NFL Draft Day 1 Winners and Losers- Plus a Look at the Cardinal Picks

April 29, 2007 by Jim Skane

By Jason Pagliaro

The first round of the 2007 NFL Draft was one that produced quite a bit of drama, a few trades and enough drama to keep even the most casual draft fan watching, in hopes to see more.

The first round was perhaps the most exasperating of them all, lasting over six hours, one with limited trades and teams seeming to spend most of their available selection time looking unsuccessfully to trade down. A few trades did take place, with the most noteworthy being the Jets trading up to the 14th spot to nab Pitt cornerback Derrelle Revis.

In spite of the lack of activity in trades, the draft certainly was not devoid of stories— the shocking and meteoric fall of two players expected to be top 3 picks, Brady Quinn and Alan Branch, the slight slip of Adrian Peterson, Miami’s shocking reach/blunder at nine (more on that later) and Quinn ultimately finding out that you can go home again.
With that being said, here’s a look at the team winners and losers from the first round.

WINNERS

Cleveland Browns

Talk about hitting the jackpot. The Cleveland Browns had three players tabbed on their draft board as players they coveted— Quinn, Peterson and Wisconsin OT Joe Thomas.
After deliberation, thought and the certain heated debates in the Brown war room, the team decided to go for help on the offensive line by taking Thomas.
Little did they, or anyone know, that at the end of the day, they’d wind up with BOTH. By all accords, the Browns were on the phone from the second Miami passed on Quinn, trying to move up to get the ultra talented Notre Dame gunslinger. Finally, they found a willing dance partner in Dallas, trading back in to the first round and nabbing their QB of the immediate and foreseeable future.
For a team that had a less than stellar draft history since returning to the NFL in 1999, I’d say that Phil Savage and Romeo Crennell more than redeemed themselves today. Getting two players who both graded out as Top 5 talents can only be considered one of the great draft coups of recent memory. The only thing that could have made this opening day more complete for Cleveland would have been if they could have somehow landed Peterson too, but I think in this case, the famous musician Meatloaf summarized it perfectly— two out of three ain’t bad!
Lost in the shuffle of their big two acquisitions was their second round selection, the controversial but extremely talented UNLV cornerback Eric Wright. When it comes to potential, Wright has it all, confidence, quick feet, speed and coverage skills. Make no mistake about it, on talent alone, Wright himself could have been a first round pick, if it weren’t for the off-field issues, as Wright had enough excess baggage to make even the most forgiving of owners turn in shame. That said, if Wright can turn his attention and focus solely at the task at hand, becoming the cornerback he’s capable of being, the Browns will have landed themselves three players that are more than capable of helping Cleveland’s fortunes for the better.

Buffalo Bills

Coming in to the draft, the Bills needed help at the halfback and linebacker positions, as Willis McGahee, Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher were all sent packing. In the mind of some Bills fans, quarterback was also a position they wanted to see resolved.
Cal’s Marshawn Lynch will do more than fill the load at halfback.
Lynch, who some scouts had on par with Peterson, possesses a package of size, speed and hands . He’s more than capable of being a home run threat and just as capable of grinding out the hard yardage when necessary. He’s also a dangerous receiver out of the backfield, and has proven his durability, making him immediately a step up from McGahee.
The team also filled its void at linebacker by trading their second and one of their first third round pick to Detroit to move up and select Penn State’s Paul Pozlunsy.
Pozlunsy, a first round talent, possesses all the intangibles that will quickly endear him to Marv Leavy and will give Dick Jauron a quarterback on defense. A guy projected to be a top 10 pick in last year’s draft before suffering a knee injury in the Orange Bowl, Buffalo will be getting Poslunzy at close to 100 percent, which spells bad news for the rest of the AFC North.
As for their second of two third round picks (acquired from Baltimore in the McGahee deal), the fans who want J.P. Losman sent out of town may have gotten their wish, and will quickly jump on the bandwagon of Stanford’s Trent Edwards, who many suspected could be the third quarterback off the boards. His fall became the talk of the second half of Opening Day, and Buffalo getting him

Jacksonville Jaguars

The mere fact that the Jaguars were able to trade down, pick up additional draft pick (Denver’s third, which they subsequently traded to Baltimore) and STILL get the guy they coveted at 17 (Reggie Nelson) while filling a huge need (safety) all at the same time alone makes them a winner.
Picking up the underrated, under-the-radar Justin Durant only further improves the work done by the Jaguar front office on this Saturday afternoon.

LOSERS

Miami Dolphins

So, let me get this straight…. You’re a franchise that has gone through Jay Fiedler, Ray Lucas, AJ Feely, Gus Ferrotte, a banged up Daunte Culpepper who appears to be a shell of the player he once was, and Joey Harrington (just to name a few) at the QB position since Dan Marino retired.
You have a quarterback on the boards who miraculously fell in to your laps, when by actuality, he could have and SHOULD have gone, at worst, 6 picks earlier. This QB is not only highly touted, having spent the past three seasons starting in a pro-style offense, with one of the most well respected offensive minds in the game of football as his coach.
You have all this and you pass on him… For a guy that your first year head coach defined as “a heck of a punt returner.”
Wonderful. You just passed on the next Tom Brady for the next Dante Hall. For what they gave up to get him, Ted Ginn Jr. better go for the gusto every single time he touches the football in special teams. Being he won’t, I refuse to find any justifiable reason why the Dolphins passed on Quinn to select him.
Sorry, adding Mesa Mountain View High School grad John Beck, who oh by the way, is going to be 26 when the season begins, isn’t going to wipe away the stench of this decision. Neither is adding Lorenzo Booker or Samson Satele.
In Cam Cameron’s first draft as Dolphin head coach, he surely didn’t go far in endearing himself to the Miami fan base and unless the Dolphins show immediate success, and Ginn becomes the wideout they hope he’s capable of becoming, this decision will be hung over Cameron’s head on a weekly basis.

Philadelphia Eagles

So, the purpose of you trading out of the first round was exactly……… what?
To completely ignore, yet again, the WR position?
To reach horribly in round 2, disgusting your fan base and pissing off your franchise player all at the same time?
Picking a DE a round too soon, one who‘s biggest weakness is stopping the run, which also happens to be Philadelphia‘s defensive Achilles heel?
Getting Tony Hunt to compliment Brian Westbrook was nice, but the selection of Kevin Kolb, ignoring their glaring inability to stop the run and their lack of a true #1 receiver truly cancels the good out.
Coming in to Day 1, the Eagles needed a wideout, a safety and a run stopper. They walked away with none of the three.

ASSESSING THE CARDINAL PICKS

Safe or sexy?
Those were the two options facing the Cardinals in each of their first two draft picks.
With option number 1, Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas off the boards, at #5, the Cards were posed with an unexpected dilemma.
On board was Oklahoma star halfback Adrian Peterson, a player that the masses all tend to believe is going to be a star, and a player who was listed as one of the few can’t miss picks in this draft (injury history not withstanding).
By picking Peterson, the Cardinals could solidify the halfback position for the next decade, could give the team yet another franchise face and could give them yet another weapon on an already stellar offense. Make no mistake, visions of teaming Peterson with Edgerrin James to form one of the best 1-2 punches at halfback in the NFL certainly danced through the heads of every executive on Hardy Drive.
With that being said however, despite the unlimited potential of having a luxury like Peterson, they also realized that they had a Grand Canyon sized hole at left tackle. As good as Peterson is, he would have been just as mentioned above— a luxury pick.
Also on board at five was Penn State offensive tackle Levi Brown. While selecting him would certainly lack the “wow” factor, with that gaping and glaring hole, the Cardinals began to study their options.
Do they go with the luxury pick and hope that somehow they can get an offensive lineman with as much upside in Round 2? Or, do they go with the safe pick, and hopefully solidify their left tackle position for the next 10-12 years, while finally finding some kind of resolution to what has been a suspect offensive line?
The Cardinals played it safe, and in my unbiased opinion, they made the right decision.
Make no mistake about it. Peterson taking handoffs from Matt Leinart, sharing carries with Edgerrin James and taking pressure off Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin would have been a luxury that I certainly would have enjoyed seeing weekly. However, at the end of the day, was the idea of spending top 5 money on another halfback, eating a large portion of the salary cap on one position, worth the investment while trotting Brandon Gorin and Oliver Ross out to man the line worth it?
As someone who’s seen Brown first hand, I’ll be the first to say it— he’s this year’s boom or bust player. He’s a guy who won’t have a middle ground, he’ll either be a perennial Pro Bowler, and regarded as one of the best tackles in football, or he’ll be out of the league by the end of his rookie contract.
If Russ Grimm’s the offensive line hero we all suspect he’s going to be, any questions about Brown’s questionable work ethic will be fixed immediately, and if you believe reports, Grimm reportedly put Brown through one of the more extensive pre-draft workouts of recent memory, with Brown passing with flying colors. My opinion, if he’s enough to be enticing to an expert like Russ Grimm, the decision to pick Brown was not only the safe one, it was the right one. Remember, what’s right is not always popular. This will prove to be one of those cases where the sexy pick was passed up on, but the move will pay off in the end.
In the second round, Arizona was stuck with a similar scenario. On board was Brown’s Penn State teammate Paul Pozlunsy, who would have been a dream pick for Clancy Pendergast. Also, on board was Alan Branch, a player projected in the top 10.
Again, the decision was hardly an easy one. However, at the end of the day, the Cardinal brass decided that in this case, they could afford to gamble, picking up a true hoss in Branch, in hopes that he can become the Richard Seymore of this defense. His run stopping ability, teamed with Kendrick Clancy and Gabe Watson, gives Arizona one of the better run defenses in the NFL, and his versatility will be an added bonus on the defensive side of the ball.
In the third round, the Cardinals capped off their day by taking the short but explosive Buster Davis of Florida State. Davis is the type of player every team should have— a guy with tremendous work ethic, who never takes a down off. He’s got tremendous leadership skills, thus giving the Cardinals a potential quarterback on defense. He’s really the type of player I envision making many teams regret passing on him.
When assessing the opening three rounds of the draft for the Cardinals, looking at the fact that they got two players who were projected top 10 picks, while filling some holes, was a plus. Adding another linebacker, one of Davis’s caliber, is a bonus.
If picking a grade, I’ll give them a very high B, with potential for it to reach an A if both Brown and Branch overcome the work ethic questions that plagued them in college.

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