Four Cyclones taken in NFL Draft, five sign as undrafted free agents
Iowa State Cyclones fans around the world tuned in to the 2025 NFL Draft, hoping to hear the names of our best talent get drafted to their favorite (or rival) teams. This 2025 draft and the selection of four players moves our streak of six consecutive drafts with a player being selected and ties our 2022 draft class size that saw the likes of Breece Hall, Eyioma Uwazurike, Charlie Kolar, and Brock Purdy get drafted.
Granted, this year’s draft top story was the draft stock of Shedeur Sanders plummeting off the face of the Earth, but let that not hide the facts that since Matt Campbell has taken over the reigns, Iowa State has produced 15 draft picks after seeing a 5-year draught that also includes our second ever first round pick - Will McDonald IV in 2023 going 15th overall to the New York Jets with George Amundson being the other way back in 1973 to the Houston Oilers.
Jayden Higgins
Friday night was a busy night for the Cyclones (and the Texans) as Jayden Higgins went 34 overall (Round 2, Pick 2) to the Houston Texans in a trade that had the Giants take their first-round pick to take Quarterback Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss. Higgins was one of the fringe first-round talent wide receivers. In the two seasons Jayden was at Iowa State, he finished tenth in career receptions, second in single-season receptions, seventh in career receiving yards, third (and tenth) in single-season yards, and tied Todd Bylthe for second in a single game at 214 receiving yards.
Darien Porter
Darien Porter was a player many Cyclone fans were intrigued by where he went in the draft. His RAS (Relative Athletic Score) was 9.99/10, with his worst two ticks being weight and vertical. That score ranked him fourth out of 2,761 cornerbacks from 1987 to 2025. The three ahead of Darien are Deonte Banks (NYG), Zyon McCollum (TB), and Byron Jones (MIA), with all of them scoring 10.00. Athletic score is only a portion of the story in the NFL. Still, with a high upside with a player who is a grinder and capable of learning, the Las Vegas Raiders took a chance at taking him with the 68th overall pick (Round 3, Pick 4) in what many would say is the “typical AL Davis pick.” One stat that jumps off the page is that Darien only allowed five catches last season on 203 coverage snaps.
(Leave it to the Raiders to use a hurricane instead of a tornado emoji though)
Jaylin Noel
The Houston Cyclones used their traded pick from Miami at the 79th overall (Round 3, Pick 15) to snag the dynamic duo of receivers we had last season, and picked Jaylin Noel. Jaylin holds a top-five career record in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. The third round saw a short run of wide receivers, and Hosuton did not waste any time in making sure they strengthened up the core to help out C.J. Stroud. There will be a lot of competition for the duo with Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Christian Kirk, and fellow ISU grad Xavier Hutchinson on the roster.
Jalen Travis
The Indianapolis Colts were looking at adding some OL depth, and they picked a “flex” linemen in Jalen Travis with the 127th overall pick (Round 4, Pick 25). Jalen is one of the first linemen under Coach Clanton at Iowa State to be drafted/picked. Jalen picked Iowa State for his final year of collegiate football before declaring for the draft. He was one of the leaders in the line who was able and willing to start and play wherever he could (mostly left tackle).
For those keeping track at home, that would be a total of four Cyclones off the board before Shedeur Sanders, who was projected to go in the first round. I’m not saying that we are starting to show promise to future athletes that Iowa State can produce talent to get drafted, but this is helpful when you can say we now have NFL-type talent at almost every position.
As of the creation and posting of this article, the following players have signed UDFA (undrafted free agent) agreements. This year marks nine out of ten players who declared for the NFL being rostered by the end of the draft day weekend. Matt Campbell and Iowa State are showing that we are trending in the right direction and that NFL teams are starting to see the type of players we produce.
