They say about baseball that it's the only sport in which you can succeed 30 percent of the time and be considered good. What's the threshold for mock drafting? Twenty percent? Ten percent? Five percent?
From the third pick on, almost everybody's draft projections went up in smoke. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Blake Bortles, setting in motion what was an eventful night full of trades, steals and reaches.
In case you missed Thursday's first round of the 2014 NFL draft, you can see the full results below.
Following the combine and pro days, some had predicted that Bortles would end up in Jacksonville. However, his stock has dropped somewhat since, while Khalil Mack's has risen. As a result, most expected that Mack would be the pick at No. 3 to Jacksonville instead of the UCF quarterback.
Jacksonville offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch has no doubt his team made the right choice, per ESPN's Chris Mortensen:
Plenty of analysts fell on both sides of the aisle about the selection:
Conversely, the quarterback who has spent the last few months getting completely dumped on by unnamed scouts and coaches was viewed as one of the biggest steals of the first round.
Teddy Bridgewater, once thought to be the top pick in the draft, fell all the way to No. 32 to the Minnesota Vikings, who traded back into the first round to draft the former Louisville star.
Taking Anthony Barr ninth overall may come back to bite Minnesota, but whatever points the Vikings get docked for that pick come back following the Bridgewater selection. Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel admitted he had no idea how the Cardinals QB dropped all the way to the end of the first round:
Bridgewater certainly has all of the tools you look for in a quarterback, between his strong arm, accurate throws and on-field IQ. Particularly impressive was his ability to stay in the pocket against the blitz last year:
Moving away from the quarterback position, the St. Louis Rams cleaned up in the first round. With two picks on Thursday, they had an opportunity to grab two impact players, and that's exactly what they did.
First came Auburn offensive tackle Greg Robinson at No. 2.
Eleven picks later, St. Louis went for Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Both Mortensen and CBS Sports' Pete Prisco were among the crowd to commend the Rams for the job they did:
Grabbing Robinson alone would've been enough to give the Rams an impressive draft haul. He's your prototypical road-grader who's become a tremendous run-blocker in Auburn's offense. His pass-blocking isn't quite there yet, but it will come along as he grows accustomed to a pro-style offense and playbook.
Robinson also ran a 4.92 40 at the combine, which is obscene for an offensive tackle, especially one who's 6'5" and 332 pounds. While Jake Matthews is the more NFL-ready player, Robinson's ceiling is much higher, so he fits in with the rebuilding Rams perfectly.
As if that wasn't enough, St. Louis added the best interior pass-rusher in the draft. Take a look at what the Rams could deploy in their front four:
You only need to look at Geno Atkins to understand how much a defensive tackle can disrupt an opponent's passing game. With Donald in the middle, St. Louis doesn't have to worry about sending an extra blitzer to get pressure on the quarterback.
Between Robert Quinn and Chris Long on the ends and Donald inside, the Rams have turned their defense into a major strength heading into 2014.
That's how quickly a team's fortunes can change. In the space of two picks, the St. Louis Rams have gone from somewhat an afterthought in the hyper-competitive NFC West to a possible contender next year or in 2015.
With six more rounds to go, the other 31 teams will be hoping to strike gold in much the same way.
Below you'll see the draft order for Rounds 2-7.
//from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1qm1G6s
via IFTTT May 09, 2014 at 06:00AM
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