Let’s get this right from the beginning: Nobody wins and nobody loses the draft. It’s not nearly that simple and anyone claiming it is, is an idiot. No matter what draft you’re talking about, you can’t win it the day of. Drafts are about gearing up your team for the future and only in said future can you look back and say, “Hey, that team really aced that draft,” or “Wow, they really botched that pick.” Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I’m sure that when some little-known QBs named Tom Brady or Tony Romo slid away the down, or even off the draft boards, they weren’t even part of an argument of “winning a draft.”
But, since we all need opinions the day after the big draft — and everyone already knows how the Niners “lost” the 2005 draft by taking the bomb-tacular Alex Smith — here’s what I thought of this weekend’s happenings.
If you haven’t seen what the Bears third-round pick, Jarron Gilbert can do, search his name on YouTube. The guy can literally jump out of a pool. Not bad for a defensive lineman.
Lions do a surprisingly good job. I love Brandon Pettigrew to help their offense all over. Be it run blocking, pass blocking or receiving, he can do it and that’s exactly what you need out of your tight end. He should give Matt Stafford a reliable red-zone target to pair with Calvin Johnson. The big problem that the Lions still have is their defence though. A lot of work still has to be done on that side of the ball.
I never liked Mark Sanchez and I don’t think he’s the future for the Jets. He’s going to need a year or two to develop and the Jets don’t have anyone to help bridge that gap. It was a big risk giving up some picks and players to jump up to five and take him and I don’t think that risk will pay dividends.
In case you’ve never seen Green Bay’s AJ Hawk or new arrival Clay Matthews, be prepared to see a lot of blonde hair flowing in the chilly winds at Lambeau this season. Those two should get along famously. Grabbing B.J. Raji after he slid to the ninth pick was a great move too. The Pack really helped themselves in the draft.
By pairing Joe Addai with newcomer Donald Brown, the Colts running game will see a lot of improvement. Brown should work great in Peyton Manning’s play-action offence and should help keep defensive backs playing honest instead of cheating deep.
Philadelphia got pretty lucky that Shady McCoy slide to them in the second round, but the real story is how similar their first pick this year is to Desean Jackson, their second round pick last year. Why draft exactly the same type of player in Jeremy Maclin? If they wanted to go for WR, they should grabbed a big, physical guy instead of another burner. I think they really lost out by not trading for Boldin, no matter what the Cardinals wanted.
The Raiders did what they usually do, make sub-par decisions. Reaching twice with their first two picks — first for Darrius Heyward-Bey and a safety that could be the second coming of Roy Williams (in the bad way) — just doesn’t make sense. Michael Crabtree should’ve been their pick at seven and if they really wanted a guy that no other team had real interest in, they should’ve tried to trade down and maybe wrangle a second-day pick or two.
Finally, I now know what it feels like to have little-to-no interest in the first day of the draft. I wasn’t too high on this class going in and I’m still not today. Throw in the fact that the Cowboys didn’t have a first round pick and that makes for little interest on my end. That said, it didn’t stop me from watching as much as I could.
Hi, interesting post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for posting. I will certainly be coming back to your site.