Miami Dolphins:
1 Jake Long, OT
32 Philip Merling, DE
57 Chad Henne, QB
Very solid selections. Long was one of a few players that they could reasonably take at 1 and will fill a hole, likely at RT, for years to come. Merling dropping to the second was a surprise and along with Henne are great value picks.
St Louis Rams:
2 Chris Long, DE
33 Donnie Avery, WR
Either Long or Dorsey would be fine picks with the second selection. Not sure on Avery, the Rams could certainly use WR help but there were better picks on the board imo.
Atlanta Falcons:
3 Matt Ryan, QB
21 Sam Baker, OT
37 Curtis Lofton, LB
Taking Ryan at 3 is a huge reach imo, I'd rather have taken Dorsey here and looked to take Flacco/Brohm/Henne later. Baker and Lofton are OK but I'm not convinced.
Oakland Raiders
4 Darren McFadden, RB
Al Davis is retarded.
Kansas City Chiefs
5 Glenn Dorsey, DT
15 Branden Albert, G
35 Brandon Flowers, CB
Chiefs probably won day one. Dorsey at 5 was best player available and they simply couldn't pass here. They must also be loving the fact that Albert, who they are apparently in love with and saw many mocks take him at five, dropped to their second pick. Flowers fills a need with a decent value pick in the second.
New York Jets
6 Vernon Gholston, DE/LB
30 Dustin Keller, TE
Gholston is a clear pick here, probably BPA and no running back is sensible here with McFadden off the board. However, trading up to 30 to take Keller when he'd be available at 36 is another incident in a long line of Jets drafting stupidity.
New Orleans Saints
7 Sedrick Ellis, DT
40 Tracy Porter, CB
Made an OK trade to inch up a few spots to take Ellis, which fills a gap in their d-line. Porter is sensible enough and will help a flaky secondary.
Jacksonville Jaguars
8 Derrick Harvey, DE
52 Quentin Groves, DE/LB
Don't understand what they were doing here. They traded up to eight in order to take Harvey, who imo shouldn't be going anywhere near that high. On the other hand, Groves at 52 is sweet value.
Cincinnati Bengals
9 Keith Rivers, LB
48 Jerome Simpson, WR
Rivers is fine in terms of value but doesn't address more important needs at CB or the defensive line. Simpson makes sense in that CJ may not play next season, but I don't think he's the best WR if he needs to slot in immediately.
New England Patriots
10 Jerod Mayo, LB
62 Terrence Wheatley, CB
Mayo's a solid enough player but I think it's a big reach here, I think they do better by taking a corner. New England don't have huge needs though, and these picks address them nicely.
Buffalo Bills
11 Leodis McKelvin, CB
41 James Hardy, WR
Solid selections, the Bills need corner and wideout help badly and these selections are perfectly fine.
Denver Broncos
12 Ryan Clady, OT
42 Eddie Royal, WR
Clady is a no-brain pick. They needed a wide receiver as well, but I think better WRs were still on the board at the time.
Carolina Panthers
13 Jonathan Stewart, RB
19 Jeff Otah, OT
The actual selections are fine, the only problem is that Carolina traded away far too many picks in order to secure the 19 from the Eagles to select Otah, who's simply not worth what they've given up.
Chicago Bears
14 Chris Williams, OT
44 Matt Forte, RB
Williams is sound. Taking Forte where they did is insane, he should have been available later, and they're passing on Henne and Brohm, who won't be.
Arizona Cardinals
16 Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB
50 Calais Campbell, DE
Nice job here. DRC was tipped to possibly go higher. Campbell's a high variance pick but is a potential steal where they got him.
Detroit Lions
17 Gosder Cherilus, OT
45 Jordan Dizon, LB
They make a sensible trade down with the Chiefs, but picking Cherilus here when Mendenhall is still available is madness. Dizon's a slight reach and maybe not the best linebacker available at the time. The only way this draft could have been worse is if they'd taken yet more wide receivers.
Baltimore Ravens
18 Joe Flacco, QB
55 Ray Rice, RB
wat. Flacco at QB is madness, he's borderline round 1/round 2 really, and would have been available later and they didn't need to trade up to get him. Rice is a steal though.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
20 Aqib Talib, CB
58 Dexter Jackson, WR
Talib is overrated and has decent bust potential. Jackson's OK and they've been needing a receiver. I'd rather they'd taken any WR they like at 20 and re-evaluated defensively later.
Dallas Cowboys
22 Felix Jones, RB
25 Mike Jenkins, CB
61 Martellus Bennett, TE
Jones at 22 is plain awful. Jenkins at 25 is excellent. Bennett I don't know about but is apparently a decent pick.
Pittsburgh Steelers
23 Rashard Mendenhall, RB
53 Limas Sweed, WR
Pittsburgh are going to have a sick offence, having taken the BPA both times even though it doesn't fill huge needs (like the o-line). Sweed could easily have gone in round 1 and is crazy value at 53.
Tennessee Titans
24 Chris Johnson, RB
54 Jason Jones, DE
With no WRs selected by the time they have their first pick, they can choose whoever's top of their value board and give Young some targets. Instead, they reach for some RB who has no business going in round 1. Jones is unconvincing as well.
Houston Texans
26 Duane Brown, OT
OK I guess, they're on the right end of a picks trade from Baltimore and can sort out other issues on day 2.
San Diego Chargers
27 Antoine Cason, CB
With all the linemen worthy of being picked here gone, San Diego sort out a less important need by taking Cason at a decent spot.
Seattle Seahawks
28 Lawrence Jackson, DE
38 John Carlson, TE
Don't really understand the Jackson pick, especially with Merling on the board. Carlson is also odd with better TEs available.
San Francisco 49ers
29 Kentwan Balmer, DT
39 Chilo Rachal, G
Good drafting. The 49ers needed help on the offensive line and the front seven on defence, and sort it out.
New York Giants
31 Kenny Phillips, S
63 Terrell Thomas, CB
Nothing wrong here. New York's weakness is its secondary and they get two players for good value.
Washington Redskins
34 Devin Thomas, WR
48 Fred Davis, TE
51 Malcolm Kelly, WR
Jason Campbell shouldn't be lacking weapons. Thomas is the best WR in the draft according to some and shouldn't have dropped this far. Kelly is also good value in the middle of the second. They also get a decent TE.
Green Bay Packers
36 Jordy Nelson, WR
56 Brian Brohm, QB
60 Patrick Lee, CB
Green Bay don't really need a WR, and Nelson isn't as good as others that were left. Rodgers must feel so loved after they drafted Brohm. Lee is a decent selection.
Minnesota Vikings
43 Tyrell Johnson, SS
Maybe a slight reach, but no biggie. I have to wonder why they passed on a QB here, unless they continue to have faith in Tarvaris Jackson.
Philadelphia Eagles
47 Trevor Laws, DT
49 DeSean Jackson, WR
Dominated the Panthers in a trade and got some excellent value for these picks. Nice job.
Indianapolis Colts
59 Mike Pollak, C
Without a huge deal of things to sort, the Colts take one of the BPA in Pollak. They may have done better by going elsewhere, but this pick is fine.