Well, the regular season is over. 12 teams are preparing for the playoffs and possible Super Bowl glory. Which can only mean that 20 teams (and their fans) have now turned their attention to those magical three days in late April. Yes, I am talking about the NFL Draft.
The Colts and Rams entered the day with the same record, but as I have said before, it would take the Rams losing out and the Colts winning out in order for that number 1 pick to go to St Louis. The 49ers beat up on the Rams like pretty much everyone thought they would and for a heartbeat it looked like the Colts might have a chance at defeating the Titans… but their defense couldn’t come up with a stop late in the game…
So… we have a winner in the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes… I give you… the Indianapolis Colts! At one time it appeared that this would be wrapped up weeks ahead of time, but the Colts gave us a show. They now have many questions that they need to answer. Do they draft Luck and keep Manning (which would tie up a lot of money in two quarterbacks and restrict the team from competing for top players at other needed positions in free agency). Do they trade (release) Peyton Manning and hand the franchise over to Luck on Day One? Do they trade the pick to another team and focus on trying to rebuild the Colts around a quarterback that will be 36 years old when the Draft comes? I know what I would do.
And then we have the Rams with the #2 pick. They have already started cleaning house with both GM Billy Devaney and head coach Steve Spagnuolo being shown the door today. We won’t get a great idea of which direction the new regime is going to take the franchise, but new coaches usually mean new quarterbacks… and there has been a rumor going around that the Rams are thinking about shopping Sam Bradford (which, for the record, I really can’t see happening for a number of reasons). Like the Colts, this is a team with a ton of holes.
But more was decided yesterday than just the top two picks. We now know (more or less) the top 20 picks of the draft. And here it is…
2012 NFL Draft Order
1. Colts
2. Rams
3. Vikings
4. Browns
5. Buccaneers
6. Redskins
7. Jaguars
8. Panthers *
9. Dolphins *
10. Bills
11. Seahawks #
12. Chiefs #
13. Cardinals
14. Cowboys
15. Eagles
16. Jets
17. Bengals (via OAK)
18. Chargers
19. Bears
20. Titans
* – picks 8 & 9 to be decided by coin flip at NFL Scouting Combine
# – picks 11 & 12 to be decided by coin flip at NFL Scouting Combine
(Bengals received Oakland’s first round pick in Carson Palmer trade.)
