Nebraska football defensive lineman Darrion Daniels is following his impressive combine performance with several virtual meetings with NFL teams. The way those teams are getting ready for the NFL draft has changed, but they are still trying to do as much due diligence as possible.
If recent reports can be believed, there are a handful of teams that have some real interest in Daniels. Jess Root of Cardswire reports that the defender had a FaceTime meeting with Arizona, among others.
Having played four seasons at Oklahoma State, Daniels moved to Nebraska as a graduate transfer and had the best overall season of his career. He followed that up with a showing at the NFL Draft Combine that stunned watchers. Not only did the defensive lineman show off his upper body strength but showed a speed rarely, if ever seen from a man of his size and build.
Root points out the Cardinals have talked to him, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be a first-day draft pick. There are concerns, despite Daniels’ size, that his technique and discipline both at Oklahoma State and then Nebraska was lacking. That could move him into the third day of the draft, or he could still be available as a free-agent pickup when everything is said and done.
Draft Wire’s Justin Melo recently reported on Twitter that virtual meetings weren’t the only ways the former Nebraska star managed to impress other NFL teams. Yes, Daniels has had FaceTime meetings with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Cardinals. Still, he also had private conversations with a few other teams before everything got shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Nebraska had the fortune of holding the last NFL Pro Day on its campus in the country. The next day, the NCAA told its member schools they weren’t allowed to have those kinds of workouts until the coronavirus outbreak was over. At that Pro Day, Melo reported the Tennessee Titans put him through a private workout. The Miami Dolphins were reportedly also able to get Daniels to work out for them before the Nebraska product was cut off from in-person workouts thanks to various shut-down orders.
It’s been a few years since a Nebraska football defensive player was taken in the draft. Former quarterback Tanner Lee is the last Husker to be officially drafted. He was taken in the 7th round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year, the Huskers’ streak of having at least one player taken in the draft was broken, though wide receiver Stanley Morgan and running back Devine Ozigbo were signed after the draft. Now Darrion Daniels is hoping he can start the streak up again.