The NFL Draft was held from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, PA, at Acrisure Stadium. The draft attendance record was broken with 805,000 in attendance. The class was defensive-heavy, with a few key offensive reinforcements. The first pick was decided back in January, with the Las Vegas Raiders selecting Heisman-winning and National Champion Fernado Mendoza to fulfill their need for a quarterback. Mendoza led the Indiana Hoosiers to glory land after a season that wasn’t short of dominant. Mendoza threw for 3,500 yards, 41 touchdowns, and had a PFF grade of 83. Last season, the Raiders finished 3-14 with Geno Smith behind center. Las Vegas also hired Super Bowl winning Offensive Coordinator Klint Klubiak as the new Head Coach. Mendoza is taking over an offense with immense potential, with former Heisman finalist Ashton Jeanty, who ran for 975 yards, along with Brock Bowers, one of the best TEs in the NFL. The Raiders also selected RB Mike Washington from Arkansas, who ran the fastest 40-yard time out of RBs in the combine, and was 2nd team All-SEC. In the 6th round, they took WR Malik Benson out of Oregon, who led the team in receiving yards with 720. Benson has elite speed and big-play ability.
The New York Jets are one of the worst organizations in sports. Last year, they went 3-14, missing out on the playoffs for the 15th consecutive year. Many experts are saying they “aced” their picks. The Jets had three first-round picks, selecting Edge, David Bailey out of Texas Tech, who led FBS with 15 sacks and was an unanimous All-American. They took TE Kenyon Sadiq out of Oregon; he is a “Wide receiver in a tight end’s body,” said NFL expert Mel Kiper. At the combine, he set the 40-yard dash record among TEs, running a 4.39 and a 43.5 vertical jump. With their last pick in the first round, the Jets selected WR Omar Cooper JR from Indiana. Cooper had 940 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Jets are hoping to get back to some sort of relevance, and these players can help them.
The Washington Commanders’ season was broken as soon as QB Jayden Daniels got hurt. The Commanders finished with a 5-12 record, which got them the 7th pick. They selected LB Sonny Styles from Ohio State, where many are saying he will be an “Instant Alpha”. The Commanders also selected WR Antonio Williams from Clemson, who racked up 600 receiving yards. In the 5th, Joshua Josephs was selected as an Edge from Tennessee who had a 90.0 pass rush grade.
A team that needed an amazing draft was the Cleveland Browns. They used eight of 10 picks on offensive players. Mel Kiper Jr graded their draft with an A-plus. In the first round, they selected OT Spencer Fano out of Utah, who was a unanimous All-American. They then selected WR KC Concepcion, who caught 9 TDs and 920 yards at Texas A&M. Early in the second, they selected another wide receiver, Denzel Boston from Washington, who had 880 yards along with 11 touchdowns. In the third, they selected the “Steal” of the draft, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Emmanuel was a Second Team All-American. In his career, he forced 9 fumbles.
Obviously, I hope all these players pan out to be stars, but that’s not how the league works. Knowing the teams I talked about and their past luck with prospects, there’s a good chance they will be busts. Or they could prove me wrong and be the future stars of the league.
