the Chicago Bears, the Chiefs get an extra pick at the end of the 3rd round.

I will admit that WR or DT is a real possibility here, but in my mock draft, JoJo Domann fell to this spot and he’s one of my draft crushes this year.

Domann is a guy the late John Madden would love. He’s just a football player. He’s over-sized for a safety and undersized for an NFL linebacker, but he’s simply a joy to watch play.

He is who we hoped Dorian O’Daniel might become. Domann has good coverage skills and can easily match speed and size with TEs and RBs out of the backfield. As a LB, he is above average in coverage.

But Domann loves to tackle, too. He flies around on tape and is clearly an energetic leader. With defenses playing nickel and dime so often, Domann is a tremendous chess piece for Spagnuolo to use in coverage, mirroring the QB, covering backs in the flat, or picking up late releasing TEs.

Dave Toub would also love Domann on special teams. With O’Daniel and Sorensen likely gone, Domann can fill both roles with one player.

Fansided Los Angeles Rams’ site Ramblin Fan put out their last Rams mock draft that had Cam Jurgens going in the 4th round. Here is what they had to say about him.

Speaking of overhauling the offensive line, free agents Brian Allen and Coleman Shelton could leave a gaping hole at the center position. The LA Rams are unlikely to lose both in free agency, but the possibility exists, especially with Austin Corbett and Joseph Noteboom also free agents.

Cameron Jurgens projects best as an NFL center but could see reps at guard if necessary. Jurgens is another raw prospect whose best football could be ahead of him.

Jurgens saw almost exponential growth at Nebraska, entering the university as a tight end and finishing as one of the best centers in the Big 10 after four years. At times, he still moves like a tight end, which comes with advantages and disadvantages.

Most of his flaws stem from transitioning into the center’s role but becoming the third-best center in a conference that produces pro-caliber centers is noteworthy. Moreover, he has proven intelligent enough to continue the transition.

Cameron Jurgens adds to that intelligence with a high-motor and relentless play style. He may get outplayed by more technically sound players, but practicing against Aaron Donald will help him learn how to play against more gifted players.

At 6-foot-3 and 290-pounds, Cameron Jurgens still has room to develop NFL mass and mobility. Having Jurgens working in an offseason program with Kellen Diesch could result in two franchise offensive linemen in one draft class.

Sportsnaut writer Vincent Frank released his latest Atlanta Falcons only Mock Draft which saw Cam Taylor-Britt selected in the third round. Here is what he had to say.

Taylor-Britt displayed flashes of brilliance in the Cornhuskers’ defensive backfield last season. Playing outside at cornerback, he boasts tremendous man coverage skills and has great vision — particularly when keeping his eyes on the quarterback in the backfield.

Most have Taylor-Britt lining up at this position at the professional level. However, we envision him more as a single-high free safety with a tremendous amount of range. This is also an area of weakness for a Falcons team that yielded 31 passing touchdowns against 12 interceptions a season ago.

Player Specific News

Austin Allen

Cam Jurgens

Clifton Brown, who writes for the Baltimore Ravens team website, is doing a series of five players to watch at the Combine. In this list we find Cam Jurgens as the second center listed on Brown’s list.

In his latest NFL Draft Notebook, John Blair of NFL Mocks provided a large variety of information including his Top 32 Big Board, AFC South Team Needs and also his thoughts on this year’s center class. Jurgens is Blair’s 3rd rated center and had this to say about him.

Player who had a breakout year: Cam Jurgens, Nebraska

After coming out of high school as one of the top tight ends in the nation, Nebraska switched Jungers to center as a freshman. While he became the first Nebraska freshman to start at center since 1972, he struggled his first couple of seasons. His biggest challenge was consistently delivering the shotgun snap, but he fixed this issue this past season. His consistency allowed him to go from a free agent prospect before the season to a player who should be drafted early on the third day of the draft.

Damion Daniels

JoJo Domann

Over at The Steelers Depot they took a look at Pro Football Focus’ grades and rankings for the cornerbacks in the 2022 NFL Draft and then broke them down to how they could fit the Steelers. PFF still lists Domann as a corner so he was listed in their breakdown. This is what they had to say.

Nebraska’s JoJo Domann who has great size and is position versatile with most of his snaps from the slot the last three seasons, 100+ snaps each season at defensive line, and 50+ in the box in 2021. He had high 80 overall and coverage grades, low 80 run defense grade, 63.8 passer rating allowed, but a high 82.1% completion rate. Domann played linebacker in the Senior Bowl and had a good tackle but washed out in the run game and provided value on special teams with a tackle and downed punt. It will be interesting to see what position he plays in the NFL.

Steelers Depot Scouting Report on Domann

Cam Taylor-Britt

SB Nation Raiders site Silver and Black Pride provided their Scouting Report on Taylor-Britt.

Here is a look at Bleacher Report’s Scouting Report on Taylor-Britt

Over at The Steelers Depot they took a look at Pro Football Focus’ grades and rankings for the cornerbacks in the 2022 NFL Draft and then broke them down to how they could fit the Steelers. Above I listed what they said about Domann, here is what they had to say about Taylor-Britt.

Nebraska cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt has good size and primarily played outside the last three seasons and had 100+ in 2019 at slot, outside, box and deep alignments along with 50+ in the box in 2021. He had 70+ overall, coverage and run defense grades, 53% completion rate, and 77.3 passer rating against.

Non Husker Draft

As I know that most Huskers fans are also fans of NFL teams. Each week I’ll highlight a specific player that your team may end up taking, maybe a mock draft or something else. This week my focus is on Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd. Lloyd was the star of the Utes defense this past season which saw them win the Pac 12 and go to their first Rose Bowl. Lloyd is a fast linebacker that can blitz and play in coverage. He’s been mocked by some experts to go in the top 10. Here is a look at my latest film room video on him.