Illinois Football Defensive End Drafted By Washington Commanders

Illinois Football Defensive End Drafted By

Illinois Football’s star defensive end, Jer’Zhan Newton, has been drafted by the Washington Commanders. Newton was the 36th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Many had tabbed Newton as a first round talent, however, there seemed to be an emphasis on offensive selections. The first 14 picks of the 2024 NFL draft were offensive players.

Newton was an absolute force on the field for the Illini. Despite consistently being double-teamed, Newton recorded 13 sacks in the past two seasons combined. The St. Petersburg native will now have an immediate impact on the Washington Commanders and their new coaching staff.

The star defensive end committed to Illinois Football on December 18th, 2019. He was a strong recruiting win, however, he ended up turning into one of the best defensive players in college football.

Draft Success

Illinois Football has had three straight years of NFL draft activity. Though this is a practically normal event for most big-time schools, it is nice for Illinois Football to have players drafted in the early stages of the NFL Draft. In the 2023 NFL Draft, Devon Witherspoon, Sydney Brown, and Quan Martin were all drafted in the first three rounds. They all went on to have very strong rookie campaigns. Tommy Devito went undrafted but became a household name due to the successes that he had.

In the 2022 NFL Draft, Kerby Joseph made Illinois fans proud with his rise to success and continues to produce on the Detroit Lions. Hopefully, Illinois Football can use this publicity to continue to improve their on-field product.