2024 NFL Draft Recap & Review

The NFL Draft took place on April 25th to April 27th last week. There were a plethora of quarterbacks that were drafted including some surprises along the way. Obviously no surprise that Quarterback Caleb Williams was drafted first as the overall number one pick for the Chicago Bears coming out of USC. When it comes to the Chicago Bears draft, overall the Bears had a very good draft class but it looks great on paper but offensively the Bears offense should be much improved because with the number nine pick, the Bears picked Wide Receiver Rome Ondunze from Washington. Rome is a very explosive wide receiver that will be a huge help for Caleb in the passing game as a huge asset to the Chicago Bears offense.

Overall with the key addition of Wide Receiver Keenan Allen in free agency along with Wide Receiver DJ Moore, the Bears offense should be much improved along with Tight End Gerald Everett and Running Back D’Andre Swift coming from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bears quarterback situation may be resolved finally because it has been eons since Chicago Bears had an elite quarterback since Sid Luckman. Quarterback Jim McMahon was close to being pretty good but not a hall of fame quarterback despite winning a Super Bowl in 1985. The Chicago Bears draft class was intriguing including Offensive Lineman Kiran Amegadijie from Yale. Defensive End Austin Booker could be a potential pass rusher extraordinaire. Overall The Bears draft class gets an A-.

The first surprise of the draft was when the Atlanta Falcons drafted Quarterback Michael Penix Jr with the overall number 8 pick because the Falcons already have Quarterback Kirk Cousins so obviously Cousins has been injury prone especially having the Achilles injury but Penix Jr will be the heir apparent in the future for The Atlanta Falcons. If Cousins suffer a significant injury or performance is atrocious at best then Falcons will be urgent for a quarterback change.

There were various draft classes that were exceptional but let’s look at the trading aspect of the draft especially a whopping 16 trades that were made during the draft’s first 3 rounds. The first day of trades that stood out was the Carolina Panthers moving into the 1st round to draft a Wide Receiver in Xavier Legette from South Carolina. The Panthers traded with the Buffalo Bills to get a Receiver including a defensive Tackle Jaden Crumedy in Round 6.

The Buffalo Bills received the 33rd pick to draft Wide Receiver Keon Coleman from Florida State in Round 2 and Round 5 with the 141st pick by drafting Center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs made a trade by trading up to the 28th pick in order to draft Wide Receiver Xavier Worthy from the Texas Longhorns who could be the next Tyreek Hill due to the electrifying speed because Worthy is the combine 40 yard dash record holder:4.21 is the blazing speed that Worthy possesses. Another trade that stood out was the Minnesota Vikings moved up one spot with the New York Jets get and obtain the number 10 pick which resulted in drafting Quarterback J.J McCarthy. Minnesota Vikings have the heir apparent to Quarterback Kirk Cousins. Those were some of the 1st day trades.

In the final analysis let’s look at some of the draft classes that stood out such as the Arizona Cardinals who drafted Wide Receiver Marvin Harrison Jr from Ohio State and Trey Benson the Running Back from Florida State so these players should be impact players immediately. Arizona Cardinals gets an A minus for those 2 draft picks. The Baltimore Ravens drafted Wide Receiver Devontez Walker from North Carolina drafted at 113 overall may be a steal of the draft at Wide Receiver. Surprising picks from the draft was Tight End Brock Bowers from Georgia getting drafted by The Las Vegas Raiders at number thirteen. The Los Angeles Rams drafted Defensive End Jared Verse from Florida State with the number nineteenth overall pick could be the heir apparent to the retired Aaron Donald. The Tennessee Titans had an interesting draft class that featured James Williams out of the University of Miami who was drafted in the 7th round(242nd overall pick). He played safety at Miami but will move to Linebacker. With enough reps Williams may be another steal in the draft.

Overall the NFL Draft is a hit or miss scenario because everything looks good on paper historically the NFL Draft has always had busts and successes. Just because Caleb Williams was the first overall pick doesn’t guarantee a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio