Winners
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars were able to sit there at 5 and still end up with the best player in the draft. Jalen Ramsey is a rare talent that few teams get to employ. He is an All-American sprinter and long jumper in addition to his incredible football skills and IQ. If you want to see perhaps the greatest defensive tape of one athlete one game in 20 years, put on the tape of the 2014 Miami game. Ramsey willed the Seminoles to victory that night. He also completely leaped an offensive line to get to a field goal kick on multiple occasions. The dude is just an incredible athlete.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns showed tremendous patience for once and that perhaps they finally are on the right track. They did not take a QB they did not like. Instead this team got numerous draft picks with which they can rebuild their team the right way. They can now, at least in theory, have the proper infrastructure in place for a new QB when that pick does happen. The Browns traded down to 15 and still got the guy that they wanted at WR.
San Francisco 49ers
This team lucked out even more than the Jaguars. They sat at 7 and were able to get a guy who I believe is the 2nd best healthy prospect in this draft. DeForest Buckner is just massive and will create havoc at the next level. The 49ers instantly upgraded their pass rush with this selection.
Losers
Ole Miss Rebels
How can a team with 3 first round draft picks have been the losers of the draft?
Well, two of those players fell several spots because of questionable behavior off the field. Nkemdiche's issues are well documented and old news, but Laremy Tunsil was the story of draft night and not in a good way. Tunsil slipped several spots due to a video surfacing of him taking a bong hit leaking minutes before the draft. The video came from Tunsil's own Twitter account, which he claimed was hacked. However, he did not dispute the video that was clearly him, instead saying that it is an old video and that it was not him. Now we know that at least in the past, he clearly enjoyed the wacky weed like his former teammate
Later in the night, on Tunsil's instagram was evidence of Tunsil receiving improper benefits from the school. This could and should add a lot of fuel to the fire of those saying that Ole Miss is paying players. The program that suddenly came from nowhere to get top 5 recruiting classes consistently. Something stunk and Tunsil's social media hacks seem to be shining a big spotlight on the stench.
Oh, and uh, Laremy you might want to delete all social media from "hacks."
Myles Jack
This one breaks my heart because Myles Jack is an absolutely terrific football player that busted his butt for this opportunity. He did not get drafted in Round 1 though over concerns over his medical and potential issues with his knee that might require reconstructive surgery. This is truly a sad tale for Jack whom if healthy is my #2 player behind only Ramsey. Hopefully, the medical reports are a false alarm and he ends up in the best possible situation for him. This guy really seems like a class act.
Green Bay Packers
This was a draft that was rich in interior line depth. It makes very little sense to me why the Packers reached on a guy with short arms that has a high amount of broken tackles when the position of need was inside linebacker. They needed a inside linebacker to move Matthews outside and there is more value in this spot taking that position in this draft. Clark has the potential to be an inside force and BJ Raji did just retire, but there were better players and even better tackles available.
How did the Bucs do?
The Buccaneers did indeed trade down from 9 to accumulate a pick and make a selection. I had prepared myself for the Bucs taking Hargreaves, because the writing did appear to be on the wall for this pick. At least they got another pick in the process by moving down two slots. I don't feel great about the pick because Hargreaves seemed to struggle against bigger, more physical receivers (Kelvin Benjamin torched him in 2013). However, I'm okay with it and think he will be a decent professional. I am terrified for him when Tampa faces Julio Jones and Kelvin Benjamin though. Hopefully, they will be matched up against Grimes and not Hargreaves.
What is left for the Seminoles?
Multiple possible picks in the later rounds and a sure thing at kicker that will go sometime between rounds 2-4. I like the two linebackers as special team players and depth moves. Terrance Smith and Reggie Northrup show capability to be good special teams guys. I also really like Nile Lawrence-Stample in the later rounds. Unfortunately, for Stample he plays the most loaded position in the draft. Should be interesting to see what happens...I will let you know how I feel about each players landing spots next week!
What is to follow should be quite interesting....
Stay tuned for my complete reaction to the entire draft and for my recap of predictions from last football season....
-Noland
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