by PigskinMT
Posted 2 years ago
Ryan Pace is lucky to still be employed. His tendency to clearly overpay for middle of the road talent, aging vets, and the entire Mitch Trubisky debacle probably should have cost the young GM his job (after all, in his 6 years in Chicago he's had ONE season above .500). However last night Pace hit an absolute home run. Make no doubt about it Justin Fields is the second best, if not the best QB prospect in this draft. And the Pace, seeing an opportunity to FINALLY fix the QB position, only gave up the No. 20 pick and a fifth-round pick this year and first- and fourth-round picks in 2021 to move up to draft Fields.
In two seasons at Ohio State after transferring from Georgia, Fields completed 68.4% of his passes for 244.2 yards per game while throwing 63 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran for 867 yards on four yards per carry en route to winning Offensive Player of the Year honors during both of his seasons at Ohio State. Fields combines an elite arm strength, size, athleticism, and accuracy that should have had him in consideration with being the first player drafted. He is an elite big play QB, who has performed under the brightest lights extremely well; highlighted by his performance in a showdown against first pick, Trevor Lawrence, and Clemson. In that game he led Ohio State to a 49-28 victory while throwing for 385 yards with six touchdowns and an interception.
Landing Fields, an NFL ready QB with every tool, was without a doubt the best draft pick of the draft.
Other winners from night one are Jacksonville Jaguars, but again with the number one pick and an elite QB talent on the board you were a winner coming in. The Patriots, Mac Jones is a patriot QB. Smart, accurate, however not the most athletic (sound like anyone?). If there is a team that will design an offense around Mac Jones its the Patriots. He isn't a natural talent that would be successful everywhere, but the Patriots at 15 got a guy I think is the 3rd or 4th best QB in the draft. (Just FYI my rankings: Lawrence, Fields, Wilson, Jones, Lance). And Belichick got his quarterback in the middle of the first round without having to trade up. That's a pretty good night. The Patriots hit, if not a homerun, a base clearing triple.
Also the Minnesota Vikings. Christian Darrisaw at 23 is probably the steal of the draft. Teams like the Raiders, should fire their entire front office, but Darrisaw is easily the 2nd best offensive OT in the draft.
Night one of the draft has come to an end. For QB needy teams like the Jags, Bears and Patriots; they did well to address the most important position on the field with high end prospects; and with the Patriots doing so without making a trade and the Bears moving from 20 to 11 without giving up too much are huge gains for both teams. And for the Vikings, a team that is always in the conversation for break out to be able to gain picks, while also adding an elite offensive lineman is huge. Those to me are the teams that hit it out of the park on night one, we will see what today brings and if these teams can keep injecting talent.
Topic: Sports
Tags: NFL draft Chicago Bears Minnesota Vikings New England Patriots Justin Fields Mac Jones Christian Darrisaw Draft Winners