It’s the last day of the 2014 NFL Draft. Staring from round 4 all the way to Mr. Irrelevant, it’s been quite a journey. Day 3 is about those fringe players and following your draft plan. Let’s review Day 3 of the NFC West and NFC South.
NFC West
Seattle Seahawks – Seattle traded down yet again by sending their 111th to Cincinnati for the 123rd and 199th. This left the Seahawks with 7 picks during the day. In the fourth round, they drafted defensive end Cassius Marsh from UCLA, wide receiver Kevin Norwood from Alabama, and linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis from Boston College. Seattle picked defensive tackle Jimmy Staten from Middle Tennessee State. In the sixth round, they drafted tackle Garrett Scott from Marshall and safety Eric Pinkins from San Diego State. The Seahawks wrapped up their draft with fullback Kiero Small from Arkansas.
San Francisco 49ers – Like their divisional rival Seattle, San Francisco had 7 picks in Day 3. The 49ers started with wide receiver Bruce Ellington from South Carolina and cornerback Donte Johnson from North Carolina State in the fourth round. In the fifth round, they went to the Sunshine State by selecting defensive end Aaron Lynch from South Florida and cornerback Keith Reaser from Florida Atlantic. In the sixth round, the 49ers picked their third cornerback of the day in Kenneth Acker from Southern Methodist. San Francisco wrapped up the draft in the seventh round with defensive tackle Kaleb Ramsey from Boston College and Trey Millard from Oklahoma. With the attrition the 49ers had in the defensive secondary, there is a lot of opportunity for some of these new picks to work into the rotation.
Arizona Cardinals – Arizona came into Day 3 with three picks and they stuck with it. In the fourth round, they made the interesting pick of quarterback Logan Thomas from Virginia Tech. Thomas is physically talented, but goes through bouts of inconsistency and it was curious that the Cards picked him while AJ McCarron and Aaron Murray were still on the board. In the fifth round, the Cards picked defensive end Ed Stinson from Alabama and finished up with Murray State wide receiver Walt Powell in the sixth round.
St. Louis Rams – St. Louis had seven picks going into the last day and made a couple of notable picks in the process. The Rams started in the fourth round with safety Maurice Alexander from Utah State. Things start to heat up in the fifth round with cornerback EJ Gaines from Missouri and quarterback Garrett Gilbert from Southern Methodist. It’s worth noting that Gilbert played for Texas when Colt McCoy was knocked out of the BCS championship when playing against Alabama. After struggling, he transferred and was disgraced in the eyes of Texas fans. The Longhorns ended up with zero players being drafted in 2014 for the first time since 1937. Could it be karma? The splashes continue in the seventh round with four picks: tackle Mitchell Van Dyke, safety CB Bryant, defensive end Michael Sam from Missouri and center Demetrius Rhaney from Tennessee State. While it’s easy to politicalize the Sam drafting, the football truth is that the Rams are getting a high energy player that will help generate a lot of hometown support. Sam needs to up his game to make the final 53.
NFC South
Carolina Panthers – The Carolina Panthers entered the day with four picks, but sent their 168th and 225th to Minnesota for the 148th. With the three picks the Panthers had, they selected safety Tre Boston from North Carolina in the fourth round, cornerback Bene Benwikere from San Jose State in the fifth round and running back Tyler Gaffney from Stanford in the sixth round. Gaffney is a great value pick as he was a workhorse, carrying the ball 330 times for 1709 yards and 21 touchdowns. He will have an opportunity to quickly work into the Panther rotation.
New Orleans Saints – New Orleans had 4 picks on Day 3 and were the only NFC South team not involved in a trade today. In the fourth round, the Saints selected linebacker Khairi Fortt from Cal. In the fifth round, they selected safety Vinnie Sunseri from Alabama and Ronald Powell from Florida. They closed their draft in the sixth round with tackle Tavon Rooks from Kansas State.
Atlanta Falcons – For Day 3, Atlanta had 6 picks: two in each of the fourth, fifth, and seventh rounds. In the fourth round, the Falcons selected running back Devonta Freeman from Florida State and linebacker Prince Shembo from Notre Dame. In the fifth, they took cornerback Ricardo Allen from Purdue and linebacker Marquis Spruill from Syracuse. In the seventh, the Falcons selected their third and fourth linebackers of the day by taken Yawin Smallwood from Connecticut and Tyler Starr from South Dakota. It is interesting to note that with the exception of Freeman, all the other eight Falcons selections were linemen, defensive backs, or linebackers.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tampa Bay jumped into the trade foray by trading up to 149 by giving up the 221st pick and a fourth round in 2015 to Buffalo. The Buccaneers made three selections. In the fifth round, the Bucs selected offensive linemen Kadeem Edwards from Tennessee State and Kevin Pamphile from Purdue. They wrapped up their draft with wide receiver Robert Herron from Wyoming in the sixth round.
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