Stanford washington football | | StanfordFootball (2023)

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The 2023 NFL Draft is in the books and it’s time to break down everything that happened over the weekend! Obviously everybody got better by adding young talent, but some teams used their draft capital better than others – whether that’s just the players they picked or their overall strategy – and there are selections I was a bigger fan of than others.
So in this article, I will lay out my five biggest winners and losers, as well as my ten biggest steals and reaches respectively. Plus, I added a few more contenders for each category at the end. As far as winners/losers go, this can be a specific team that did really well in terms of how they used their assets, individual prospects, position groups or NFL veterans, due to how they will be affected. The steals/reaches portion is pretty self-explanatory, as I will judge the names selected based on my personal rankings in correlation consensus boards and looking at who was still available or how these picks fit into the overall picture of the draft.
One name I considered as a winner here was Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, since he signed the contract that in terms of average annual value is the largest in NFL history, before his team got him a new stud receiver in the first round. However, I didn’t want the first half of this equation to factor in too much here, even though in terms of Thursday, nobody had a better 24 hours than him personally.
Let’s break it all down now:
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Howie Roseman & the Bulldogs graduate program

Early on day three, I tweeted out that this has to be a bit at this point, because of the absurd amount of Georgia players joining the Eagles recently. Last year, they traded up a couple of spots for big defensive tackle Jordan Davis in the first round and then were able to take advantage of some medical concerns around Nakobe Dean, who I thought purely based on tape was worthy of a day one selection. Now this time around, they actually spent both of their first-rounders on two more members from that historic 2021 Bulldog defense.
Jalen Carter was my number one overall prospect purely based on tape and swapped spots with the Bears at number nine in exchange for a ’24 fourth-rounder. And while I personally had Nolan Smith as my number six edge rusher right in that range he was selected at, I don’t think anybody thought he’d be available at 30th overall. They came back on day three and picked cornerback Kelee Ringo at 105th overall, who was mocked in the first round a couple of months ago still and I had as my CB6. And because they didn’t feel like any Georgia guys they liked were still on the board, they called the Lions, who just shocked everybody by taking a running back 12th overall, and traded a ’25 fourth-rounder for a still very talented (when healthy) player in D’Andre Swift.
While it’s certainly not always the soundest strategy to pick the guys from the best programs in the country, those were all among the best names available at the points Philly was on the clock for and we can all appreciate them not overthinking things and potentially reaching on some smaller names that they feel in love with on tape. That’s obviously also great for the Georgia program, to have this pipeline to the NFL, where more kids coming out of high school want to commit to Kirby Smart, because they know he can’t get them to the pros ultimately. I also really liked the Eagles’ four other selections, in Alabama tackle Tyler Steen (65th overall) as somebody whose only weakness at this point is the way he can absorb power effectively, Illinois’ Sydney Brown (66th) was my number two safety and somebody I believe has the potential to be a Brian Dawkins-like player if he becomes a more reliable tackler, Tanner McKee (188th) is a bit curious because of how drastically different his profile is to Jalen Hurts but was my QB8 and finally, Texas’ Moro Ojomo (249th) could have easily gone in the early 100s as a powerful athlete with alignment versatility along the D-line.
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Geno Smith

In a terms of a veteran quarterback who didn’t just earn a massive contract to secure himself the face of the franchise like Lamar Jackson, probably nobody had a better weekend than Geno Smith. First, the Seahawks were in prime territory for one of the top QBs in the draft at fifth overall – which I wouldn’t expect them to get another chance like this anytime soon because the roster is too good at this point – but instead they selected Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Then at 20th overall, Kentucky’s Will Levis, who most teams had as QB4 on their boards, was still available, yet instead they picked Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba – a perfect fit for them in the slot, to tie their room of pass-catchers together.
Seattle still had a chance to trade back into the late first round or even up to one of the top two picks of day two for Levis. Instead, they let the Titans pick him 33rd overall and then after some people connected them to Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker, they passed on him with both of their second-round picks, in favor of Auburn edge rusher Derick Hall (37th overall) to help them close out games and the consensus number three running back in Zach Charbonnet from UCLA (52nd), to give them one of the most formidable backfield duos along with another second-rounder last year in Kenneth Walker. On day three, the Hawks still got two more interior O-linemen with starter qualities in LSU’s Anthony Bradford (108th) and Michigan’s Olu Ouwatimi (153rd), along with another RB in the seventh round, with Kenny McIntosh (237th) as a replacement for Travis Homer as a designated third-down back.
So instead of potentially taking advantage of the increased draft capital they possessed to invest into a future signal-caller to eventually replace Geno, they actually got him an uber-reliable slot receiver, who does a great job of being friendly to the quarterback with his angles out of breaks, his feel for secondary plays and how he instantly gets upfield after the catch. They added some bodies to an interior O-line that was a bit concerning and they filled out that backfield with two guys that can help out in the passing game as well, when you look at Charbonnet’s work in the screen game and making guys miss in the flats off dump-offs, while McIntosh can be a legit extra receiver, who can flex out wide and go vertical. This offense has a chance to be really explosive and without any competition added, Geno is going to pull the trigger for them the next couple of years at least.
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Pittsburgh Steelers

Thinking of a team that every single time they were on the clock selected a prospect I had higher on my personal board, I think the Steelers absolutely aced their draft. The one name where it wasn’t an actual surplus but rather right in line with my rankings was actually the first one. However, with the top three offensive tackles off the board already, they did what I projected them to in my final mock draft and moved up – not four spots like I thought, but rather three – in exchange for a fourth-round pick (120th overall) with the Patriots and sniped the Jets a spot later, who everybody projected to go O-line. The Gang Green brass vehemently denies that they were locked in on that position but I certainly think that’s the case. So Pittsburgh recognized that they needed to make this move, probably were helped out gladly by New England, allowing them to move in front of their AFC East rivals, and got a pro-ready right tackle, after which I saw a significant drop-off.
From day two on however is when they really started to add value. Having the very first pick in the second round, they received several calls about teams wanting to move up, but instead stuck there and selected the guy many projected them to target at 17th overall due to his dad being a cornerstone player for that defense in the past and them addressing their other big position of need with Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. – a super-long, talented corner, who will be a great fit with his ability to squeeze down passing downs in Pittsburgh’s zone-heavy scheme and gives them some versatility to play press-man into the boundary, if you have a safety clouding over the top. Wisconsin interior D-lineman Keeanu Benton (49th overall) has the ability to actually turn himself into a Cam Heyward-esque player and now gets to learn from the man himself. And Georgia tight-end Darnell Washington (93rd) received some first-round buzz at times thanks to his profile to turn into a dominant blocker, his massive frame and the speed he can move at for being 265 pounds, to rumble through defenses.
With their three picks on day three, they took advantage of another undersized outside linebacker from Wisconsin falling in Nick Herbig (132nd overall), who shows very active hands and understands how to finish his rushes, now getting him paired up with a fellow Badger in T.J. Watt. Purdue cornerback Corey Trice (241st) was on the top-100 board for many draft analysts with tremendous length and athletic tools, along with already being an excellent tackler. And finally, they take a stab at a physically talented offensive lineman in Maryland’s Spencer Anderson (251st) with starting experience at guard, center and tackle.
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Kicking specialists & Mid-round quarterbacks

This one is pretty insane. Let’s start with the specialists, because we saw three kickers and punters each selected in this draft. In 2022, we actually saw four punters go, but only one kicker. We didn’t have any long-snappers selected, but just looking at “kicking” specialists, over the last 20 years, we’ve only seen six guys hear their names called three other times – 2004, 2012 and 2018. Even more glaring to me was how early those guys went. We didn’t have somebody like a Roberto Aguayo, who was a second-round pick in 2016 – and look how that turned out – but the 49ers used a top-100 pick on Michigan’s Jake Moody (99th overall), the Patriots picked Maryland’s Chad Ryland (112th) early on day three and the Packers took Auburn’s Daniel Carlson (203rd) in the sixth round. In terms of the punters, New England came back and took another specialist just inside the top-200 in Michigan State’s Bryce Baringer (192nd) and then we had two more with the second Michigan guy here in Brad Robbins (217th) going to Cincinnati and Ethan Evans (223rd) from Wingate joining the Rams.
Meanwhile, we had an unprecedented run on quarterbacks in the middle rounds. We started the draft with three QBs inside the first four picks, while Will Levis from Kentucky had to wait until the top of day two for the Titans to make the move up for him. After that, there was a break for 35 spots until we saw Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker (68th overall) come off the board – a range I thought was much more appropriate than some first-round buzz he received, considering he’s a 25-year old who will miss his at least most of his rookie season with a torn ACL and is coming from an offensive system that shows very little resemblance to what he will be asked to do in the pros. Things really started to pick up from 127th overall on, as over the next 72 selection, we saw eight(!) signal-callers come off the board – Fresno State’s Jake Haener, Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Houston’s Clayton Tune, Penn State’s Sean FREAKING Clifford, BYU’s Jaren Hall and Stanford’s Tanner McKee in that order. And it’s not even that I don’t like those guys. Half of them actually went where I thought it was appropriate for them. Yet, you can absolute tell that there was a Brock Purdy effect, considering how many teams took a stab on these guys in the middle rounds, when better football players were available – 12 selected within the first five round actually set a new record. We’ll have to see how that strategy turns out, but good for all the guys that benefitted from it already.
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Monti Ossenfort

The final name I wanted to give credit to here is the new general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. Because after just one draft, I’m a bigger fan of what he was able to accomplish than really any of the DECADE Steve Keim had to turn the Birds into a contender, other than maybe 2015. And it’s not just the players he selected individually, but rather the positions he targeted in those ranges and he process behind it all and most impressively, the way they maneuvered around the board throughout the weekend.
Now, first and foremost, it feels like Monti and company probably got a little bit lucky at the top, with the Texans apparently having a generational-type grade on Alabama edge defender Will Anderson Jr. and being willing to invest as much draft capital to move up for him, after already grabbing their QB of the future in C.J. Stroud second overall. Otherwise, it appeared that Arizona might ultimately be stuck at number three, but they were able to package that with an early fourth-rounder (105th overall) for a massive haul – pick 12 and a quasi-first-rounder with 33, along with the Texans’ first and third next year. Yet, then after the Lions probably were scrambling a little bit considering the guy heavily favored to be their choice at sixth overall in Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon was taken by the Seahawks a spot earlier, the Cardinals decided to move back up six spots, in exchange for a much smaller return – pick 34 and 168, while getting pick 81 back – and they still got the guy that was really picking up steam for them being the choice at third overall – the consensus top-ranked left tackle Paris Johnson Jr.
However, that’s not where things stopped for Arizona. In the second round, they moved down eight spots with the Titans having eyes on the falling Kentucky QB Will Levis, in exchange for moving up nine spots in the third round and another three next year. With those selections they brought in my fifth-ranked edge defender in LSU’s B.J. Ojulari and a top-ten corner not taking injury into account with Syracuse’s Garrett Williams, who is now projected to return from the torn ACL in July already. Plus, then the best trade they pulled off in my opinion – going back to the well with the Lions – they traded pick 96, which Detroit used on a barely drafted D-tackle in my opinion (Brodric Martin from Western Kentucky) for picks 122, 139 and 168. They went on to turn those into a guard who put up elite testing numbers at the combine in UCLA’s Jon Gaines II, a developmental quarterback with great arm and movement talent in Houston’s Clayton Tune and run-and-hit linebacker with 4.39 speed in Auburn’s Owen Pappoe. That’s along with selecting one of the most refined route-runners in Stanford WR Michael Wilson (94th), a feisty nickel in Louisville’s Kei’Trel Clark (180th) and an interior D-lineman I had inside my top-100 overall prospects late in the sixth round with West Virginia’s Dante Stills (213th).
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Others draft classes I liked: Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants & Seattle Seahawks
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Brad Holmes believers (in the analytics community)

I just talked about the Cardinals kind of fleecing the Lions in a couple of trades during the draft and mentioned that they sent a veteran running back to Philly at some point, so let’s just continue with them here. They got some really good football players – don’t get me wrong here. However, the way they approached the weekend in terms of when and where they moved, how they tried to maximize value and the overall strategy, I would certainly question.
Since I just said that the Cardinals might have gotten a little bit lucky with the Texans being hell-bent on picking two and three, in order to get their cornerstone pieces on either side of the ball, let me take some heat off Brad Holmes and the rest of the Lions brass. I’m pretty sure they did not expect the Seahawks to take what probably was the guy they targeted all along in Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon. He was a minus-favorite for going sixth overall in terms of betting odds at the start of the calendar week already and I think throughout the process I maybe saw two mock drafts that lined Seattle to him. With that being said, when the Cardinals called – and I obviously don’t know if that was the only team interested – they barely gained surplus based on draft value charts by moving back six spots to 12 (in exchange for 34 and 168, whilst getting back pick 81) and drafted the number two running back Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama. I absolutely love him and probably had him as high as anybody at 17th overall on my big board, but even for me that is pretty rich. More importantly, they could have had who people legitimately considered a generational prospect in Texas’ Bijan Robinson if they just stuck at six. And the result of picking a running back there was them ultimately trading away a high second-rounder from a couple of years ago with a very similar skill-set in D’Andre Swift for a 2025 fourth-rounder by the Eagles.
With their other first-round pick (18th) overall, they selected Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell, who was my LB1 and is wrongly portrayed as just this inside thumper. I really like the player, but once again – it’s too high for me and more importantly, even if you see a major drop-off after him, the next legit off-ball linebacker to come off the board was Arkansas’ Drew Sanders early in the third round – and he actually has legit rush upside. Then after targeting the two lowest-value positions, I did like Iowa tight-end Sam LaPorta (34th overall) and Alabama nickelback/safety Brian Branch (45th) in the second round, which I think do make a lot of sense. I’ve heard people saying that if you switched some of those names, that’s actually a solid group, which I agree with – but that’s not how this thing works! I get the Hendon Hooker pick (68th) in the third, even though I would have felt much better if they had made sure to get Will Levis at the top of the second, since that would seem like more of a clear direction for them, but then what really annoyed me is them picks 122, 139 and 168 for a selection just inside the top-100 that was used on a developmental nose-tackle in Western Kentucky’s Brodric Martin, who based on my and consensus rankings was a seventh-round prospect. That’s just a poor understanding of the board and allocation of resources all-around and I think all the analytics services will end up grading their class extremely low.
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Ryan Tannehill

Assuming nobody expected Andy Dalton, Davis Mills or Gardner Minshew to start this year – at last for the full season – Ryan Tannehill would be the one on the opposite end of the spectrum to Geno Smith, who I mentioned earlier as a winner. There was some discussion around him last year already, when the Titans drafted Malik Willis and he receiving some (unwarranted) criticism for saying at a press conference that he wasn’t “here to mentor” the rookie, but that guy fell to them in the third round and even though I had him as QB1 in a much weaker class, I didn’t expect Willis to start that year. He didn’t until Tannehill’s foot got hurt initially and when that guy was placed on injured reserve, Tennessee actually signed Josh Dobbs in hopes of still winning a weak AFC South – who ended up starting the final two weeks. Now however, they actively traded to 33rd overall, moving up eight spots in exchange for a pick-swap in the third round and another three next year, in order to select Kentucky QB Will Levis.
So while it seems that Tannehill was able to fend off Willis, who I still believe has a lot of talent and isn’t really getting a fair shot, considering he got thrown in on very short notice and had basically no pass-catching options around him to help him out, as somebody that I believed shouldn’t see the field until late into his rookie season, now there’s another challenger in the room. Now, the two positive angles for the veteran signal-caller are that the Titans could have already secured themselves Levis at 11th overall but passes on him initially, playing the board and taking a gamble to some degree, and then I look at the rookie as somebody who is on a similar developmental arc as Willis last year.
Now, the difference with Levis is that he actually operated in a pro-style offense in 2021, with extensive experience working from under-center and being asked to make NFL-type of reads. I believe if Liam Coen doesn’t become the Rams offensive coordinator for the ’22 season, before returning to Kentucky, we look at the Wildcat QB as less of a project, because his decision-making and inconsistent footwork are paid closer attention to and worked on, while having a play-caller capable of overcoming lesser pieces on the O-line and in terms of receiving talent. So while there are things on tape that you wouldn’t expect from a redshirt senior with 26 career starts, there’s also a lot to like in terms of the way the ball jumps off his hand, the arm strength to take shots down the field off play-action, the running threat he presents without the foot injury and the toughness overall. I think all parties involved would benefit from Levis sitting until late in the year, if Tennessee is eliminated from playoff contention potentially, but I wouldn’t rule out Tannehill being moved during the offseason or ahead of the trade deadline, if the Titans don’t get off to a good start.
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The safety class

Now let’s talk about the players in this draft actually and a position group received no love. Depending on if you count Alabama’s Brian Branch and Illinois’ Jartavius Martin as safeties, since they primarily lined up at nickel and that’s where they’ll likely be deployed by the Lions and Commanders respectively, you can argue no legit safety came off the board until Martin’s former teammates Sydney Brown going to the Eagles at the top of the third round (66th overall). Only two others were selected for the rest of the day – Penn State’s Ji’Ayir Brown (87th) going to the 49ers and Alabama’s Jordan Battle (95th) going to the Bengals. Two more were selected in the fourth round, before we finally saw 13 combined over the final three rounds of the weekend.
Generally, I wouldn’t pay too much attention and many people have called this a weaker safety class. While I don’t consider it one of the stronger groups we’ve seen in recent years and we lack any type of blue-chip players among it, I do disagree with the sentiment about the class as a whole. I had eight guys inside my personal top-100 big board (including Branch and Martin, who I mentioned at the top) and six more among the “next 30 names” I listed below it – so basically 14 inside my top-130. I know that I was personally higher on the group than consensus, but even looking at where some of these names were projected to go – Texas A&M’s Antonio Johnson (160th) ended up being a fifth- instead of a fringe second-/third-rounder, Florida State’s Jammie Robinson (145th) went about 50 picks later than expected, Georgia’s Chris Smith II (170th) waited nearly 100 picks longer. Altogether 19 safeties were inside the top 259 prospect, based on consensus board provided by MockDraftDatabase.com
Now, what does this tell us? Well, first of all there may be some medical issues with these guys that we’re not aware of. I can’t speak to any of that. However, my theory revolves more around the schematic changes the meta of defensive football has experienced recently. With more NFL teams adapting split-safety principles, the profiles of guys they’re now looking for on the back-end has changed. Sure, there are teams who still value free safety types who can make plays on the ball-numbers-to-numbers and rangy players will always be desirable, but it’s not as much about finding those high-level athletes all the time. Many teams are looking for more well-rounded skill-sets, where they can roll somebody in the deep post, but also drive on routes in quarters to their side, basically play off-man against slot receivers with extra cushion and maybe most importantly, charge up the alley against the run, in order to even out negative box counts. Those player profiles are currently easier to find in the later rounds still – which was apparent with how much this class got pushed down – and that’s a trend I’ll be following closely going forward.
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New York Jets

I didn’t want to badmouth too many teams here as a whole, because like I said at the very start – everybody got better over the weekend and each team selected players that I really enjoyed watching on tape. There were a couple of others that I’d put in the same bucket as the Jets (listed below the next paragraph), but they kind of stuck out to me, because I’m not sure how much better they get right now, considering they’ve now consciously entered a window, in which they need to take full advantage of having a defense that finished last season top-five according to several metrics (points per game, DVOA, success rate, etc.), two Offensive Rookie of the Year candidates (if Breece Hall had stayed healthy) and now Aaron Rodgers dropped into the mix. You combine all those factors and you understand that with a head coach entering year three and a general manager now in his fifth year, they have to win this season.
Two things I didn’t want let my standpoint influence too much here – as tired everybody is of Zach Wilson, I really believe that the Jets failed him at least as much as he has done so far as a second overall pick, when they pulled him really because of a simple “No” at a press conference, when he was 4-and-2 as a starter at that point. So I’m not going to give them a ton of credit for making Aaron Rodgers come out of his darkness retreat with a switched mindset and wanting to join their team, especially when considering that they gave up way more than I expected to acquire him from the Packers, who had already moved on to their young QB on the roster. With that being said, now having just two picks each of the first two days, they really started to nail it. And while I think they got good value with Wisconsin center Joe Tippman 52nd overall, there’s a really everybody had them taking a tackle at pick number 15. Instead, they watched the top three names come off the board within the first eleven selections and didn’t feel the urgency to secure that spot for them. The division-rival Patriots gladly helped out the Steelers in jumping New York for Georgia’s Broderick Jones and there they were 15th overall, taking another defensive end, when they already had at least four legit guys as part of the rotation. And I get that they love keeping those bodies fresh an that they denied being locked in on OT, but I’m just not buying it.
Gang Green came back on day three and did ultimately invest into that position with Pittsburgh’s Carter Warren (120th overall), who I believe is a long, well-coordinated athlete with the potential to turn into a starter down the road, but he’s coming off a torn meniscus, only ever started at left tackle and had serious issues producing penalties in college. I certainly like Izzy Abanikanda as a big-play threat from the backfield out of Pitt (143rd overall), but I think recouping depth in the back-seven should have been higher on the priority list and of their final three picks, only one had a draftable grade on – Old Dominion tight-end Zack Kuntz, who shockingly lasted until the seventh round despite a historically great combine, probably due to injury concerns – and all of them mainly even got selected due to elite athletic testing. It’s just not close to the standard GM Joe Douglas has set in recent years.
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Dawand Jones

For the final one here, I considered “Kenneth Walker dynasty owners”, since the Seahawks drafted another running back I really like in the second round and a passing down specialist in the seventh, to take away opportunities for fantasy production. However, I haven’t discussed an individual draft prospect yet and one I thought needed to be mentioned here is “the other” Ohio State offensive tackle. After being projected to be a top-50 pick and seeing his name frequently mentioned in mock drafts, the monstrous lineman waited all the way until day three, when the Browns finally ended the slide at 111th overall. That was after seeing his fellow Buckeye left tackle being selected sixth overall and nine total OTs coming off the board first.
The obvious concern with Jones, just looking at how giganteus is, is if he can keep himself in football shape. When we last got measurements on him at the combine, the Ohio State OT was 6’8” and 374 pounds. He ran as expected, with a 5.35 in the 40 and the worst ten-yard split of the event (1.92). Neither in Indy nor at the Buckeye pro day, he decided to do the jumps or agility drills, along with refusing another weigh-in in Columbus. However, what apparently really didn’t sit well with NFL evaluators was the fact that after one dominant practice at the Senior Bowl, he decided – or his agent told him – to sit out the rest of the week with no apparent injury. His lack of willingness to commit himself fully to the process and maybe not having appropriate answers in the meetings when asked about, are what I believe might have caused him to drop this far. Since contract numbers are basically locked in due to where players get selected, that’s most likely more than 1.5 times less money on his contract than he would have received had he gone around pick 50.
Not only did going this late hurt Jones financially, but he also will have a tough time seeing the field anytime soon in Cleveland – unless they use him as a jumbo tight-end in certain short-yardage packages. The Browns recently picked up Jedrick Wills Jr.’s fifth-year option, keeping him at left tackle for the next two seasons at least, and guy on the right side in Jack Conklin just signed a more back-loaded four-year, 60-million-dollar extension in December. And for people considering if they could move him to guard – I have a tough seeing any scenario where they’ll try taking the potential outs in the either of Joel Bitonio or Wyatt’s deals, since those are Pro Bowl/All-Pro level players. They also just re-signed center Ethan Pocic by the way. The one bright spot for Jones is that he’ll get to work under one of the top O-line coaches in Bill Callahan, to develop a kick-set necessary to make it in the pros.
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Other questionable draft classes: Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs & San Francisco 49ers
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Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon – 17th overall to Patriots

To signal how shocked I was that Gonzo lasted as long as he did – once Seattle drafted Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon fifth overall, I thought the Lions might draft the order corner I had inside my top-ten overall prospects. The Oregon DB has prototype size and length, 4.38 speed, is very fluid and a reliable tackler – plus, he hasn’t even turned 21 years old. Those guys typically don’t make it outside the first half of round one. The only reason I can imagine he made it this far is that people see him as more of an athlete and hasn’t shown “that dawg” you like to see from that position, which is a bit silly. Considering the Patriots were able to pick up an extra fourth-rounder by moving back three spots with the Steelers and that the Commanders picked another corner I had way further down the board in Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, this was a great value pick for them.
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O’Cyrus Torrence, IOL, Florida – 59th overall to Bills

Whenever you’re able to get the best player at his position in the draft at the end of the second round, you’re doing something right. After the Bills had already secured themselves my TE1 Dalton Kincaid 25th overall (having moved up two spots), they got the massive Gator guard a full round later – when I thought they could have easily gone that way late in the first. Torrence looks like he was built in the lab for that position, with massive hands to take control and a lot of power in his lower half to move bodies in the run game, along with the sturdy anchor to absorb force and once he fits those hands inside the frame of rushers, they’re typically not getting away anymore. The two players he reminded me were Brandon Brooks and Mike Iupati – and he was drafted right in-between where those guys went. He’s a perfect addition for a Bills interior O-line that needed an ass-kicker.
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Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State – 85th overall to Chargers

Even though Henley wasn’t quite my number one linebacker, I did have him on my top tier at the position – along with Iowa’s Jack Campbell and Arkansas’ Drew Sanders. All three are pretty different player profiles and I understand him being the last one taken among those, but considering Henley went 67(!) spots later than Campbell, that’s pretty wild. To me, there wasn’t a backer in this class with the type off easy movement skills like this young man from Wazzu, where his ability to gain depth, change directions and drive on routes still looks more like a safety, which is what he originally started as, along with playing some wide receiver, after being recruited as a quarterback. However, he doesn’t only have the suddenness to evade blockers but is also willing to charge into them and missed only five of 111 tackling attempts this past season. I think what shows us that he went later than expected is that after him going as the third true off-ball linebacker (depending on if you count Sacramento State’s Marte Mapu as a big nickel/safety instead), we saw three more come off the board across the next six picks – teams were sort of just waiting on the position.
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Adetomiwa Adebawore, IDL, Northwestern – 110th overall to Colts

I still haven’t heard any real medical concerns far Ade. So I’m just going to have to assume the NFL either didn’t like him in meetings or they’re just kind of hypocritical. Remember that guy Travon Walker, who blew up the combine and ended up ascending all the way to being the first overall pick in last year’s draft out of Georgia? Well, here we have somebody who actually slightly bested him in every single category – despite packing an extra ten pounds! I get that Adebawore’s athleticism is a lot more impressive than his production – once again kind of reminiscent of Walker, but I think even purely based on tape, there’s no way he should have made it out of day two. I actually had him going late in the first round in my last few mock drafts. He’s more than just an athlete – he packs a ton of shock in his hands, despite only being 6’2” he does have 34-inch arms to lock out in the run game, he can play strong-side D-end or three-technique in an even front and during Senior Bowl week, he showed a great combination of winning with power and cornering his rushes. Unless there’s some factor I’m not aware of, this is just teams not knowing exactly where to line him up.
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Kyu Blu Kelly, CB, Stanford – 157th overall to Ravens

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Antonio Johnson, SAF/NB, Texas A&M – 160th overall to Jaguars

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A.T. Perry, WR, Wake Forest – 195th overall to Saints & Xavier Hutchinson, WR, Iowa State – 205th overall to Texans

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Dante Stills, IDL, West Virginia – 213th overall to Cardinals

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Zach Evans, RB, Ole Miss – 215th overall to Rams

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Anthony Johnson Jr., SAF, Iowa State – 242nd overall to Packers

Other steals:

Dalton Kincaid, TE, Utah – 25th overall to Bills
Brian Branch, SAF, Alabama – 45th overall to Lions
John Michael Schmitz, IOL, Minnesota – 57th overall to Giants
Sydney Brown, SAF, Illinois – 66th overall to Eagles
Kelee Ringo, CB, Georgia – 105th overall to Eagles
Nick Herbig, EDGE/LB, Wisconsin – 132nd overall to Steelers
Jammie Robinson, SAF, Florida State – 145th overall to Panthers
Henry To’o To’o, LB, Alabama – 167th overall to Texans
Chris Smith II, SAF, Georgia – 170th overall to Raiders
Jaelyn Duncan, OT, Maryland – 186th overall to Titans
Luke Wypler, IOL, Ohio State – 190th overall to Browns
Zack Kuntz, TE, Old Dominion – 220th overall to Jets
Jason Taylor II, SAF, Oklahoma State – 234th overall to Rams
Cory Trice Jr., CB, Purdue – 241st overall to Steelers
Desjuan Johnson, EDGE/IDL, Toledo – 259th overall to Rams
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Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Mississippi State – 16th overall to Commanders

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Gervon Dexter, IDL, Florida – 53rd overall to Bears

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Rashee Rice, WR, SMU – 55th overall to Chiefs

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Juice Scruggs, IOL, Penn State – 62nd overall to Texans

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Kendre Miller, RB, TCU – 71st overall to Saints & Tank Bigsby, RB, Auburn – 88th overall to Jaguars

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D.J. Johnson, EDGE, Oregon – 80th overall to Panthers

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Brodric Martin, IDL, Western Kentucky – 96th overall to Lions

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Tre Tucker, WR, Cincinnati – 100th overall to Raiders

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Chad Ryland, K, Maryland – 112th overall to Patriots

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Sean Clifford, QB, Penn State – 149th overall to Packers

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Other reaches:

Will McDonald IV, EDGE, Iowa State – 15th overall to Jets
Jonathan Mingo, WR, Ole Miss – 39th overall to Panthers
Isaiah Foskey, EDGE, Notre Dame – 40th overall to Saints
Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State – 42nd overall to Packers
Brenton Strange, TE, Penn State – 61st overall to Jaguars
Jake Moody, K, Michigan – 99th overall to 49ers
Jake Andrews, IOL, Troy – 107th overall to Patriots
Tavius Robinson, EDGE, Ole Miss – 124th overall to Ravens
Derius Davis, WR, TCU – 125th overall to Chargers
Colby Sorsdal, OT, William & Mary – 152nd overall to Lions
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