With all the talk surrounding the Senators/Penguins series going into Game 6 tonight, I finally had a chance to catch up on the news from the NFL Draft today...after a couple of hours of reading from Round 1 to Round 6, there are teams that stick out to me that took full advantage of the weekend and other teams that would have been advised to just "auto-draft" instead...
Winners:
Seattle Seahawks:
Easy to be a winner when you have two picks in the top 15, but they key was being able to snatch Golden Tate from Notre Dame with a late second-round pick. Most projections had him in the first round. Russell Okung was a great pickup at 6 and should be a great LT for them for years to come. Earl Thomas will eventually lead the secondary from his safety spot if everything works out.
Detroit Lions
Uhh....wait...we're not supposed to be talking about the Lions in the same column as a winning team, but things are finally turning around for this franchise. It started with the drafting of Matthew Stafford for the 2009 season. Now, they add Ndamukong Suh to shore up the defensive front 4 and a great pick at 30 with Jahvid Best to give depth to the running back spot.
Losers
Jacksonville Jaguars
So they have one pick in the first couple of rounds and they pick someone at the 10 spot who has projections of someone that can be picked in the second or third round. No offense to Tyson Alualu, but that's just a headscratcher...at least they picked up MLB Kirk Morrison via trade from Oakland.
Denver Broncos
Three picks in the first 45 and they managed to bumble this so badly. Demaryius Thomas might turn out to be a decent NFL receiver, but it's an odd pick with Dez Bryant still on the board. Then Denver decides to take flyers on Tim Tebow and offensive guard Zane Beadles.
Everyone and their mother has already given their opinion on Tebow's ability at the next level and he might still be a great QB, but with better pick management, Denver could have picked someone higher on the board and still have a chance at plucking Tebow in a later round. Then they choose Beadles from Utah...a project indeed considering that some insiders don't have Beadles projecting to ever be NFL-calibre. Ouch!