Now that the 2019 NFL draft is officially underway and there were shakeups on day one from top to bottom with teams trading up, down and out if the first round. Here are some takeaways from round one on opening night:
Trades:
• Steeler trade up to No.10 overall: Pittsburgh moved up to select a defensive player for the first time since they took Troy Polamalu in 2003 when they selected inside linebacker Devin Bush out of Michigan. They gave up their second-round pick in this year’s draft at 52nd overall and a third-round pick in next year’s draft.
• Packers trade up to No.21 overall: Green Bay sent the Seattle Seahawks the No.30 overall selection and a pair of fourth-round picks in 114 and 118 to come up to select ball-hawking free safety Darnell Savage out of Maryland to pair with their prized free agent box safety Adrian Amos.
• Eagle trade up to No.22 overall: Philadelphia hoped up three spots and sent the Baltimore Ravens the 25th overall pick and a pair of day three selections to take offensive tackle Andre Dillard out of Washington State to groom behind an aging Jason Peters.
• Redskins trade up to No.26 overall: Washington traded back into the first round by sending the No.46 overall pick and a second-round pick in next year’s draft to the Indianapolis Colts to select a sliding Montez Sweat of Mississippi State.
• Giants trade up to No.30 overall: New York traded back into the first round to make their third selection of the first round by sending the Seattle Seahawks the No.37 overall pick and a pair of day three mid-round selections to take the first and only corner off the board of round one in Georgia’s DeAndre Baker.
• Falcons trade up to No.31 overall: Atlanta traded back into the first round by sending the Los Angeles their second and third round picks at 45th and 79th overall for their first-round pick and a sixth-round selection at 203 so that they could add another offensive lineman in Kaleb McGary of Washington.
Teams that reached:
• Oakland Raiders at No.4 overall: With outside linebacker Josh Allen, who was second in the nation in sacks with 17 last season, gift wrapped in their lap, the team’s new “brain trust” of Gruden and Mayock elected to take a player that could’ve still been on the board in the range where they were scheduled to pick for the second or third time in the first round at 24 or 27 in defensive end Clelin Ferrell out of Clemson.
• New York Giants at No.6 overall: While many experts and pundits predicted Duke quarterback Daniel Jones here, he probably could’ve been had with their second pick in the first round at 17th overall. His ties to the Manning family may have had more to do with this selection than his actual talent.
• Houston Texans at No.23 overall: Had offensive tackles Jaawan Taylor of Florida and Cody Ford of Oklahoma not still been on the board at this point, their selection of Tytus Howard of Alabama State wouldn’t look like a reach but taking a raw prospect from a small school over two polished players at the same position from powerhouse programs is nonsense.
• Seattle Seahawks at No.29 overall: With the all-time sack leader in the history of college football in Jaylon Ferguson of Louisiana Tech right there for the taking, they chose to pick L.J. Collier of TCU as Frank Clark’s replacement at defensive end.
Biggest surprises:
• OLB Rashan Gary to the Green Bay at No.12 overall: This is a bit of a shocker here taking into account that they paid big bucks to a pair of pass rushers in free agency last month in Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith.
• Only one corner and just two receiver, were selected: Not only was there just one prospect from each position group selected in the first round, but they also didn’t come off the board until the bottom of the first in the final eight selections. The Baltimore Ravens selected Marquise “Hollywood” Brown of Oklahoma with the No.25 overall pick, the New England Patriots took N’Keal Harry of Arizona State with the last pick in the first round at No.32 overall and the New York Giants traded back into the first round to select DeAndre Baker of Georgia at No.30 overall.
• Packers go defense twice: After allocating a lot of cap space into their defense in free agency last month, Green Bay continued to fortify and reinforce that side of the ball with both of their first-round picks. They selected Michigan outside linebacker Rashan Gary with their first pick at No.12 overall and traded up with the Seahawks to select Darnell Savage at No.21 overall.
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