All things considered, the first round of the 2020 NFL draft was pretty entertaining. Considering how many different places that key parts of the broadcast were coming from, I thought the groups at ESPN, NFL Network handled most things pretty well. The selections themselves didn't present a whole lot of immediate second-guessing and after a very slow-start to the wheeling and dealing, there were even four trades that got executed before the night was done. Lots of memorable moments and moves. Here are my winners and losers along with a couple of notes.
WINNERS
The Southeastern Conference
Nearly half of the 32 first round selections played their college ball in the SEC. LSU players bookended the opening round with Joe Burrow at no. 1 to the Bengals and Clyde Edwards-Helaire at no. 32 to the Chiefs. Three of their teammates also were first round selections, K'Lavon Chaisson (Jaguars, 20th), Justin Jefferson (Vikings, 22nd) and Patrick Queen (Ravens, 28th), along with ten other players from the SEC. 15 SEC players total in the first round.
Alabama: Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins-5th), Jedrick Wills (Browns, 10th), Henry Ruggs (Raiders, 12th), Jerry Jeudy (Broncos, 15th)
Georgia: Andrew Thomas (Giants, 4th), Isaiah Wilson (Titans, 29th)
Auburn: Derrick Brown (Panthers, 7th), Noah Igbinoghene (Dolphins, 30th)
Florida: C.J. Henderson (Jaguars, 9th)
South Carolina: Javon Kinlaw (49ers, 14th)
Cowboys
All they did on Thursday night was use their only pick at 17th overall on arguably the best wide receiver in the draft, Oklahoma's CeeDee Lamb. With the Falcons arguably reaching for cornerback A.J. Terrell one spot before them, the Cowboys didn't make the same mistake. The Falcons have Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. The Cowboys have Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. In 2019, the Falcons duo combined for 162 catches, 2,260 yards and 13 touchdowns, while the Cowboys duo combined 145 catches, 2,296 yards and 14 touchdowns. Dallas took the best available player, the Falcons did not.
Vikings
They did a nice job of getting value out of their selections. They started the night with the 22nd and 25th picks in the first round. The 22nd pick came from Buffalo a couple of weeks ago in the deal that shipped wide receiver Stefon Diggs out of town. They nabbed his replacement with the pick when they selected LSU's Justin Jefferson to once again give QB Kirk Cousins a great 1-2 punch, pairing Jefferson with Adam Thielen. Then they flipped the 25th pick to San Francisco for the 31st pick along with the 117th pick (early 4th) and the 176th pick (late 5th). (Note that the 26th pick was traded moments later for the 30th pick and just the 130th pick.) Minnesota grabbed cornerback Jeff Gladney from TCU, though the question remains will he be better the Khristian Fulton, Jaylon Johnson or Trevon Diggs, all of whom were available.
Javon Kinlaw
Yet another SEC talent, was selected 14th overall by San Francisco. The 49ers traded DeForest Buckner to the Colts for the 13th pick during the offseason, which San Francisco then traded last night to slide back one spot and grab Kinlaw. Kinlaw, along with Derrick Brown who went 7th to the Panthers, were the clear top-two interior defensive lineman in the draft and Kinlaw will step right in on the all-first round pick defensive front for the 49ers with Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas. Great spot for Kinlaw and great spot for his father. Check out his reaction when his son got drafted by the team he's been a lifelong fan of.
LOSERS
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
Not only did they draft a replacement for the team's best and most important player who's not going anywhere for at least the next four years, they also overdrafted the player they selected. Did I mention they also traded up for that player. Yeah, that's all they did wrong. The Packers took the 30th pick and flipped it to Miami to move UP four spots to 26. (The only good thing they did was only send the 136th pick to make that move). But they took Jordan Love from Utah State, likely because they thought another team was going to take Love in one of the spots before them. While most of the draft gurus, felt like Love is a great physical talent that can be groomed to be a star, I'm not among them. Bottom line is Green Bay felt compelled to take a player that isn't ready to play, has no place to play and is now stuck behind a future Hall-of-Famer who just quarterbacked his team to the best record in the NFC and a berth in the NFC title game. Taking Rodgers late in the first round 15 years ago, while he had no place to play (and ended up sitting behind Brett Favre for three seasons) turned out to be a spectacular decision. I have serious doubts this turns out similarly.
Roger Goodell
This seems like an annual ritual for the commissioner to catch grief from meanies in the media like myself, but he always finds a way. From robotic delivery of everything he says to his hopeless clamoring for the virtual fans to boo him, he's just about the least entertaining and compelling person to be delivering the only suspenseful news of the event - 32 TIMES! On top of that, a mispronunciation or two is expected, but he hit some pretty high marks last night, butchering Tua Tagovailoa's name, announcing T.D. Lamb, rather than CeeDee Lamb and several others. He trumped them all with his announcement about giving Las Vegas another shot at hosting the NFL draft, when he announced, "As you may know we were scheduled to host the draft in Dallas...excuse me in Vegas this year....we're happy to announce tonight that Las Vegas, will host the 2020 NFL draft."
Hey Rog - it is 2020. You know, right now.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS
CeeDee Lamb would like his phone back.
Your camera time with Isaiah Wilson is over...NOW!
Here's Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians and GM Jason Licht making the call to OL Tristan Wirfs and they drafted him to protect Tom Brady. Also, here's Wirfs rolling out the red carpet...at home...for his mom.