The Cleveland Browns shocked everyone by taking Baker Mayfield with the first pick. Okay, that is probably the most Browns thing to do ever, but I am not going to sit here and say how horrible of a pick it was for them. I said back in January that I thought Mayfield was the best QB of the bunch and I stand by that claim. If you read what I actually wrote though, I did not think this was a very good QB draft class. I definitely would not take any of them #1 (and I still think the Browns should have went with Barkley and then signed Kaepernick, but whatever). I also need to clarify that I am not claiming that Mayfield will be the best of the bunch, I have written a good deal about how I think there are plenty of things that go into QB evaluation and development. He could very well end up being a bust. Josh Rosen could end up being a HOF QB. I am just saying from watching games these past few years, Baker Mayfield was the best. In my opinion.
I was actually pretty close with my QB rankings. I had Mayfield, Rosen, Darnold, Allen, Jackson, Rudolph…and they ended up going: Mayfield, Darnold, Allen, Rosen, Jackson, Rudolph. All of the things I said about those quarterbacks are still valid points. I also was pretty excited that I predicted the Jackson pick almost exactly (I said either second round or very late first round…). I even predicted the Rudolph round. My success rate is pretty much as good as Mel Kiper.
Saquon Barkley went to the New York Giants with the second pick. I am happy for him. I did not want to see him go to Cleveland. I mean, if he ended up being awesome and Browns became good, ugh, then I would have to root against him. OR if the Browns did their typical Browns thing and somehow screwed him up, then I would be sad that such a talent was wasted. Much better that he plays for the Giants, who I do not hate and since I have a bunch of friends who are Giants fans, I can be happy for them (looking at James & Gideon). Also, I hope to see Saquon run for like 250 against the Eagles at some point (or every game).
Back to Mason Rudolph…I loved this pick by the Steelers. I said in that post that I really liked watching him. He has the size to be an NFL QB and maybe a year or two behind Ben could prepare him for the job. Like I said back then, he is a project and if he works out, then the Steelers could have a franchise quarterback. Remember that drive I talked about in some other post (or perhaps on Facebook)? Well Rudolph seems to have that desire to win or at least to prove that he is good enough. Sometimes that is what it takes to succeed. I am looking at you Case Keenum. People say you are not good enough, some people buy into it, while others push themselves to prove those people wrong. Hopefully Mason Rudolph is one of those guys.
Some quick fun facts about the draft
-Alabama had 12, whereas LSU, OSU, and NC State had 7. Penn State had six players drafted.
-Humboldt State had one player drafted (in the 3rd round!). Congrats to Alex Cappa, who has to be the highest drafted player in Lumberjacks history, right? Kudos to anyone who had him on their draft board.
-Jordan Mailata was drafted despite not playing football. He is a rugby player. Did he enter the draft? Can rugby teams draft American football players? Imagine if you are a college football player and some Australian rugby team calls and says “hey mate, we just drafted you in the fourth round. Practice starts on Thursday, see ya then!” Be pretty crazy.
