NFL Draft – All Bets are Off

With the 2009 NFL Draft under wraps after the great spectacle at New York Radio City Music Hall, attention now turns to mini-camps and possible trade speculation.

None of the big-name veterans changed teams over the weekend – unless you count Ellis Hobbs being traded from the New England Patriots to the Philadelphia Eagles for a pair of Fifth Rounders – but there was still plenty of drama all around.

Of course, a draft can never be properly evaluated 48 hours after it’s over – let alone 48 weeks for that matter, but some teams displayed some deft maneuvering in moving up and down the draft board and in snapping up highly-ranked prospects who fit a key need.

Let’s look at the teams that qualify as movers and shakers in this year’s NFL draft:

New York Jets

Emphasizing quality over quality, the Jets traded with the Cleveland Browns to move up to pick #5, where they snapped up Mark Sanchez to be their franchise quarterback of the future. Eat that Dan Snyder! On Day 2, the Jets also traded up to take running back Shonn Greene with the first pick of Round 3. Coupled with their strong Free Agent class of 2008, the Jets addressed their two key areas of need in this draft. However, they did not address their need for a wide receiver and time will tell how they address that. Perhaps a trade of next year’s draft picks for one of the available veteran wideouts is in order.

New England Patriots

The Patriots, who always find themselves on the Movers & Shakers list emphasized continuity over quality or quantity. Their biggest splash was a Safety, Patrick Chung out of Oregon, who should fit their system well. However, they locked up two additional second-round picks in the 2010 draft and that is a major coup for the team, setting them up nicely for next year’s richer draft class.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles were involved in the most draft-day trades, trading both up and down, to find the players they wanted. They were surprised to see Jeremy Maclin sitting there at #19, and traded up a couple spots (giving up a 6^th-rounder to do so) and plucked him. They were expecting Knowshon Moreno to be there, but he was surprisingly taken at #12 by the Denver Broncos. Getting LeSean McCoy in the 2^nd round made up for that, and both Maclin and McCoy will add some serious punch to their offense, joining Brian Westbrook, DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis. The Eagles also picked up a sleepr in Tight End Cornelius Ingram, who could be a monster on the gridiron if his surgically-repaired knee holds up.