Friday April 24th marked day two of the National Football Leagues (NFL) had its second of three day for it’s yearly draft. The second day is when the second and third rounds occur. Much like the first round, players drafted during this time are expected to be reliable starters fairly fast.
The theme of the second round was once again the wide receivers. A whopping seven were taken in the 32 picks this round including the first two picks of the round. Tee Higgins of Clemson and Michael Pittman Jr. of USC were taken 33 and 34 to the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts. Higgins will be an immediate weapon for first overall pick Joe Burrow and Pittman will help the Colts who have had problems with their receivers for the last couple of years. Laviska Shenault Jr., K.J. Hamler, and Chase Claypool were all gone by the 50th pick. They went to Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, and Pittsburgh Steelers respectively. Van Jefferson of Florida to the Los Angeles Rams and Denzel Mims of Baylor to the New York Jets were the others taken at 57th and 59th overall. Another was the top Running Backs all went fairly quickly this round too. D’Andre Swift of Georgia went to the Detroit Lions at 35, Jonathan Taylor went 41st to the Colts, Cam Akers went 52nd to the Rams, and J.K Dobbins went to the Baltimore Ravens at 55.
Two picks surprised many with those being the Chicago Bears taking Tight End Cole Kmet from Notre Dame at 43rd overall. It wasn’t surprising in the aspect that he went that high or being the first TE as many believed he was, it was that the Bears picked him, he is now their tenth TE on their roster. Many teams have three or four on the roster during the season. It wasn’t the Bears only pick in the round, they also took Utah Cornerback Jaylon Johnson at 50. This pick wasn’t questioned as he was one of the top CB and could have gone in the first round and was a need for them. The other questionable pick was with the 53rd pick and the Philadelphia Eagles. They took Oklahoma Quarterback Jalen Hurts. It brings up questions because much like what the Packers did in the first round, the Eagles have a good QB in Carson Wentz already. The thing about Wentz is he does tend to be injury prone the last couple years, however most of the time when teams take a QB in the first two rounds they want him to be a starter in the next year or so. Wentz just signed a contract extension not too long ago. Only time will tell what they plan on doing with Hurts, who is not the best passer but has been getting better as time goes on.
The third round was a round in which several teams got players who fell that low due to one reason or another. The Arizona Cardinals got Offensive Tackle Josh Jones at 72 when many believed he could have gone in the late second round. The New Orleans Saints drafted Zach Baun out of Wisconsin at 74. He also could have gone in the late-first early-second round but a diluted sample for a drug test caused him to fall. New England picked up Alabama Linebacker Anfernee Jennings with the 87th pick. Jennings was a good player but had an injury history in college.
Overall, like the first round, the draft had common themes among what players were drafted. The seven wide receivers took the total to 13 in the first two rounds and 16 after day two after three were drafted in the third round. 11 linebackers were taken in the third round, the most of any position in any round of this draft. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) had 10 more people taken in the second and 15 in the third to make it 40 players drafted through the first three