Control NFL Blog: Draft Day One Impressions…

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I, Dalton Lewis, watched Day One of the NFL Draft. I thought that I’d give my thoughts on the process. Overall a lot of teams tried to improve by picking quarterbacks and offensive linemen. A lot of teams picked for need with desperation, and a few teams picked for value. We’ll see who picked well when the season starts. In my analysis I use the ever-popular numbered list.

1. Jayden Daniels joins a struggling Washington team. Washington scored 19.4 points per game last year. Washington’s opponents scored 30.5 points. Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu joined as linebackers in free agency — Wagner is old but amazing, and they needed the help. The team hired Austin Ekeler to help the running game which should help Jayden Daniels to play more effectively and have more play-action-passing chances. Three new defensive ends — including Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler, Jr. — should help the team, but it feels a little like band-aids. I don’t know that they will be enormously better. They have a new center coming from Dallas — Tyler Biadasz. Overall they added a lot of pretty-good veterans. I project them to have the chance to be pretty good if the quarterback is amazing, but it’s more likely that they struggle against Philadelphia and Dallas. Chicago did something similar a couple years ago, hiring a lot of mid-level free agents — and it didn’t go well. Grim.
2. Los Angeles Chargers might start to win Super Bowls pretty soon because they have a proven winner in their new coach, Jim Harbaugh. He won the College Football National Championships at Michigan last year. He drafted a tackle in the first round, Joe Alt. This is the safest — and best — pick in the draft. However, the team did not have enough money and had to get rid of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams — two older wide receivers. Joe Alt immediately protects Justin Herbert and helps him to succeed in this league. Greg Roman was hired to create a running game and play-action passing game to manage games while building up the defense. We will see if Harbaugh can put it together. I don’t like Greg Roman’s conservative offenses — I think they weren’t aggressive enough with Lamar Jackson — but I think that Jim Harbaugh is a great coach. He is expected to be one of the best coaches. I agree that he is smart. We will see how he does with a pretty good roster with expensive stars.
3. Minnesota Vikings had a need at quarterback and a need at pass rusher, and they traded up for J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner. Both players are excellent picks. I approve wholeheartedly. My veteran friend loves the Vikings and loves the Dallas Turner pick. Minnesota has a rough time with Detroit and Green Bay being excellent teams in the division. Detroit almost made it to the Super Bowl last year, losing in the Conference Championships barely to an excellent San Francisco 49'ers team. Green Bay also made it into the playoffs and played very well last year. The Vikings need to hope that they can bring along J.J. McCarthy and develop into a surprising team that will get better over time. McCarthy won almost every game he played during high school and college — it will be interesting to see how he deals with losing at a pro level. He will lose, and face loss, and have to show integrity in the face of getting annihilated by the Lions and the Packers. We will see what he is made of.
4. Chicago. I am a die-hard Bears fan so I suppose I should address our dearly beloved Bears. They drafted Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze. Williams won a Heisman in 2022 and then played well with less help in 2023. He has a cannon for an arm, throws with accuracy, and does a better job of throwing with anticipation than Justin Fields. He is a great prospect. He cried once when he lost a big game. Good. He cares about his mom. Fantastic. He paints his nails. Even better — good for him. He’s comfortable with himself. He is an excellent pick. Chicago should welcome him and give him every chance to succeed and understand that it might take time. With the ninth pick the Bears also selected Rome Odunze, an excellent wide receiver who was considered to be one of the top half-dozen players in the draft. That’s value, and the Bears have had trouble finding quality wide receivers. This isn’t a measurables pick — this guy plays well on the field. He catches everything that goes his way, has reasonable speed, is big, and runs good routes. He had 92 catches for 1,640 yards last year. The Bears now have three receivers who had 1,000+ yards on their respective teams last year — Odunze at college, Allen with the Chargers, and DJ Moore with the Bears. That’s fantastic. They may have a great offense. And the defense? I desperately wanted the Bears to get an edge rusher, but I prefer the best player available, and these two players were the best available players. I approve of these choices. The Bears have to live with DeMarcus Walker at starting defensive end opposite Montez Sweat — unless they find an edge rusher some other way before September…
5. Terrion Arnold was the best corner for Alabama, one of the best teams in college football. The Detroit Lions pick the best available player regardless of position, and this is another high-value pick for them. They picked a smart player who covers well and will improve their pass defense. They traded up for this player because he fell to the 24 pick and the Lions only had to trade up five or so slots. That was a reasonable trade-up. The Lions have one of the best rosters in the league with Penei Sewell on the o-line and Aidan Hutchinson on the d-line and Amon-Ra St. Brown at receiver. The team has two wonderful running backs, including David Montgomery, a former Bear and great player at getting the rough-and-tumble four to five yards on first and second down. That helps a team win so many games by making third down more manageable. The Lions are the real deal, and the Lions and Packers and Vikings have me terrified — the Bears have qualified rivals this year. I can say that with certainty — the division is good on paper, top to bottom.
6. The Kansas City Chiefs might be a pretty good team. They are currently the dynasty. They have won two Super Bowls in a row. Patrick Mahomes is a superstar. Travis Kelce is a superstar. Chris Jones wrecks offenses and has a shiny new contract. The Chiefs traded up four spots to draft Xavier Worthy, a wide receiver who broke the combine record for speed with a 4.21 40-yard dash. He may not be able to win contested catches, but he doesn’t need to — that isn’t his game. He runs like hell. He can run past opposing corners and use speed to be an excellent complementary wide receiver. He doesn’t have to get 1,000 yards — they already have Kelce, Rashee Rice, and Hollywood Brown. They don’t need Worthy to be a #1 receiver. They just need yet another weapon. The best get better. Someone should do something. Why is this team always drafting so goddamned well — they always draft well even though they draft at the tail end of each round. Rookies help them win Super Bowls.
7. Troy Fautanu joins the Pittsburgh Steelers as the #20 pick. They have TJ Watt, who gets 19,000,000 sacks a season. They drafted Broderick Jones as a tackle last year and so they drafted offensive tackles two years in a row, fixing any offensive line problems. They now have Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, who they got in the bargain bin at Wal Mart — for minimum contracts and Fields for a sixth-round pick. They have a decent running back who should do better with an improved offensive line, and the defense is always good. Their coach, Mike Tomlin, is a great coach who wins a lot of games but who hasn’t gone deep into the playoffs recently. I wonder if he will get further into the playoffs this year — with stronger lines and better quarterback play this team will be scary.
8. Baltimore Ravens — that’s a team. They play great defense, they run the ball, and they have Lamar Jackson. They should have played better against the Chiefs in the Conference Championship game or they would have been in the Super Bowl. They picked Nate Wiggins, a cornerback, in the 30th pick of the first round of the draft. They also added Derrick Henry in the most obvious addition in the NFL free agency period. I am told that they need o-line help and that will determine how they do during the next season. Nate Wiggins sounds a little like Jaylon Johnson — no one passes in his direction. Also Baltimore wants to make a strength stronger, improving one of the best defenses in the league. That’s smart. They’re a great team.
9. I worry about Quinyon Mitchell from Toledo. The Eagles selected him. I’m proud of him being loyal to his small school that gave him a chance, and I know that he played against tough competition at the Senior Bowl, but he hasn’t played against pro opponents yet. On the other hand, the Eagles are great at training and developing defensive players, and they needed help on defense because they collapsed in the second half of the season last year. They have hired Vic Fangio, one of the best in the game, to be their defensive coordinator. That’s a smart decision. He’s incredible. I approve. They always win the offseason in Philadelphia. They did that again. We’ll see if that leads to wins in the regular season and postseason.
10. Overall there weren’t as many shocking trades as I expected. The teams picked players that they were expected to pick in many cases. The projections got a lot of picks correct, including both of the Chicago Bears picks. Still we will see in a couple of years how these picks have done — some of these players will be on their way to the Hall of Fame, and a few will be on their way out of the league. We’ll see who does how well.

These are some of my observations from Day One of the NFL Draft. Offense dominated the draft. A lot of quarterbacks and offensive tackles were taken, and some of the best teams got even better. Other teams may still struggle. I can’t wait for the regular season in four or so months. Thanks, and take care, friends.