Sports Update Monday: This Year’s NFL Draft Winners
Last Thursday was the first round of the NFL Draft. While some people see the draft as wild speculation with nothing to get excited over, others swear by it and look forward to it every year. This year was an especially lineman heavy draft, so it was not as hyped as say last year’s first round draft, which featured highly touted quarterbacks and running backs. The weekend is over and the draft is done. So now let’s take a look at the winners of the 2013 NFL draft.
St. Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford – The story goes that St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher had to tell Bradford and the other Rams quarterbacks to stop smiling when they went to West Virginia to work out Tavon Austin. Well, Bradford is beaming after the Rams actually got Austin to go with a receiving corps that also includes Brian Quick, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Lance Kendricks. These are the weapons Bradford has been craving the whole time he has been in the league. Now he has no excuses for not putting up numbers expected of a former No. 1 overall pick.
San Francisco 49ers – Sam Bradford’s NFC West rivals in San Francisco and Seattle obviously amped the competition this offseason with their many acquisitions. The 49ers were particularly impressive this weekend as they filled in every major need they had with a safety (Eric Reid) to takeover for departed Dashon Goldson, a defensive lineman (Tank Carradine) to eventually replace Justin Smith, a tight end (Vance McDonald) to replace Delanie Walker and a potential star at running back (Marcus Lattimore) to eventually replace Frank Gore, assuming Lattimore returns to health. The only problem for the 49ers is that they drafted more players (11) than they can possibly keep.
Baltimore Ravens – The Super Bowl champions have taken their lumps this offseason with the loss of several players, including Ed Reed to free agency and Ray Lewis to retirement. Things were so bad that some Ravens fans almost seemed to forget their team just won the title. This draft should assuage some fears as the team found the respective replacements for Reed and Lewis in Florida safety Matt Elam and Kansas State linebacker Arthur Brown. Look, no one is saying Elam and Brown are going to be future Hall of Famers, but both look like sound bets to be very good.
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan – Yes, Ryan was among the winners from Thursday night when the Jets took cornerback Dee Milliner and defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, but things only got better. Drafting Geno Smith is a boon to Ryan regardless of whether Smith can play. Assuming the Jets do the smart thing and dump Mark Sanchez, Smith automatically becomes the starter and Ryan gets a chance to make this a full-fledged turn toward the future rather than some weird balancing act with Ryan perched on Sanchez’s shoulders (or tattooed on Ryan’s shoulder, as it truly is). If Ryan can rebuild the defense quickly and get the offense to stay error-free, an 8-8 season might make it hard for the Jets to fire him. Yeah, Ryan still looks like a dead man walking, but there’s a hint of a lifeline.
Chicago Bears – General manager Phil Emery continued his pragmatic approach to getting the Bears back to contention by getting a couple of really nice prospects to fill vital spots. Offensive lineman Kyle Long helps a unit that has to be on its game to protect deliberate, must-see-it-first quarterback Jay Cutler. On defense, the Bears picked up linebacker Jon Bostic from Florida to replace Brian Urlacher. Mark this down: In five years, people will be talking about how much better Bostic is than Manti Te’o.
Michael Vick – Like Rex Ryan, Vick was a winner Thursday when the Eagles drafted Lane Johnson to rebuild the offensive line. Like Ryan, things got even better in the second and fourth rounds. First, Philadelphia drafted tight end Zach Ertz, giving Vick another big-time weapon and a guy the Eagles can pair with Brent Celek for some tasty two-tight end formations. In the fourth round, the Eagles traded up to get Matt Barkley. Sure, Barkley may be no better than a backup, but he’s going to be competition for current No. 2 Nick Foles. In other words, the perception that the competition for time was between Vick and Foles just got really blurry. That can only help Vick.
New Oakland Raiders CB D.J. Hayden – This is one of the best stories of the draft, as Hayden went from nearly dying after an odd practice injury in November to being cleared for the draft in the past two weeks. Once cleared, teams took a closer look at his tape and he nearly was the No. 1 cornerback taken in the draft (the Raiders would have taken him at No. 3 if they hadn’t traded down with Miami to No. 12). Either way, Hayden has gone from one end of the spectrum to the other, the direction being nothing but up.
Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson – Johnson might legitimately be able to become CJ2K again as the Titans seriously rebuilt their offensive line and helped the passing game. After getting Andy Levitre in free agency, the Titans picked up stud guard Chance Warmack in the first round and center Brian Schwenke in the fourth. The Titans are now almost imposing in the middle. If that wasn’t enough, Tennessee got wide receiver Justin Hunter in the second round in case Kenny Britt can’t come back from injury. If Britt does, the Titans can put Britt, Hunter and Kendall Wright outside to create all sorts of problems for the secondary and make life a lot easier for Johnson and quarterback Jake Locker.