What Is The Draft?
More than eight million viewers will have tuned in for the NFL Draft in Philadelphia last night. The glitzy event is held once a year in which the NFL teams select eligible college football players to join their teams.
The basic premise of the draw is to give each team a pick in reverse order of their on the field success from the previous season. So the worst team gets first pick, best team gets last pick. The theory is that by doing this along with a salary cap, there isn't one team that can become all conquering and dominate for years and years like you would get traditionally in football or 'soccer'.
It's not quite as simple as that as there are opportunities for teams to trade draft positions but this is the basic methodology. Last night was the first draft of seven, where the best college players were assigned to clubs on multi-million dollar contracts.
The Cleveland Browns had overall first pick and as was widely predicted they plumbed for the Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett. The 21 year old is a man-mountain at 6ft 4in and weighs 270lbs. He's no slouch either as he can run 40 yards in just 4.64 seconds! The Browns will be hoping he can sure up a defense that saw them slump to a 1-15 record last season.
Cleveland also picked up Jabrill Peppers at Safety and David Njoku in the first round draft.
Bears Trade Up For Trubisky
The biggest surprise of the night came when the Chicago Bears traded up one spot to select NCU quarterback Mitch Trubisky. To say that Bears' fans were less than enthused with pick is a bit of an understatement...
Chicago have recently signed a QB Mike Glennon from Tampa Bay who will most probably be the starting QB next season so the signing of an inexperienced college player using such a valuable draft position seemed a bizarre move.
Money talks and although the quarterback will be putting it in for Chicago, some Bears fans won't be too impressed by Trubisky's allegiances to rivals Green Bay!
Elsewhere in the draft, Defensive End Solomon Thomas was snapped up by the San Francisco 49ers as third pick whilst Jacksonville Jaguars signed running back Leonard Fournette at four.
Patrick Mahomes was the second quarterback to be drafted with the Kansas City Chiefs using their 10th pick on a possible heir to Alex Smith.
Fancy A Taco?
One of the most eye-catching draft picks was Taco Charlton at Dallas Cowboys who is sure to be popular with the fans.
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted linebacker TJ Watt, brother of Houston Texan legend JJ Watt and the pair are set to meet on Christmas Day next season.
In a more sinister story the Oakland Raiders picked up Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley at #24, despite being involved in an ongoing rape investigation. It's a risk for the Raiders who cearly believe in the player's innocence and there are rumours that the Raiders had Conley take a polygraph before the draft which he passed!
It's all part of the rich tapestry of the NFL Draft!
