To the dismay of CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, it is now officially the month of April. That can only mean one thing: the NFL draft is less than thirty days away. (Actually, there’s a lot going on in sports, like the conclusion of the Final Four, the start of NBA and NHL playoffs, the Masters, but who cares about those? It’s #DraftSZN!)
As far as the NFL goes, we can finally devote 100% of our focus towards the draft. Free agency is largely done, potential retirees have retired, the big name players have been traded.
The frenzy of rumors and reports over the next few weeks create a chaotic beauty of compelling, yet often meaningless football insight. At about this time last year, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had the Browns taking Josh Allen first overall and Baker Mayfield falling to the Broncos at 5th overall in his mock draft 3.0. NFL Network’s Peter Schrager mocked Sam Darnold as the top selection with the Bills trading up for Mayfield at number six (oh, what could have been). Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller also penciled Sam Darnold in at number one with Mayfield landing in Denver in his 2018 mock draft with one month before the draft.
The point is: no one knows what is going to happen on draft day. That doesn’t mean we should tune out the noise and ignore everything. In fact, I recommend taking the opposite approach: embrace the chaos and overreact to everything. This is the same approach I have to the NCAA tournament bracket – you can’t know what’s going to happen, so why pretend? With that in mind, these are the teams that I’m most interested in over the next month.
Arizona Cardinals
This is a no brainer. As owners of the number one overall selection in the draft, Arizona controls the entire draft process right now. The reports all indicate the Cardinals general manager, Steve Keim, intends to draft Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray. But, as I said before, no one knows anything this time of year.
In fact, the sheer number and unanimity of the reports seems fishy. Could the Murray-hype be a smokescreen to drive up the value of the pick, leading to a trade down? One aspect I hadn’t considers is that there is minimal motivation for Keim to take Murray, as Robert Mays noted on the Ringer NFL Show.
New head coach Kliff Kingsbury, a reputable offensive guru, would receive the credit for all of Murray’s success, not Keim. Additionally, Keim not only drafted Josh Rosen 10th overall in last April’s draft, but traded up to do so. Giving up on Rosen after just one season would be another black mark on his already abominable resume.
Passing on Murray in favor of trading down or because you fall in love with another prospect is one thing; passing on a potential franchise changing quarterback out of pride is another – yet, acting purely out of pride is a surprisingly common move among NFL general managers. The top NFL franchise to watch right now is undoubtedly the Arizona Cardinals.
Oakland Raiders
Despite only returning to the league 14 months ago, Oakland’s leading man Jon Gruden has already discovered a flair for the dramatic. He traded away one of the league’s best defensive players in Khalil Mack before last season and then shipped out Amari Cooper in October. This off-season, he made another blockbuster trade for Antonio Brown.
Oakland now owns three first round picks this April as a result of the Mack and Cooper trades. What we’ve learned about Gruden is that we have no idea what he’s going to do next. Gruden is like a 6-year old kid running wild with a fully loaded Nerf gun. No one is safe – not even the poor dog – and I want a front row seat for every second of it.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers aren’t overflowing with Game of Thrones level drama like some teams, but they are fascinating from a football perspective. They could become a serious Super Bowl contender if they hit on this draft.
The Packers woefully disappointed last season, leading to the long overdue firing of head coach Mike McCarthy. New head coach Matt LaFleur should be able to scheme more open throws for Aaron Rodgers, but Rodgers is already 35 years old. Green Bay needs to surround Rodgers with talent immediately at the risk of wasting the final years of Rodgers’ elite play.
Green Bay is aware of this; they were active in free agency after years of notoriously shying from signing anyone. The Packers have two first-round picks as well. I’ll be interested to see if they could potentially replicate the draft classes of the 2018 Colts or the 2017 Saints.
New York Giants
The Giants are the NFL’s version of the car accident that you can’t look away from. General Manager Dave Gettleman gave up on a Hall of Fame talent in Odell Beckham Jr. for basically no reason, let Landon Collins walk in free agency instead of trading him during the season, doubled down on a washed Eli Manning… need I go on? The Giants aren’t doing anything well right now, but I can’t say what they are doing isn’t interesting either.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs nearly made the Super Bowl last season on the backs of Patrick Mahomes II’s breakout MVP campaign, despite the defense being an utter catastrophe. Yet, the Chiefs have moved on from three of their only four valuable contributors on defense by trading pass-rusher Dee Ford to San Francisco and cutting veterans Justin Houston and Eric Berry. How will they replace that talent? For starters, the Chiefs signed Tyrann Mathieu to fill Eric Berry’s role in the defensive backfield. Monday, they replaced one of the pass rushing spots by acquiring Emmanuel Ogbah in a trade with the Browns.
There’s also the much more serious ongoing legal issue with Tyreek Hill that will inevitably result in a major suspension or Kansas City moving on from him entirely. As an early Mahomes stockholder, I would like to see the Chiefs fix the defense and build a Super Bowl caliber roster around him. The pressure is on the team to do so while Mahomes is on his rookie contract rather than later, when his inevitable record-setting contract kicks in.
Pittsburgh Steelers
It seems like the media’s attention has dissipated in Pittsburgh after they moved on from Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, but I’m actually more fascinated by the Steelers now than ever. The Steelers are in a similar position to the 2018 Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers comparably traded away two of their three stars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, as they moved on from the Lob City era. Just as the Steelers are now, the Clippers were left with one of their initial three stars and faced a daunting transition.
The competition in the AFC North is getting stronger as the Browns acquired Odell Beckham Jr. and the Ravens signed Earl Thomas. I’m extremely interested to see how Pittsburgh plans to build a contender around an aging Roethlisberger, emerging JuJu Smith-Schuster and a defense that is devoid of talent.
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