The 2020 NFL Draft has come and gone, and now it’s time to get in to the picks. I dig in to the selections and analyze if the team made the right picks, addressed their needs, ignored their needs, reached for a player, etc. I also talk about any moves that have been made since free agency. I get in to all that and much more in this series. Let’s continue with the NFC East.
Dallas Cowboys
Selections:
Round 1: WR CeeDee Lamb
Round 2: CB Trevon Diggs
Round 3: DT Neville Gallimore
Round 4: CB Reggie Robinson, C Tyler Biadasz
Round 5: DE Bradlee Anae
Round 7: QB Ben DiNucci
Additional transactions: DE Aldon Smith
Analysis: Entering the draft, I thought the Cowboys top needs were edge rusher, safety, and wide receiver. They went with the best player available, and I was shocked to see Lamb fall this far, and I’m sure Jerry Jones was too. Lamb could’ve been the first receiver selected, but he ended up third to the Cowboys at No. 17. Lamb’s shining trait is his run after catch ability, which will make him a beast in the slot with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup on the outside. Interesting note, Lamb wanted to wear #10, but the Cowboys are obsessed with #88, so Jerry basically forced him to wear #88. Jerry definitely gets off to that jersey number.
I really like the Trevon Diggs pick. They lost Byron Jones in free agency, and with now top corner Chidobe Awuzie in a contract year, they need to establish depth and plan for the present and future. They did sign Daryl Worley and Maurice Canady to compete with Anthony Brown and Jourdan Lewis, but it’s important to have depth there.
The Gallimore pick is an interesting one, in the sense they’ve really made an effort to change that position. The defensive line now features veterans Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe as starters along with Antwaun Woods, and is hoping to get something out of last year’s top pick Trysten Hill, who was a regular weekly inactive.
Conclusion: The Cowboys made some key changes this offseason. The drafting of Lamb gives Dak Prescott almost no excuses to not bring Dallas to the playoffs. Cooper, Gallup, Lamb might be the best threesome, Zeke is Zeke, and the offensive line is still fine, minus the loss of Travis Frederick at center. The defense is sneaky elite with a revamped defensive line led by Demarcus Lawrence and recently reinstated Aldon Smith. They have two of the best young linebackers, and a decent secondary, not a great one, but not bad.
You have no more excuses now Dallas, do something.
New York Giants
Selections:
Round 1: OT Andrew Thomas
Round 2: S Xavier McKinney
Round 3: OT Matt Peart
Round 4: CB Darnay Holmes
Round 5: G Shane Lemieux
Round 6: LB Cam Brown
Round 7: LB Carter Coughlin, LB T.J. Brunson, CB Chris Williamson, LB Tae Crowder
Analysis: The Giants made 10 selections: 3 offensive lineman, 3 defensive backs, and 4 linebackers. You don’t see that often where a team only drafts at three positions with 10 total picks. GM Dave Gettleman and company must’ve identified these positions as their weakest spots and utilized all their draft resources to address them.
Their first selection was a position that was expected, but maybe not the player, a familiar narrative from last year’s draft. Thomas was part of the big four offensive tackles, but I didn’t see many mocks have him as the top guy selected. Thomas was considered the safest pick, the highest floor with maybe not the highest ceiling. Either way, the Giants finally have a new much-needed starting tackle. Nate Solder is not living up to his massive contract at all, and is likely gone after this season, where they’ll be saving $20.5M in cap space with only $6.5M in dead money in 2021, compared to a $19.5M cap hit in 2020 with $16M in dead money, so they have to ride out 2020 with Solder. Now where Thomas will play is still in question. I think he’ll start Week 1 at right tackle with Solder at left, then when Solder is gone, he’ll move to the left side and become the franchise blind-side blocker.
The other pick I want to hit on is the McKinney pick. He was projected as a first-rounder, so getting him atop the second is huge for the Giants. McKinney instantly slides in as a starter alongside Jabrill Peppers after parting with Antoine Bethea and Michael Thomas, and of course another Alabama safety, Landon Collins, the year prior.
Conclusion: With 10 picks, the Giants addressed three positions where depth is super important. At offensive line, you got a starter in Thomas, and some depth guys who will compete for starting jobs in Peart and Lemieux. My guess is Peart could be the top swing tackle in 2020, competing with veteran Cam Fleming, then if/when Solder leaves, he could compete for the starting job opposite Thomas. Lemieux might only become a career backup, at least for the first couple seasons, as he is behind Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler at guard. His best bet is to move to center, a position that is wide open, currently held by Spencer Pulley, who does have a full 16-game start season on his resume with the Chargers in 2017.
In the secondary, McKinney will be a starter, with Holmes and Williamson likely depth options, with special teams likely their initial role. In free agency, the Giants gave decent money to former Panther James Bradberry, who would start alongside Deandre Baker, who knows what his future is with the team. They’ve got decent depth with young guys ready to make the leap, like Julian Love, Corey Ballentine, and Sam Beal.
Finally at linebacker all four of those guys will likely just be special teamers at best, but one could emerge on defense, it’s not uncommon.
Only addressing three positions shows confidence in all positions. They like what they have at running back behind Saquon Barkley, they like their receivers in Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Golden Tate with Evan Engram and Kaden Smith at tight end. They have to like their defensive line with Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, B.J. Hill, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Austin Johnson. And they like their starting linebackers with Blake Martinez, Ryan Connelly, David Mayo, Lorenzo Carter, Kyler Fackrell, and Oshane Ximines, it does not hurt to have depth.
Will the Giants be relevant in 2020? I think so, I like Daniel Jones, and if their weapons stay healthy, they’re set. Their defense has a great balance of veteran leadership and young talent, big fan of that. The NFC East might be the weakest division in the league, so it’s anyone’s crown.
Philadelphia Eagles
Selections:
Round 1: WR Jalen Reagor
Round 2: QB Jalen Hurts
Round 3: LB Davion Taylor
Round 4: S K’Von Wallace, G Jack Driscoll
Round 5: WR John Hightower
Round 6: LB Shaun Bradley, WR Quez Watkins, OT Prince Tega Wanogho
Round 7: LB Casey Toohill
Analysis: This is my second least favorite draft of 2020. The reason it is not the worst is because they addressed their top position of need in the first round. I didn’t really hear much about Jalen Reagor prior to the draft, other than he would be part of the second or third tier of receivers in Day 2. The top 3 receivers were already off the board by their pick at 21, so they had their pick of the top guys in tier two, like the obvious top guy in Justin Jefferson, who went the following pick to the Vikings. But they went with Reagor out of TCU, who despite having some first round selections, turn out to not be great pros (Josh Doctson). Who knows, Reagor could be good, and be the No. 1 receiver the Eagles desperately need, or you know, could be Nelson Agholor, who’s now a Raider.
Now the Eagles next pick, is what plummets their draft grade. Yes Jalen Hurts was once one of the top quarterbacks in college football, and he has the talent to maybe be a starter, but you don’t get a backup quarterback in the second round when you have a young franchise quarterback. You get a backup in the second round if you have an aging franchise QB, just not a smart move at all by that front office. Their next top need was defensive back. They lost Malcolm Jenkins and Ronald Darby, and had a very injury-riddled 2019 in that secondary. Guys like Jaylon Johnson and Trevon Diggs were taken a couple spots before them, but Kristian Fulton was still available, and that would’ve made perfect sense.
The back end of their draft wasn’t that bad in terms of building depth. One of these players could turn into some surprise starters. Their linebackers group is not great, led by Nathan Gerry and former Charger Jatavis Brown, so a guy like Davion Taylor has a real chance to be a starter, same with the two late-rounders.
Conclusion: The Eagles won the division last year, and they did nothing this offseason to make me think they’ll repeat. Every team made improvements, but the Eagles did the least, and may have gotten worse, we’ll see. The offense on paper looks fine, but injuries just absolutely kill this team. If anything needs an upgrade it’s the Eagles training staff.
Washington Redskins
Selections:
Round 1: DE Chase Young
Round 3: RB Antonio Gibson
Round 4: OT Saahdiq Charles, WR Antonio Gandy-Golden
Round 5: C Keith Ishmael, LB Khaleke Hudson
Round 7: S Kamren Curl, DE James Smith-Williams
Additional transactions: Traded LT Trent Williams (49ers)
Analysis: Holding the No. 2 pick, the Redskins basically got their top-rated player, unless they wanted to give up on Dwayne Haskins so quickly and really wanted Joe Burrow, but that’s pretty unlikely. Chase Young is primed to be the next big pass rusher in the league, joining an already very good Redskins defensive line. This front looks very similarly-built to the 49ers from a year ago, littered with first-round talent from inside out. Ryan Kerrigan has been on elite pass rusher his entire nine-year career. Now he’s got great talent on the other side, which he hasn’t had since Brian Orakpo in 2014. With 2019 first rounder Montez Sweat and now Young, that’s deadly. Not to mention Jonathan Allen (2017) and Daron Payne (2018) filling out the inside of the line which now has FIVE first-rounders, just like the 49ers last year when they also had five first-rounders. Don’t sleep on this Redskins defense.
They didn’t have a second-rounder (traded to the Colts last year to move into the first round to take Sweat), so they had to wait til the third to take running back Antonio Gibson. A “swiss-army knife” who projects to play running back and receiver, Gibson joins an offense with little identity. Derrius Guice cannot stay healthy, despite flashing, but Adrian Peterson’s ability to still put up numbers at age 35 is highly impressive, especially in a game that has essentially eliminated the need for a north-south thumper. Gibson replaces Chris Thompson as the likely passing back.
Finally, just want to hit on the offensive line, and the selection of Saahdiq Charles. The whole Trent Williams saga is a sad and pathetic one by the Redskins organization. Williams is one of the best players in franchise history, and you lost his trust when you misdiagnose a cancerous growth on his head. He sat out 2019, and just before the start of day 3 of the draft, he was granted his wish and traded to the 49ers, who smartly didn’t show their hand with Joe Staley retiring and only giving up a third and a fifth for a potential Hall of Famer. Also worth noting the Vikings showed interest, but shot that down with their second-round selection of a tackle. After trading Williams, they selected Charles, who has a real chance to be the starting left tackle, his college position at LSU protecting the Heisman winner and No. 1 overall pick.
Conclusion: The Redskins have had some pretty impressive couple drafts. Love what they did in 2019, although I’m not in on Haskins yet. I love Terry McLaurin along with the rookie Antonio Gandy-Golden, but the rest of this offense stinks. Trey Quinn is a fine slot receiver, and I like the gadget-ability of Steven Sims and Gibson, along with Kelvin Harmon, but this offense stinks. Jeremy Sprinkle is not a capable tight end, maybe undrafted rookie Thaddeus Moss could surprise. The offensive line took a hit without Williams, and has been injury-riddled for several years, but they’ve got Brandon Scherff franchise-tagged, but they’ve got young guys in Charles, Wes Martin, and Chase Rouillier there along with former Falcon Wes Schweitzer.
As I mentioned earlier, don’t sleep on this defense. I already talked about the defensive line, which could be the best in football, but we need to talk about these linebackers. They brought in Thomas Davis, reuniting with Ron Rivera, along with Kevin Pierre-Louis and Jon Bostic as the veterans of this group. The true key to this position is 2019 fifth-rounder Cole Holcomb, who really shined as a full-time starter.
The secondary is what concerns me. I like that they made moves, additions and subtractions, but I wish they did work in the draft. Kendall Fuller and Ronald Darby are solid starters after losing Josh Norman and Quinton Dunbar, but I need to see more.
The Redskins could be good in 2020. Haskins needs to take a big step forward after a mediocre rookie season. It’ll be tough for him due to the lack of talent around him. The defense will carry this team, but you need a good offense to keep up with the rest of the NFC East.
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