The first round of this NFL draft was electrifying and full of surprises. A lot of trades were made where teams select the player that they think will impact their team in a positive way in the long run.

  For instance Baker Mayfield, who was the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, was the 4th ranked quarterback in the draft. Days before the draft, he was predicted to get drafted in the middle of the first round; yet Mayfield ended up becoming the first overall pick in the draft. The Cleveland Browns also had the fourth pick and drafted Denzel Ward, who is a cornerback out of Ohio State University and was the number one ranked cornerback in the draft. Saquon Barkley who was the closest prospect to a perfect player, was drafted second by the New York Giants. The Jets then drafted the quarterback who was predicted to get drafted first, Sam Darnold.

The Broncos drafted the best defensive player out of the entire draft. Bradley Chubb who set a school record of 26, for the most sacks in a career.  Chubb can also play two positions as well, and still be dominant on the field. He can play OLB, and DE. However this upcoming season Vance Joseph, the Broncos Head Coach, said he might make Chubb play that Outside Linebacker spot. Sadly,his body weight is 268 so he might have to cut a couple of pounds to be a little more mobile.                                                       

Later in the draft, Derrius Guice who was the second ranked running back in the nation, fell to the 59th pick in the draft which is the beginning of the end of the second round. Draft predictions said he would go mid to late first round. The reason for his drop in the draft was because he was not showing up to pre-draft meetings. This makes coaches believe they are putting in time and effort into a player, that wouldn’t do the same for his team.

Moving on to, in many people’s eyes, the best part of the draft, when Shaquem Griffin, a linebacker who has only ONE hand, was drafted by the Seahawks in the fifth round and was 141st overall pick. Not only did he get to play with his brother at UCF,  he now gets to play with his brother in the NFL on the same team! Griffin lost his hand at the age of 4 and has been grinding through this journey to make it to the NFL. This shows that if you put your mind towards anything and you work towards it can happen.

 A lot of players who were expected to go early in the draft went later than expected, such as Arden Key.  He is a defensive end coming out of LSU and was a first round talent drafted in the third round by the Raiders. This years, “Mr.Irrevelant” which is the last pick in the NFL draft was Wide Receiver Trey Quinn, (pick 257) who played for LSU and SMU.  He is the all time high school leader in the most reception yards. These are only some of the highlights of the 2018 NFL Draft. Football fans, lets get ready to enjoy one heck of a season soon to come!