Why Undrafted?: Dontay Corleone

Why Undrafted?: Dontay Corleone, D, Cincinnati

This series was created a number of years ago in response to questions about why certain well-known prospects went unselected in NFL drafts. For these articles, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. The positive response to “Why Undrafted” and questions from readers about why prospects were drafted lower than the media expectations led us to create the parallel series “Why the Slide?” and “Was it a Reach?”

The trio of series is back this year. Feel free to email me requests at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.

Cincinnati defensive tackle Dontay Corleone has gotten a fair amount of media hype over the past few seasons. He had 9.5 sacks over three seasons before totaling 14 tackles in 2025. Corleone was thought to be a potential day-three pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but Corleone fell to the undrafted ranks.

Team sources say that Corleone went undrafted for a few reasons. One, medical concerns with a blood clot issue were a big factor. Aside from the medical, Corleone has some skill set limitations according to sources, including a lack of height and length. Those two issues combined to cause Corleone to go undrafted.

After going undrafted, Corleone has yet to sign with an NFL team. Corleone might need to sign on a try-out basis with a team to show he is healthy and capable of competing for a roster spot in training camp.