he NFL Draft took place from Thursday, April 24 to Saturday, April 26, and for what was considered one of the most unpredictable drafts in recent memory, there was lots of shockers and teams who capitalized on some falling prospects.
I would say most teams did a pretty good job at addressing their needs and focusing on gaps in their rosters, but some teams had some questionable draft choices.
Looking at 32 teams, I will be pinpointing a couple teams as winners and as losers, breaking down how their draft went and why this positively or negatively affects their futures.
Draft Winner: Las Vegas Raiders, Draft Grade- A
Picks- R1: Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State, R2: Jack Bech, WR, TCU, R3: Darien Porter, CB, Iowa State/ Caleb Rogers, OL, Texas Tech/ Charles Grant, OT, William & Mary, R4: Dont’e Thornton Jr., WR, Tennessee/ Tonka Hemingway, DT, South Carolina, R6: JJ Pegues, DT, Ole Miss/ Tommy Mellot, WR, Montana State/ Cam Miller, QB, North Dakota State, R7: Cody Lindenberg, LB, Minnesota.
The Raiders needed to improve their offense to keep up with the rest of the high-powered AFC West and succeeded with that after drafting Ashton Jeanty at 6. They continued to boost positions in day 2, as in round 3 they were able to draft guard Caleb Rogers and tackle Charles Grant on back-to-back picks at 98 and 99. In round six they drafted Montana State QB Tommy Mellot, but to play wide receiver, where I have heard people give him a Julian Edelman player comp if given the opportunity to play. My favorite pick personally was Jack Bech from TCU at pick 58, as he will compliment well with Jakobi Myers and give Vegas another young playmaker for Geno Smith.
Draft Winner: Seattle Seahawks, Draft Grade- A
Picks- R1: Grey Zabel, G, North Dakota State, R2: Nick Emmanwori, SAF, South Carolina/ Elijah Arroyo, TE, Miami, R3: Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama, R5: Rylie Mills, DT, Notre Dame/ Tory Horton, WR, Colorado State/ Robbie Ouzts, TE, Alabama, R6: Bryce Cabeldue, G, Kansas, R7: Damien Martinez, RB, Miami/ Mason Richman, OT, Iowa/ Ricky White III, WR, UNLV.
Seattle did a great job, especially with their first-round pick, drafting Grey Zabel who is a perfect schematic fit based on Zabel’s versatility to play anywhere on the line. For a team who had arguably the worst guard duo in the league last season. They continued a fantastic draft, getting an athletic monster in Nick Emmanwori at 35 and then getting Elijah Arroyo who has a huge upside. Jalen Milroe was my second favorite quarterback in the class, and Seattle was one of my favorite locations for him to end up, with their staff gaining more and more people from the Baltimore staff was around for Lamar Jackson’s development, who I see Milroe playing very similar to in college. Damien Martinez was a steal in round 7, Tory Horton was a steal in round 5. Seattle had arguably the best draft this year, improving their biggest concerns and looking towards the future for other positions.
Draft Loser: San Francisco 49ers, Draft Grade- C
Picks- R1: Mykell Williams, EDGE, Georgia, R2: Alfred Collins, DT, Texas, R3: Nick Martin, LB, Oklahoma State/ Upton Stout, CB, Western Kentucky. R4: CJ West, DT, Indiana/ Jordan Watkins, WR, Ole Miss, R5: Jordan James, RB, Oregon/ Marques Sigle, SAF, Kansas State, R7: Kurtis Rourke, QB, Indiana/ Connor Colby, G, Iowa/ Junior Bergen, WR, Montana.
The Niners went all on in drafting to stop the run. It was their biggest issue in 2024, and drafting Mykell Williams, Alfred Collins, and CJ West were great picks for San Fran. I also do like Jordan James given the successful development of previous running backs. My concern is that the rest of their picks were big reaches. Players like Nick Martin and Upton Stout in the third round are big experiments, as they are heavily relying on a great development in these boom or bust players. Only time will tell if I am wrong, but I am not a fan of what the 49ers did this draft.
Draft Loser: New Orleans Saints, Draft Grade- C+
Picks- R1: Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas, R2: Tyler Shough, QB, Louisville, R3: Vernon Broughton, DT, Texas/ Jonas Sanker, SAF, Virginia, R4: Danny Stutsman, LB, Oklahoma/ Quincy Riley, CB, Louisville, R6: Devin Neal, RB, Kansas, R7: Moliki Matavao, TE, UCLA/ Fadil Diggs, EDGE, Syracuse.
This could be me being a bit harsh towards my personal favorite team, but I was not a fan of the Saints draft. I don’t mind going Kelvin Banks Jr. in the first round because of the recent retirement of Ryan Ramczyk, but I went into the draft weekend with edge rusher as their biggest need, and they did not address it until their final pick, in which Fadil Diggs was good value for pick 254 but not an instant gamechanger. The pick that makes me scratch my head was Tyler Shough at 40th overall, in which I will say Kellen Moore obviously knows more about QBs than I do but picking a 26-year-old with 3 season ending injuries throughout college over a Bonafide top 10 prospect that slid in Will Johnson to become your next franchise corner makes no sense to me. I think the additions of Devin Neal and Danny Stutsman were excellent, but other than that this draft doesn’t wow me.
Draft Loser: Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
My final draft loser isn’t a team, but a player, as we might’ve just seen the biggest draft slide in NFL Draft history. Shedeur Sanders in my opinion was a top 40 prospect in the draft, and I thought there would be a lot of teams willing to trade into the late first round to get the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. Shedeur had himself a fantastic statistical season at Colorado in 2024, completing a nations-best 74% of his passes and finishing 8th in Heisman voting. However, he fell to the 5th round, going at pick 144 to the Cleveland Browns. Why did he fall? Well, it was publicly known that Sanders interviewed poorly with many teams and would purposely make himself look bad to teams he didn’t want to be drafted to. He would come unprepared to meetings, and his off the field presence and ego was a big reason for NFL GMs to pass on him. He missed out on a lot of money, and now will have to compete against Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel to get a shot at being the Browns starter for 2025.