Fave picks by round … While my colleague Pigskin Paul puts together his grades from this past weekend’s draft, I had a little fun with it and went back and on sober reflection picked my favorite picks in each round. And it was interesting in the sense that in several rounds, including both the 6th and 7th rounds, the choice was really hard because there were several picks that we really liked – and we’ll note the honorable mentions – while there were other rounds, most notably the 5th, where quite literally no pick really jumped out at us. So without further ado here are my picks for best picks by round:
First: what is the old say: good things come to those who wait!’ That happened to New England in this year’s opening round as the Patriots even traded down a couple of spots to allow Pittsburgh to come up and stiff the Jets, one of their division rival, and then with the 17th pick still got Oregon CB Christian Gonzalez who not many people thought would get past the 8th pick prior to the draft.
Second: Best pick straight up in the second round was Detroit getting former Alabama safety Brian Branch all the way down at the 45th pick. However, the best pick of the round – and maybe ultimately of the draft overall – saw Tennessee move up to the 33rd pick where they selected Kentucky QB Will Levis, who mysteriously had slipped right out of the first round the night before.
Third: Same story in the third round where Detroit got Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker, the perfect developmental QB to sit and learn behind Jared Goff. Denver and Baltimore also made great picks in the 3rd with the selections of LBs Drew Sanders and Trent Simpson, respectively. But the best pick of the round – and we’re admittedly biased here – was when the Giants traded up and got Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt. Even if he never catches a pass for the Giants simply having an explosive receiver of that nature on the field may force New York’s opponents about the wisdom of bringing 9-10-11 men up into the box to counter the threat of the Giants running game.
Fourth: Tough call here between two Indianapolis picks: BYU OT Blake Freeland and Northwestern DE Ade Adebawore. In the end, we gave an edge to the edge rusher, but Colts’ fans have to be thrilled with both picks.
Fifth: As noted above, maybe the toughest call of the night. In the end we went with Smith! with a split award between Minnesota CB Terrell Smith and Georgia safety Chris Smith who were selected by Chicago and Las Vegas respectively.
Sixth: Maybe the toughest call of the night as we really liked a number of picks in the round including those by Green Bay (Bowling Green DT Karl Brooks), Tennessee (Maryland OT Jaelyn Duncan), New Orleans (Wake Forest WR AT Perry), and Tampa Bay (Eastern Michigan ER Jose Ramirez) but in the end we went with Arizona’s selection of West Virginia DE Dante Stills.
Seventh: Same story in the 7th where we liked the picks by the Jets (Old Dominion TE Zach Kuntz), Indianapolis (Northern Michgan OT Jake Witt) and Pittsburgh (Purdue CB Cory Trice), but the best move of the round, and maybe the whole third day, was when Baltimore traded up to get injured Southern Cal OG Andrew Vorhees.
