Garrett 1st to Browns, Bears trade up for Trubisky
Published 8:50 pm Thursday, April 27, 2017
PHILADELPHIA — No surprises at the top of the NFL draft: Roger Goodell got booed, then Myles Garrett was picked first overall by the Cleveland Browns.
“C’mon, Philly, C’mon,” Goodell said Thursday night amid the boos, not even wincing at the reception. Moments later, he was back onstage announcing the Texas A&M defensive end’s name. Garrett, a junior and All-American considered the best pass rusher in this crop, is the first Aggie selected No. 1 overall.
Garrett was not on hand, but promised Cleveland fans “great things are coming.”
Cleveland went 1-15 last season and has holes everywhere. It ranked 31st defensively and had only 26 sacks.
There was speculation the Browns might go for a quarterback at the outset, but this draft didn’t seem to have any QBs considered that talented a prospect. Except the Bears thought otherwise, making a mammoth trade to move up one spot.
Chicago sent a third-round pick, a fourth and a 2018 third to San Francisco to switch and take Mitchell Trubisky, who started only 13 games for North Carolina.
“It was crazy,” Trubisky said. “There was no call. I didn’t think I was going to be picked until the commissioner said my name.”
San Francisco was up next, and new general manager John Lynch already was looking good for bringing in such a haul to drop back to No. 3. The 49ers took DE Solomon Thomas from just down the road at Stanford.
LSU running back Leonard Fournette, who some scouts compared to Adrian Peterson, went to Jacksonville; new Jaguars boss Tom Coughlin is enamored of powerful running backs.
Another LSU player, safety Jamal Adams, whose father, George, was an NFLer, was taken by the New York Jets, one pick after Tennessee, needing an upgrade at wide receiver, selected Corey Davis of Western Michigan. Davis is the FBS career leader in receiving yards with 5,285 and was a key to the Broncos’ turnaround last season.
Although this is considered a stronger defensive draft, the NFL is an offense-first league. So two more skill position offensive players went seventh and eighth. Receiver Mike Williams, who came off a serious neck injury in 2015 to help Clemson to the national championship last season, was taken by the Chargers. Then Christian McCaffrey, son of former NFL wideout Ed McCaffrey, wound up with Carolina.
The Panthers, eager to get back to the form that won them the 2015 NFC title, got a versatile running back from Stanford who also can play receiver and return kicks. Cam Newton sure must be smiling.
“Can’t wait to grind every single day for that team, the fans, for everybody there,” McCaffrey said.
The offensive onslaught wasn’t through, either. A third receiver, John Ross of Washington, was taken by Cincinnati, which desperately needs a complement to A.J. Green. Ross tore a ligament in his left knee in 2015 that didn’t slow him down much. He ran a record 4.2 in the 40 at the scouting combine.
The next trade saw Buffalo’s new coach, Sean McDermott, deal with his mentor, Chiefs coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs moved from 27th to 10th for … a quarterback. They took Patrick Mahomes of Texas Tech, whose stock soared in workouts this year. Mahomes comes from a spread attack and will need to learn a pro-style offense, but Kansas City has Alex Smith in place right now.
What KC no longer has is its first-round choice next year, which went in the deal that also saw the Bills get a third-rounder on Friday.