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The first round of the NFL draft came and went in a little over 3.5 hours on Thursday night. There weren’t many surprises early on, but by the end of the night there was plenty left to debate. Here are some quick takes.
BENGALS FINALLY HAVE A TE
Nearly every mock draft out there had the Cincinnati Bengals grabbing Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham. The 6-foot-5, 261-pounder has a great combination of speed, size and strength. He has Pro Bowl potential, but durability is a concern. He missed all of 2009 with a knee injury. Gresham will need to shake off some rust and offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski will need to figure out to use him, but overall I like the pick.
BRADFORD HANDED KEYS TO FRANCHISE
The St. Louis Rams surprised no one as they took Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the No. 1 overall pick. While Bradford is a solid choice, I don’t see him ever being a star player. St. Louis has so many holes the cards will be stacked against Bradford being successful right off the bat.
LIONS ON THE MOVE
Don’t look now, but the Detroit Lions are a team on the rise. After a surprising splash in free agency, the Motown Kitties walked away a huge winner from the draft’s first day. They landed the draft’s biggest impact player with DT Ndamukong Suh going to them with the second overall pick. Then they traded back into the end of Round 1 and grabbed Cal running back Jahvid Best, who fits the team’s system perfectly.
TRADES GALORE
Speaking of trades there were a quite a few on Thursday night. In total, seven deals were consummated with the Denver Broncos being involved in four of those trades. With a whole day in between rounds, expect plenty more dealing ahead.
MCDANIELS CONTINUES TO BAFFLE
After running both Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall out of town, Broncos’ head coach Josh McDaniels is certainly leaving his stamp. The defining move of his career though could very well be trading back in to the first round to grab Florida quarterback Tim Tebow with the 25th overall pick.
SOONERS, BIG 12 MAKE HISTORY
Oklahoma becomes the first school in history to have three of the first four picks in the NFL’s modern era. The Big 12 also became the first conference since the SEC in 1945 to have the top four draft picks come from the same conference.
FANTASY FODDER
Fantasy owners should take a note of three first-round picks that could make an immediate impact. Running backs C.J. Spiller (Bills – No. 9) and Ryan Matthews (Chargers – No. 12) along with wide receiver Dez Bryant (Cowboys – No. 24) should all be hot names in upcoming fantasy drafts this August.
MORE LINKS
--Complete Draft Summary
--Trade Tracker
--Clayton: First Round Winners & Losers
--Hobson: Bengals Get TE
--Prisco: Tebow Career Suicide
--New Format A Hit
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College Football, Fantasy Football, NFL
2010 nfl draft, 2010 nfl draft round 1, cincinnati bengals