It takes three to four years to accurately assess an NFL team’s draft performance. But who the heck has time to be right in today’s sports journalism? So, without further adieu, these analytical eyeballs needed about four hours to crown the Cleveland Browns as the biggest winner on Day 1 of the NFL draft. And, yes, people have said those words before only to be proven woefully wrong inside of five years.
But … the Browns traded the second pick but stayed inside the top 5 while adding a second-rounder this year and a first-rounder next year. Then they picked Michigan’s Mason Graham, a generational three-technique defensive tackle, to pair next to the league’s best defender, edge rusher Myles Garrett, whom the Browns just made the highest paid non-quarterback in league history. Cleveland now owns two of the first four picks in Friday’s second round, allowing them to take another swing on a developmental QB of the future – perhaps Shedeur Sanders – while having another top-36 pick to use on another immediate need.
NFL Coach of the Year in 2022, the Giants’ Brian Daboll, now sits upon the league’s hottest hot seat. A weak QB class makes his situation even more desperate. So the Giants gave up two third-rounders to move back into the first round and take a reach on a QB. Sanders is the QB most likely worth taking a Hail Mary on, but the G-Men grabbed Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss in a surprise move at 25. The Rams then traded out of the first round at No. 26, so the Giants must have thought L.A. was targeting Dart and had to act quickly. This has more of a Kenny Pickett vibe than a move that saves Daboll’s neck.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys were praised by some for being sensible rather than typically too flashy when they took Alabama guard Tyler Booker 12th overall to replace future Hall of Famer Zack Martin. The way-too-soon thought here: They went too high on a guard who isn’t Zack Martin and might be the second-best guard in this draft behind North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel, who went 18th overall to Seattle.
There’s space left to punch one other team — Cincinnati — in the nose. The Bengals needed defense, so they took Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart 17th overall. He was the fourth of five edge rushers selected and, well, let’s just say it’s a red flag when TV analysts who are known for gushing positivity on every single pick spent more time questioning Stewart’s heart and productivity. He feels like a combine specimen taken too high.
Eight offensive linemen were selected as teams continued to realize their glorified QBs are mincemeat without the grunts to provide proper protection (see: Vikings’ nine sacks allowed in upset playoff loss to the Rams). At No. 24, the Vikings took Ohio State left guard Donovan Jackson, one of four Buckeyes selected, in a high-value decision that gives them a clean sweep of a woeful trio of interior linemen that turned a 14-win team into a pretender in a span of eight days in January. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy certainly has to be smiling at the investment. New England’s Drake Maye, who got left tackle Will Campbell of LSU at No. 4, and Washington’s Jayden Daniels, who got tackle Josh Conerly Jr. of Oregon 29th overall, are two other QBs from the Class of 2024 smiling this morning.
Three of the first nine picks were offensive tackles. The Jets, who have former Vikings GM Rick Spielman assisting them in the draft this year, took a right tackle to help newly-acquired QB Justin Fields, a player Spielman has always loved. And the Saints used the ninth pick not on the future QB they so desperately need, but a left tackle — Kelvin Banks Jr. of Texas. And, finally, old friend Sam Darnold, who’s probably still bruised from that beatdown the Rams gave him, has to like Seattle’s investment in Zabel.
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