NFL cutdown day was brutal for 13 former Hawkeyes, but the bad news didn’t last long for most of them.
Once rosters were trimmed to 53 players this past weekend, several Iowa alums found themselves looking for their next stop. That’s the reality of cutdown day, even for a program that keeps sending talent into the league.
Iowa is still well stocked in the NFL, with nearly 40 former players on active rosters, and eight rookies - including three undrafted free agents - made 53-man teams. But for the 13 Hawkeyes who were waived, the scramble began fast.
It didn’t take long for the phone to ring.
Nine of the 13 landed on practice squads, while four remain unsigned. The former Hawkeyes who have already found new homes are Tyler Goodson with the Atlanta Falcons, Ihmir Smith-Marsette with the Arizona Cardinals, Geno Stone with the Buffalo Bills, Kristian Welch with the Green Bay Packers, Mark Gronowski with the Miami Dolphins, TJ Hall with the New Orleans Saints, Jack Heflin with the New York Jets, Brandon Smith with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Sebastian Castro with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The four still searching are Aaron Graves, Ethan Hurkett, Kaevon Merriweather and Nick Jackson.
Among the group, Geno Stone looks like the best bet to climb back onto an opening day roster. After Buffalo waived him, the expectation was that he would land right back on the practice squad and ultimately make the opening day team.
The bigger picture is familiar by now: Iowa keeps churning out NFL-ready players. The program had a record-setting 2026 NFL Draft with seven players selected, and a few more signed as undrafted free agents. Even with the pain of cutdown day, there’s a clear pattern here - NFL teams trust Hawkeyes, and plenty of them are still in the mix to fight their way onto rosters.
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