Winners and Losers of The NFL Draft

With last weekend’s NFL Draft concluding Saturday, it’s time to take a look and put into perceptive what teams came out on top and what teams ended up on the wrong side of the draft board.

It is premature to judge players that haven’t played one down in the pros, but this evaluation comes from strictly need fit and success at the collegiate level.

The biggest winners would be the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Baltimore

Baltimore went after and got finally got a real weapon on the offensive side of things in Rashod Bateman, a receiver out of Minnesota in the first round. Fans of the team and analysts have all agreed that the Ravens have needed to add someone of Bateman’s caliber for a while now. They had two first-round selections after making a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for Orlando Brown Jr. With the extra selection, they took Odafe Oweh, an edge rusher from Penn State who is a psychical freak and with their net pick they took an offensive lineman out of Georgia in Ben Cleveland. Both players are sure to fill the spots in the trenches as projected starters in Week one. To round out their draft weekend, they took two corners Brandon Stephens and Shaun Wade, two prospects that can come in and learn behind already stout defensive backs, Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey. Wade especially has a chance to be a standout on that defense if he is put in the right position to succeed.

Chicago

The Chicago Bears had what some would consider the second most talented quarterback behind Trevor Lawrence falls into their laps at number 11 with Justin Fields from Ohio State.

It should be noted that the Bears have never had a franchise level quarterback in the entirety of the franchise dating back to 1920. It looks here as though they have finally found their guy in Fields. Chicago followed that pick-up with an offensive tackle to keep Fields upright for this season and the foreseeable future with Teven Jenkins. Jenkins had first-round grades and is a player that can likely be a plug-and-play starter on the left side of the line.

Philadelphia

The last winner on the list, the Philadelphia Eagles, made a massive change at the most critical position on the field as they traded away quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts and decided to move forward with Jalen Hurts. Hurts took over the helm under center midway through the season, and it looks like the Eagles are keen on giving him some help next season on offense. The Philadelphia Eagles traded up in the Draft to get in front of the New York Giants and draft former Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith. The Eagles took Smith with their first pick knowing that he is a player who can come in and immediately be their first option at wideout. Landon Dickerson, who the Eagles picked up in the second round, looks like a potential opening day starter at guard and the future successor to long-time Eagle Jason Kelce at center. Zech McPhearson and Kenny Gainwell both offer big-play upside taken in the later rounds as well.

Now onto the losers of the draft as these teams either reached for players or didn’t address the needs they had as a team. These teams would be the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts.

Indianapolis

Let’s start with the Colts. They found some very good and maybe underrated pieces with edge rushers Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo, as they could both quietly rack in ten sacks this season as rookies if Odenyingbo is able to play after tearing his Achilles before the Senior Bowl. Shawn Davis, a player that they took in the fifth round, could come in and get some early reps at safety but will be playing behind Khari Willis, Julian Blackmon and George Odum. However, this team needed help on the offensive line, particularly at left tackle after the retirement of longtime starter Anthony Castonzo, and they waited until the seventh round to take one. After making a move to acquire Carson Wentz, you’d think they take at least one guy to step in for Costanzo. It is worth noting that the Colts may sign a veteran tackle such as Charles Leno or Eric Fisher, but it might have been better drafting someone as opposed to a player like Sam Ehlinger who looks to compete with last year’s fifth-round pick Jacob Eason for the backup quarterback spot.

Denver

Next, we have the Denver Broncos, which made some pretty solid picks by taking Patrick Surtain II, who’s NFL-ready now and can come in and play at corner and even by taking Javonte Williams at running back. However, the most significant blunder by the Broncos was passing on Justin Fields, who was taken by the Bears two picks later. They did acquire Teddy Bridgewater before the Draft from the Panthers, but you don’t pass up a talent like that when it falls into your hands. Now the Broncos have two uninspiring options at quarterback heading into the season in Bridgewater and Drew Lock. Broncos fans can only hope that the rumors are true and that they will somehow make a move for Aaron Rodgers.

Las Vegas

Late but not least, we have the Las Vegas Raiders. This team, on paper, took a reach here at number 17, taking Alex Leatherwood. With clearer starting-caliber tackles Christian Darrisaw and Teven Jenkins still on the board. Trevon Moehrig was a good pick-up at safety to pair with Johnathan Abraham, but it was made redundant as the team picked two safeties later on in the draft when they have plenty of other holes on the roster still

Time will tell how all these decisions pan out, but until they do, fans will continue to search for answers concerning their team.