Dominique Easley leaves Florida to prepare for the NFL Draft

Dominique Easley suffered a torn ACL which ended his season at the University of Florida.  After considering his options of returning with a medical redshirt or going pro, he opted to declare himself for the NFL Draft.  Reportedly, he has signed with agent Tom Santanello of Elevate Football.  As such, Easley has opted to withdraw from the University of Florida and put all of his efforts into rehabbing his knee (his second ACL tear of his career, one in each knee) and work to get ready for the NFL Draft.

None of this is surprising as once he declared for the NFL Draft, it was a matter of time until he went fully into rehabbing to get as ready as he possibly can for the NFL.  Many had expected him to be a first round pick before he suffered the injury and his path to the NFL could be similar to that of Tank Carradine from Florida State, who suffered an ACL tear in the last regular season game of the year against those Florida Gators, rehabbed as hard as he could and was selected in the second round.

Easley will ultimately have more time to rehab and recover, but Carradine’s recovery was remarkable.  He ultimately was put on injured reserve for this season to have him back and ready to contribute for next year.  Easley had the surgery within the past few weeks, so now he has almost six months to just work and try to get back as best as he can.  The next key moment for Easley will be at the NFL Scouting Combine when teams could get their first look at the scans of his knee and how far along he is in his recovery.  Easley’s talent is impressive and he really came in his senior season with a lot of momentum and played great after a terrific performance in the Sugar Bowl, so where he ends up being picked will be discussed up until draft day.