NFL Draft Talk Volume LX
Now that the 2019 NFL draft is officially underway and there were many prospects with first-round grades that fell out the first round who could prove to be day two-steals and others that were expected to get taken on day two. Here are some takeaways from rounds two and three: Smartest trades: • Jags trade up for Jaawan Taylor: Many mock drafts had Jacksonville selecting him with their first-round pick on day one but they couldn’t pass up on Josh Allen who fell to them at No.7 overall but they jumped at the opportunity move up and take the right tackle with top 10 talent. • Broncos trade up for Drew Lock: With Joe Flacco in place as the starter for the next few years, Denver decided to move up and take the gifted quarterback out of Missouri to be the future of their franchise who will be able to sit and learn under a seasoned veteran. • Bills trade up for Cody Ford: Buffalo came up to take an offensive lineman that many experts believed would be a first-round pick who can be inserted into the lineup at either guard or tackle. • Browns trade up for Greedy Williams: Cleveland came up to grab what once viewed as the top corner in this draft in the early pre-draft process and will now boast one of the top young cover corner tandems after taking Williams at No.46 overall and pairing him with the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft in Pro Bowler Denzel Ward. • Saints trade up for Eric McCoy: After Pro Bowl center Max Unger retired this offseason, they were in need of a strong presence to anchor the interior of their offensive line and they found that with the former Texas A&M Aggie who had a first round grade but fell to the second round. • Dolphins trade for Josh Rosen: Miami was able to get a top 10 pick from last year’s draft and acquire their franchise quarterback for the price of the No.62 overall pick at the bottom of the second round in this year’s draft and a fifth round pick in 2020. Predictions that came true on day two: • Early run on corners: As expected there was a run on cornerbacks came early on day two and it started with Washington’s Byron Murphy coming off the board with the first pick of the second round to the Cardinals. He would be followed by five more corners over the next 13 picks. • Several receivers got taken in round two: While there wasn’t an early run on the wide receiver at the top of the round, many of the top-rated receivers in this year’s class came off the board in the second round. The first to get selected was Deebo Samuel from South Carolina to the San Francisco 49ers with the fourth pick in the round at No.36 over and physical specimen D.K. Metcalf of Ole Miss rounded out the six-man bunch by getting taken at No.64 overall by the Seattle Seahawks as the last pick of round two. Biggest winners: • Denver Broncos: Genera: Manager John Elway continued to have a strong draft by taking a pair of offensive players that will be keys to their success for years to come with back0to-back picks. They selected offensive tackle Dalton Risner of K-State at No.41 overall and traded back into the second to take their future franchise quarterback in Missouri’s Drew Lock with the next pick. • Houston Texans: After a bit of a head-scratching move on day one, they bounced back by selecting a pair of late risers in the pre-draft process who will make immediate impacts as rookies with their back-to-back pick in the second round in Lonnie Johnson of Kentucky at No.54 overall and Max Scharping of Northern Illinois at No.55 overall. Teams that reached: • Lions take Jahlani Tavai at No.43 overall: After having a down season last year at Hawaii after posting 120 plus tackles from 2016 to 2017, he could have been had later in the draft and was rated much lower than ended up getting selected. • Bengals take Drew Sample at No.52 overall: With Tyler Eifert’s riddled injury history and many dynamic pass-catching tight ends still on the board, Cincinnati opted to take the former Washington Huskie, who didn’t show much potential in that department in the middle of the second round at No.52 overall when many experts had him rated as a late third to early fourth rounder.
