The first round of the 2016 NFL Draft has come and gone and now 31 college students are going to learn to play at a professional level. The draft is just one step in developing a championship-quality team, but there are some teams that used their top picks to move towards the playoffs, while other teams may have stalled on the road to the Lombardi Trophy.
The two most notable picks came from the first two teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams chose first, but had to give up a bunch in order to acquire the pick. The team received the number one pick and a fourth round pick in a trade with the Tennessee Titans. In return, the Titans got the fifteenth pick, two second-rounders, a third- rounder, and the Rams’ first and third round picks in the 2017 Draft.
After giving up so much to the Titans, the Los Angeles drafted Jared Goff, a quarterback out of the University of California, Berkley. Goff is the prototype quarterback and a pocket passer, who will not attempt to run the football like Russell Wilson or Cam Newton. He has a strong arm, but at the moment the Rams only have one good receiver. On the other hand, the Los Angeles does have a very good, young defense in a division where they compete with other talented defenses in Seattle and Arizona. Goff will have to learn how to be a professional and leader while also having the responsibility of quarterbacking the newest team in Los Angeles.
The Philadelphia Eagles had the second pick and drafted Carson Wentz, a quarterback from North Dakota State. Wentz is an interesting pick because he is not from an Division I college. Similar to the Rams, the Eagles traded up for their draft pick and gave up first, third and fourth round picks to the Cleveland Browns. The Eagles chose a quarterback with high potential, but he did not play in Division I. Are his talents really amazing or did his success come from facing easier competition? Wentz has a strong arm and can also run, so he can do more than Goff can. But he does not have one stand-out attribute.
Usually when a quarterback is drafted, the team wants to start him right away. Such was the case with Marcus Mariota for the Titans and Cam Newton for the Panthers. The Eagles have all intentions of starting Sam Bradford next season, and based on his performance and injury history, that cannot bode well for them. The Eagles gave up an enormous amount of draft picks for a quarterback who now has to learn how to compete against other top athletes, many of whom played at top colleges. Sure, there are those quarterbacks who succeed after sitting for a season or two such as Aaron Rodgers, but Rodgers was learning from Brett Favre, arguably the greatest quarterback to play in the NFL. The Eagles made a risky decision in their draft pick and gave up an enormous amount of possible talent. This ultimately could be a complete flop in the coming seasons.
One of the best and most underrated picks has to be the Baltimore Ravens taking Ronnie Stanley, an offensive tackle, out of Notre Dame. Normally high-end offensive tackles like Stanley have successful careers, so they don’t have the high risk factor that comes with drafting a quarterback. The Ravens also had an off season because the team could not recover after quarterback Joe Flacco’s major injury. The Ravens are going to be a competitive team next season and with the best pass-blocking lineman in the draft, this will allow Joe Flacco to do what Joe Flacco does best. He will be able to sit in the pocket longer and not worry about either his left or right blindside and could throw the ball deeper. Flacco is one of the best deep passing quarterbacks in the NFL, so improving his pocket’s defense was a great decision for the Ravens. It was not a super high reward pick, but it was not a high risk pick either. It is exactly what the Ravens need.
The worst pick out of the top ten was probably the Dallas Cowboys’ choice of Ezekiel Elliot from Ohio State. There is nothing wrong with Elliot, who will be a very good third down running back and above average pass blocker when Tony Romo is in shotgun. The problem is who picked him and when he was drafted. The Dallas Cowboys offense last year was better than most teams, but the problem was how little their offense was on the field. Their defense was terrible and the best way to beat the Cowboys last season was to just keep your offense on the field longer than their offense was on the field. That tended to be pretty easy, since the Dallas defense could never get the stop it needed.
Now in the 2016 NFL Draft, the three picks before the Cowboys were two quarterbacks and a defensive end. That means that Dallas could have chosen the best college defensive players out there, but they choose a situational running back. The pick makes no sense, as it just adds to the areas where they are already good, but does not improve the weakest areas of the team.
The NFL Draft is always important to the top ten teams who pick, and this season some teams made great picks and others failed in their most important decision of the coming season. Any team that trades up in order to get a higher pick instantly comes under question, because they are giving up multiple position upgrades for a single spot. The Rams and the Eagles were the two most notable teams to do that this season. Los Angeles’ choice to do so may work out because they already have a talented defense and need a strong quarterback to get them over the hump. On the other hand, the Eagles traded for a quarterback that will be sitting on the bench next season. We’ll just have to wait for the season to start and possibly even multiple seasons before these picks really start to make an impact. •
