I felt like this years first round lived up to all the hype surrounding it going in. Four QBs taken in the top 10, the multiple surprise trade ups to get a QB, and late round surprises/ eyebrow raisers.  I’m sure today every team feels like they got better and time will tell if they did or didn’t. Here is my post-round 1 winners and losers:

Winners:

Giants: Despite all the hype around this years QB class the Giants stuck to their guns and drafted Saquon Barkley. Well done and congratulations on your first ballot Hall of Famer.

Ravens: Trading back from 14 to get TE Hayden Hurst at 25 (my #1 TE) was debatable but trading back in to 32 to draft QB Lamar Jackson with one of the picks you acquired will go down as one of the best moves Ozzie Newsome has ever done. The benefit of having Lamar Jackson in the 1st round means you get a 5th year option on him at the rookie rate which will come in handy when he starts lighting up the league.

Panthers: They must have a long debate in their war room over drafting WR DJ Moore instead of WR Calvin Ridley but that choice will pay off. Panthers finally have a true #1 WR.

Losers:

Browns: Well done Browns. Well done. Your first pick was so dumb it impacted the Redskins pick. Passing on Barkley (and gifting him to the Giants) is bad enough but when you do it for Baker Mayfield is what makes you the Browns. Granted, Mayfield is my 3rd rated QB and I’m sure he’ll do a heck of a lot better than Tyrod Taylor/ Kizer. But how on God’s green earth can you not have the foresight to know that Baker will still be available for you at pick #4? Worse case scenario he gets selected by the Jets after the Giants pick Darnold and you still get Rosen/ Allen/ Jackson! Great work. Oh, and picking Ward over Chubb/ Fitzpatrick was wrong too considering that Iowa CB Josh Jackson (my #2 CB) is now sitting on the board still in the 2nd round and you have the 1st and 3rd pick. Good luck passing on him twice. What a disgrace.

Saints: Trading up to get DE Marcus Davenport might prove to be a good move but giving up next years 1st round pick was too much to pay in my opinion. Davenport (my #3 DE/ Edge) was widely considered to be the 2nd best DE in the class and a top-10 talent by some. However, he is coming from a no name school who hardly played any meaningful games/ competition and will need time to adjust to the speed/ strength of NFL offensive lineman. He could easily turn out to be a bust. The Saints are obviously bullish thinking that he is the piece they are missing to become Super Bowl Champs (they were one play away from the Conference Championship last year). If they are right, they won’t miss that 1st round pick at all.

Eagles: The Super Bowl champs were clearly asleep at the wheel last night. Trading out of the 1st round and down to 23 spots #55 to let the Ravens steal a franchise QB for an extra 2nd rounder next year was not what I or most would have done. I was thinking they were going to take one of these big offensive lineman that fell but instead, crickets. I guess they get a pass since they just won their first Super Bowl but it will be interesting to see who they take at #55.

Draft rounds 2-3 begin tonight (Friday April 27th) at 7pm. The Redskins select #44 (12th in the 2nd round).