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NFL Draft Winners Detroit Lions - The Lions made out like crooks in the first round by selecting Texas' Roy Williams, one of best wideouts in the draft, with their pick. Then they traded up and got another first round pick, in franchise running back Kevin Jones. Add to this the current young Lion QB Joey Harrington, and you have one of the most potent offenses in the league. They didn't stop there, as next round they drafted Oklahoma's incredibly talented linebacker Teddy Lehman. This alone puts them at having three of the top 37 players drafted, all with Pro Bowl potential. Atlanta Falcons - In similar fashion as the Lions, the Falcons wound up with a pair of first round picks and made the best of what was open with them. With the eighth overall pick, they took the best cornerback in the draft in Virginia Tech's Deangelo Hall. Then after trading with the Colts to obtain the 29th pick overall, they took Ohio State's standout receiver Michael Jenkins. This gives Michael Vick another tall, speedy receiver to throw to along with Peerless Price. The Falcon's also added a decent backup QB for Vick in Virginia's Matt Schaub, and another strong running back to the stable in the seventh round by drafting West Virginia's Quincy Wilson. In addition to all of this, the Falcons landed a steal on the defensive side of the ball in LSU's big defensive tackle Chad Lavalais, who was a big contributor to LSU's smothering championship defense this past year. San Diego Chargers - The Chargers did what many thought they wouldn't do after Eli Manning went public saying he didn't want to be drafted by San Diego: they drafted Manning. It was clear after the first four picks, when it was revealed that the NY Giants would be trading up for Manning, that the Chargers supremely duped the Giants in the process. They took with them the quarterback they wanted all along in Philip Rivers in addition to their third round pick and two picks in next year's draft (including the Giants' first round pick then). If this wasn't the most lopsided trade in the draft, I don't know what was. The University of Miami - Coral Gables turned out a ridiculous draft record - six first round players taken this year. Take into consideration that they came early. In fact, they had six of the first twenty-one players taken. Their best pick was safety Sean Taylor, who was picked up fifth overall by Washington. He should fit in perfectly to a secondary that was left reeling after Champ Bailey was traded away. Miami didn't stop at six in the first round but ended up sending nine players into the draft. Losers Kansas City Chiefs - This squad had a few holes at making a serious run at the Super Bowl. They lacked having a big play-making receiver. Also instead of trying to fill that position in a year in which the draft was loaded with potential game-breaking flankers, they traded their way out of the first round. Keep that in mind as we marvel at how they used their first pick to select Oregon defensive tackle Junior Siavii in the second round. Siavii, who is a good player but doesn't fill immediate needs of the Chiefs, was almost guaranteed to be around in the third or fourth rounds. With their next pick in the second round, they took Pittsburgh's tight end Kris Wilson, another player who doesn't fill an immediate need and was expected to be around in the later rounds. Looking at the list of their seven picks, it appears they didn't take a single game breaker but instead opted for role players. New York quarterbacks - Kerry Collins and Eli Manning both struck out in this year's draft. It is obvious that after taking Manning, the G-Men won't be able to afford Collins as a backup, and it would be a waste of bench space to put such a good player there. Kerry looks to be the odd man out and might have trouble finding a new home as it appears Tim Couch will also be joining the free agent QB market soon. Despite being involved in the biggest trades of this year's draft that positively affected his pocket book, Eli has seriously tarnished his reputation before taking a single snap in the league. Instead of taking on the mannerism of his brother Peyton, who came into the league as a guy just playing for the love of the game, Eli went on to whine about not wanting to go to San Diego in the days before the draft. Now he looks like the younger, spoiled brat of the Manning family. It will be a while before this monicker will be removed from the youngest Manning. Dallas Cowboys - With the offseason acquisiton of Drew Henson at quarterback, the Cowboys seemed poised to make a legitamate run this coming season, barring the filling of a few spots in the draft. The main spot being running back. Instead of making the obvious smart choice, they pulled a Kansas City and traded out of the first round this year by swapping with Buffalo's first round pick in next year's draft. If they had kept their first round pick (#22), they would have been able to draft any running back they wanted, since Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones and Chris Perry were still available at this point. Instead, they pick up Notre Dame's Julius Jones in the second round, who can contribute but produced shaky combine numbers and isn't seen as a great fit into the Cowboys' running scheme. With the rest of their choices, they did at least pick up solid lineman OT Jacob Rodgers of USC and OG Stephen Petermen of LSU, but it seems they went the "Diamond in the Rough" route with the rest of their picks by nabbing guys who didn't really impress last season or in combines. In all aspects they did decent this draft, but they struck out when they had the chance to fill their final skill position with a good running back.
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