AFC West Draft Recap

Denver traded down a few times out of the first round and passed up on some solid players. Elway went with Derek Wolfe, a DT with the 36th overall pick, and although he fills a need I would have preferred Jerel Worthy or Devon Still. The Broncos took Ronnie Hillman with their 3rd pick (67th overall). A running back from San Diego State, Hillman may see a lot of time if anything was to happen to the aging Willis McGahee. The most interesting pick from the Broncos was selecting Brock Osweiler 57th overall, a QB from Arizona State. If the Broncos want to win now why are they already finding Manning’s replacement? Draft Grade: C+

Kansas City missed early but finished strong in the draft. They missed 11th overall with nose tackle Dontari Poe from Memphis. Poe was a combine star, I think the Chiefs would have been better off with David DeCastro or even Michael Brockers. Kansas City nailed some late round selections including pick the 182nd pick of Cyrus Gray who I was very high on. He is a great #3 running back who may see some time on special teams. They also grabbed Donald Stephenson 74th overall who should start at tackle. Draft Grade: C

Oakland didn’t have a pick in the first two rounds (Carson Palmer) but with the 95th pick they took Tony Bergstrom who can play guard or tackle on their weak offensive line. The Raiders will have to hope Palmer has a good season because their draft was fairly short due to his acquisition. Draft Grade: D+

San Diego went in a different direction than I thought they would primarily going after outside rushers. Melvin Ingram was arguably a top 10 talent the Bolts took 18th overall. They filled their lack of an outside rush in this draft. They also found Antonio Gates’ future replacement in the 4th round (110th overall) with Ladarius Green from Louisiana Lafayette. Draft Grade: B

AFC South Draft Recap

Houston lost Mario Williams this off season to the Bills via free agency so picking up Whitney Mercilus with the 26th pick made sense. They did miss completely with their second pick of DeVier Posey (68th overall) but only time will tell if the Texans knew what they were doing. They did sure up some holes on their offensive line in the middle rounds. Draft Grade: B-

Indianapolis went offense early and now Andrew Luck has a plethora of weapons around him. Coby Fleener was reunited with Luck early in the second round and the Colts also added Dwayne Allen, 64th overall, to give Luck two great red zone targets to go along with Reggie Wayne on the outside. When they began working on the defense they hit a home run with the 136th pick, filling a need and taking great value here, with nose tackle Josh Chapman. This may have been the best draft this year. They also had the last pick of the draft (Mr. Irrelevant) and took a QB Chandler Harnish. The 2012 draft started and ended with the Colts selecting a quarterback. Draft Grade: A

Jacksonville made a great move trading up and taking Justin Blackmon 5th overall. I think that sophomore QB Blaine Gabbert now has a weapon to go to on the outside. Maurice Jones-Drew also benefits greatly with this selection. They chose DE Andre Branch from Clemson 38th overall who fills a need and is a high upside pass rusher. They did take a punter in the 3rd round with Bryan Anger but special teams in the AFC South is very underrated. Draft Grade: B

Tennessee took Kendall Wright, Baylor receiver 20th overall, with the hopes that he will help open things up for CJ2K and Locker. The Titans proceeded to take 6 defensive players to finish their draft. They did add depth to the corner position with Coty Sensabaugh 115th overall but I think it’s safe to say Alterraun Verner will still be a starter (Verner is a childhood friend of mine). Draft Grade: B

AFC North Draft Recap

Baltimore made a great pick with Courtney Upshaw who somehow fell to them 35th overall. The rich get richer as the Ravens add another linebacker that will put fear into opposing offenses. They also traded up to 84th to snag Bernard Pierce, running back from Temple, to back up All Pro rusher Ray Rice. Draft Grade: B+

Cincinnati had a solid draft taking Dre Kirkpatrick with the 17th overall selection. Dre will come in right away and give opposing wide outs fits as he is NFL ready coming out of Alabama. The Bengals also got stronger up front with Kevin Zeitler at guard and Devon Still at defensive tackle. They filled a lot of needs throughout the draft and have set the foundation to compete in this division. Draft Grade: B+

Cleveland got one of the best running back prospects to come out of college in years. Trent Richardson is the next Maurice Jones-Drew and taking Brandon Weeden, 22nd overall, should force Colt McCoy to the bench. Weeden is 27 years old but is more advanced than a lot of rookie QB’s. They filled needs late and although it will be a rough year, Richardson and Weeden offer hope to Cleveland fans before they decide to take free agency and move to south beach. Draft Grade: A

Pittsburgh had an amazing draft due to other teams passing on underrated lineman. The Steelers took David DeCastro 24th overall and Mike Adams 56th overall. DeCastro was arguably a top 10 talent and Adams has first round talent but off field issues sent him down on many draft boards. The Steelers got bigger and stronger up front which bodes well for Big Ben and company. Draft Grade: A+

AFC East Draft Recap

Buffalo had some great picks. The Bills got Stephon Gilmore 10th overall, the second best corner in the draft behind Claiborne. They took Cordy Glenn 41st overall which is great value because their was talks of him being a top 15 guy. Bills missed on their 3rd pick however as T.J. Graham, receiver from N.C. State, was a reach, he was more of a 4th or 5th round talent. They were fairly solid in the later rounds. Draft Grade: B+

Miami got their QB, as I predicted, in Tannehill and then proceeded to give him weapons with Lamar Miller (RB from Miami), Michael Egnew (TE from Missouri), B.J. Cunningham (WR from Michigan State) and Jonathan Martin (OT from Stanford). Martin was a first round talent picked up in the second round. Draft Grade: A-

New England is known for trading down and stocking up on mid to late round draft picks. This year the Pats moved up to have two first rounders and they got two versatile end rushers with Chandler Jones, Syracuse 21st overall, and Dont’a Hightower, Alabama 25th overall. They went with 6 straight defensive players to start the draft. It makes sense because you can’t really improve that great offense and the defense was aging. Draft Grade: B

New York gave Rex Ryan another hybrid outside rusher with Quinton Couples 16th overall and Demario Davis 77th overall. In between those two picks they grabbed a first round talent receiver in Stephen Hill with the 43rd pick. If Hill pans out the Jets could be dangerous this year. Draft Grade: B

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Alex Wiesner