2025 NFL Draft projected Day 2 pick sidelined with blood clots in his lungs

Cory Kinnan | Jun 29, 2024

Cincinnati Bearcats defensive lineman Dontay Corleone (2) is double-teamed on a pass rush in the first quarter during an NCAA college football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the West Virginia Mountaineers, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W. Va. / Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY

The 2025 NFL Draft crop of defensive tackles has taken a huge blow as Cincinnati Football big man Dontay Corleone is set to miss an indefinite amount of time.

The school announced that Corleone would undergo treatment for blood clots found in his lungs after he went in for testing due to pains in his chest. There is no timetable for his return to the field.

A statement from Cincinnati Football on Dontay Corleone

📝: https://t.co/J527fSopD1 pic.twitter.com/czH1fu2igy

— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) June 28, 2024

Corleone has been a stellar player up front for the Bearcats during his tenure in Southwest Ohio. He can provide real pressure from the nose tackle position and is an impossible man to move off the football as he is one of the top run defenders in the entire 2025 NFL Draft class.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 305 pounds, Corleone racked up 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks for the Bearcats a year ago, adding a total of 16 pressures. He has been projected as a Day 2 pick in the upcoming draft.

Dontay Corleone (DT 58) aka The Godfather

Really exciting player, these were the kind of plays he flashed in his first collegiate action last year and it only
got better throughout the yearpic.twitter.com/OcWR9RWnyM

— Draft Guy Jared (@DraftGuyJared) July 23, 2023

Hopefully treatment goes smoothly and we see one of the best interior defenders in the class back on the field at full health sooner rather than later.