After weeks of rampant speculation, the NFL Draft has come and gone.
Jadeveon Clowney became the first defensive player since Mario Williams to be picked first overall, Johnny Manziel found a new home in Cleveland, and Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted. It was an eventful weekend.
Here are 10 things that stood out most during the three-day NFL Draft this past weekend:
Who’s going to catch the ball in Cleveland? Ray Farmer pulled in an impressive haul during his first draft with the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland landed the draft’s top cornerback (Justin Gilbert), their quarterback of the future (Johnny Manziel), and Buffalo’s first-round pick in 2015 but they had one glaring omission. And it was huge. Why no receiver? Adding Manziel was a wise decision but someone needs to catch the ball. Even before reports surfaced Josh Gordon could be facing a year-long suspension, the Browns still had a need at receiver. Now with Gordon potentially out for at least half the season, they could be desperate. The Browns had ample opportunity in the draft — especially in the second round where potential starters such as Marqise Lee, Jordan Mathews, and Allen Robinson were available. Instead, they took a right tackle. Makes you wonder if they should have just taken Sammy Watkins at No. 4.
Pats don’t strike gold : Bill Belichick is a heck of a head coach — maybe the best ever — but he’s incredibly overrated as a general manager. His relatively average drafting over the years has cost New England and the Patriots had another ugly draft this weekend that included some real head-scratching picks. First-rounder Dominique Easley has great upside. No problem with that pick, but why did they not try and help Tom Brady as he reaches the final years of his career. The Pats passed on quality tight ends, receivers, and even offensive linemen in the second round (in one of the deepest recent draft classes) to select a quarterback! What a waste. Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t a bad prospect by any means but they’ve gone down this road before with Ryan Mallett and Kevin O’Connell and it hasn’t worked out. They should be adding players who can contribute now. Say at tight end, where Rob Gronkowski can’t stay on the field or at receiver, where they have barely developed any players at the position since the Super Bowl years. Thumbs down, New England.
Explaining Sam’s fall: Good for the St. Louis Rams for taking Michael Sam. He deserved to be picked and it made for an emotional story. Here’s the reality though: his fall had little to do with sexual orientation. Many, including Sam, wondered why last year’s SEC defensive player fell to the seventh round. Well was the NFL discriminating against Texas defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat? Jeffcoat was a higher rated prospect, won the Hendricks Award (as the best defensive end in the nation), and won a Big 12 Defensive player of the year award, but he still went undrafted. NFL teams look for unique qualities in prospects rather than college production and Sam’s ugly showing at the combine didn’t help his draft stock. Like Jeffcoat, Sam is a bit undersized for his position and lacks elite burst and strength so it had little to do with prejudice why Sam fell to the seventh round. He will be in tough to make a Rams defensive line loaded with talent.
Cowboys don’t mess up, for once : It was strange seeing the Dallas Cowboys act like a functional franchise during draft weekend. This has been a rarity since Jimmy Johnson left, outside of the few years with Bill Parcells during the mid 2000s. Usually with Jerry Jones as general manager, the Cowboys have been a disaster, but this season Jones let personnel executive Will McClay run the draft room and they made smart, calculated decisions that improved their football team. Instead of the urge to draft Johnny Football, Dallas added versatile lineman Zack Martin in the first round to give them a significant strength on the offensive line and then traded up in the second round to land pass rusher Demarcus Lawrence to help replace DeMarcus Ware. No wonder, Jones gave McClay an ‘A’ for his efforts this weekend.
Bills go bold– The Buffalo Bills must REALLY believe in EJ Manuel or else the trade to move up and select Sammy Watkins could be costly . In order to land Watkins, the Bills had to give up their ninth overall selection this year, next year’s first round pick, plus another mid rounder. Watkins ranked No. 1 on Buffalo’s draft — ahead of Jadeveon Clowney — but that’s a steep price for a team that isn’t a lock for the playoffs. Watkins is a heck of a receiving talent and gives a team a dimension of speed and playmaking they haven’t had since the mid 1990s but this is a franchise that cannot afford to be without first round picks — especially if Manuel isn’t the answer at quarterback. It’s a pure boom or bust move for GM Doug Whaley—who may be under close watch with new ownership coming soon for the troubled franchise.
Secondary issues in Detroit: Why do the Detroit Lions continue to ignore their biggest position of weakness? Nothing against Eric Ebron, he’s an intriguing pick but it’s hard to understand why the Lions never address their pourous secondary. Of the Lions’s eight draft picks, only one was used on a defensive back. That was undersized cornerback Nevin Lawson, who was taken in the fourth round. When they took Ebron, they could have had their pick at all of the draft’s top cornerbacks except Gilbert, or any safety they wanted, but they went with a luxury position. They already have Brandon Pettigrew and Joseph Fauria on their roster. Detroit plays in the same division as high-octane passing games such as Green Bay and Chicago, so maybe they’re trying to win every game 45-42? At some point, the Lions need to fix this.
Who will be Houston’s quarterback? Speaking of ignoring positions of need, the Houston Texans appear content going forward with Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starting quarterback in 2014. Hold your laughter, Bills fans. The Texans still added two quality starting defensive lineman and a new starting guard in the draft but did not select a quarterback until the third day when they took Tom Savage out of Pittsburgh. Savage is more of a developmental prospect. He has elite size and arm strength but is not close to being ready to start at the NFL level. After picking Clowney, the Texans were expected to take a QB with their first pick of the second round but they bucked conventional wisdom and plan to run the ball a lot in 2014. You can’t blame Bill O’Brien if he wasn’t sold on any of the draft’s top quarterbacks but relying on Fitzpatrick isn’t exactly a recipe for success.
Fall of the running backs: The value of running backs hit an all-time low this week. A running back was not selected until the 54th overall pick – the latest in the history of the NFL Draft – when Tennessee chose Bishop Sankey in the second round. Some running backs were picked right after that (Jeremy Hill and Carlos Hyde), but it’s abundantly clear that the position does not carry the same weight anymore. Yes, this was mostly an underwhelming group of prospects but the trend is evident. Makes you wonder why Colts GM Ryan Grigson gave up his first rounder to get Trent Richardson.
Bucs go on the offensive: So much for Lovie Smith being a defensive-minded head coach! In his first draft with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, all of their selections were used on offensive players. What stood out the most though was the size — especially with the team’s first two picks. The Bucs began their draft by choosing two monster offensive weapons in receiver Mike Evans and six-foot-five tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins to team up with Vincent Jackson on the outside. No wonder Bucs GM referred to his new offence as the “The Dunk-a-neers. They look like a basketball team.
NFC West gets even better: As the old age goes, the rich got richer. The NFC West was already the best division in football heading into the Draft and it got even tougher and more physical following impressive showings from all four teams — most notably the St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers. The Rams added a top offensive lineman and top defensive lineman while San Francisco used their bevy of picks to get deeper and more physical in the secondary and the offensive line. It won’t be easy for Seattle to even repeat as division champions.