The 2019 NFL Draft happened April 25-27 and it was full of reaches, interesting trades, surprising picks, safe picks, great overall team drafts and questionable overall drafts. If you look at my mock draft, you can tell I fell for the news that after months Kyler Murray was no longer the definite pick of the Cardinals. It really messed up my mock draft because I mock drafted according to the new reports.
In this post I will review a few of the top 10 picks then I will go over my winner of the draft, and my loser of the draft. After the writing I will post letter grades for each team.
With the first pick of the draft the Arizona Cardinals selected Kyler Murray the quarterback from the University of Oklahoma. Kyler is a great player and normally picking him first would be a great first pick especially for a team that had an issue at quarterback. Even though he was my second ranked quarterback there wasn’t much of a gap between him and Dwayne Haskins so either one being the first quarterback taken would have been good.
So why is this a bad pick? Well last year they selected QB Josh Rosen from UCLA with the 10th pick and even though he had a bad rookie season most of it wasn’t his fault and usually teams give young quarterbacks with a lack of protection and weapons plenty of time. The Cardinals did not wait for him and drafted Murray and later in the night traded Rosen for the 62nd pick and a 2020 5th round pick from the Miami Dolphins. This is awful return for Rosen who was selected 1oth overall a year before and still can live up to that value. Lucky for the Cardinals this didn’t crush their draft because they had so many great picks with great value at the pick and drafting a receiver like Andy Isabella with that 62nd pick they got from the Dolphins was a great pick with made the trade a little better but still Cardinals had the first pick for a reason, they have plenty of needs and they could’ve used the first pick to address a bigger need than quarterback or they could’ve traded it for more picks or great players from other teams.
The second and third picks were as most analysts expected as well with Nick Bosa defensive end from Ohio State at two to the San Francisco 49ers and at three the New York Jets selected defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the University of Alabama. Nick Bosa is a great edge rusher that the 49ers could use to complete a developing defensive line. Williams at three is an amazing pick. Williams is my first overall player in the entire draft and is exceptional. Jets wanted to trade down but they are probably glad they didn’t because they got a beast like Williams.
At four the Raiders hinted they would take a surprising pick before the draft and they did precisely that. I thought the pick was going to be Kyler Murray because I thought it would be surprising that he fell to four after months of talk of him going one. So, I thought Mike Mayock the general manager and John Gruden the head coach of the Raiders knew a fall was going to happen. The surprise though was they picked Clemson defensive end Clelin Ferrell. A lot of people including Raiders fans hated this pick, but I did not. I didn’t think it was that much of a reach and Ferrell is one of the safest picks in the draft and he fits the need of a pass rushing end that the Raiders desperately need. Last season the Raiders had 13 total sacks which is awful considering 11 PLAYERS had equal to more than that.
At six the Giants selected Jones who I ranked 5th and I know my rankings aren’t the professional consensus but almost everyone had Jones pegged later like pick 15 or later and he shouldn’t have been picked before Dwayne Haskins. Things got worse when Giants picked Dexter Lawrence at 17 who was considered a late first rounder to early second rounder.
At pick nine the Bills selected Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver which was another obvious pick, but a lot of teams wanted him and some like the Falcons considered trading up. It was good value for a guy considered in many analysts top 5 overall players.
My draft winner was the Arizona Cardinals. I know this seems weird I wasn’t a fan of the first pick and how they handled Rosen I still loved their overall pick and Murray is still a great player. They had 11 picks in nine could either start or have a big role in their rookie seasons. Isabella the wide receiver from Umass Amherst was a great pick at the end of the second and Alabama safety Deionte Thompson in the fifth was great value for a guy many considered a first rounder not too long ago and didn’t have a fall for any big reason. Wide Receiver Hakeem Butler in the fourth was also a great value pick, many analysts thought he’d go in the second round. Butler could start right away on that offense. There were a few other great picks as well, but I’ll just mention one more. Byron Murphy the cornerback from Washington being selected as the first pick in the second round was a great pick. Murphy is a guy many had as their best corner and he should have been a first-round pick.
The worst draft was the Giants. Their 3oth pick in the first round cornerback Deandre Baker, third round pick edge Oshane Ximines, and in the fourth round selected cornerback Julian Love all were good pics but their first two picks were not great and rounds 5-7 could have been better since quite a few players that should have been drafted ahead of most of their final picks went undrafted.
Draft Grades for Each Team
Arizona Cardinals: A+
Atlanta Falcons: C+
Baltimore Ravens: B
Buffalo Bills: A
Carolina Panthers: B
Chicago Bears: C+
Cincinnati Bengals: C-
Cleveland Browns: B+
Dallas Cowboys: C
Denver Broncos: B
Detroit Lions: C+
Green Bay Packers: B-
Houston Texans: C-
Indianapolis Colts: B-
Jacksonville Jaguars: A-
Kansas City Chiefs: C
Los Angeles Chargers: B
Los Angeles Rams: B+
Miami Dolphins: B-
Minnesota Vikings: B
New England Patriots: A-
New Orleans Saints: C+
New York Giants: D+
New York Jets: B-
Oakland Raiders: A
Philadelphia Eagles: C
Pittsburgh Steelers: C+
San Francisco 49ers: B-
Seattle Seahawks: B
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: B
Tennessee Titans: B+
Washington Redskins: A-
(Pick from SB Nation. Players from left to right Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, and
Ed Oliver)
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