The first round of the 2023 NFL draft has been the unpredictable party that everyone hoped it would be. Once Bryce Young got selected with the No. 1 pick by the Carolina Panthers, the Houston Texans shocked everybody by taking CJ Stroud despite everything pointing away from him for weeks.
While a lot of the picks attended the event in person in Kansas City, some have been watching from home and celebrating with friends and family.
Former Iowa defensive end Lukas Van Ness was one of those players, and he became a trending topic shortly after he was selected by the Packers with the 13th overall pick.
Besides what he can bring on the field with his stellar play, Van Ness is reportedly dating the sister of Bears tight end, Cole Kmet.
The U.S. Sun reported he has been dating Frankie Kmet since 2022.
Kmet even has the proof on her Instagram.
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As of right now, Frankie has just over 5,600 followers. That number is expected to explode very soon.
This is an interesting dynamic for the couple as her brother, Cole Kmet, is a tight end for the Bears — the Packers’ longtime division rival.
Van Ness was a productive player from the Hawkeyes, racking up 70 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, and 13 sacks in a two-year span.
Not everybody was thrilled with the Packers taking him as ESPN’s Mel Kiper didn’t assign a grade but called it one of his first-round head-scratchers.
“This is a reach,” Kiper wrote. “Green Bay passed up its chance to take any of the wide receivers and any of the tight ends for Van Ness, a 6-foot-5, 272-pound hulking edge rusher. Why not help out inexperienced quarterback Jordan Love? Van Ness is No. 27 overall on my board; I actually thought he could go back to Iowa and get some more seasoning ahead of the 2024 draft.
“And if the Packers wanted an edge rusher, Myles Murphy and Will McDonald IV are higher in my rankings. I don’t love this one.”
Van Ness, who declared for the draft in January, will now make the move to Wisconsin, where he’ll join quarterback Jordan Love in the team’s first year without Aaron Rodgers.
The four-time MVP was traded to the Jets on Monday after weeks of negotiations with Green Bay.
During his undergraduate career, Van Ness, a dominant edge rusher for the Hawkeyes, earned the moniker “Hercules”. He played in 27 games (zero starts) in three seasons at Iowa, compiling 19.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, and two blocked punts.
He was also a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2022, after being named a freshman All-American in 2021.
