Brandon Weeden At 28 years, 195 days, he became the oldest player ever taken in the first round of the modern NFL draft. He was selected in the same MLB draft as Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson and one of the main characters from "Moneyball".
Once the NFL draft got past quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, it was like a day on Wall Street. Everybody wanted to make a trade.
The wheeling and dealing started even before the Colts opened the proceedings as expected Thursday night by taking Luck and the Redskins followed by selecting RG3.
Behind closed doors, general managers around the league were gabbing away, jockeying to position their teams to land the most coveted player on their draft board.
When it was over, there were eight trades involving 12 of the league's 32 teams and draftniks breathlessly trying to keep up with the organized mayhem. It all started when Minnesota swapped its No. 3 choice for Cleveland's No. 4 pick. The Browns, who also gave up a fourth, fifth and seventh-rounder, desperately wanted Alabama running back Trent Richardson. The Vikings still got the guy they sought in Southern California tackle Matt Kalil.
Weeden was selected with the No. 22 pick by the Browns. He'll join third-overall pick Trent Richardson as rookies likely tasked with getting Cleveland back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Weeden is expected to enter training camp as the team's starting quarterback, especially in light of recent quotes from Browns GM Tom Heckert in which he said the team would consider trading McCoy.
The Oklahoma State quarterback didn't make our list of the 50 best draft prospects, but he earned praise from scouts for his quick release and accuracy.
Browns fans scared off by Weeden's age can take solace in one fact: He's not as old as Chris Weinke was when he was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2001. The Florida State quarterback was older than Weeden by three months, but went in the fourth round, not the first.
A third quarterback went eighth where Miami stayed put. The Dolphins took Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, who played wide receiver for most of his time in college. His coach at A&M, Mike Sherman, is the Dolphins offensive coordinator.
Carolina selected Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, the nation's leading tackler. Buffalo chose cornerback Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina and Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe went to Kansas City before the next trade occurred.
Philadelphia moved up from 15 to 12, giving Seattle two later picks, then took Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd went to Arizona, then the Rams finally got involved, taking LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers.
New England's first deal was with Cincinnati to get Syracuse DE Chandler Jones at No. 21, and the second was with Denver to draft Crimson Tide linebacker Dont'a Hightower at No. 25.

No comments:
Post a Comment