Iowa’s Joe Evans embraces latest ‘chip on my shoulder’ as he prepares for NFL Draft

IOWA CITY — Before Joe Evans left his family dinner on Sunday night — the night before Iowa football’s pro day — his father shared some wisdom.

“Remember who you are,” Evans remembers his father telling him. “And always have that chip on your shoulder.”

As Evans continues to prepare for next month’s NFL Draft, the former Iowa defensive lineman has plenty of material for the newest chip on his shoulder.

Pro Football Focus has ranked what it considers to be the top 317 prospects in this year’s draft class. Evans is not one of the 317.

Evans put up numbers at Iowa that would have theoretically merited an invitation to the NFL Combine. Evans recorded seven-plus tackles for loss in each of the last three seasons. His 9.5 sacks last year ranked second in the Big Ten and eighth in Power Five conferences.

But the combine invite didn’t come. The NFL chose 50 defensive linemen over him for its preeminent scouting event in Indianapolis.

“That obviously gave me even more of a chip on my shoulder, which I love,” Evans said.

When Evans finally had his chance to work out in front of scouts — 31 out of 32 NFL teams were represented at Iowa’s pro day this week — he delivered an eye-opening performance, highlighted by his 41.5-inch vertical jump.

That’s a better vertical jump than any defensive end had at the NFL Combine. (Alabama’s Dallas Turner, a projected first-round pick, was the closest with a 40.5-inch vertical jump in Indianapolis. Only one other, UCLA’s Gabriel Murphy, was within 3 inches of Evans’ vertical.)

Rewind six years to when Evans was a recruit out of Ames High School in 2018, and it was a similar story of going under the radar before later opening eyes with his performances. Evans did not have any ratings from the major recruiting sites. 247Sports still does not appear to have a profile for him, as its 2023 roster instead links to ex-Hawkeye Samson Evans.

He arrived at Iowa as a walk-on linebacker in the same recruiting class as scholarship players such as Seth Benson, Dillon Doyle, Logan Klemp and Jayden McDonald. At defensive line — the position Evans would eventually move to — Iowa brought in an impressive quartet of Tyler Linderbaum, Daviyon Nixon, Noah Shannon and John Waggoner.

“Really no one would have thought I would have played here, to be honest with you,” Evans said.

Even Evans had some doubts early in his Hawkeye career.

“I did tell myself if I didn’t get invited that freshman year back for summer and I was going to be another school-start again, I was probably going to transfer to Iowa Western and just kind of see what I could do in the junior college route,” Evans said.

But Evans went on to record 28 career sacks — the fourth-most in Iowa program history — while playing 200-plus snaps in four consecutive seasons.

“I don't know if I would have predicted his career would have been this successful, but it's a real tribute to him,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said of Evans last year. “ “He’s worked extremely hard.”

Joe Evans preparing to be an NFL edge rusher … or fullback

While many NFL Draft prospects go through the pre-draft process in places like Nashville, Florida or southern California, Evans chose to stay in Iowa City and prepare with Iowa’s strength and conditioning staff.

Evans has the "utmost trust“ in strength and conditioning director Raimond Braithwaite.

“He is one of the biggest mentors in my life, and I knew he was going to do anything and everything to get me at my best,” Evans said of preparing with Braithwaite.

Braithwaite was a “big driving factor“ in Evans staying for a sixth season as well.

“I’ve had so many talks in his office, and not about football, where I just needed to have a man-to-man talk about life,” Evans said. “Like, ‘Coach, what would you do in this situation, yada yada yada?’ So he’s always been there to help me.”

Looking ahead to the NFL, Evans is willing to play “anywhere you want me to play,” and anywhere includes fullback. His agent talked to scouts about the idea of playing fullback and “was getting good feedback from it.”

As Evans and his agent hear from NFL teams, it has been “50-50” between those who view him as an edge rusher and those who view him as a fullback at the next level.

Evans played quarterback and linebacker in high school, offensive line in middle school and, of course, defensive line at Iowa. But fullback is a new position for him. He apparently disguised that well as he ran routes and caught every ball at Iowa’s pro day.

“That was a lot of fun, to be honest with you,” Evans said. “Just like I was playing backyard football again.”

There is recent precedent for an Iowa defensive lineman finding success in the NFL on the offensive side of the ball.

Parker Hesse started 47 games for the Hawkeyes as a defensive end before going pro in 2018 and transitioning to tight end. Hesse has seen game action in each of the last three NFL seasons.

“For me, I don’t care where I play,” Evans said. “If you want me to play edge, I can play edge. If you want me to play fullback, I can play fullback. I don’t care, as long as I get an opportunity.”

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