Thursday’s 3-hour and 45-minute first round was full of twists and turns that even the most expert football fan could not have foreseen. The ceremony honored heroes from the military, the gridiron, and even the tragedy at the Boston Marathon that had attendees chanting and rising to their feet to offer standing ovations. From Geno Smith and Manti Te’o falling out of the first round, to no running backs being taken in the first round since 1950, here is a look back at a complete recap of Thursday’s first round action at Radio City Music Hall.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Eric Fisher, offensive tackle from Central Michigan, shocking the experts that had all but sent Luke Joeckel to KC. Fortunately for Jacksonville, Joeckel now wears a Jaguars uniform.
Miami stole Dion Jordan from his former college coach at Oregon. Miami exchanged first-round picks with Oakland to land the top-five talent. Though devastated, Kelly managed to grab an elite player in Lane Johnson.
Detroit landed highly touted prospect Ziggy Ansah who will play alongside Ndamukong Suh in the Motor City.
Cleveland made an interesting selection at number six. Despite needing a cornerback badly, Cleveland opted to go in a different direction with LSU’s Barkevious Mingo. Though Mingo is a talented prospect, a player like Alabama’s Dee Milliner would have made much more sense. As it stands, he will join former-Raven Paul Kruger as the newest additions to the Brown’s defense.
Arizona didn’t miss out on their chance to grab a lineman and picked up Jonathon Cooper from North Carolina. Cooper should come in and start day one, barring any major setbacks. Seeing as Carson Palmer is a highly immobile quarterback that rarely leaves the pocket, Cooper can offer some much-needed protection to the aging veteran.
St. Louis made the first big trade of the day, fearing that their draft target, Tavon Austin, might be taken. With Buffalo sensing that Geno Smith might become available late, the Bills swapped first rounders with St. Louis in a win-win situation. Buffalo later used that pick to grab E.J. Manuel, one of the biggest shockers of the entire draft.
The New York Jets found their heir apparent to the newest Buccaneer, Darrelle Revis, when they drafted Alabama’s Dee Milliner. They also took the 13th overall pick, compensation for trading Revis, and turned that into adding Missouri’s defensive leader Sheldon Richardson.
Tennessee took a “chance” on Alabama offensive lineman Chance Warmack. With the addition of Warmack, the Titans are hoping that star rusher Chris Johnson can live up to his nickname of CJ2K.
San Diego got in on the Alabama love-fest by selecting the third Crimson Tide player in as many picks. Offensive lineman D.J. Fluker became the Chargers first pick under the new regime of head coach Mike McCoy.
Oakland continued their string of recent draft snafus by selecting D.J. Hayden, ahead of more talented CB’s Xavier Rhodes and Desmond Trufant. The move even had the late, great owner Al Davis rolling over in his grave. Hayden must’ve run a heck of a 40-yard dash though.
Carolina got one of the biggest draft steals when they selected Star Lotulelei with the 14th overall pick. The Panthers desperately needed a defensive playmaker, and they may have found a nice piece to go with 2012 first-round pick Luke Kuechly.
New Orleans’ defense was a league-worst in 2012, surrendering over 400 yards of total offense per game. By selecting Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro, Sean Payton and company will hope to improve on their mediocre defense. There’s really nowhere to go but up.
The Steelers did exactly what everyone thought they would do and drafted Jarvis Jones. Jones was a big-time performer for Georgia that slipped due to issue with spinal stenosis. If he can remain healthy, the Steelers hit a home run with this pick. This marks the second year in a row that the Steelers have drafted a player that should not have fallen to them.
The 49ers used a few of their 13 draft picks to trade up to the Cowboy’s slot to get LSU free safety Eric Reid. With the departure of Dashon Goldson, this pick makes a world of sense. Jim Harbaugh and company seem poised to have another big year in the bay area.
The Giants and Bears both consecutively selected offensive lineman over a much-needed upgrade at tight end. With Justin Pugh and Kyle Long both headed to their respective franchises, The Cincinnati Bengals selected the best player available in Eifert; a move that should only make them more dangerous moving forward.
The Falcons traded up into the earlier picks, as they told the media they would, and snagged Desmond Trufant. With Brent Grimes departing free agency, the Falcons might have made the move to get them over the edge to winning a Super Bowl.
At 23, Minnesota took one of their three, yes you read that right, THREE first-round picks. In an unprecedented move, the Vikings shipped away picks in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th rounds to land a 1-2-3 punch in the first round of the NFL Draft. With the picks, the Vikings landed outstanding defenders Shariff Floyd and Xavier Rhodes. Most notably, the Vikings landed the player thought to be the best receiver in the draft class with the 29th selection in the draft.
Indianapolis made their selection to replace Dwight Freeney by taking FSU’s Bjoern Werner…it’s just too bad that Werner is projected to be an NFL draft bust.
Although B.J. Raji makes a very entertaining commercial, he cannot carry the Packers defensive line by himself. That’s why the team chose Datone Jones from UCLA to help him out. Jones will be a nice piece to add with Clay Matthews and should help return the Packers to their former glory of having the reputation as one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL.
The Texans got even more dangerous on offense by adding DeAndre Hopkins to QB Matt Schaub’s arsenal. Combining Hopkins with Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, and Owen Daniels could make Houston the runaway favorites to win the AFC South division.
Though the Denver Bro
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