WOODBURY – While only one team celebrated this past season’s Superbowl Championship, the 31 other teams, and for all of their fans, this dream will have to wait another year as their teams were eliminated from the playoffs. Now, instead of focusing on gameplans, matchups, and injuries teams are focusing on draft prospects, free agency, and developing their young talent so they can compete for years to come. This Thursday, these 31 teams will have an opportunity to build a roster that may someday compete for Superbowls.
Now for these teams picking the right player can be just as valuable as making the playoffs. College football is packed with talent for the draft whether your team needs a quarterback, cornerback, or defensive lineman the players selected within the top 10 are expected to be game changers and cornerstones of whichever franchise drafts them.
As of this April’s mock drafts, ESPN.com believes that with the top 3 picks of the draft the Raiders will draft Fernando Mendoza QB out of Indiana, the Jets will draft Avrell Reese out of Ohio State, and with the third pick the cardinals will select Francis Mauigoa OL out of Miami. However, it is not unusual to see players fall or rise on draft day.
Derek Chung, a senior at Nonnewaug High School and a passionate Giants fan has optimism for this week’s draft.
“I really hope we pick Carnell Tate to add another playmaker next to Malik Nabers, and giving Jaxon Dart more weapons could really turn us into a true contender,” Chung said.
Tate is the WR2 for the Ohio State Buckeyes who finished up his impressive junior year. Tate finished his collegiate career with 121 Catches 1,872 Yards and 14 TDs. Tate is the deep threat that the Giants have been waiting for and seeing how well Darius Slayton played towards the end of the season the Giants may have three threats at the wideout position for years to come.
The New York Jets seem to frequently find themselves in this position but seeing as how they have two first round picks this year, and most likely drafted a promising O-lineman last year when they picked Armand Membou, the Jets have a chance to be a winning football team for the first time in a very long time.
But all this will all depend on if the Jets can pick right and find not only a QB but find DBs and LBs that can bolster their horrific secondary.
“I like Mansoor Delane out of LSU with our 16th pick,” James Wolf, NHS senior said. “I think he is one of if not the most skilled Cornerback in the draft, and I think he would be a good fit with Aaron Glenn especially since we traded Sauce Gardner this year.”
The Jets desperately need to add some playmakers to their defense that traded its All Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner, and their All Pro DT Quinnen Williams for 4 first round draft picks for the next 2 drafts.
“I think the Saints should pick Jerimiah Love from Notre Dame,” said Shai Laudati, sophomore at Nonnewaug and a lifelong Saints fan.
“The Saints are in need of an offensive spark and since Alvin Kamara is getting older and not as explosive as he used to be” Laudati said. “I think Jerimiah Love could revive our run game and hopefully be another version of Kamara.”
The Saints are coming off a rough but partially optimistic year, they went 6-11 and were last place in the NFC South, however their rookie QB Tyler Shough showed glimpses of being their QB of the future. And with an offensive core that features two solid tight ends and a potential superstar receiver, an exciting RB might be the final piece of the puzzle that could return the Saints to being a competitive team.
Obviously, every team in the NFL has the same goal and that is to win the Super Bowl but as the season progresses some teams need to realize that planning for their future is more important and that is why the draft is such a big deal, and that is why fans can be so harsh or passionate on who their team might pick, or who their team actually picked.
The future of these franchises and their fans will be shaped by what happens this Thursday when Roger Goodell is at the podium.
