I’ve not looked at any news yet. Turned on the nfl gamepass and luckily they have the Day 1 coverage right there above everything else. Let’s dive right in.

1.1 – Jaguars – EDGE Travon Walker – no surprise there, that’s what was being reported the last couple of days.

1.2 – Lions – EDGE Aidan Hutchinson – they keep adding cornerstones to their team. Getting a high motor home town player is great for the theam.

1.3 – Texans – CB Derek Stingley – The first surprise of the draft! did not see him going over Sauce Gardner with his injury concerns and not having elite production over the last two years.

1.4 – Jets – CB Sauce Gardner – Thought he would be going around here, just thought he would be the first CB. He is going to lock people down in the NFL. He is a great locker room guy and a professional. Great pick for the Jets.

1.5 – Giants – EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux – The next surprise! I thought the OTs would start going here. He has personality for days and the fastest getoff in the draft. He is a good fit for the Giants.

1.6 – Panthers – OT Ikem Ekwonu – so glad they didn’t go QB. Bolstering their OL was big need, solid pick.

1.7 – Giants – OT Evan Neal – Here is the OT to the Giants, no surprise here.

1.8 – Falcons – WR Drake London – They really needed receiver with Jones leaving a year ago and Ridley having his issues.

1.9 – Seahawks – OT Charles Cross – For once they make a smart decision. Over the past years they have overdrafted on a lot of players and positions and ignored OL. This guy is the smart pick with no QB being good enough to go here. Adding a cornerstone for the post-Wilson era.

1.10 – Jets – WR Garett Wilson – No surprise here either. It was rumored that this pick had been offered to the 49ers for Deebo Samuel. With that trade not happening it makes sense for a WR to go off the board here.

1.11 – Commanders – TRADE – Saints – WR Chris Olave – Interesting. I thought they would move up for a QB and I have to admit that I did not evaluate these top WRs enough to tell you if I think this is a good pick.

1.12 – Vikings – TRADE – Lions – WR Jamison Williams – Interesting! They trade up 20 places for a WR. I have to say it’s smart squadbuilding not to move up for a QB because their squad isn’t there yet, but again, usually if a team moves up that much, its for a QB.

1.13 – Eagles – DT Jordan Davis – This was the expected pick. Heir-apparent to Fletcher Cox.

1.14 – Ravens – S Kyle Hamilton – This is a ridiculously good fit. Love the player and adding him to a strong Secondary is nice.

1.15 – Texans – G Kenyon Green – Was not expecting this. Strong and solid player, but I saw him later in the in the first or in the 2nd round.

1.16 – Commanders – WR Johan Dotson – The 5th WR! and all in the top half of the draft. Great hands guy. Might mean that we get some extra WRs later in the 1st that we didn’t expect.

1.17 – Me – TRADE – Steelers – I move down to 20 + Pick 52 and the Steelers move up, I believe to jump the Saints for a QB.

1.17 – Chargers – G Zion Johnson – Great pick for them. Zion Johnson is another consumate professional. looks after his body and makes sure he is in peak form to play his best ball every day. Former golfer. The interesting thing about this is that if the Patriots wanted to go for him they may now go for Raiman if they don’t go LB.

1.18 – Eagles – TRADE – Titans – WR Treylon Burks – having traded away Hollywood Brown it makes sense to pick his replacement. Daniel Jeremiah had Brown as the comp for Burks.

1.19 – Saints – OT Trevor Penning – Great pick, but a bit of a surprise for me. I thought they would pick a QB. Nasty blocker.

1.20 – Me – TRADE – Bills – I decide to shake it up here from what I had in my predicted trades. DT Wyatt and CB McDuffie are still available as well a couple of EDGE defenders. Bills decide to trade up to make a great team even better and get their guy. I get pick 25 + 57.

1.20 – Steelers – QB Kenny Pickett – Pickett gets to stay where he studied. The Steelers get the guy they wanted all along without moving. Well played. Will this start a run on QBs?

1.21 – Patriots – TRADE – Chiefs – CB Trent McDuffie – Good addition for the Chiefs. Shame for me, with them having traded up my next trade down wont be realistic.

1.22 – Packers – LB Quay Walker – he was a player who was hyped the last couple of days to go round 1, great physical traits.

1.23 – Ravens – TRADE – Bills – CB Kaiir Elam – The Bills do trade up and they do go for a CB. Maybe this is what they always wanted, to me is seems a bit desperate with McDuffie off the board. They should have traded with me.

1.24 – Cowboys – OT Tyler Smith – The cowboys do what they do best: adding OLinemen. Smith is a big talent.

1.25 – Me – its a bit difficult now because there are no trade down scenarios that are realistic anymore. Would the Jets or the Seahawks package up their two picks at the top of round 2 to trade back in? Do I want to trade completely out of the first? After a long debate I’m going to to decide not to trade down and instead go for a player I am sure on, even if it ends up being a reach – C Tyler Linderbaum – Love his athleticism, love his nasty streak, love his wrestling background and most of all i love the comp. to Jason Kelce. Improving a strength is never a bad thing. I just hope he doesnt go in the mid 2nd like Creed Humphrey last year.

1.25 – Ravens – C Tyler Linderbaum – What a lucky situation for me!!! Good job there weren’t any more good tradedowns. There was some talk of the Hawkeye link win Yanda, but i didn’t expect the NFL to value the position so highly.

1.26 – Titans – TRADE – Jets – The jets do move back up! – EDGE Jermaine Johnson – He was valued very highly by a lot of people. To get him at 1.26 is a win.

1.27 – Buccaneers – Trade – Jaguars – LB Devin Lloyd – another player that was valued very highly and goes way later than his talent because of his position and the depth in the draft.

1.28 – Packers – DT Devonte Wyatt – great player to a great team. I was hoping he would drop into the 2nd round and for a minute was considering a trade up, but glad I stuck. A lot of Packers probably want a WR, but this was the right choice valuewise.

1.29 – Patriots – G Cole Strage – I have to admit that I wasn’t looking at many mid-round Guards. Not many guards at all to be honest. But this feels like a Patriots pick going for their guy.

1.30 – Cheifs – EDGE George Karlaftis – His fall drops here. I think he is a very very solid player. He might not explode but he will produce consisstenly.

1.31 – Bengals – DB Dax Hill – A lot of people thought he might be going to the Buccaneers, great slot player.

1.32 – Vikings – S Lewis Cine – Hard hitting dude with good range.

Thoughts

• Sometimes being unlucky can be lucky. If the Chiefs and Lions hadn’t traded up I would have probably traded down with one of them and missed out on Linderbaum.
• Trades and Receivers, two things we had a lot of. I said we would have 5, we had 6! we also had 9 trades and all outside of the top 10.
• Only 1 QB drafted so far. That’s very good for me, because it means, that Matt Corral is still available, as well as a couple of QBs, which others regard higher.
• Being a Seahawks fan, I am happy with what they did with their draft. No unnecessary tradebacks, no overdrafted players and no round 1 QB (which goes with the previous point). Cross was just a solid business decision.

My haul

I left the first round with the following:

• C Tyler Linderbaum

• Picks 52 and 57

I have to say that overall I am happy. My ideal situation was picking up a couple more picks and still getting Linderbaum, but I really can’t complain with the situation and maybe that was a bit unrealistic.

Grade: A