We’re less than an hour away from the second day of the NFL Draft, and with Round 2 set to begin, I wanted to take a look back at some notes from the first round.
The first few picks went by without much in the way of surprises. The first overall pick doesn’t get traded, and Sam Bradford – as expected – becomes the St. Louis Rams’ option for a franchise quarterback. Though he’s not likely to start the first few games of the regular season, I would think that by the end of the year he’ll be under center for the Rams to get his feet wet. There’s plenty differing opinions on whether or not a rookie quarterback should be allowed to start, but the Rams might not have much to lose by mid-season.
The heavily touted defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy went in the following two picks to the Lions and Buccaneers respectively.
With the fourth overall pick, the Washington Redskins shocked some people by picking offensive tackle Trent Williams. The majority of analysts were predicting that unless the Redskins moved up (or back) out of the 4th pick, they would select Russel Okung to replace retiring veteran Chris Samuels at left tackle. Once the pick was made, some analysts were quick to point out that Trent Williams is highly athletic and fits the typical mold for an offensive lineman who would thrive under Mike Shanahan. Williams is happy to be a Redskin, stating that leading up to the draft he didn’t want to tip his hand, but he had been hoping all along to end up in Washington along with Malcolm Kelly, drafted two years ago by the Redskins. The two not only roomed together in college, but they went to the same high school. Williams says he considers Malcolm Kelly “like a brother”, a sentiment that Kelly echoed in an interview last night.
The Kansas City Chiefs got significantly better on defense, drafting Eric Berry, a safety who is said to be in the same mold as Ronnie Lott (Hall of Famer from the San Francisco 49’ers) and Ed Reed (probable future Hall of Famer for the Baltimore Ravens).
The Seattle Seahawks were stunned to see Russell Okung still available at the sixth spot, snatching up the left tackle to fill the void on their offensive line left by (future Hall of Famer) Walter Jones, who is said to be retiring soon. This should help Pete Carroll protect Matt Hasselbeck and whomever takes over at quarterback for the Seahawks next.
Though many thought the Cleveland Browns would target a quarterback to replace Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, both who moved on from the club in the offseason, bolstered their defense by adding cornerback Joe Haden from Florida. Cleveland is said to be targeting Colt McCoy in the second round, having even placed a call into the St. Louis Rams in order to discuss trading up into the 33rd overall spot (#1 in the second round) to get him to fill the QB role in Browns GM Mike Holmgren’s West Coast Offense.
The Oakland Raiders picked up linebacker Rolando McClain, which is a surprising change from their recent history of trying to draft playmakers for their offense. The move is a good one in our eyes, as we were hoping that they wouldn’t draft a flashy quarterback or Wide Receiver like the analysts were predicting. Todd McShay (of Scouts, Inc.) seemed to be ignoring the fact that Al Davis loves JaMarcus Russell when he predicted that Jimmy Clausen would be under center for the Silver & Black Attack in 2010.
With uber-talented C.J. Spiller dropping to them, the Buffalo Bills scooped him up to share time in their offensive backfield. Their second round pick will likely be Jimmy Clausen, as they have stated that they would pick up a quarterback before the weekend was over.
The Jaguars continued to focus on defense this offseason, picking up defensive end Tyson Alualu.
With both of their first round picks (one acquired from the Chicago Bears through the Denver Broncos) the San Francisco 49’ers picked up Offensive Tackle Anthony Davis (of Rutgers) and later in the round acquired Mike Iupati (Idaho) at offensive guard. This should help both their pass protection and open holes in the run game for Frank Gore and Glenn Coffee.
The Chargers went off-type from their previous style of run offense (small / quick with Sproles & Tomlinson) and drafted Ryan Mathews of Fresno State.
In speaking to some knowledgable Philadelphia Eagles analysts, the expectations were that they would (and should) pick Earl Thomas with the 13th pick to replace Bryan Dawkins at safety, and you can imagine their shocked reaction when the birds announced they had selected (University of Michigan defensive end / linebacker) Brandon Graham.
The Seattle Seahawks, through a trade with the Denver Broncos, were quick to snatch up Earl Thomas to help anchor their defense.
In a move surprising to GuysNation, the New York Giants picked up another defensive lineman despite having a very talented core already on their roster, selecting Jason Pierre-Paul. The Titans followed suit, picking up Derrick Morgan.
Without speaking about each of the picks from the second half of the first round, I do want to point out some things I found interesting:
- The Cincinnati Bengals picked up Jermaine Gresham, a 6’5″ tight end, a need identified by many prior to the draft.
- The Denver Broncos, after trading back out of their original pick, had two selections in the second half of the first round, first selecting wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, then picking one of the most highly publicized individuals in the draft – Tim Tebow. The former Heisman trophy winner will have to battle Brady Quinn and incumbant starter Kyle Orton if he hopes to earn the starting job in Denver – that is, assuming the Broncos want him to be their Quarterback.
- The Green Bay Packers got a high value pick in Bryan Bulaga, an offensive lineman who many had predicted might be drafted in the top 10 selections of the first round, dropping all the way to 23rd.
- The Dallas Cowgirls (I mean Cowboys) drafted Dez Bryant, the much discussed wide receiver out of Oklahoma State. He should be a nice fit with Miles Austin as a target for Tony Romo, assuming that his work ethic isn’t as problematic as some predict it will be.
- The Detroit Lions got another pick in the first round by getting the 30th overall pick from the Minnesota Vikings and selecting Cal runningback Jahvid Best, who should compliment Kevin Jones quite nicely. The first round picks by the Lions have been praised by analysts, some of whom have stated that the Lions fans could be optimistic about Detroit getting as many as 8 wins next season.
- A very knowledgable analyst who has focused primarily on the New Orleans Saints for the better part of the past 15 years was markedly unhappy with the Saints’ pick. He stated that the Saints had hoped to get Jerry Hughes, TCU Defensive End taken one pick earlier by the Indianapolis Colts. He was disappointed that New Orleans didn’t target Sergio Kindle, who he stated would’ve helped fill an obvious need, instead picking up Patrick Robinson. “(The Saints) didn’t need a cornerback, especially not one with character concerns.” He expects the Saints will likely target an outside linebacker in round 2, an area which he describes as a “giant gaping hole”.
