NFL 2020 Draft – The Basement Draft Was a Win

by | Apr 24, 2020 | NFL

NFL 2020 draft was an exercise in what can be done when you really need to get something done.  There was a lot of groaning and complaining that the NFL should put the draft off.  For once I am really happy with a choice that Roger Goodell made.  He stuck to his guns and said that the show must go on.  In this time of social distancing and the stay at home orders in most states.  It was going to be a challenge to get the NFL 2020 draft going.  It seems to have mostly went off with no issues.  It was actually pretty fun to watch and was a nice change from what the draft usually is.

The NFL has done a great job with the draft.  Turning it into a must see event.  Going from a weekend event to a prime time event has really paid off.  Pulling off a huge win with the basement draft.  The lead up to the draft is always very interesting.  This year it was even more so.  It has been over a month since we have had any major live sports events. We had extra mock drafts this year.  Which led to some really strange trades and picks.  I am good with that.  It is all in good fun.  We were hearing some rumblings that the Mock drafters had a lot of it wrong and we were going to be in for some huge surprises.  That pretty much turned out to not be the case.

Most of the draft at least the top part of it went exactly as predicted.  The top of the draft went that way mostly because those teams had needs in those spots and the players there have the potential to be game changing players.  Here are the big winners and losers from the first round of the draft.

NFL 2020 Draft Winners

  1. The Bengals and Joe Burrow – Big winners here.  Burrow seems like the real deal.  Sometimes a pick just falls in the right spot.  The only thing you have to do is just not screw it up.  There had been talk about a possible trade going on here.  No chance of that.  Even the Bengals could figure out that this was the pick to make.  There is always a chance that a pick does not work out.  Nothing in the NFL is a given.  Burrow is the closest there has been to a sure thing since Andrew Luck.  He is basically a local to Cincinnati and he will sell tickets.  Has the arm and the personality to make it happen.  Now the Bengals just need to build the right team around him.
  2. Chase Young and the Redskins – there was talk about a possible trade here as well.  I really think that Chase Young is the best player in the draft.  Saying that the Bengals still made the right choice with Burrow.  That need of a quarterback by the Bengals paid off for the Redskins.  Chase Young has the potential to be one of those 10 year game changing players.  The Redskins already had a formidable defense.  Adding Young to that defense makes them that much better.  This is setting the Redskins up for a defense that will wreak havoc on the offenses of the NFC East for years.
  3. Ohio State – The OSU came out as a big winner for getting their name out there all over the draft and by showing they can pick talent.  Joe Burrow went one from LSU but he got his start at Ohio State and if he had not gotten hurt in the spring game of his last season at Ohio State he probably would have been the starter.  I am sure he is not losing any sleep over it things worked out pretty well for him.  Then at the second pick Chase Young and at the third pick Jeff Okudah.  I don’t know how many times something like this has happened that the top three players had at one point all been on the same team.  It does look good for Ohio State going forward.  This is a huge selling point to recruits.
  4. The Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa – The Dolphins got the player they probably wanted all along.  They thought they were going to have to tank to get Tua.  They ended up winning a few games last year and took themselves out of the first pick.  Then things fell there way and Tua dropped to the fifth pick.  They got their quarterback a top lineman to block for him in Austin Jackson and then were happy to trade down with the Packers so they could take cornerback Noah Igbinoghene from Auburn.  They made three decent picks in the first round.  They don’t have to deal with Tom Brady anymore in their division and they are putting together a team that will actually have a chance to contend.  Of course this all depends on if Tua can stay healthy.  If he can then this was a great pick.  If he can’t it was still worth the risk.

 

NFL 2020 Draft Losers

  1. Aaron Rodgers – I get what the Packers are thinking.  You have to look to the future.  But on the other hand there are also things that you need now.  Trading up to draft Jordan Love in the first round may turn out to be a good pick in three or four years.  For this year it does absolutely nothing for your team.  The Packers are in serious need of a wide receiver to go along with Davante Adams.  There was a run on the top five receivers in the middle of the first round. If the Packers were going to trade up people were thinking that the were going to trade up to get one of those receivers.   I am sure that when this pick was announced there was a collective puzzled look by Packer players and fans.
  2. Running Backs – there were no running backs taken in the first round this year.  The running back has been a devalued position for a while now.  I think it is a bit strange that there were none take this year.  It is not a complete surprise.  With five receivers taken in the first round it is showing the emphasis on the passing game.  This will change again at some point and watch for a bunch to go in the second round.  There are some really good value picks out there now for running back.

Other than that there were not a lot of losers in the first round.  It will be interesting to see how round two goes.

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