NFL Draft 2012 Results: Andrew Luck, RG3 Only Sure Things In First Round

NEW YORK -- With so much wheeling and dealing, maybe the NFL draft should move to Wall Street.

Minutes before Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went 1-2 to the Colts and Redskins on Thursday night, the draft at Radio City Music Hall turned into a deal-a-thon. Through the first seven picks, only Indianapolis kept its original draft spot, and a total of eight trades were made in first round.

The Browns, Jaguars, Cowboys and Eagles all traded up to get players they coveted. The Vikings dropped a spot and still came away with the guy they wanted.

Credit the rookie wage scale for so much buying and selling so early, with general managers making last-minute moves knowing that extravagant salaries for top picks have been replaced by a compensation plan.

Before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell opened the draft, Minnesota swapped its No. 3 choice for Cleveland's No. 4 pick, with the Vikings also getting fourth, fifth and seventh rounders. After the Browns went for Alabama running back Trent Richardson, and before the Vikings took tackle Matt Kalil, Florida neighbors Tampa Bay and Jacksonville swung a deal.

Cleveland coach Pat Shurmur said the Browns were convinced a team would leapfrog them to take Richardson, so they pulled the trigger on the 4-for-1 trade.

"Unfortunately we had to make a little trade to secure the pick," Shurmur said. "We knew as we went through the process that he was our guy and so we did what we had to do to secure it. We had pretty good knowledge that there were teams behind that wanted him as well, so we gave up a couple of picks to make sure we got him. We're thrilled a bunch about Trent."

The Jaguars moved up to No. 5 from No. 7 and grabbed wide receiver Justin Blackmon. The Buccaneers, at No. 7, chose Alabama safety Mark Barron, and also acquired the Jaguars' fourth-round choice.

The St. Louis Rams made a second trade of their first-round pick. The Rams traded away the No. 2 overall pick to the Washington Redskins last month, and were set to select sixth. But Dallas traded its No. 14 choice and a second-rounder to the Rams and grabbed LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne with No. 6.

The Cowboys came into the draft desperate for defensive playmakers, and Claiborne is considered by most as the best cornerback available. Claiborne led LSU with six interceptions last season, won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back, and averaged 25 yards per kickoff return.

Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik said he wanted Barron all along at No. 5, but felt he could deal down and still get the All-American who was a vital cog in the nation's best defense last season.

"I was a little nervous, though, when the Cowboys moved up to No. 6," he said.

Deals weren't done yet. Philadelphia, looking to strengthen its defensive line, moved up three spots to No. 12 by making a trade with Seattle and selecting Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Even the New England Patriots got in on the action with two first-round deals.

The Patriots traded their No. 27 pick and third-rounder for the Bengals' No. 21 spot and took Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones. They then dealt the No. 31 choice and a fourth-rounder to Denver and went for Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower.

The Vikings added another first-round choice when they acquired the No. 29 overall choice from Baltimore. The Ravens received the Vikings' second and fourth-round picks. Minnesota used its pick to grab Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith.

In addition to Minnesota trading back into the first round, so did Tampa Bay. The Bucs made a deal for Denver's 31st pick – acquired earlier in the night from New England – and selected Boise State running back Doug Martin.

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• No. 1 Andrew Luck (QB, Stanford) - Indianapolis Colts

• No. 2 Robert Griffin III (QB, Baylor) - Washington Redskins

• No. 3 Trent Richardson (RB, Alabama) - Cleveland Browns

  Acquired via trade with Minnesota

• No. 4 Matt Kalil (OT, USC) - Minnesota Vikings

  Traded down with Cleveland to No. 4

• No. 5 Justin Blackmon (WR, OK ST) - Jacksonville Jaguars

  Acquired from Tampa Bay for No. 7 pick.

• No. 6 Morris Claiborne (CB, LSU) - Dallas Cowboys

  Traded up with St. Louis to get No. 6 pick.

• No. 7 Mark Barron (S, Alabama) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  Traded down from No. 5 to No. 7 (with Jaguars)

• No. 8 Ryan Tannehill (QB, Texas A&M) - Miami Dolphins

• No. 9 Luke Kuechly (ILB, BC) - Carolina Panthers

• No. 10 Stephon Gilmore (DB, South Carolina) - Buffalo Bills

• No. 11 Dontari Poe (DT, Memphis) - KC Chiefs

• No. 12 Fletcher Fox (DT, Miss. St) - Philadelphia Eagles

  Traded up with Seattle to get No. 12 pick.

• No. 13 Michael Floyd (WR, Notre Dame) - Arizona Cardinals

• No. 14 Michael Brockers (DT, LSU) - St. Louis Rams

  Rams traded down to No. 14 with Dallas.

• No. 15 Bruce Irvin (CB, WVU) - Seattle Seahawks

  Traded down to No. 15 with the Eagles.

• No. 16 Quinton Coples (DE, UNC) - New York Jets

• No. 17 Dre Kirkpatrick (CB, Alabama) - Cincinnati Bengals

  Acquire pick through the Carson Palmer trade

• No. 18 Melvin Ingram (DE, South Carolina) - SD Chargers

• No. 19 Shea McClellin (OLB, Boise State) - Chicago Bears

• No. 20 Kendall Wright (WR, Baylor) - Tennessee Titans

• No. 21 Chandler Jones (DE, Syracuse) - New England Patriots

  Acquired via trade with Cincinnati

• No. 22 Brandon Weeden (QB, OK ST) - Cleveland Browns

• No. 23 Riley Reiff (OT, Iowa) - Detroit Lions

• No. 24 David DeCastro (OG, Stanford) - Pittsburgh Steelers

• No. 25 Dont'a Hightower (ILB, Alabama) - New England Patriots

  Acquired via trade with Denver

• No. 26 Whitney Mercilus (DE, Illinois) - Houston Texans

• No. 27 Kevin Zeitler (OG, Wisconsin) - Cincinnati Bengals

  Acquired via trade with Patriots.

• No. 28 Nick Perry (DE, USC) - Green Bay Packers

• No. 29 Harrison Smith (S, Notre Dame) - Minnesota Vikings

  Acquires via trade with Baltimore.

• No. 30 A.J. Jenkins (WR, Illinois) - San Francisco 49ers

• No. 31 Doug Martin (RB, Boise State) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  Acquired via trade with Denver.

• No. 32 Davis Wilson (RB, Va. Tech) - NY Giants

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Comments

[Pippen]

07:56 AM on 04/30/2012

Rookies are a big gamble. You never know how they are going to fit in or if they can fit in with the NFL game play. It's as mental as it is physical. Injuries are a big deal too.

People get excited but then 3 out of 100's of rookies even get game play the following year and they do poorly most of the time.

The real money is on the experienced players who are still inexpensive and uninjured who want to be on a winning franchise. Mediocre players rise from the ashes often with a little support while rooks tend to get shredded and weeded.

[kaweb57]

04:38 PM on 04/29/2012

Eagles picked up a couple of good picks, possibly enough to improve to 9 or even 10 wins this year,
BUT
NOT ENOUGH to make up for still having Bad Newz under center.
Final year of the awful Vick Project!!

[Superb1]

02:48 AM on 04/28/2012

How 'bout dem Cowboys!

[Drama Llama]

01:11 AM on 04/28/2012

Tannehill....The best QB to come out of A&M since what? Gary Kubiak?

If you are a Miami fan I would not dare believe the owners hype he is a 'franchise QB'

[Raiderinntacoma]

04:44 PM on 04/27/2012

Seattle Seahawks got the best underrated 1st round pick in years....Bruce Irvin will be a beast.

[serialbandee]

03:04 PM on 04/27/2012

The last time the Senate passed a budget, Andrew Luck had yet to play a college game.

[Bados]

12:28 PM on 04/28/2012

That certainly hasnt prevented 26 straight months of private sector jobs growth now has it?
Which is your favorite upward trending economic indicator?
4 million new jobs created in the last 2 years?
Housing starts being up?
Home values rising?
Consumer confidence up?
Consumer spending up?
Business spending up?
The unemployment rate going down?
Manufacturing up (especially in Ohio. They went from 10% unemployment to 7% in the last 2 years).
The rise from the dead of the auto industry that one side of the aisle didnt want to loan money to. Imagine what would be being said about Obama if the entire US auto industry collapsed on his watch? LOL

[JerseyHooligan]

12:44 PM on 04/27/2012

fun fact. Luck is a huge soccer fan.

[LuLou Murder]

12:52 PM on 04/27/2012

Not surprising, as he spent 10 years of his early life in England and Germany.

[cybolt]

12:13 PM on 04/27/2012

Stated elsewhere... the Rams traded themselves right out of the draft. i completely understood their first trade a few weeks back and it made perfect sense: They're accumulating post-first-round picks to fill multiple spots but trading down again last night cost them Michael Floyd. IMO he was the best receiver in the draft (better than Blackmon) and he's the guy Bradford needs (and S. Jackson needs to take the load off).

They started off in the second position and they got bupkus.

[shawman65]

12:02 PM on 04/27/2012

Interesting 1st round. Viks did great, we see why the Seahawks are the Seahawks, and the best (Pats,Ravens,Steelers) get a little better.

[Quotidien]

11:49 AM on 04/27/2012

Weeden + Richardson + some later draft picks > RG3 + no running back + no later draft picks. I'm actually cool with that.

Seattle = stupidest 1st round of 2012 (Bruce Irvin, a late 2nd rounder AT BEST).

Rams: too much trading down, and you still have no top-flite receiver (Floyd, Blackmon, Wright) for Bradford. Stephen Hill is big and fast, but doesn't understand the WR position. Enjoy.

Eagles: got their man (Fletcher Cox).

[JCA07]

03:57 PM on 04/27/2012

RG3 can play every position on the field. He's even a decent punter. My guess is the Redskins discovered how to clone people so they don't even need to participate in the draft for the next 5 years.

[Drama Llama]

01:19 AM on 04/28/2012

It is just more of Daniel Schneider trying to buy his way into a Lombardi trophy. It has worked miserably for him so far. It is a shame.. RG3 on a team that knows what they are doing could be unstoppable.

[Bados]

12:37 PM on 04/28/2012

Those days are over sport. RG3 is a passer who happens to be fast. He'll never play a down at any position other than what he was drafted to play. Just like Luck.

[Nishu]

02:06 AM on 04/27/2012

NFL Draft 2012: Round One Biggest Suprises
http://liveoncampus.com/wire/show/3371064

[Enock Zamora]

05:07 PM on 04/28/2012

Thanks for that link Nishu. I was not aware of it.