Biggest Winners: Arizona Cardinals
I can't believe I'm saying this after how poorly they handled the Josh Rosen situation, but I LOVE what the Cardinals did in the draft. They added several dynamic athletes (quarterback Kyler Murray, receivers Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler) that are tailor-made for new HC Kliff Kingsbury's speed-driven air raid attack while also starting to chip away at their vast talent deficiencies at several key spots on both sides of the ball by picking up some o-line (possible starting guard/center Lamont Gailard), front 7 (run-stuffing edge defender Zach Allen) and secondary (fearless, physical ballhawk corner Byron Murphy, rangey safety Deionte Thompson) help along the way.
Honorable Mentions: Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers
Biggest Losers: Baltimore Ravens
Apparently quality talent evaluation left the building with Ozzie Newsome. Outside of blistering scatback Justice Hill-who should be a nice complement to power runners Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards in their RB committee, Eric DeCosta's inaugural draft as the head of the Ravens front office consisted of reaches, poor fits and generally head-scratching decisions. Marquise Brown is a gadget receiver coming off a Lisfranc injury, edge rusher Jaylon Ferguson's lack of speed, size and diverse pass-rushing moves makes him a longshot to have legit success in the NFL, Iman Marshall was arguably the most undisciplined corner in this draft class and a vertical threat that struggles after the catch like Miles Boykin is out of place in an offense ran by a QB with some of the worst deep ball accuracy in the league.
Dishonorable Mentions: Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks
Best Value Pick: Andre Dillard, tackle (Selected 22nd overall by the Philadelphia Eagles)
There was at least a half dozen examples of superb value in the first 50 selections alone, but Dillard's elite upside at a premium position along with the fact that he's entering a situation that couldn't possibly be more ideal pushed him ahead of the pack. Dillard will get a chance to start right away at guard in place of the injured Brandon Brooks and be mentored by a pair of future Hall of Famers in Jason Peters and Jason Kelce before he ever plays a snap at left tackle. If all goes well and he lives up to his immense potential, Dillard could very well be joining his teammates in Canton someday.
Honorable Mentions: Jawaan Taylor, tackle (Selected 35th overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars), Deandre Baker, cornerback (Selected 30th overall by the New York Giants), Byron Murphy, cornerback (Selected 33rd overall by the Arizona Cardinals)
Worst Value Pick: Daniel Jones, quarterback (Selected 6th overall by the New York Giants)
Dave Gettleman has preached not reaching for a quarterback ever since he arrived in East Rutherford back in late 2017. Well good ol' Dice Roll Dave did just that when he chose the Duke product to be Eli Manning's eventual successor. There was seemingly no market for Jones at this juncture of the draft outside of the Giants, but the Redskins of all teams managed to dupe Gettleman into using the earlier of his team's 2 1st round picks by floating out a BS rumor that they were thinking of trading into the top 5 to select a QB. With no standout traits other than ideal size, Jones is about as unexciting of a young QB prospect as you'll come across and even if they saw something special in him that no one else did, he likely would've been there well after #6. Giants fans, ownership and established players shouldn't have to be putting up with reckless, boneheaded personnel decisions like this that could keep them in the league's basement for a long time.
Dishonorable Mentions: Rashan Gary, edge rusher (Selected 12th overall by the Green Bay Packers), Kaleb McGary, tackle (Selected 31st overall by the Atlanta Falcons), Jonathan Abram, safety (Selected 27th overall by the Oakland Raiders)
Premature 2019 Draft Grades for Each Team: (Full Draft Classes can be found here: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001028874/article/2019-nfl-draft-final-quicksnap-grades-for-all-32-teams):
Arizona Cardinals: A
Atlanta Falcons: D+
Baltimore Ravens: D
Buffalo Bills: A-
Carolina Panthers: A-
Chicago Bears: B+
Cincinnati Bengals: B-
Cleveland Browns: B
Dallas Cowboys: C+
Denver Broncos: B+
Detroit Lions: B
Green Bay Packers: A-
Houston Texans: C-
Indianapolis Colts: C+
Jacksonville Jaguars: B
Kansas City Chiefs: B+
Los Angeles Chargers: B+
Los Angeles Rams: A-
Miami Dolphins: B+
Minnesota Vikings: B
New England Patriots: A-
New Orleans Saints: B
New York Giants: B-
New York Jets: B+
Oakland Raiders: B-
Philadelphia Eagles: A
Pittsburgh Steelers: B+
San Francisco 49ers: B-
Seattle Seahawks: C-
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: B
Tennessee Titans: A
Washington Redskins: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment