Hakeem Adeniji selected by Bengals in NFL Draft. He should have some pro versatility
Kansas offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji finally has an NFL home.
Adeniji, a projected mid-round pick, was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with the first pick of the sixth round, the 180th player taken overall in the NFL Draft.
“This has always been my dream, and I’ve always worked for it,” Adeniji said Saturday in his Bengals press conference. “I’ve always put in that time that it takes and the things necessary to be successful. So in my mind, regardless of zero-star recruit or regardless of how other people saw it, I knew that I had the ability as long as I kept on doing what I needed to do.”
The Bengals have now taken three of the last seven Jayhawks that have been drafted: Adeniji, Tanner Hawkinson (fifth round 2013) and Dezmon Briscoe (sixth round, 2010). KU’s Anthony Collins also was selected by the Bengals in 2008.
A 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman from Garland, Texas, Adeniji started all 48 games in his college career. He earned All-Big 12 first-team honors his senior season and also took part in the NFL Scouting Combine.
“He’s not a big guy, but he’s physical and can move,” Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan told NFL.com. “We’d like to think with his intelligence and experience he can move some competition.”
Adeniji’s path to KU was the result of unexpected circumstances. Adeniji originally signed a letter of intent with Air Force — his older brother Moshood also played football there — before the school sent him an email to say his medical waiver had been denied because of a cashew allergy.
After reaching out to high school coach Jeff Jordan — he had just become the director of personnel for KU’s football team — Adeniji was offered a spot with KU and joined the Jayhawks before the 2016 season.
“This is somebody who played left tackle at Kansas. I think he’s got a chance to slide inside and play some guard,” analyst Daniel Jeremiah said of Adeniji on ESPN’s live NFL Draft show. “He did that at the Senior Bowl. He can create some movement in the run game. He uses that length. He can really bend. He’s a real natural athlete. You see him climb up to the second level at times to show off that athleticism.
“The struggle he has is he’ll give up his chest on occasion. If he doesn’t land his hands and defenders get into his chest, he really struggles to anchor down. So if he can just land that punch, land those hands ... he’s fine. The question is, guard or tackle?”
Before Adeniji, Dorance Armstrong was the last Jayhawk to be selected, going to the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2018 draft.
“He’s a great young man who was a leader on and off the field for our program,” KU coach Les Miles said of Adeniji. “I look forward to watching his NFL career progress with the Bengals. He will provide some positional flexibility and can play multiple positions along the offensive line and has what it takes to play in the National Football League for a long time.”
Other KU football undrafted free agents
Edge rusher Azur Kamara, who was KU’s other NFL Combine invite alongside Adeniji, signed an undrafted-free-agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys, according to Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Kamara, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior originally from Ivory Coast, started all 12 games for the Jayhawks last season while leading the team with 3.5 sacks.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 2:55 PM.
