BEST MOVES OF THE 2012 NFL DRAFT

There were an incredible amount of trades in this year’s NFL Draft, some of them good, some of them not so good. I will stay positive for now and go over my favorite moves of last weekend’s draft.

The Redskins mortgage their future to get Robert Griffin III:

Robert Griffin III has been compared to Hall
of Fame quarterback Steve Young, but he
has a long road to get to that elite level.

The expression goes, “You can never give up too much to get a franchise quarterback.” Griffin has a lot of work to do in order to become a franchise quarterback, but he has all the skills, and more, to become one of the top quarterbacks in this league. He also has the benefit of a solid defense and an owner who spent a ton of money in free agency to get some offensive weapons to surround him with.

It may take longer than most people think for Griffin to get up to speed in the NFL, since people are already talking about a Cam Newton-esque rookie campaign. Let’s not forget how rare it is to see that type of a performance from a rookie signal caller. Expectations need to be tempered a bit for 2012, but I have very little doubt that Griffin will have a long and successful career.

With Morris Claiborne falling to the sixth pick, the Cowboys make a bold move to land the corner they coveted all along:

People are questioning this move simply because it is the Cowboys making this move. If Bill Belichick traded up with both of his first rounds pick, people would be saying it was the move of the draft to land possibly the best defensive player of this rookie class. Let’s not forget how incredibly talented Claiborne is and how badly the Cowboys needed to improve their defensive backfield after another disappointing season.

No one is happier than Rob Ryan about the Cowboys' move to
land Morris Claiborne. Maybe he will have less to be angry
about in 2012 thanks to a much improved defensive backfield.

Rob Ryan’s defense needs cover corners just to be able to function. We saw that last season when his defense gave up huge play after huge play, causing them to miss the playoffs yet again. The Cowboys gave a large contract to Brandon Carr in free agency, but even Jerry Jones admitted that they over paid him because corner was such a glaring need for his team. That is not much of a ringing endorsement from your owner, so they were clearly looking to add more talent at the position.

While giving up a valuable second round pick to get Claiborne is a heavy price, Claiborne has the potential to be a shutdown corner in this league for a long time. I am pretty sure the Jets do not regret trading up to grab Darrelle Revis in the first round. I do not think the Cowboys will be disappointed either.

The Buccaneers trade up to steal Doug Martin from the Giants:

Can Doug Martin be the next Ray Rice? Rookie
head coach Greg Schiano sure hopes so after
moving back into the first round to land Martin.

Call me crazy, but I truly believe that Martin has the potential to be every bit as good as Trent Richardson, who was taken with the third overall pick. So getting Martin with the second to last pick in the first round could end up being the steal of round one.

Besides Richardson, Martin was the only three down back in this draft. He definitely has some things that he needs to work on (pass blocking, route running, etc.), but what rookie comes into the league as a perfect player? None. Also, the Giants admitted they were set to take Martin one pick later had the Bucs not made the move up to draft him, so they could not have timed their trade any better.

I am sure Martin reminded head coach Greg Schiano too much of his former Rutgers’ player Ray Rice (taken in the second round) for him to pass up the opportunity to get a difference maker on offense. I think Martin will surprise a lot of people in a similar fashion as Rice did.

Despite his lack of experience, the Jets get a huge upgrade at receiver with Stephen Hill:

Stephen Hill's blazing speed adds a new dimension to the Jets'
offense and gives Mark Sanchez the deep threat he sorely needs.

Last season, the Jets were terrible on offense because they had absolutely no speed (Mark Sanchez and the offensive line did not help either). There was no home run threat and teams loaded up the box to stop the run. Defenses will not have that luxury anymore with Hill in the lineup. He immediately fills the role Braylon Edwards had while with the Jets and I really do believe he has the ability to have similar production as Edwards did right off the bat.

Mark Sachez’s accuracy downfield has been a hot topic of discussion for the last few years. He tends to overthrow his receivers and always seems to be off with his receivers. A lot of that had to do with his receivers lacking the speed to get any real separation from defenders, so Sanchez would be more conservative by throwing the ball deep hoping for his receivers to kick it into second gear.

With Hill standing tall at 6’4 with blazing 4.3 speed, Sanchez will have a lot of trouble overthrowing his new target. Hill may not be a polished route runner, which is one of the main reasons he dropped in the draft, but he will not have to be in order to be successful in this offense. He will be running mostly deep routes to keep defenses off the line of scrimmage and serve as a receiver in the mold of Randy Moss (who probably never ran more than half a dozen routes in his Hall of Fame career).

Hill is also the best run blocking receiver in this draft, which is very important in the Jets’ run first offense. His time in the triple option at Georgia Tech also gives him extra value because of how often the Jets will run a similar type of offense with Tim Tebow in the lineup. Hill has landed with the team that best fits his skills and gives him the best opportunity to succeed in 2012. All Hill has to do is put in the work.

The Giants stay put and nab the under-rated LSU receiver:

Eli Manning gets yet another offensive weapon in Rueben
Randle, who should at least be a big time red zone target.

Rueben Randle might have been the most underappreciated receiver in this draft. He is a big, physical receiver with polished route running skills and reliable hands. This is the exact type of player the Giants look for and that is why they have won two Super Bowls in the last five seasons.

At LSU, Randle played with some of the worst quarterbacks in all of college football the last few seasons. The SEC is known for the defensive dominance, so he was also playing against the toughest defenses on a consistent basis. Despite all this, he managed to haul in 53 catches for 917 yards and eight touchdowns last season. While those are not the gaudy numbers some prospects put up, the fact he did so in the SEC while LSU was rotating in and out two terrible quarterbacks shows that he can produce in any situation.

His lack of speed is concerning, but he is a possession receiver who could very quickly become a productive Y receiver for the Giants. This also allows Victor Cruz to stay in the slot in three receiver sets, which is where he is the most effective.

The Steelers land their future nose tackle in Alameda Ta’amu:

The Steelers had an amazing draft weekend and
Alameda Ta'amu fills a big need at nose tackle.

The saying that has been flying around the Steelers this draft season has been, “The Steelers don’t have backups, they have starters in waiting.” This happens because of moves like drafting Ta’amu in the fourth round of this year’s draft.

Casey Hampton is getting old and the Steelers needed to find an eventual replacement for him at nose tackle. Besides Dontari Poe (11^th overall to the Chiefs), Ta’amu might have been the best true nose tackle in this draft. Considering nose tackle is one of the hardest positions to find in football, landing a talented 340 pound man in the fourth round is an amazing steal.

Ta’amu is a bit raw, but has all the skills to fill in for Hampton either this season in case of injury or in 2013 when Hampton will likely retire. The Steelers might have had the best draft class of anyone this year and this shows the depth of their draft.

The under rated Cam Johnson lands with the best defense in the league:

Cam Johnson might have fallen in the draft, but he fell to
the right team who has the luxury to bring him along slowly.

Johnson might have been a seventh round pick, but I would be shocked if he did not make the 49ers roster, despite all their talent on defense. He had been considered a third round talent, so why he fell to the 237^th pick I do not understand. I was praying for the Jets to take him in the sixth round and was extremely disappointed to see him go five picks before the Jets chose in the seventh.

This guy has a ton of pass rushing skills, but he lacked elite production in college, which seemingly caused teams to question his motor. However, I would not be surprised if he made an immediate impact as a pass rush specialist and eventually became a long term starter besides last year’s rookie Aldon Smith. With so many teams in need of pass rushers, a lot of GMs might be kicking themselves in a few years for passing on this guy.