Last night at Radio City Music Hall in NYC was the first round of the NFL Draft, and it was quite an unpredictable one. If you had a mock draft, it was probably ripped up within the first few picks considering it was the first time since 1968 where three of the first four picks were offensive linemen. Eric Fisher out of Central Michigan went #1 to the Kansas City Chiefs. It looks like he's an athletic o-lineman, which will be good for Andy Reid's offense. He can play a number of positions on the line, so Fisher looks like a good pick for KC. As you go through the draft, you get to the Eagles at #4 and their pick of Lane Johnson. Solid pick for them because their offensive line last year was awful. Good thing about Johnson, he used to play quarterback and tight end, so he's very athletic. That will serve him and the Eagles well with Chip Kelly's offense. The Cleveland Browns are the butt of a lot of the jokes that aren't directed at the Cowboys or the Jets, but they made a solid pick with Barkevious Mingo at number #6. Cleveland's defense might be sneaky good next year. Watch for them, seriously.
At #8, things got very interesting. The Rams and Bills made a trade to swap draft spots. At #8, the Rams took Tavon Austin out of West Virginia. With him in slot, the Rams have a very versatile guy on the offensive side of the football who should become a weapon for Sam Bradford. Then we come to the Jets. They were looking to take Tavon Austin, but the Rams sniped him with that trade. They ended up taking Dee Milliner, the cornerback from Alabama, which surprised a lot of people because they actually made a decent pick. But this is the Jets, and they had another first round pick at #13. Surely they take an offensive player, right? They need to get a weapon for Mark Sanchez, right? They picked Sheldon Richardson, defensive tackle out of Missouri. My Twitter feed went nuts. Jets fans got mad and non-Jets fans made jokes. They probably should have traded down if they could into a spot where there were more offensive players worth taking later in the first round, but that wouldn't have been the "Jets" thing to do.
The Bills were down on #16 after their trade with the Rams. Many thought they would take a quarterback. Doug Marrone, former Syracuse head coach, is the head coach and many thought that QB would be Ryan Nassib because of familiarity. Well, they took EJ Manuel out of Florida State. It's a boom or bust pick for sure. There really wasn't a QB that was a real first-round talent, but Manuel wasn't even in the top-3 QBs eligible for the draft. It will be interesting to see how he pans out. This pick will define the Marrone regime in Buffalo. At #18, there was another trade. My San Francisco 49ers traded up with the Cowboys to grab Eric Reid, safety out of LSU. With Dashon Goldson leaving via free agency, there was a hole in their secondary at safety. Since the Niners don't do a lot by way of rotation on defense, they needed someone that can play all three downs. Scouts say Reid is that guy, this looks like a solid pick for the Niners.
To round out the first round, the Minnesota Vikings were very, very active. Through trades, they ended up with three first round picks. With those picks, they took Sharrif Floyd, Xavier Rhodes, and Cordarrelle Patterson. They did a great job of filling needs. Floyd was expected by some to go as high as #3, so to have him fall into their lap at #23 is a steal and he fills a need on their defensive line. They needed a corner, so they made a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to move back into the first round to take Rhodes. The Vikings thought they were done, but then they found out New England was willing to move their pick, they jumped on the opportunity and took Patterson who looks to replace Percy Harvin in the return game. People say he's raw as a receiver, but he can make plays with the ball in his hand.
It will be very interesting to see what happens today in rounds two and three. There are a lot of offensive skill players available, plenty of big names left on the board, and a bunch of teams that have multiple picks in these rounds. Where does Manti Te'o go? Who takes Geno Smith? When does the first running back come off the board? The second and third rounds could be more exciting than the first.
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