I already broke down the first round action, so this focuses more on the rest of the weekend and overall impressions.

$.01--The biggest winner of the draft? A lot of teams did well, but the Cincinnati Bengals did the most to advance themselves from their current status quo for my money. Their offense lacked playmakers outside of A.J. Green, so with their first two picks Cincinnati lapped up TE Tyler Eifert and RB Giovani Bernard. Both were the first players taken at their respective positions and both figure to play prominent roles right away. The Bengals clearly stuck to their board instead of reaching out for a need early on. Margus Hunt at the bottom of the second is a much better risk than at 37, where I suspected they’d have to take him if they wanted The Eastern Block.

Their two seventh round picks, OT Reid Fragel and C TJ Johnson, both have legit starting potential down the line, and sixth round pick Cobi Hamilton has a chance to play for a long time as a reserve wideout. I thought both Shawn Williams and Sean Porter were taken a round too soon, but Williams fits Mike Zimmer’s defense very nicely and could push for early playing time. Cincinnati is a good team, having made the playoffs two years in a row. I think their moves over the weekend give them a better shot to secure that elusive playoff victory…or two. This team has incredible depth across the board and marquee performers like Green and Geno Atkins, plus strong bookend pass rushers ahead of Hunt. The excuses are gone for Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis. They will be my pick to win the AFC North. 

$.02--I know I’m in the minority, but I love Geno Smith going to the New York Jets. New York presents him with the best chance for immediate success to quiet his critics, but it also presents Smith the chance to learn behind a mentor like David Garrard and take his time. Jets' fans seem resigned to the prospect of facing a truly bleak 2013 with a lame duck Rex Ryan at coach, but also not-so-quietly happy about flushing away anything that ever reminds them of 2012. Smith gives them a legit shot at having the franchise quarterback that Mark Sanchez can never become. They didn’t splurge to acquire him, either, patiently waiting for Smith to fall into their laps at No. 39 overall. They used the two first round picks to rebuild the defense with Dee Milliner and Sheldon Richardson, both of whom are immediate starters.

The Milliner pick actually impacts how Smith will be treated. Milliner has the daunting task of filling the shoes of Darrelle Revis, who was traded to Tampa Bay for the pick that became Richardson. Revis Island was beloved by Jets fans, and it will be almost impossible for Milliner to ever step out of that shadow. Smith simply has to suck less than The Sanchize or Tim Tebow. He’s better than both already, even if David Garrard is the starter for the first half of the season.

$.03--Two players plummeted well beyond any expected drop over the weekend. Alabama DT Jesse Williams, often mocked in the 30-45 overall range, ultimately wound up being the 137th overall pick to Seattle. Louisiana Tech WR Quinton Patton, also widely projected to go in the second round, dropped to the bottom of the fourth round before San Francisco tagged him with the 128th overall selection. These two fell for very different reasons. Williams was somewhat overhyped from the get-go, as there is not a great high-pick demand for defensive lineman that aren’t pass rushing threats (just don’t tell that to Scott Pioli!). He also suffered from a knee injury that wiped out his workout season and is worrisome for a player who absorbs such a beating. Seattle is a very good landing spot for him, as Pete Carroll’s college-style environment should play to Williams’ YOLO mentality, which he proudly wears as a tattoo on his face.

Patton dropped out of the first two days of the draft for one reason: Titus Young. You might recall the ex-Lions wideout proclaiming that he was better than Calvin Johnson and deliberately sabotaging the offense when he felt like he wasn’t getting the ball enough. His ego wrote checks his talent couldn’t cash. Patton has a similar mentality, and teams grew increasingly concerned that he would not be able to handle not being The Man like he was in college. I heard this from at least three different NFL teams, one directly from an area scout who knows him well and told me to not mock Patton in the first two rounds. Consider it a fear factor, and probably an irrational one. It’s irresponsible to project anyone possibly behaving like Titus Young, who had far more issues than not being able to accept a complementary role. Apparently, the comparisons came a little too easy: prolific wideout from a non-BCS league school noted, very impressive at the Senior Bowl week, not shy about expressing their perceived self-greatness on and off the field. Patton has the game to better assimilate into the NFL than Young did, as he is more physical on shorter routes and more economical with his body movement. The Niners landed someone who could very well be their leading receiver by 2014 in terms of catches, and they did so in the late fourth round. 

$.04--The team whose draft I liked least is the Chicago Bears. After reaching at least a round for greenhorn guard Kyle Long with the No. 20 overall pick, the Bears followed that with Florida LB Jon Bostic in the second round. That too is a reach, albeit less of one. A credible argument could be made that Long wouldn’t have lasted to that 50th pick, just as Bostic was unlikely to last to their next pick, No. 117 in the fourth round. So if they truly wanted those players and felt they were the best value on the board at that pick, that’s understandable. What is inconceivable is that Long was the 20th best player on the Chicago draft board, or that Bostic was 50th. I actually graded out Long lower than the team’s fifth round pick, Louisiana Tech RT Jordan Mills. In apple-to-apple comparison between Mills and Long during Senior Bowl practices, it would be hard for anyone to say Long was the better player, and sure as heck not four rounds better. Instead of a project right guard and a maxed out inside linebacker, the Bears could have added any number of very talented defensive linemen or bolstered a very thin secondary. 

The rest of the Bears draft featured three players I felt very strongly against: Rutgers LB Khaseem Greene, Georgia DE Cornelius Washington, and ex-Washington State WR Marquess Wilson. Greene probably fits in Chicago better than anywhere else, so I’m okay with the Bears taking him in the fourth round; he aggressively pursues turnovers and has a rare knack for forcing fumbles, which makes him fit right in with the organizational philosophy of the old regime. However, the Bears selected Greene over two backers I rated higher that went in the next three picks, Gerald Hodges and Sean Porter. Washington is a very impressive physical specimen but plays very passively and had no production at all in college despite playing opposite Jarvis Jones. Wilson either quit on Washington State or was dismissed angrily from the program after accusing Coach Mike Leach of abuse, depending on which side of the story you believe. There is decent potential with Wilson if he can handle the physical and mental rigors of the next level, but “quit on team” is a bigger red flag than the one flying over Tianamen Square.

$.05--The biggest story on Saturday was the first pick of that day, when the Philadelphia Eagles traded up a couple of spots to draft Matt Barkley. This development very nearly caused heads to explode, as analysis everywhere scrambled to reconcile the rationale that led to the pick. Surely Chip Kelly has to know Barkley is a very limited athlete! No way Barkley can possibly fit the frantic style of offense that Kelly ran at Oregon! They already have Michael Vick and Nick Foles, both of whom have better arms than Barkley! How in the world could this happen?!

While I’m not a big Barkley fan, I think this is a very strong pick for Philadelphia. Barkley might not ever amount to anything more than a functional backup, but for a fourth round pick that’s probably worth the gamble for a team with Vick and his 11-game-a-season max style of play. I believe this is a larger indicator that Chip Kelly is not going to be predictable in the NFL. If there’s one thing NFL coaches hate, it’s unpredictable opponents. Nearly everyone assumes that because Kelly ran a fast break offense at Oregon, he will do the same in the NFL. Maybe he will, but with Barkley he has given himself the ability to use more West Coast offensive schemes. I see this as a sign that Kelly might be embracing my long-held assertion that when a starting quarterback is struggling, it’s better to yank him and try something different than to go down with a clearly listing ship. Only a rare group of QBs ever achieve the “can’t yank” status, and Mike Vick sure isn’t one of those. Let’s say the Eagles are sputtering, Vick fumbles and throws an INT, and Philly trails 20-7 at halftime. Instead of hoping Vick magically improves, why not have a vastly divergent Plan B to fall on? Switching schemes mid-game can be tremendously effective…remember the genesis of the Wildcat, or the 2-man DL in Green Bay? Catching opponents off guard is a tremendous recipe for success, and Matt Barkley provides the Eagles with the chance to do that. I’m not sure he has the talent to do so, but nobody in the NFL knows Barkley better than Kelly and I have to trust his instincts here. 

I thought the Eagles rallied to finish strongly in the draft after a very shaky first two days. I found Lane Johnson overrated and overhyped as the fourth pick, and Zach Ertz was a major reach at No. 35 for a team that already has a better version of him in Brent Celek. Bennie Logan in the third is a solid fit, but he very well could have been there for the Barkley pick. Interestingly, the players the Jaguars selected with the bounty from the Barkley trade are also strong choices. Ace Sanders brings an athletic dynamic to the slot and return games, while Demetrius McCray is a good late-round sleeper to stick as a press-man corner after a year on the practice squad. I love it when trades seem to work out for both teams.