NFL Draft 2016 Review: Panthers, Browns and Falcons are WORST
By Dan Salem
Who had the WORST weekend of the NFL Draft 2016? Three teams sit way below the league, as the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons all went home unhappy.
Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream, and debate sports.
TODD:
Earlier this week, we discussed who had the best time of things during the 2016 NFL Draft. I centered on the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills as my big winners from draft day. Your big winner was the San Diego Chargers. Hooray for positivity! Because now it’s time to examine the reverse: the teams that did the worst on draft weekend, either making bad picks, failing to address team needs or a combination of both.
My two losers of the NFL Draft are the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers. These two clubs entered (and exit) on completely different wavelengths as far as team talent and expectations are concerned, but that didn’t stop them from being lumped together here.
Atlanta had big needs on the defensive line in terms of finding pass rushing that it wasn’t able to address at all through seven rounds. It did add to the secondary and linebacker corps with its first two picks, but each of those selections felt like a reach. Keanu Neal was taken 17th overall at safety. His claim to fame is his big-hitting ability. He has other skills as well obviously, but does it make sense to grab him in the middle of the first round to play in a league that is siphoning out all big hits from defensive backs?
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Then with their second pick, the Falcons took Deion Jones, a linebacker-safety hybrid. Jones could also be considered a reach there, and since the team already took a safety at one, I’m not sure of the logic with Jones at two other than the fact that the defense needed to add some speed. The rest of their picks addressed some needs, but again, ignored defensive line.
Then there are the Panthers. Carolina is a good football team, but it has holes to fill. Instead of parsing out its resources, Carolina seemed to go all-in on replacing cornerback Josh Norman. The Panthers took CBs with their second, third and fourth picks, the latter of which came in the fifth round. Hey, how about this? How about just keep Norman on the franchise tag and have one of the best corners in the sport on your team instead?
Vernon Butler was a fine pick in the first round, but the Panthers essentially used the entire 2016 draft to replace Norman. If one guy comes through, good for them, but they could have had Norman and then, you know, used the draft to fill their roster. What a novel idea. The spot they ignored most egregiously was offensive line, which was the weakness that arguably lost the team the Super Bowl.
DAN:
The New Orleans Saints must be licking their chops. They put together an exceptional draft, while two of their division rivals stunk it up on draft weekend. The Panthers and Falcons both appear to have come up way short, but one other team deserves to get slapped with the honor of ‘worst draft’ as well. Unfortunately, they are not unaccustomed to being called such things.
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The Cleveland Browns had a total of 14 picks in the draft. They traded back in the first round, which was an excellent decision. But ultimately they drafted players that left me scratching my head. Of their 14 picks, five were wide receivers and one came in the first round. Corey Coleman out of Baylor might prove to be an excellent NFL player, but Cleveland has much bigger holes that could have been filled with that first round selection.
Cleveland took defensive lineman with their next two picks, yet in the first round considerably more talented players were available with the 15th pick. Shaq Lawson, Robert Nkemdiche and Vernon Butler were all still on the board. The Browns later used the first pick of rounds two and three to address the position.
If the team had a proven talent at quarterback, then perhaps throwing five new receivers at him might be beneficial for all parties. But the Browns have a reclamation project in RG III as well as newly drafted rookie Cody Kessler out of USC, a third round pick. Its unclear if Cleveland’s current quarterbacks will be able to consistently get the ball to the receivers. Why not draft some offensive lineman who can play right away? Or trade back up to get an instant impact player in round one?
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Its hard to criticize a 14 pick draft haul in its entirety, but I did not care for the way Cleveland went about making its picks. They filled their needs in a backwards manner and missed on utilizing all of those selections to get anyone that stands out as a true game changer. The Browns had one of the worst drafts because of it.