Well, the NFL draft is over. The tension over the buildup, the mock drafts, and all of the talking points are over.
So let’s see which teams improved or possibly got worse.
Loser: New England Patriots
Bill Belichick and the Patriots have been doing their own thing since the early 2000s. They’ve always taken a surprise player or two during the draft and it usually works out pretty well for them.
And as if on queue, the Patriots traded down from No. 21 to No. 29 and took a Center from Tennessee -Chatanooga Cole Strange, who wasn’t on anyone’s radar for a first-round pick. “As a rule of thumb, most of their picks — other than Marcus Jones — were taken about a round higher than we would have liked, and there was repetition (Jack Jones, Bailey Zappe) to pieces they have already on the roster,” Yahoo Sports draft expert Eric Edholm wrote.
Cole Strange was a need, but there were plenty of other prospects in the draft and they could have possibly gotten Strange in the top of the second round.
Loser: Tennessee Titans
The Titans traded a potential Pro Bowl-caliber wide receiver for a rookie and then drafted a quarterback. It looked like they don’t have another offensive threat than Derrick Henry. While, Henry is an amazing player overall but he cannot handle the whole offense by himself, right?
That is why the AJ Brown trade to the Philadelphia Eagles really surprised a lot of people. The Tennessee Titans said there was no way they could meet his contract demands, but they lost their second-best offensive player. With the Brown trade, the Titans picked Treylon Burks, a young wide receiver from Arkansas who is among the favorites to win the 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year. But Burks isn’t AJ Brown and the offense for the titans might be in trouble in 2022
Enough with the teams who lost the draft, who won the draft?
Winner: Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore always seems to come out on top of the draft year-in and year-out.
They stayed put throughout the first night and got Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton with the 14th overall pick. It wouldn’t be a massive surprise if Hamilton ends up having the best career of any of the defensive players in this draft class. They also stole defensive tackle Travis Jones, a third-round pick, who was considered by some to be a borderline first-round pick. The Ravens reloaded their defense and made very smart decisions all night even if they missed out on drafting one of the big wide receivers in this draft.
Every pick seemed right to the point. They got valuable players who filled needed positions and could be starters right away.
Winner: Kansas City Chiefs
Another team that did an awesome job was the Chiefs. Kansas City had a lot of needs they needed to take care of, and they seemed to get all of them. In the first round, they got defensive back Trent McDuffie and defensive end George Karlaftis which were huge needs on the defensive side. They also needed someone to replace Tyreek Hill, they selected Skyy Moore, who had similar traits to Hill but will be a new fresh face for the offense. Safety Bryan Cook and linebacker Leo Chenal make the defense more athletic and physical, while offensive takcle Darian Kinnard and cornerback Jaylen Watson were huge bargains in the later rounds. It looks like Brett Veach found a way to keep the Chiefs in contention after last season.
Bonus Winner: Jalen Hurts.
Jalen Hurts seems ecstatic the Eagles finally got him a pure number one receiver in the draft. When the Titans traded AJ Brown to Philly, it seemed like the Eagles skyrocketed into Super Bowl contention. Now, the Eagles have AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and a strong running game that had the most rushing yards in the league last year. It’s all on the shoulders of Hurts to play more consistently in 2022, if he can keep the turnovers low and play consistent football, the Eagles are a contender.
