It would be hard to argue against the NFC East having had the best first round of any of the eight divisions on Thursday. What a difference a day makes.
After all four teams made solid picks, and the Eagles all but stole the round with two defensive linemen from a championship team, Friday’s effort was a dud. At least as far as the second round is concerned.
The Commanders reached, and reached hard, to draft a defensive back. They only skipped over a few much more talented players at the position.
The Giants and Cowboys both picked somewhat elderly players with their lone picks in the round. The Eagles traded out of the round altogether, although they mitigated the damage somewhat by positioning themselves for back-to-back picks early in the third round.
If Thursday night was a solid “A” for the division’s drafting, Friday is going to have to come in as a “C+”. We’ll see if the division can rebound in the third round. The good news? It’s a low bar to clear. Now on to the picks:
The Great Overreach
Washington had the division’s first pick of the second round on Friday. And to be honest, I think they reached, hard. I know Riverboat Ron Rivera wants to fix his defense, but they might have overplayed their hand with this pick.
The Commanders selected defensive back Jartavius Martin out of Illinois. He’s a solid nickel back, but was another team out there targeting him in the second round? Not really. He might end up at safety, which would make this pick only slightly better. But not by much.
There were three other defensive backs selected not long after Washington’s pick. DJ Turner II out of Michigan would have been a much better pick for the Commanders.
Grade: C-. Primarily for reaching this hard for a player who is a third-team All-Big Ten Conference player from last year. I think Commanders’ fans are going to question this pick for a while.
Didn’t Set The World On Fire
The New York Giants went to the Big Ten and drafted a center, John Michael Schmitz. He’s projected to be a “good” starter within two years. He better be, he just turned 24 last month.
He was a first-team All-American for the Golden Gophers and is good in run blocking. But he comes with some concerns regarding his pass blocking. Like Dallas, the Giants might have been better off taking O’Cyrus Torrence instead.
Grade: B-. He might actually work out, but his career is automatically cut short by two years. We’ll see if this works out for the long-term.
They Got Their Man…er, Position
Dallas nabbed tight end Luke Schoonmaker in the second round. Considering how salty some member of the fan base after last night, at least the pick soothed that portion of the base.
A medical red flag turned the Cowboys off of Georgia’s Darnell Washington. But one wonders if they should have been happy with Jake Ferguson and shored up the offensive line with Torrence with this pick instead?
We’ll find out soon enough. And like Schmitz, Schoonmaker is an “old” player at 25 years old. In the meantime, we’ll give them a B- as well.
We Are Outta Here
The Eagles wanted no part of this trainwreck and bailed. Can you blame them?
Grade: Incomplete. You can’t grade what you can’t see, right?