The 1st round of this years NFL draft became something of a trading free for all with a number of teams choosing to move up to grab their coveted player.
Before the draft the Redskins had already moved to No 2 with the Rams to get Robert Griffin III and the Rams were to trade again eventually picking 14th.
The one which really surprised us was Cleveland moving ahead of the Vikings to get Trent Richardson , who in all probability would have fallen to them at 4 anyway as it was no secret that the Vikings wanted Matt Kalil, The only possible explanation was that someone may have been hinting on a trade with Minnesota, however we have no doubts that the Vikings got the best of this deal getting their man and also picks 118, 139 and 211 from the Browns.
Minnesota made some use of these by trading back into the 1st round taking Baltimore’s 29 pick to acquire Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith. They had to give up their sec0nd and fourth round picks, but since they got a free fourth round pick from the Browns it looks a good deal.
Jacksonville decided to move up to get a badly needed WR in Justin Blackmon and only giving up pick 101 means this was not too bad a deal.
Dallas gave up their second round pick to the Rams in exchange for Morris Claiborne who will be a big help in their leaky secondary in 2012, while divisional rivals Philadelphia also got caught up in the trading fever moving from 15 to 12 to get defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. So three out of the four NFC East teams traded up this draft.
Possibly the biggest surprise of the day though was when the normally dow trading Patriots decided to move up not once but twice! First they moved from 27 to 21 to take Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones, and then they traded their no 31 pick to Denver for the no 25 where they got a great deal in acquiring Alabama inside linebacker Dont’a Hightower.
Then just as you though there could be no more trading the Broncos decided to join the Ravens in trading out of the 1st round all together swapping their newly acquired pick 31 plus their pick 126 in the 4th round with Tampa in exchange for pick 36 and pick 101 which Tampa got from the Jags. Whew what a trading roundabout!!!
Anyway here is how the 1st round finally panned out:
1 Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck QB
2 Washington Redskins Redskins Robert Griffin III QB
3 Cleveland Browns Trent Richardson RB
4 Minnesota Vikings Matt Kalil OT
5 Jacksonville Jaguars Justin Blackmon WR
6 Dallas Cowboys Morris Claiborne CB
7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Mark Barron SS
8 Miama Dolphins Ryan Tannehill QB
9 Carolina Panthers Luke Kuechly ILB
10 Buffalo Bills Stephon Gilmore CB
11 Kansas City Chiefs Dontari Poe DT
12 Philadelphia Eagles Fletcher Cox DT
13 Arizona Cardinals Michael Floyd WR
14 St Louis Rams Michael Brockers DT
15 Seattle Seahawks Bruce Irvin DE
16 New York Jets Quinton Coples DE
17 Cincinnatti Bengals Dre Kirkpatrick CB
18 San Diego Chargers Melvin Ingram DE
19 Chicago Bears Shea McClellin DE
20 Tennessee Titans Kendall Wright WR
21 New England Patriots Chandler Jones DE
22 Cleveland Browns Brandon Weeden QB
23 Detroit Lions Riley Reiff OT
24 Pittsburgh Steelers David DeCastro G
25 New England Patriots Dont’a Hightower ILB
26 Houston Texans Whitney Mercilus DE
27 Cincinnatti Bengals Kevin Zeitler G
28 Green Bay Packers Nick Perry DE
29 Minnesota Vikings Harrison Smith FS
30 San Francisco 49ers A.J. Jenkins WR
31 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Doug Martin RB
32 New York Giants David Wilson RB