Winner/ Losers Round 1 2020 NFL Draft

Welcome (back) to Washington, DC Chase Young! Also, let me start by saying what a fun night. Hats off the NFL! They did a great job last night giving us sports-lovers something to watch and get excited about in the midst of this pandemic. Granted, there wasn’t as much drama in the first 10 picks but the back end of the 1st round made up for that. That being said, here are some winners/ losers of the 1st round.

WINNERS:

Dolphins: Time will tell if Alabama QB Tua can stay on the field. Regardless, the fins won this draft the minute he was selected at #5. They were able to get the player they coveted without giving up a single pick. Matter of fact, they were later able to goat the Packers to trade up for Jordan Love and acquired even more picks. They may have reached on the tackle they took at #18 but this adding offensive lineman is always a good idea with a young qb. Well done Dolphins.

Cardinals: The Cardinals stopped his slide and picked up my favorite player in the draft Clemson LB/S Isaiah Simmons with the #8 pick in the draft. He joins a young secondary in Arizona but will start immediately. The Cardinals may be the champions of the off-season right now considering they were able to pickup Deandre Hopkins for a song earlier this offseason as well.

Cowboys: It pains me to write this but Oklahoma’s WR Ceedee Lamb fell right into the Cowboy’s laps at #17 and Jerry deserves credit for not passing on him. He joins a new high powered Cowboys offense that suddenly has the best WR duo in the NFC East and possibly in the whole conference outside of Tampa Bay.

Ravens: LSU’s stud LB Patrick Queen may be the great steal of this draft and the Ravens didn’t need to trade up to get him. He goes from winning a National Championship in college to joining a Super Bowl contender in Baltimore and is already being compared to Ray Lewis. Definitely one of the best landing spots for this young player.

LOSERS:

Las Vegas Raiders: Jon Gruden does it again! He doesn’t care one bit about your mock drafts and will continue to take the players he likes. Henry Ruggs is the fastest receiver in the draft and he will forever be linked to the other WRs taken after him (Jeudy, Lamb, Jefferson). Hopefully he can stay healthy.

The real head-scratcher was the selection of OSU’s CB Damon Arnette, the #2 cornerback on the 2019 Buckeyes defense mind you, who many had a 3rd round grade on over higher rated players such LSU’s WR Justin Jefferson (pick #22), Arizona States WR Brandon Aiyuk (pick #25), Alabama’s Trevon Diggs (available day 2), TCU’s Jeff Gladney (pick #31), and LSU’s LB Patrick Queen (pick #28). Maybe the reason all these corners are still available day 2 is because everyone had similar grades on them like the Raiders did. However, they could’ve addressed their WR position here and most likely still picked Arnette day 2.

Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles, as expected, took at WR at #21 but not the one many predicted. TCU’s WR Jalen Reagor is a burner and made tons of plays last year for the Horned Frogs but is not the complete WR like a Justin Jefferson (who was taken one pick later). Reagor will be used mostly in the slot and as kick returner in Philly but Jefferson had the traits and talent to be a true #1 WR. Maybe I’ve been burned one too many times by TCU receivers drafted in the late first round (*cough* Josh Doctson *cough*) but there were a handful of receivers I had better grades on here. This was a reach.

Cleveland Browns: The Browns seem to be perennial losers in the draft and that continued in 2020. They selected Alabama’s OT Jedrick Wills over Iowa’s OT Tristan Wirfs at #10 hoping that he will be Baker Mayfield’s protection. He very well may turn into that but he had his lunch taken from him against tougher competition (LSU, Auburn). Wirfs would’ve been the safer pick here.

PS: There we some rumors that they would even trade that pick to the Redskins for Trent Williams but that turned out to be all smoke. He would’ve (and possibly still be) the better player for the Browns moving forward.

The 2nd round starts tonight at 7pm. Here are the best remaining prospects: