NFL 
/ Andy Richmond / 29 April 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Prince Amukamara moved to the New York Giants
"Those surprises at the top end of the draft created some excellent value lower down with Detroit (Nick Fairley), Minnesota (Christian Ponder), St Louis Rams (Robert Quinn) and the New York Giants (Prince Amukamara) all far better players than their position in round one of the draft would suggest."
Cam Newton ended up at the Carolina Panthers as expected but there a few other surprises elsewhere. Andy Richmond gives us the lowdown on Thursday night's action.
With so much of the "action" in the NFL of late taking place in the law courts (as the owners and players' labour dispute rumbles on) it was edifying to see some events which may affect the 2011 NFL season on the pitch take place on Thursday night as the 2011 NFL Draft got underway.
As things stand it's only the end of Round One and therefore hard to judge the overall quality but in some ways the draft mirrored last season and got a little crazy at times. The offence-driven NFL saw the draft become quarterback heavy, with four going in the first 12 picks.
There were no surprises in the first three picks - the much hyped or vaunted Cam Newton went to the Carolina Panthers to address their quarterback problems although on a side which went 2-14 last season, he'll need to live up to his billing to get them anywhere near the play-offs. Don't get me wrong on Newton, he is a huge raw talent but that's the key word - raw - and he will have to learn quickly in the NFL. And that's something which I'm not sure he can do. Time is the one thing that he doesn't have to learn how to become an NFL quarterback and the skills that go with it is a huge ask on one year's college experience.
Three other signal callers were taken in the first round to equal the four taken in the 2004 draft, although it remains to be seen whether these four measure up to the class of '04 (Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger and J.P Losman). The surprising pick amongst this bunch was Jake Locker going to the Titans especially with two (in my opinion) better options in Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert available. Those two found homes in Minnesota and Jacksonville respectively and completed the quarterback stampede in the first round.
Picks two and three were the property of Denver and Buffalo - they both had defensive problems , amongst others, to fix. Denver took Von Miller to address their pass rush issues but surely they would have been better to take Marcell Dareus who the Bulls seized upon gratefully. Dareus will really help with their run defence which was ranked 32nd in the NFL last season. The Broncos may have got the worst end of this deal.
For my money the best pick in the top five came at number five where Cardinals drafted cornerback Patrick Peterson. Combine him with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Arizona have the ultimate coverage package.
Beyond that top five there were some very strange decisions that came out of the draft "war rooms" - in fact they flew in the face of most of the mock drafts that I had seen. Possibly the strangest and the riskiest was the Atlanta Falcons trading up to get wide receiver Julio Jones, that cost them a package of five future draft picks, including their first round-pick in 2012. It gives then two go-to receivers but leaves then still weak defensively and that's where they were expected to strengthen in the draft - whilst not season defining, it is a brave pick.
Those surprises at the top end of the draft created some excellent value lower down with Detroit (Nick Fairley), Minnesota (Christian Ponder), St Louis Rams (Robert Quinn) and the New York Giants (Prince Amukamara) all far better players than their position in round one of the draft would suggest.
Two notable absences from Round One were Clemson defensive end Da'Quan Bowers and Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett; both will surely be snapped up early on in the next round. Injury and attitude doubts respectively holding them back on this occasion.
The strength and success of the draft will ultimately be defined by results during the 2011 season as long as the current dispute is solved - my initial feelings are that those who had the earlier picks will need a lot more than these singular selections to turn their seasons around and those with a solid base from last season are more likely to maintain their form.
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