2012 NFL Draft - Day 2 - Round 2-3

First recapping what happened yesterday. Below is the selections by all the teams in the first round.

Colts - Andrew Luck QB
Redskins - Robert Griffin III QB
Browns - Trent Richardson RB
Vikings - Matt Kalil OT
Jaguars - Justin Blackmon WR
Cowboys - Morris Claiborne CB
Buccaneers - Mark Barron SS
Dolphins - Ryan Tannehill QB
Panthers - Luke Kuechly ILB
Bills - Stephon Gilmore CB
Chiefs - Dontari Poe DT
Eagles - Fletcher Cox DT
Cardinals - Michael Floyd WR
Rams - Michael Brockers DT
Seahawks - Bruce Irvin DE
Jets - Quinton Coples DE
Bengals - Dre Kirkpatrick CB
Chargers - Melvin Ingram DE
Bears - Shea McClellin DE
Titans - Kendall Wright WR
Patriots - Chandler Jones DE
Browns - Brandon Weeden QB
Lions - Riley Reiff OT
Steelers - David DeCastro G
Patriots - Dont'a Hightower ILB
Texans - Whitney Mercilus DE
Bengals - Kevin Zeitler G
Packers - Nick Perry DE
Vikings - Harrison Smith FS
49ers - A.J. Jenkins WR
Buccaneers - Doug Martin RB
Giants - David Wilson RB

This was a very interesting round with lots of excitement. There were a number of 'reaches' in the draft so far. Poe, Irvin and Weeden all went earlier than they probably should have but we will see. Just be glad Pete Carroll isn't running our team. Chandler Jones went to the Patriots, I think that is a great spot for him, I just hope they don't try and play him at OLB.

There were numerous trades throughout the draft, the Browns, Jags, Patriots and Cowboys traded up among others. The Broncos were one of the teams trading down doing so twice. First with the Patriots from 25# to 31# and picking up a fourth round pick in the process. The Patriots took Hightower at 25#. The way I see this is the Broncos had limited options here. They didn't want to reach for a guy but wanted to move back and the Patriots may have been one of the few trade partners (who else would want to trade to that spot?). Plus the pick itself Hightower would have been stupid for the Broncos. He has slow lateral movement and is a banger. There is no way he would have succeed in a 4-3. With the Pats he will play well.

The next trade happened when the Buccaneers moved from 36# to 31#. The Broncos changed fourth round picks with them and made up 25 spots in the fourth round. The value isn't great and we could possibly have got more or this could have been the best offer available. Either way we are still in a good position to pick good players. Also of note Elway said that the Bucs did not tell him they were taking Martin. Secretly I think he was pissed.

That leaves us with the following picks:

SECOND ROUND:

#36(4) From Tampa Bay
#57(25) Own Pick

THIRD ROUND:

#87(25) Own Pick

FOURTH ROUND:

#101 (6) From Tampa Bay
#108 (13) From N.Y. Jets
#120 (25) Own Pick

FIFTH:

#137 (2) From St. Louis

SIXTH:

#188 (18) From N.Y. Jets

Elway said this among other things at his press conference: "Well, we didn’t get any better yet but we will tomorrow. When we looked at where we were, obviously we had some guys targeted that didn’t quite make it to us in 25, so we had some opportunities to move back with New England to pick up a fourth. We liked that, thought that was great. Then, when we had a chance to move back from 31 to 36 with Tampa again, our board looked the same. We thought we’d be able to get the same people at 36 that we could at 31—or have the same pool of players there at 36 as we did at 31. By doing that we moved up 25 spots to the top of the fourth, which we really believe this is a deep draft. It’s not real thick at the top, but it’s pretty deep through the middle rounds. We thought by adding another good pick it gives us more options going into tomorrow. Plus we’ll still be able to get the same people that we had targeted that made it to us at 25 at 36. We’re excited about the day. Obviously it’s a little bit of a downer when you don’t have a new player. But, we’re excited about where we sit and the next two days are going to be exciting."

Competition Update

I have graded the first part of the draft competition. I will probably award a few extra points later based on trades but at the moment out in front is Digger on 35 followed closely by Jazzy with 30 points and in a distant third myself on 15 points. I will say this, I changed my submission just before the draft started and could account for 15 missed points based on those changes. The Browns trade threw me, screw you Browns! Either way I think that was a fairly solid effort by us but there is still room for improvement (since the first section is scored out of 160). Tomorrow will Digger rein supreme or will Jazzy catch him and take the lead. Or the distant underdog rise from the ashes to take victory? Find out tomorrow as the draft moves into the second day and hopefully we get some new Broncos ~ Aussie.