Undrafted Rookie from University of Iowa Joins the Green Bay Packers

NFL teams have made their final cuts to trim their rosters to 53 players. Former Iowa Hawkeye defensive Lineman, Jack Heflin – an undrafted rookie – made the final cut and will be playing this season for the Green Bay Packers.

Heflin will join five other defensive linemen on the roster for Green Bay, including Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Kingsley Keke, Tyler Lancaster, and T.J. Slaton.

The 6’3” 304-pounder will wear jersey #90 for the Green and Gold.

Heflin had an impressive pre-season for the Packers. In Week 1 against the Houston Texans, he played 40 snaps and made four tackles, three for a loss. Week 2 was even better, recording four more tackles in 38 snaps against the New York Jets.

He didn’t have Division 1 scholarship offers out of high school, but he walked on with the Northern Illinois Huskies, where he racked up 70 total tackles in three seasons from 2017-19. His senior season was spent with the Iowa Hawkeyes where he made 21 tackles and forced a fumble in eight games.

Heflin is one of 33 former Iowa Hawkeyes currently playing in the NFL. (The UNI Panthers have 4 players in the NFL and the Iowa State Cyclones have six)

He is just the second NFL player from the town of Prophetstown, Illinois. The other? Wisconsin Badgers coaching legend Bret Bielema.

Another connection -- his teammate, defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster, has grandparents who live in Heflin’s hometown of Prophetstown, Illinois.

Also, the defensive line coach for the Packers is former Iowa Hawkeye Jerry Montgomery. The native of Nevada was a four-year starter who played under coach Kirk Ferentz from 1998-2002. He also was on the coaching staff with Iowa City West High School and also with the UNI Panthers from 2006-2008.

Iowa had four players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft and a few that went undrafted.

The other two most notable undrafted players were running back Mekhi Sargent, and offensive lineman Alaric Jackson.

All three made the 53-man roster for the respective NFL teams they played for this preseason. Sargent made the cut with the Tennessee Titans, Jackson made the roster cut for the Rams.