The NFL Draft is a time of the year where college kids’ dreams are made and the NFL teams try to find their future players to help make their franchise successful for the upcoming years.
The NFL Draft always has some shocking picks, but this year there were a lot of picks where talented players fell in the draft and some teams reached on players.
To start off the draft, the Tennessee Titans picked quarterback Cam Ward from Miami with the 1st pick and that wasn’t a shock to anyone, but Cleveland held the 2nd pick and traded down to the 5th pick with the Jacksonville Jaguars. So with the 2nd pick Jacksonville took the best talented player in the draft Travis Hunter WR/CB from Colorado, who plays both sides of the ball.
Two significant trades happened in the 1st round and were pretty shocking. 1st trade was Jacksonville getting the #2 overall pick (Travis Hunter WR/CB), 2025 4th round, and a 2025 6th round, Cleveland got the 5th overall pick (Mason Graham DT), 2025 2nd round, 2025 4th round, and a 2026 1st pick. Another shocking trade was the New York Giants trading up to get a quarterback in the 1st round. The New York Giants received the 25th pick (Jaxson Dart QB) and Houston got a 2025 2nd and 3rd rounder, and a 2026 3rd round pick.
The most surprising thing that everyone was talking about in this draft was Shedeur Sanders dropping to pick 144 in the 5th round to the Cleveland Browns. Analysts and everyone thought he was at least a 1st or 2nd round talent and then he dropped to the 5th round. A couple months ago he had the best odds to go 1st overall and then months later he fell to the 5th round which was shocking. Some teams said he did poorly in interviews and purposely tried to respond badly in some interviews if he didn’t want to go to that team.
I interviewed two seniors at New Hartford, Jack Taylor and Trevor Cyr, who are big NFL fans. This is what they had to say:
DRAFT WINNERS
Me: I think the Cleveland Browns won the draft by trading back three spots and getting a 1st round pick next year from Jacksonville– and still got a great talent in a DT in Mason Graham. They also addressed the offense and got more weapons by getting Judkins, Fannin Jr, Sampson, and even though they got two quarterbacks in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders who fell in the 5th round, I think they still had a really good draft.
Jack Taylor: “The Chicago Bears. They gave Caleb two new weapons, including Mizzou WR Luther Burden III who fell into their lap at 39. They hit on their other two second round picks, one of which they acquired from a trade with Buffalo on Day 2 of the draft.”
Trevor Cyr: “I think the Giants Won the draft, getting a Top 2 prospect in the class, and then trading up to 25 for their future Quarterback in Jaxson Dart. They also drafted great in the later rounds as they had great picks in Cam Skattebo and Marcus Mbow.”
DRAFT LOSERS
Me: I think the Miami Dolphins lost the draft since they didn’t address the positions they were weak in like the secondary and got two defensive tackles before they even got a corner or safety, and reached on a lot of picks.
Jack Taylor: “New Orleans lost the draft in my eyes. They reached on Kelvin Banks in the first, then possibly the worst pick of the draft with Shough in the early 2nd. They didn’t really address any of their defensive holes early enough either, and it was just a pretty weak draft for a struggling team overall.”
Trevor Cyr: “I think the Cincinnati Bengals lost the draft because they did not get better at any position of need, and they reached on multiple guys. I am also simply not a fan of Shemar Stewart.”
SURPRISING PICKS
Me: Most surprising pick was in Round 1 pick 19 by Tampa Bay picking wide receiver Emeka Egbuka from Ohio State, which was confusing since Tampa has two great receivers in Godwin and Evans and drafted McMillan last year. They also needed to address the defense since they were dead last in pass coverage last season.
Jack Taylor: “The Browns reached on Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel in the third round, which was bad enough. But they decided to add Sanders in the 5th, giving them five quarterbacks on their roster. Made no sense to me.”
Trevor Cyr: “The most surprising pick in the draft was probably Tet McMillian to Carolina. It was a great pick, but I thought a guy like Jalon Walker fit their needs more.”
