The first round of the NFL Draft was over surprisingly fast, wrapping up in around 3 hours, and it was a wild ride with eight first round trades and virtually none of the top slots picking where they started. The new rookie wage scale has made the top picks even more valuable, as there is a chance to get a quality impact player and lock them in to a rookie contract with a reasonable salary (look at Cam Newton’s $22 million deal last year).
There was one notable exception to all the first round trades – the Indianapolis Colts used the top pick to take Andrew Luck out of Stanford, the man that they hope can fill the massive shoes of Peyton Manning. After that, it was like a third world flea market – everything goes.
The Redskins took Robert Griffin III with the second pick, which they acquired in a trade from the Rams. The trade was costly (the Rams received the Redskins first round pick this year (#6 overall), second round pick this year (#39 overall) and their first round picks in 2013 and 2014. It was a bold move by Washington, but RGIII seems to have nearly unlimited upside.
The Browns and Vikings then swapped picks at #3 and #4. It appeared that the Vikings used a little gamesmanship, making it known that teams were interested in trading up to take Trent Richardson at #3, who the Browns wanted to take at #4. The Browns traded with the Vikings to move up one slot to prevent that, but we’ll never know if there were actually any other suitors for the Vikings pick. The Browns got Richards at number three, and the Vikings got their man, USC OT Matt Kalil at number four, along with the Browns fourth, fifth and seventh round picks (overall numbers 118, 139, and 211). Basically, the Vikings got three free picks and they player they wanted anyway.
The fifth slot was another trade, as the Jaguars traded up from seventh to fifth to take top receiving prospect Justin Blackmon, giving QB Blaine Gabbert a legitimate number one receiver to try to improve their NFL-worst passing offense. The Buccaneers took safety Mark Barron at number seven, and picked up a fourth round pick (101 overall) that they subsequently traded to the Broncos.
In between the Jags and Bucs, the Rams sat at number six having traded down from number two. The Rams traded down again, swapping first round picks with the Cowboys. The Cowboys took CB Morris Claiborne to boost their secondary. The Rams got the Cowboys second round pick (number 45) and the Cowboys first round pick at number 14, which they finally used to select a player – LSU DT Michael Brockers.
The Rams missed on opportunities to take either of the top two receivers (Michael Floyd went at number 13 to the Cardinals), leaving Sam Bradford feeling very lonely in St. Louis. The Rams have picked up a slew of additional draft picks, and will look to load up in Round Two, where they currently have picks 1, 7 and 13 in the second round (overall numbers 33, 39 and 45).
The Eagles saw a chance to trade up for their man, and moved up three slots from 15 to 12 to take DT Fletcher Cox. The Seahawks took the trade, moving down from number 12 to 15 (which they used on DE Bruce Irvin) and also picked up a fourth and sixth rounder in the process.
The Patriots had two first round picks (at number 27, from a trade last year, and at number 31). They traded up from both of these slots, in a surprising move for the Patriots. The Pats are always active, but have a tendency to trade down and accumulate extra picks. This year, they used the opportunity to move up twice and snag two quality defenders to try to take a little pressure off of Tom Brady and the offense. They got Chandler Jones at number 21, the versatile DE out of Syracuse, and Dont’a Hightower at 25, one of the top linebacking prospects out of Alabama.
And that’s just Round One. Buckle up for the next installment on Friday.
