Hits and Misses from the 2023 NFL Draft 1st Round
Hits
The Texans: Knowing what you want and making it happen. They need a QB and they want the top rated edge rusher and they make it happen and they intelligently use their own 2nd pick to take Stroud, and then trade to #3 and take Anderson. Pretty brilliant move. I respect teams that make bold moves in the draft.
The Eagles: Moving around slightly to get into the top 10 and taking maybe the biggest question mark in the draft in Jalen Carter, but a team like the Eagles can take a swing at Carter and hope having him surrounded with Georgia dudes and a hard nose winning culture will keep him motivated because if he is good luck running the ball against that front. Also holding pat at 30 and getting Nolan Smith. Huge upside but his overall size might be a question mark, but at the very least you only burn a 30th pick if he becomes only a situational edge rusher in the league.
The Pats: Hey moving back and landing Gonzalez is a huge get. Now why he fell that far out of the top is a bit of a head scratcher. I think the Pats have to be excited that he was there and that the moved back to get him.
The Cardinals: Staying at 6 and drafting Paris Johnson was remarkable demonstration of patients and making a level headed decision. Johnson seems to be the most complete plug and play tackle in the draft. He is an obvious left tackle going into training camp, where other tackles in this draft all have question marks if they can play left tackle.
Misses
The Lions: Great job moving back in the draft and getting picks. What in the hell is with taking an underweight running back with the 12th pick of the draft. They simply have too many holes to take a running back this high in the draft. They need receivers, cornerbacks, another edge rusher, possibly a future QB. The Lions are going to Lion, it's why they will continue to swim in the toilet bowl.
The Lions: I like Jack Campbell, I don't love him he isn't the next coming of Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis, but he is a solid piece in the middle. He isn't the 18th pick in the draft though. Its hard to really comprehend all of this nonsense surrounding the draft and what draft boards are quality and which are garbage, but on no big board or mock draft did I see Campbell going this high. My own eye test on him had me believing he was a quality second round pick.
The Falcons: Nonsense taking Robinson with the 8th pick of the draft. I knew some team was going to make this mistake and I probably figured it was going to be the Falcons or the Cardinals, or the Commanders. The Lions actually make this pick look good when the selected Gibbs. This is not a running back league. There are too many quality backs that can be had in the middle rounds. The injuries and the life span of an NFL back does equate to high end first round pick.
The Packers: Not sure why Gute made such a big deal about the 13th pick if all you were going to do was take a defensive end that is raw. I like Van Ness similar to the way I like Jack Campbell, I like them enough to trade back and hope the are still there. If not I move on. Obviously you need a trade partner and the Packers might not have had one. The Packers have too many holes to use the 13th selection on a future pass rusher. He isn't going to play over Gary or Smith in 2023. He will get some snaps but this isn't a pick that is going to have a huge impact in 2023. The offense still lacks weapons and there is obviously a strategy in drafts for the Packers, they pretty much only take defensive players in the first round. I don't understand it and I really would like to hear the insight on why. I don't care for the nonsense about their board or how the draft fell. I struggled putting this as a miss, because his sisters are complete smoke shows and they will be strutting around GB for a while.
The Bills: I don't like trading up for Kincaid. I think he is one dimensional as tight end at the moment and obviously they are ok with that. I don't think the move was a back breaker, but they way this draft was unfolding it seemed that you could stay pat and get your guy.
The Commanders: Emmanuel Forbes has great speed and coverage abilities but he is under 170 pounds. Small Corners are usually around 185 pounds in the NFL. With Gonzalez on the board it seems like an interest reach for Forbes. I think he will be fine if he can manage to stay healthy.
The Jets: I love the fact that Will McDonald is a hometown kid. I coach with one of his high school coaches and its a great story with many connections. I just didn't see any board with him this high. I think he has the most potential of all the edges in this draft, but the laugh is really on Rodgers, he jumps from the Packers who seem to only take defensive players to the Jets who then take an edge rusher. They also have like 3 or 4 edge rushers already under contract.
