Another draft weekend has come and gone with the reigning champs playing host to the festivities this year. All 32 teams looked to improve their personnel just two hours west of Mizzou on I-70, some doing so better than others.
The NFL Draft provides fans with entertainment in the barren wasteland of the football calendar. Draft season is generally the most optimistic time for fans, whether it be landing a blue chip prospect in the first round or hoping you found the next diamond in the rough in the fifth.
With the conclusion of the draft, we finally have a clear idea of what the pecking order *should* be for the 2023 season. This is due in large part to the Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson sagas coming to an end before Thursday evening.
It was on draft day two years ago that the initial Adam Schefter report of Aaron Rodgers being unhappy with the Packers was made public. Fast forward two years and Rodgers finally got dealt to the Jets in a deal that was anticipated for several weeks.
The Jets are looking to end the longest active playoff drought in the big four American sports leagues and adding the four-time MVP greatly helps their chances. New York is a legitimate threat in the AFC, especially if Rodgers returns to 2020-2021 form. This deal wasn’t all bad for the Packers though, as they were able to add plenty of draft capital to help kick start the Jordan Love era.
Just a few days after the Aaron Rodgers trade, we had another major development regarding a former MVP signal caller. The Ravens and Lamar Jackson were able to strike a deal that will keep the 2019 NFL MVP in Baltimore for five seasons.
In a contract negotiation that dominated the headlines all offseason, Jackson and the Ravens finally agreed on a contract that makes him the highest paid quarterback(for now) in the NFL on a per-year basis. Between bringing Lamar back and adding Odell Beckham and rookie Zay Flowers to their WR room, the Ravens have a real shot to retake control of the AFC North from Cincinnati.
As for the draft itself, plenty of teams brought in a quality batch of young talent, but there were a handful of teams that stood out to me this weekend. I feel that these five teams did the most to improve their roster for 2023 and beyond
1.Philadelphia Eagles
The reigning NFC Champs entered Thursday evening with a pair of first rounders and added two elite defensive prospects by the end of the night. Howie Roseman may be a Florida alum, but he seems to be as big of a Georgia fan as anyone, based on his recent draft history.
One year after selecting Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean, Roseman brought in four former Bulldogs’ in just one weekend. Philly only had to move up one spot to get the best player in this year’s class, Jalen Carter.
While there are valid off the field concerns with Carter, he is one of the best interior defensive lineman coming out of college in recent memory. Javon Hargrave left in free agency and Fletcher Cox is getting up there in age, so adding youth to the interior of their defensive front was a smart move. Carter has the potential to develop into a dominant presence the league hasn’t seen since Aaron Donald was drafted nearly a decade ago.
Philadelphia paired Carter up with his college teammate, Nolan Smith, with their second pick in the first round. Smith is a swiss army knife that has the speed and agility to be effective in coverage at the next level. While there’s still some development needed to reach his potential as a pass rusher, Smith is an exceptionally gifted athlete that can cause problems for opposing offenses alongside Haason Reddick.
Howie Roseman also touched up on the secondary in the middle rounds by adding Syracuse safety Sydney Brown and, you guessed it, another Georgia defensive player in Kelee Ringo. Safety was a position of need after a couple of offseason losses and Brown fills that void nicely.
As for Ringo, he is a high risk, high reward prospect that was hit and miss in college. Ringo has elite ball skills and a dangerous combination of size and speed, and if he improves his consistency in man coverage, he can develop into a long term starter at outside corner for Philly.
As a cherry on top, the Eagles found their new lead tailback via a trade with Detroit. Howie Roseman landed former Georgia running back, D’Andre Swift and only had to give up a 2025 fourth rounder and swap 7th round picks with the Lions.
I’d argue Swift is an upgrade over Miles Sanders assuming he can stay healthy. The trade is a low risk move that helps take some of the workload in the ground game off of Jalen Hurts who the team just invested their long term future into.
2.Pittsburgh Steelers
Staying in the state of Pennsylvania, GM Omar Khan and the Steelers’ front office had themselves a weekend. Pittsburgh and their fans woke up to the news that Lamar Jackson was remaining in their division for the foreseeable future, so it was critical that they loaded up their roster to take on an increasingly difficult AFC North.
Fortunately, they did exactly that and nailed each of their first four picks. Fortifying the offensive line for second-year QB Kenny Pickett was paramount for the franchise. Khan wasted no time addressing the line and traded up with New England for the right to select Georgia LT Broderick Jones.
Jones is one of the best left tackles in this class and proved himself week in and week out against SEC caliber competition. The Steelers got what should be a day one starter to protect Pickett’s blindside.
Pittsburgh led off the second day of the draft by taking a fan favorite in Joey Porter Jr. Porter’s father was a key contributor to Pittsburgh’s success in the 2000s and his son joins the long list of active Steelers with family connections to the franchise.
The pick was an absolute steal as Porter was widely expected to go off the board in the first round. Porter has the tools to be an excellent outside corner at the next level, possessing an elite combination of size, length and speed to match up with X receivers on Sunday’s.
Later in the second round, Pittsburgh picked up the best nose tackle in this draft in Wisconsin’s Keeanu Benton. Benton is a dominant run stopping presence that fits the Steelers’ 3-4 scheme very well.
Tight end wasn’t a position of need for the Steelers entering the draft, however getting Darnell Washington in the third round was too good of an opportunity for Pittsburgh to pass up on. Washington is an elite run blocker that also serves as a security blanket in the middle of the field, especially in short yardage situations.
Washington joins a promising young core of skill players that should help Kenny Pickett continue to grow as a passer.
3.Tennessee Titans
The Titans entered the 2023 NFL Draft with holes everywhere on the roster. There wasn’t any way that they could address every need with just six total selections. However, they did about as well of a job as possible to improve multiple facets of their roster.
When talking about the Titans’ draft, you have to start with the elephant in the room, that being the decision to trade up for Will Levis in the second round. Levis is one of the most polarizing college QBs ever as debates raged on whether his physical traits warranted a first round pick despite his pedestrian production while at Kentucky.
Ultimately, Levis fell out of the first round, which freed up the opportunity for Tennessee to nab what they hope will be their franchise savior. Regardless of how you feel about Levis as a prospect, there is no denying that getting him in the second round was a steal.
Malik Willis looked overwhelmed in game action last fall and Ryan Tannehill is a free agent after 2023. Oh and did I mention that they’re in a division with Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson?
The Titans will likely be a bottomfeeder this season, so I’d expect to see Levis sooner rather than later. If they like what they see from Levis, they can use their high draft pick to address another need. However if they don’t buy into him, they should be in a position to select either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye next spring.
Levis has very real upside, possessing a rocket arm along with above average mobility. If he can cut down on the turnovers and be more consistent with his accuracy, he may wind up being the steal of the draft.
Whoever the Titans plan on trotting out at QB come September will need a much improved offensive line. The line play was straight up abysmal for Tennessee in 2022 and they saw several long time contributors depart in the offseason.
Tennessee spent their first round pick on Peter Skoronski, who played tackle at Northwestern but will likely transition to guard at the NFL level. Regardless of where the Titans line him up, he will provide an immediate boost to one of the worst units in all of football.
The Titans also found a potential gem in Maryland tackle Jaelyn Duncan with their sixth round pick. Duncan likely won’t start immediately, but has the physical upside to potentially become a quality tackle a few years down the road.
One of my favorite picks that no one is talking about was Tennessee selecting Tulane RB Tyjae Spears in the third round. The future of Derrick Henry is very much up in the air, so adding depth behind him makes a lot of sense.
Spears was one of the most fun players to watch on film in this class and flew under the radar in college. An electric runner, Spears has a scary combination of speed and agility that lets him break off big plays, whether it be on handoffs or catching the ball out of the backfield.
4.Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks revamped their entire franchise with a 2022 draft class that could go down as one of the best in NFL history. Following up on that class appeared to be a monumental task, however John Schneider and Pete Carroll just might have brought in a class just as good just one year later.
Seattle had a top five pick courtesy of the Russell Wilson trade, so they had plenty of ways they could have gone with their first choice. The route they went was a bit surprising, taking cornerback Devon Witherspoon over Jalen Carter and Tyree Wilson.
While I would have gone with a defensive lineman, this is by no means a bad pick. Witherspoon is a versatile corner that has good ball skills and is a capable tackler. Pairing Witherspoon with a breakout star in Tariq Woolen gives Seattle a dominant duo of corners for many years to come.
Adding to their strengths was a theme in the first round and it appeared that Schneider emphasized taking the best player available regardless of positional need. The Seahawks already boast a WR room consisting of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, however they needed an elite slot receiver to round out Geno Smith’s arsenal of weapons.
Seattle was able to get the best receiver in this class at 20th overall in Jaxon Smith-Njigba. I was surprised that JSN was still on the board as long as he was, but that just meant that Seattle could get the Ohio State product for great value.
JSN is an exceptional route runner with great hands that should quickly become a high volume option in the middle of the field for Geno Smith.
Seattle addressed tackle in the draft last year, but still needed to improve the interior of their line. The selections of Anthony Bradford and Olusegun Oluwatimi in the fourth and fifth rounds respectively could wind up providing the help that they need to round out the offensive line.
Many draft pundits questioned Seattle’s decision to draft two running backs after Kenneth Walker III had a monster rookie campaign. The answer is simple, RBs don’t last very long at the NFL level when overused and the Seahawks didn’t have much depth behind Walker entering the draft.
Walker won’t have to carry the load in 2023 with newcomers in second rounder Zach Charbonnet and seventh round pick Kenny McIntosh helping to balance the workload in Seattle’s backfield.
5.New York Giants
The G-Men blew away everyone’s expectations last season and have made improvements to their personnel over the offseason. That continued into draft weekend with Joe Schoen making several upgrades across the roster.
New York moved up one spot to take Maryland corner Deonte Banks who has the physicality to play man coverage on the outside on Sunday’s.
The Giants’ offensive line wasn’t up to par last season outside of Andrew Thomas, which explains why they went with John Michael Schmitz in the second round. Schmitz is a smart and experienced player that will be a day one starter at center for a team that needs to better protect Daniel Jones from interior pressure.
My favorite pick from the Giants this year was getting Jalin Hyatt in the third round. I had mocked Hyatt to New York as a first round pick so getting him 73rd overall was a steal to say the least.
While Hyatt needs to develop his route tree and better acclimate himself to a pro style offense, he has elite top end speed and can take the top off of defenses if left on an island. New York needed to add explosiveness on the perimeter to keep defenses honest and Hyatt accomplishes just that.
Lastly, I want to mention fifth round running back Eric Gray out of Oklahoma. The Giants may have brought Saquon Barkley back on the franchise tag, however he has a lengthy injury history and who knows if he is with the team after this season.
Gray is a versatile back that can make defenses pay if they give him an open field. At the very least, Gray will serve as a nice second or third option in the offense, however he could see a larger role down the road if the Giants don’t extend Barkley.