Geno
Stone.
Geno
Stone.
Iowa· 5'10"· 207 lb· 4.62s 40
"Baltimore took an undersized, slow-testing Iowa safety at No. 219 and got a ball hawk who made seven interceptions in 2023 and turned his instincts into a starting job and a real contract."Pre-draft read
Stone was a versatile safety in Iowa's quarters-based defense, a 5-10, 207-pound former two-star recruit who played both deep safety and in the box. His primary trait was instinct: he read quarterbacks and route combinations quickly, drove on throws in front of him and consistently arrived in the right place, which helped him collect six interceptions in three seasons.
His secondary trait was ball skills, with soft hands and a knack for turning deflections into turnovers. Against the run he was a willing but undersized tackler who could be moved by blockers. His athletic ceiling was modest after a 4.62 40, and his signature was football intelligence that consistently outplayed his testing.
Two-high quarters or Cover-4 match scheme that lets a smart safety read the quarterback and rotate late.
Year 1: special teams player and dime safety. Ceiling: starting split-field safety with ball production.
Single-high Cover-1 or Cover-3 scheme that asks him to cover sideline to sideline as the lone deep defender.
His value rises in disguise-heavy defenses that reward processing.
2020 NFL Draft: Iowa Hawkeye DB Geno Stone Highlights | B1G Football
Iowa highlights ahead of the 2020 draft.
Geno Stone - 'Ball Hawk' Ultimate 2023 Highlights
His seven-interception 2023 season with Baltimore.
Pick SIX! Geno Stone picks off Maye and scores
Interception return touchdown for Cincinnati.
Stone projected as a smart, instinctive safety whose average size and speed capped his draft value. Evaluators praised his processing, communication and ball skills, but questioned whether he had the range to play single-high or the size to hold up near the line.
He played on special teams as a true freshman, became a starter in 2018 with four interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten. In 2019 he posted 70 tackles, a sack, three forced fumbles and an interception to make second-team All-Big Ten, then left Iowa a year early. The flags were a slow 40, short arms and a lack of a single standout physical trait that teams could build a role around.
Analysts projected him anywhere from the third to the fifth round, and Bleacher Report ranked him as the 12th safety. He slid to the seventh round as the 19th safety taken, where Baltimore took him at No. 219 as a smart backup and special teams player for its secondary.
- 01
Instincts and processing
Read quarterbacks quickly and triggered on routes in front of him, often arriving before the ball in Iowa's zone scheme.
- 02
Ball production
Intercepted six passes at Iowa, including four as a first-year starter in 2018, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
- 03
Scheme versatility
Played deep safety, in the box and over the slot, giving coordinators flexibility to disguise coverage before the snap.
- 04
Football intelligence
Communicated coverage checks for the secondary and rarely busted assignments in a disciplined Iowa defense.
- 05
Turnover creation
Forced three fumbles as a junior in 2019, showing a habit of attacking the ball rather than simply making the tackle.
- 01
Average speed
Ran a 4.62 40 at the combine, which raised doubts about his range as a single-high safety against vertical routes.
- 02
Short arms
Arm length near 29 inches limited his reach on contested throws and made it harder to shed blockers near the line.
- 03
Undersized in the box
At 207 pounds he could be moved by blockers and struggled to finish tackles against bigger running backs.
- 04
Limited starting résumé
Started for only two seasons before leaving early, giving evaluators a smaller body of work to project from.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.62sp50
- Vertical
- 33.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 116inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 12repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Iowa | 13 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Iowa | — | 39 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 2019 | Iowa | — | 70 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Career | — | 13 | 126 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
ESPN season totals, matching Iowa/Wikipedia summaries. 2018 includes a pick-six. TFL and fumble recoveries verified only for 2019; games verified only for 2017.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
The realized outcome: a rotational safety who became a ball-hawking starter.
Late pick whose instincts and ball skills made him a long-time starting safety.
Smart but limited safety who settled into a backup and special teams role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Stone was waived twice by Baltimore as a rookie in 2020 and briefly claimed by Houston before returning to the Ravens in 2021, when he played 15 games and made his first interception. He became a regular contributor in 2022, then broke out in 2023 with seven interceptions and nine passes defensed as a rotating safety. He signed with Cincinnati in 2024 and started, adding four interceptions with a touchdown in 2024 and two more in 2025, before joining Buffalo's practice squad in 2026.
In hindsight Stone was one of the best values of the 2020 seventh round. The speed and size concerns explain why he fell, but his instincts and ball skills translated almost exactly as his Iowa tape suggested. Through 2025 he had 83 games, 312 tackles, 14 interceptions and two defensive touchdowns, and Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta called him possibly the best seventh-round pick in franchise history. His path is a reminder that processing can outweigh testing.