2016 NFL Draft: Day One Recap

The 1st round of the 2016 NFL draft is in the books, and it was a roller coaster ride.

The Rams gave up a king’s ransom to move up 14 spots for the number one pick. To no one’s surprise, they took Cal quarterback Jared Goff. Goff, a California native, will attempt to revitalize a franchise that hasn’t had a winning record since 2003.

Next on the clock, the Eagles traded up with Cleveland and continued the quarterback spree. North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. Wentz, who experienced a meteoric rise this draft season, will bring his big arm and untapped potential to the City of Brotherly love.

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The Chargers were the NFL draft’s biggest wild card. Their pick at three overall would set the course for the rest of the draft. Surprising some, they took Ohio State’s Joey Bosa to help spearhead their pass rush. He will line up next to longtime Seahawk’s nose tackle Brandon Mebane in San Diego.

But, the biggest story of the draft was undoubtedly the Laremy Tunsil saga. Once the projected top overall pick, a video posted to Tunsil’s twitter account that showed him smoking off a gas mask was one of many factors that resulted in the talented tackle’s free fall. The Miami Dolphins happily snagged the blue chip tackle prospect at 13, behind inferior prospects Jack Conklin and Ronnie Stanley.

Linebacker Myles Jack’s fall out of the draft’s first round was bizarre. Clearly, concerns about his injured knee are greater than once thought. Unfortunate for the uber-athletic top ten prospect from Bellevue, Washington.

John Schneider’s genius showed itself once more when Seattle traded back five spots with the Broncos in exchange for the 31st and 94th picks. pick. Denver then selected Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch. John Elway’s squad finally got a much needed QB to pair with their elite defense.

Per Pro Football Reference’s NFL draft trade value chart, Seattle gave up 700 points of trade value, while picking up 724 points of draft pick value. Even with top prospects Myles Jack, Chris Jones, and Jonathan Bullard still on the board, Seattle loves to trade down and accumulate more picks.

With the 31st pick of the 2016 NFL draft, the Seahawks selected Germain Ifedi, OT, Texas A&M. Ifedi is a massive offensive lineman with elite mobility. His technique needs a lot of work, but his nastiness, athletic ability and versatility made him an attractive option at 31.

Ifedi’s tape against Alabama was fantastic. He showed the ability to be a dominant offensive lineman against the highest quality of competition. During his pre-draft press conference, Pete Carroll expressed concern about the 2016 offensive line class

"They’re not as aggressive and physically oriented as we’d like them to be and try to make them become… I looked a couple of guys this week, and I couldn’t find a running play where a guy came off the ball and had to knock a guy off the football—there’s not even a play in a game—so it’s hard to evaluate what a guy is going to be like."

Ifedi puts his fears to rest. He does a fantastic job of finishing his blocks and driving people to the turf, even though he comes from a spread system. Ifedi will most likely compete with J’Marcus Webb and Justin Britt at right tackle or left guard. Whatever you think of the move, you have to commend Schneider for adding an extra 3rd round pick and still getting their guy five picks later.

As we enter an action packed day two of the NFL draft, the top players available are UCLA OLB Myles Jack, Alabama DT’s A’Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed, Eastern Kentucky OLB Noah Spence, and Florida DT Jonathan Bullard.

An interesting side note. Pete Carroll’s prodigies Ken Norton Jr, Gus Bradley, and Dan Quinn all took defensive backs who are eerily similar to current Seattle defensive backs (Jalen Ramsey=Richard Sherman, Karl Joseph=Earl Thomas III and Keanu Neal=Kam Chancellor). As they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

#InSchneiderWeTrust

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