Our “Why the Slide” series parallels and grew out our “Why Undrafted” series. The latter was created a number of years ago in response to your questions about why certain well-known prospects went unselected in NFL drafts. For both series, 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?”
Both series are back this year. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? 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.
At one point in the 2023 NFL Draft process, there were projections of Baylor nose tackle Siaki Ika being a first-round pick. Ika was a massive lineman for the Bears and caused a lot of disruption in the middle of the line. The lack of nose tackles going in Round 1 pushed Ika into second-day projections, with many predicting Ika would get picked in Round 2. However, he slid to the third round before being selected.
Ika slid for a few reasons, according to team sources. The first one was that some teams had major medical red flags on Ika and dropped him off their boards after flunking him medically. Some teams had also some character concerns with Ika that hurt him, and his limitations as a pass rusher pushed him down into the third round. The biggest negatives for Ika, however, were the medical and character evaluations.
The Cleveland Browns ended Ika’s fall in the third round, and he was a nice value for them. While Ika does not offer much pass-rush ability, he is a beast against the run due to his combination of size, power and physicality at the point of attack. Ika lacks a role for the sub package, so he probably will get pulled off the field throughout the game. Teams play the sub package roughly 70 percent of their snaps, and sometimes they play it for entire games. Thus, Ika will not have the playing time of a true starter. He should rotate with Dalvin Tomlinson, which should help keep each other fresh for taking on the tough rushing attacks of the NFL. I think Ika will be a valuable run stuffer for Cleveland and a good rotational player in the base defense.
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