But why the sudden shift toward players from Iowa City? Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland put it best.
"We're in the business of developing football players. The faster they develop, the better a team we are. Character has a lot to do with that."
While the fact that Iowa runs a pro-style offense and that many of the Hawkeyes in this year's draft were solid athletes may have something to do with it, intangibles are the biggest reason that so many former Iowans end up playing and succeeding in the NFL.
As off-field issues became more frequent in the NFL, many teams started to look at the intangibles—character, work ethic, and leadership—more and more. It's the reason that captains with less athletic talent than their counterparts are chosen over players with unlimited athletic potential who get in trouble off the field.
"It's something I evaluate pretty heavy," Ireland said. "They're easier to coach. You get more out of them. They develop faster than the guys that aren't good kids."
Ireland picked one of those "good kids" in Iowa linebacker AJ Edds during the fourth round of the draft.
Edds wasn't heavily recruited out of high school, but was developed by Kirk Ferentz into a solid player and proved to be a coachable guy.
He is a perfect example of why the NFL loves Iowa. Kirk Ferentz develops the players into leaders before the NFL level so coaches and GM's like Ireland don't have to.
