Dom Hampton Proves a Surprise for Leading NFL Draft Analyst

Daniel Jeremiah, a former college quarterback, a one-time NFL scout and a sought-after analyst for NFL Network, calls wide receiver Rome Odunze his favorite player in the draft. He has offensive tackle Troy Fautanu going in his top 16 picks of the first round. He thinks Michael Penix Jr., with the right fit, will be a starting pro QB.

Yet among all of the University of Washington football players headed for the NFL Scouting Combine next week — and there are 13 of them, the second most for any school — Jeremiah said one Husky has surprised him more than the others in his draft study.

Strong safety Dominique Hampton.

On Thursday, Jeremiah made this observation while participating for two hours in a conference call in which he shared his draft insights with nearly 200 media members nationwide.

"The guy has quick eyes," Jeremiah said of Hampton. "He's physical, shed blocks. Sometimes he shows up a little late in man to man, but in zone coverage, he sees it well. He's a fourth-round pick for me."

For Hampton, he's put in a lot of work to reach this point and demonstrate to people he can play. 

In terms staying with it, he just concluded a six-year UW career by appearing in more games — 57 — than anyone else in program history, edging former place-kicker and teammate Peyton Henry (2018-22), who never was involved in any contact, by one outing.

"That's quite a compliment," Hampton said at the Sugar Bowl. "You know, it's football and you get dinged up a little bit, but we have a great medical staff that's able to back me every day and get me back on the field, doing what I love."

This past season, Hampton led the 14-1 Huskies in tackles with 109, which ranked him fifth in the Pac-12 Conference. For his efforts, he received All-Pac-12 honorable-mention honors, his first college accolades of any kind.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Hampton also proved to be an amazingly versatile player for the Huskies because he just started all 15 games at strong safety for the national runner-up team, opened in 11 of 12 outings played at nickelback in 2022 and drew a cornerback start in three of 11 games in 2021, all of which made him truly a full-service defensive back, opening in 29 games in all.

And now, if Jeremiah is correct, Hampton should have ample opportunity to make a nice living in the NFL.