Thumbs Up

--To the St. Louis Rams. They had two picks and stood pat at No. 2 and 13. They resisted the urge to reach for a quarterback or add yet another receiver. While I rated Jake Matthews higher than Greg Robinson, I’ll acknowledge that Robinson has a higher ceiling and could wind up being a perennial All-Pro. At 13, they took Aaron Donald to bolster the defensive line. He’s an ideal Jeff Fisher 3-technique. They could have reached for a safety or corner, but they stuck to their board.

--To the entire NFC North. Every team--the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers--made a pick that makes the team more dangerous.

I really like Chicago taking corner Kyle Fuller, a good scheme fit with nice size, instead of gambling on a safety.

The Vikings added a new dimension to the defense with LB Anthony Barr, who brings speed and sizzle to the back seven. Then they got aggressive and traded back into the first round to tab Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater. He’s the top QB on my board by a country mile and they got him at 32 overall. Great move.

Detroit filled the third receiver role with dynamic tight end Eric Ebron, who will primarily play in the slot in the way Jimmy Graham does in New Orleans.

The Packers smartly added a safety in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. It’s a little higher than I liked for the Alabama product, but he fills a gaping hole and has big-game experience.

--To the Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers. At picks 24 and 25, these two teams chose cornerbacks who don’t fit the mold of the big boomers. Yet Darqueze Dennard and Jason Verrett were hands down the two best man-coverage corners in this draft class. Each has warts (Dennard is grabby & lacks long speed, Verrett is small-framed & has durability issues) but they’re both strong value picks that go against the grain of where most believe the NFL is headed with bigger/stronger/faster corners.

Other picks I liked a lot: Jimmie Ward to the San Francisco 49ers, Khalil Mack to the Oakland Raiders, Jake Matthews to the Atlanta Falcons. 

Thumbs Down

--To the Philadelphia Eagles. At least they traded back…that’s what I kept telling myself when trying to digest them taking Louisville defensive end Marcus Smith. I do know my friend Kyle Posey at Bolts From the Blue thinks very highly of Smith’s edge potential, but I saw Just A Guy who was hard to find on a lot of game tapes. I’ll go ahead and guarantee nobody else was taking Marcus Smith in the next 10 picks, at minimum. I will give them begrudging respect for sticking to their board.

--To the New England Patriots. The Patriots drafted Florida DT Dominique Easley, who would have been a fantastic value pick at 29 overall if he had even one good knee.

But he does not, having torn both ACLs in the last two years. That’s a death knell for a 288-pound (that’s about 15 pounds lighter than normal) player overly reliant on initial quickness. How in the world is he going to anchor with his bad knees and lack of bulk? The Patriots are taking a shot at some pretty long odds that Easley both gets healthy and learns to finish plays. It’s worth noting he had more penalties (8) than sacks (5.5) in his Gators career.

Other picks I wasn’t crazy about: Calvin Pryor to the Jets (too high), C.J. Mosley to the Ravens (major durability questions), Deone Bucannon to Arizona (again too high, even after trading back)

Thumbs Twiddling

--To the Cleveland Browns. Quite a night for my beloved hometown, after trading back from the No. 4 spot and also up from the No. 26 spot.

The trade back from four to nine was absolute thievery, plundering an extra fourth-rounder this year as well as Buffalo’s first-rounder in 2015. That’s a brilliant move. The native 216er in me was excited…

…and then they traded up from nine to eight, giving up a fifth-rounder in return. That particular pick is inconsequential. But trading up one spot for a cornerback with a team that took a corner in the first round last year and sure as heck had no designs on taking another this year is simply asinine. That’s poor recognition and anticipation by new Browns GM Ray Farmer.

Then there’s the Browns choosing Justin Gilbert with that 8th pick. I’m admittedly more down on Gilbert than most, ranking him 60th overall. You can check my skinny scouting report on him here, or a more in-depth one here. I’m not sold he’s any better than incumbent #2 corner Buster Skrine.

But the Browns were not done. They moved up from 26 to 22 and took Johnny Manziel, a player many projected to them at 4th overall. Hard to argue with that value, and if Johnny Football can make it work anywhere, it’s Cleveland. That rabid, loyal fan base needed a reason to have hope. Manziel might fail miserably, but he might also be fantastically great. That’s never been true of any of the revolving door of QBs from Tim Couch thru Brian Hoyer. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but at least it will be thrilling ot watch.

Thumb Sucking

--To the Jacksonville Jaguars. Regardless of how you feel about Blake Bortles, the Jaguars failed to maximize value here. Nobody else in the top 20 was taking Blake Bortles, period. Why not try and snooker an extra pick or two from a team looking to land Sammy Watkins (like Cleveland did with Buffalo at the very next pick) or Khalil Mack? They should have either taken Khalil Mack or traded back.

Now they’ve forced lofty expectations on a quarterback who himself acknowledges isn’t ready to play right away. How’d that work with Blaine Gabbert? When the first thing you say about a QB is “he’s big”, that’s not a good thing. You want it to be something about his arm, or his movement skills, or brains, or accuracy. Although he checks all those boxes to some extent, none of those are real glaring strengths for Bortles.