Florida Football: Five biggest surprises for Gators at NFL Draft

The picks are all in, the names have been called, and six former members of Florida football were drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft. Some, such as Anthony Richardson, were drafted where we all expected. Even Gervon Dexter, while a gamble for Chicago, wasn’t a complete surprise being taken in the second round.

But others did raise an eyebrow, either due to not being drafted or due to where they got picked. These are the five biggest surprises involving Florida Gators at the NFL Draft.

Florida Football: Trey Dean goes undrafted

It isn’t necessarily a massive shock that Trey Dean wasn’t selected through all seven rounds. Dean was on multiple radars heading into the 2022 season as a potential round three or four pick, but most Gator fans would agree his level of play didn’t warrant that high of a selection.

Even with that, Dean was still ranked fairly high by draft pundits going into the NFL Combine.

Then he ran a painfully slow 40-yard dash that doomed his prospects.

There was still a pathway Dean could get selected as he did lead the way for safeties in the bench press, and it was plausible someone would take a flyer on a hard-hitting safety to add physicality to their team.

Even the New England Patriots site Chowder and Champions had Dean coming to Bill Bellichek with their fourth-round selection in their last mock draft.

Dean has signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Jets.