Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa football players Tyler Goodson and Dane Belton improve stock at NFL Combine

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Former Iowa football players Tyler Goodson and Dane Belton participated in the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine this past weekend and put on quite a showing. Both tested well and improved their draft stock over the weekend. Meanwhile, former Iowa Hawkeye All-American center Tyler Linderbaum did not test but did get measured. And as we've seen time and time again, scouts are getting a bit nit-picky with Linderbaum's arm length. We break down all three players' weekends and what it means for their draft stock before discussing the latest bracketology rumblings for the men's and women's Iowa basketball programs. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.RunYourPoolIf you want to play against us for a shot at a cash prize join us at RunYourPool.com/LockedOn. And while you’re there, create your own pool for your friends and family. Enter ‘PUREMADNESS’ at checkout for $10 off your custom pool.StatHeroStatHero is reshaping the way the way you play fantasy sports. Dozens of house based games to play daily. No sharks, no funky props, just your skill vs the lineups you choose. Sign-up today at StatHero.com/LockedOn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Tuesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another show today. And on today's episode, we're talking about the NFL Combine. A lot went down at the Combine.

Several Iowa Hawkeyes increased and improved their draft stock. We're going to be talking about which of those guys did that and how they did that on today's show. We're also going to be talking about bracketology for both the men's and women's team and why it is so important for both of these teams to have a very specific seed going into the tournament. That is all coming up on today's show. Before we get to that,

I want to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. And today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by Run Your Pool. March Madness is here, and Run Your Pool has a better way to create your bracket. RunYourPool.com, the premier sports pool hosting service. So let's get into it today.

We talked a little bit about the combine on yesterday's show, saying that it happened. We're going to talk about today. We talked a lot about basketball, but there's more to cover on both those fronts, starting with the combine. So Tyler Linderbaum, Dane Belden, and Tyler Goodson all invited to the combine. And, you know, obviously Jack Kerner, Matt Hankins, Kyler Schott, those guys not invited to the combine,

which is a blow to what our perceived value of their draft stock is. It's not the final nail in the coffin, right? There's still a lot to gain from your pro day and a lot for them to gain from their pro day as well. However, it is a very good opportunity to get in front of scouts, to get in front of scouts, to get in front of other teams and have an interview or chance to interview with those specific teams and really work on improving your draft stock. It starts creating a narrative early on in the process, as opposed to going to your Pro Day in a month and doing well, not giving scouts enough

time to kind of really look at you and see what you're doing. Now, granted, there's a lot more that goes into it, but getting invited to the combine shows or says that you are looked at as one of the top candidates in this class. Now, there's over 300 people going to the combine. So some of those people aren't even going to be drafted, but that's what it says about your draft stock, that you are considered a draftable prospect. If you are not invited to the combine, currently, the lens is that you are not a draftable prospect. If you are not invited to the combine, currently, the lens is that you are not a draftable prospect. Now, again, a lot can change going forward.

So we're here to talk about Dane Belton, Tyler Linderbaum, and Tyler Goodson. First, to start off with Tyler Linderbaum. It is that time of the season where scouts find anything wrong with you. Rumors start about how good or bad you are are and draft stocks begin to tank or to rise. We saw it happen with Tristan Wirfs. People ignored how dominant his tape was, ignored his freakish athletic abilities, and focused on his wingspan, his arms. Now, it does become an interesting metric game when you look at these,

these metrics and Tyler Linderbaum is getting the short end of the stick with his arm length. Now, measurables do not tell the entire story and any Iowa fan is going to tell you, just put on the game tape and you're absolutely right. But measurables do help group guys into certain areas. For example, if you have shorter arms,

theoretically it dictates the defensive line can get into your shoulder pads a bit more. You cannot extend out nearly as much. Now that's a very simplified way of looking at offensive line play. But when someone has short arms, the immediate narrative shouldn't be they can't play this position or they can't be good. It should be, let's go look at the tape and see if that was

a problem or not. And when they go look at the tape with Tyler Linderbaum, they're going to see it was not a problem. However, again, metrics do play a role in this because it helps kind of group people in a certain categories. And when you look at Tyler Linderbaum's arm length, 31 and 1 eighth arm length, there's not a lot of guys who have played and played successfully with that kind of arm length, especially measuring in at 296 pounds as well. Again, people are going to overanalyze a lot of these things, but there was an interesting stat put out. Austin Blythe, former Iowa lineman, Austin Blythe, is the only interior offensive lineman with under 31.5 inch arms and over 800 snaps logged to play in a season over the last five years.

So again, it's not the end-all be-all, but it's something worth noting. Now, Tyler Linderbaum, any Iowa fan is going to look at this and say, the dude's a freak. He's going to be fine. And you're absolutely right. Tyler Linderbaum is going to be fine for a team that is intelligent about how they build a football program. And speaking of those teams, Tyler Linderbaum met with around tennis teams. The teams that we are for sure aware of are the Jets, the Giants, the Dolphins, Packers, and Steelers. Kind of a range of all over the board. Now the Dolphins to me is a very interesting one. And one where I feel like he could easily succeed in Mike McDaniels coming from a Shanahan system where you typically are utilizing smaller athletic

linemen that fits the Tyler Linderbaum profile pretty well. Now, when you look at the draft, some of these teams might be scared away by drafting Linderbaum in a, of the top 10 pick because two things, a, the center position is undervalued in today's NFL. The center position is the least valued offensive line position

on the offensive line. Also, when you look at some of those metrics or those measurables, 31 and eighth arms, 296 pounds, it starts to scare teams a little bit. So you can maybe see Tyler Linderbaum drop a little bit on the draft boards, maybe going from a 10 to 15 range, maybe a 15 to 24 or 25 range that gets you in that range of Packers, Steelers, some of those teams who could be on the lookout for a guy like Tyler Linderbaum, who really they're just concerned to find a guy who can play football, play it well, and be a good person. And those guys are going to absolutely win out by drafting a guy like Tyler Linderbaum in their first round. This is an interesting draft.

There's some decent depth, but not a lot of top-tier, high-end prospects. A lot of guys with question marks. In these kind of drafts, you see NFL teams go towards those high ceiling, high character kind of individuals like a Linderbaum. So that could also help push his stock up. He also did not get a chance to even perform at the combine because he hurt his ankle during bull prep. So he didn't actually even test out. We're going to probably see him test out at the Iowa Pro Day, which is a better situation typically. Those players are more acclimated.

They're more familiar with the process. It's also not a grinding process of having to basically operate on no sleep with little time to warm up. So Tyler Linderbaum not working out at the combine, not a huge issue for him, but the measurables were definitely something that caught people's eyes. Coming up, we're going to talk about Tyler Goodson and Dane Belden. Both these guys helped their stocks pretty significantly at the NFL Combine. So that's all coming up here in a few short moments.

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Your first listen every single day, make sure to check out the locked on a bracket breakdown March 14th, right here on the locked on Hawkeyes podcast feed and YouTube channel. College basketball experts Chris Gordy, Andy Patton, and betting expert Lee Serling give you in-depth breakdowns of every single matchup. So let's get into it. We talked a little bit about Tyler Linderbaum. Now we're going to turn our attention to Tyler Goodson and Dane Belton.

And both these guys had phenomenal combines. Let's start with Dane Belton though. Dane Belton is kind of a classic tweener. He played that dimebacker role for the Iowa Hawkeyes, that dimebacker role that Imani Hooker looked pretty darn good in and has translated that into success in today's NFL. People want versatility. Teams want guys who can play corner and play safety,

giving them scheme versatility when they're on the field. Now, the biggest question mark for Dane Belton was going to be how fast and also how tall, how big is he? Because he did play a lot of that slot corner spot and played pretty well, but teams are going to look at it and say, how fast is he and can he actually keep up with today's guys, with today's slot receivers? And I think the answer is, yeah, he should be pretty okay. Measuring at 6'1", 205 pounds, he posted a 4.43 40-yard dash, a 36.5-inch vertical jump, a 123-inch broad jump, and a nice three-cone drill, seven seconds and a four to four 20 yard shuttle. Those are very good numbers for Dane Belton.

You're pretty, when you see that you have to be pretty excited about Dane Belton's times all around. When you look at it, this is exactly what he needed. Now teams have him on the radar. All right. Dane Belton is a guy who I believe was recently ranked fourth to fifth round

by the draft network. These kinds of metrics are only going to help out his draft stock. And then they're going to look at the tape. They're going to look at the versatility. They're going to look at the willingness to tackle his ball skills and say, this is the guy who we think can be an impact player on special teams early on in his career before moving into an integral role on the defense. Now, we also haven't seen Iowa defensive backs slip in recent years for zero reason.

Right, Geno Stone falling to the seventh, Imani Hooker going to the fourth. We saw Desmond King drop to the fifth. So my guess is we're still going to see Dave Belton go in the fifth or sixth round a little bit later in that day three. But these kind of stats, these kind of measurements, show that he's a guy who could make an impact at the NFL level. Now, what would have been detrimental is running a 4-6-40. But when matched up against some of the other safeties in this class,

he performed very, very well. And the fact that he has the versatility to play in the slot and also play a too high safety look is really good for Dane Belton going into the NFL draft. Now, another guy who had a fantastic combine is Tyler Goodson, a 4-4-2 40-yard dash, a 36-and-a-half-inch vertical, 123-inch broad jump, and had only one drop in pass-catching drills. The other thing to look at is his size,

kind of a scat back type of frame, but five foot nine, 197 pounds. That is a solid build. And when you look at his frame, you're going to rely on the quickness and the speed. A four, four,

two, four DR dash is a very good time for Tyler Goodson. For reference, a lot of people like to compare Tyler Goodson and Akram Wadley. Akram Wadley ran a four, five", 4'40", at 5'10", 194 pounds, and had a 32-inch vertical. Less explosiveness, less speed, and a smaller frame. When people wonder why Akram Wadley couldn't cut it at the next level, there's a couple reasons. Work ethic and the general measurements.

He just wasn't as fast as people were expecting. He wasn't as explosive as people wanted and he was too lean to play that running back position. But Tyler Goodson coming in at 5'9", 197 pounds, you have to be impressed with that. I really liked what I saw from him with the pass catching drills as well, especially

given the fact that Tyler Goodson is more than likely not going to be an every down back. Maybe a team has some injuries and he comes up and he can play all three downs, but Tyler Goodson is going to be more of a change of pace back for a given team. And the fact that he can catch balls out of the backfield, the fact that he did that at Iowa a couple times playing in the slot, is a good indicator that teams are going to look at him as another versatile chess piece on the offensive side of the football. A good coordinator is going to see this and say, Tyler Goodson could do some damage out of the backfield

or even operating in that slot wide receiver position. This is not everything, right? This is not the end-all be-all of NFL draft talk. But it is the start. And Tyler Goodson, Dane Belton are big winners from the NFL Combine. Tyler Goodson was even mentioned on Daniel Jeremiah's Moving the Sticks podcast. I love that podcast. I listen to it all the time.

Fantastic podcast. If you like draft conversation, highly recommend you check that out alongside our Locked On NFL Draft podcast. They do a great job. And one of the things they mentioned was that Tyler Goodson was a big winner in this combine. Now going into pro day, you can focus on a few other things. He's probably going to stand behind his times. Dane Belton is also probably going to stand behind his times and really utilize that time

to speak to NFL representatives and get a chance to let them know the kind of players and people they both are. Both high character guys. So really exciting stuff for all three Iowa Hawkeyes. Obviously, Tyler Linderbaum kind of hurt by just some stupid stuff, but nevertheless, more than likely interviewed very well, had a lot of interest from teams picking throughout the first round. Dane Belton and Tyler Goodson tested very well.

Really excited to see what they do come pro day. And also what the other Iowa Hawkeyes, Jack Kerner, Kyler Schott, those kind of guys, what they do come pro day time. Coming up, we're going to talk about the men's and women's basketball teams and what the latest bracketology says about both of those teams. Before we get to that, though, if you didn't realize it, March Madness is just two weeks away. That means you need to start thinking now about where you're going to be running your brackets this year. Are you going for the usual or are you looking for the best?

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And football is over, but basketball is in the best time, right? We're gearing up for the playoffs. We got March Madness. College basketball is in full swing, and it is a great time to be betting on all those sports at betonline.net from all the latest odds totals player performance props to where the next fired coach is going to land betonline.net is the number one spot for all of your sports betting needs betonline remains the best spot for all of your sports scores podcasts and news this season and it's not just basketball

betonline.net is your source for hockey, boxing, and UFC odds right down to the Olympic coverage that was going on a couple of weeks ago. Plus they got literally anything. You can bet on entertainment type of stuff, even presidential elections at betonline.net. So head over to their website today or use your mobile device and learn more about the trends in action at betonline.net. Betonline.net, it's where the game starts. So let's into it we've talked about the combine we talked about tyler goodson tyler linderbaum and dame belton i'm excited for the pro day coming up we also have some good guests on talk about the nfl draft as it is my favorite time of the season but now it's time to turn our attention to both the men's and women's basketball programs as we look at

where they are seated going into march madness now. Now, Selection Sunday is this upcoming Sunday. We'll have all the latest coverage right here. Be on the lookout for all of our Locked On Nows, our 45-second quick hitter letting you know what has been going on in Iowa Hawkeye Nation. And after every single basketball game this week, we'll be dropping Locked On Nows as well. Plus, we got shows coming up every day and probably dropping some bonus episodes throughout the weekend

because it is that fun of a time right now. It is March Madison. We are here, baby. Let's talk about the women's team first though. Right now their net ranking is 13th, but they have 10 quad one wins. Those 10 quad one wins is the fourth most in the nation and their quad one winning percentage is fifth best in the nation. Their actual ranking is now eight.

They bumped up to eighth after their impressive run. But when you look at the most recent ESPN Bracketology predictions, Iowa is currently a three seed. The one seeds, Louisville, Stanford, NC State, and South Carolina. The two seed, Iowa State, Baylor, LSU, and UConn. When you look at Iowa in comparison to those teams, Iowa State is currently 10th in net ranking with a 6-5 record, but no losses outside of the quad one losses.

Baylor is 7th with a 7-4 record. LSU is 20th with an 8-4 quad one record, and UConn is 4th with an 8-4 quad one record. In all actuality, it really doesn't impact Iowa a ton. They're either going to be one of the higher three seeds, one of the lower two seeds. And to make it in advance to the Elite Eight, they're going to need to beat that higher two seed or that lower three seed. Sorry, the lower two seed or the higher three seed.

Either way. So it doesn't really matter a ton for Iowa, but it will help their earlier games are going to be slightly easier from a seeding perspective. But overall, Iowa in a very good position. They have two home games at Carver Hawkeye Arena before moving on to this week 16, which they are definitely looking at going to.

And they are riding a hot streak right now. I even just put money on Iowa at plus 4,000 odds to win the NCAA tournament. Now, granted, that is a long shot, but you have to bet on Iowa, their win streak right now, the fact that they've done it against several different teams. They have a very good big, they have the best player in the nation in Kaitlin Clark. I put money on Iowa to go all the way, but it starts with their seeding, which we will find out next Sunday. Now, the men's situation, it's a little bit hairier because as we to go all the way, but it starts with their seeding, which we will find out next Sunday. Now the men's situation gets a little bit hairier because as we've known in the past,

the biggest frustration with Fran McCaffrey and his Iowa teams has been the inability to advance past the second round. They've come close. They've had good teams, but they haven't done it yet. Part of the reason is they've had really bad matchups. They have been in that 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 seed range. And so even if they win their first round matchup, they get slotted against a one seed or a two seed like we saw Iowa get slotted against Tennessee a couple years ago. Now they almost beat Tennessee, but nevertheless, not an easy matchup getting one of the top 10 teams in the nation.

Now, with Iowa right now, most projections have them as a six seed, which would get them out of that area of playing a one or two seed in the second round. You want to stay in the six seed or continue to bump your way up, and they definitely have the opportunity to do so. They are firmly in that six seed range. With a couple of wins in the Big Ten tournament, they should be able to possibly bump themselves up into fifth. Now, when you look at their net ranking, they are currently 15th, which would have them as a top four seed. It's not often teams are seeded that much lower than their net ranking. So Iowa at a projected fourth seed, according to net ranking, should be a five or six seat. I would expect a five, six could happen. They typically don't even go that far down the line. Now, when you look at their big 10 tournament schedule,

they get the winner of Northwestern or Nebraska, both teams they've beaten this year, but Nebraska right now is a team to watch out for. They are playing some of their best basketball this entire year. After the loss to Iowa, they won three straight, beating Penn State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin all on the road. They have been crushed by Northwestern in the past month and a half. But again, it's worth noting that Nebraska is on a hot streak, a team that not a lot of people in the Big Ten want to face. They are not playing basketball like a bottom-of-the-barrel seed you see in the Big Ten tournament. But Iowa is more than likely going to get a rematch with them. They need to beat Nebraska.

Losing to Nebraska is going to really hurt their seeding. You beat Nebraska, you take on a Rutgers team that Iowa should have beaten earlier on in the season. Had they beaten them earlier on in the season, Iowa wouldn't even be in this spot. They would have had a double bye, but nevertheless, here we are. Rutgers presents a quad two opportunity, still not in that 50th range to get a neutral court quad one win. Iowa very much could take on Rutgers though and win. I think where Iowa is playing, how Iowa is playing basketball right now

matches up well against Rutgers. Although Rutgers is playing well, they play their best basketball at the rack, not on a neutral court. If Iowa can beat Nebraska and then beat Rutgers, they should be solidly in as a six seed, and I would argue probably solidly in as a five seed. Now they probably get Illinois after that, which would be a quad one opportunity. As we saw, Iowa played pretty well against Illinois. They handled that game very, very well. You beat Illinois, you're in the championship game, and you better believe Iowa's at least a five seed, if not maybe even bumping up to a four seed. But you win those first two games. That is the key here. Win those first two games. You are definitely no lower than a six. And we're going to find all this out here on Selection Sunday. But again, a three,

four, five, six seed, it really doesn't matter a ton in the grand scheme of things. No matter what, in one of those seeds, you're not playing a one or a two seed until the Sweet 16, giving Iowa an opportunity to advance past the round of 32 for the first time in the Fran McCaffrey era. Obviously, we're going to have previews for all these games coming up on this week of shows. We have some special guests we're working on getting as well, so be on the lookout for that. And we have a special episode dropping tomorrow. Barring any breaking news, we have Lucy Rodin joining the show to talk about basketball, talk about football, talk about her experience at the Super Bowl.

Iowa fan favorite Lucy Rodin joining us on the show tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that. Again, thank you all for making the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your first listen every single day. Now make your second listen to lockdown NFL draft podcast hosted by Ryan Tracy and former NFL cornerback, Eric Crocker. They bring the NFL draft to life every single day with insight and analysis on college football prospects and NFL front offices,

and it's free and available wherever you get your podcast app. That will do it for our show today. Be on the lookout for all of our shows dropping throughout this week. Have a fantastic Tuesday Hawkeye Nation. And as always, let's go Hawks.