Well the NFL draft has come and gone. All NFL fans love the last few months because of how it gives them a taste of football without any actual football. Teams rebuilding and recharging up for the chance to hoist a Lombardi trophy in the upcoming season gets fans excited.
During the draft there was plenty of college stars that got drafted from rounds 1-7. Some with good fits and others with not so good. Sometimes fit means everything whether that is opportunity or the scheme the player was drafted into. Let’s take a look at a few players I thought went to good fits and bad fits with reasoning behind them all.
Firstly, we’ll go over some players with good fits in their new team setting. First one might seem like a gimme but it’s never that easy on the draft but I’m going with Cam Ward to the Titans. Reason I say this is because of Coach Callahan at the helm and how much he helped Joe Burrow when he was first getting accustomed to the NFL life.
Ward has similar qualities to Joe Burrow with his play style and leadership abilities. Callahan will implement that quick hitter, move the chains play calling that will do wonders for his new starting quarterback. Receivers and running backs aren’t the best for him at this point but definitely serviceable with an kid veterans to be productive. T
he offensive line isn’t too bad as well so I would say this was one of the better situations for him to go into surprisingly out of most teams towards the top of the draft order.
Next player is Luther Burden in Chicago with Ben Johnson.
This will be Johnson’s new weapon that he can get his hands on during his first year on the job. He had a plethora of weapons in Detroit being able to utilize everyone in different ways. This will be good for his creative mindset to just get Burden the ball in multiple ways knowing he’s a playmaker and not just designating him to receiver duties.
Another player to mention is RJ Harvey in Denver. They’re might’ve been more running backs higher up on draft boards then him but he will have both the opportunity and skill set to thrive in Denver. Without much competition behind him and having Coach Payton in his corner, I don’t see how he won’t get every chance to prove his worth as the starter. They spent a premium second round pick on him so they clearly believe in him as well.
Last player I’ll talk about is Nick Emmanwori on the Seattle Seahawks. His utility tendencies, aka being able to play deep safety or near the line of scrimmage, is perfect for Coach MacDonald to use him to his highest potential. People think he’s just a big, athletic freak that can mainly thump as a nickel backer but he actually had 4 interceptions this past year proving he can maneuver in the secondary playing skis coverage throughout.
He can ballhawk or play physical football near the line of scrimmage which Coach MacDonald wil love. There is more players I can deep dive about but we’ll stick to those four for the time being. Hopefully they live up to their full potentials and become stars.
Next we’ll talk about player/team fits I don’t think were great for the player. First up I’ll mention Colston Loveland in Chicago. I fully believe in his ability but this is more of the opportunity side of things and when his time will come to be a star. Chicago already has Cole Kmet and a loaded receiver room, that also added Burden previously mentioned above. Caleb Williams can only get the guys so many receptions and targets. Great for Williams to have this amount of weapons on offense but not so good for his teammates fighting for looks.
I will bring up the Shedeur Sanders and Cleveland Browns situation now. Sanders might’ve seemed like great value at the spot he was drafted but him getting drafted at the spot he did and team he did might cause more rift. Deion has already started some drama about this entire thing unfolding. Browns drafted Dillon Gabriel a round before and also have two other veteran quarterbacks on the roster. Sanders’ tactics won’t fly in the NFL and it will be extremely interesting to see how he fares under a new coach for the first time since middle school.
Last player I’ll mention is Savion Williams from TCU. He was drafted by the Packers in round 3 and although I like his potential playmaking ability, his fit in Green Bay is muddy. Green Bay already had a good amount of solid receivers on the roster and also drafted Matthew Golden in the first round. High investment in Golden and this was the first time they drafted a receiver in the first round in over 20+ years. It will be interesting to see how Coach Lafleur will use his skill set but this is another situation that is more crowded for the player to get more touches.
Great players discussed today and hopefully the reasons for/against the pairings of their teams all makes sense. I believe all these players have a lot of potential and can definitely see the ones I put under the “bad” pairing sections proving me wrong seizing their opportunities once they get them. Sad to see the main part of the off-season come to a close only looking forward to training camp at this point. Exciting to see the new improvements for each team and getting max potential out of all acquisitions.