{"id":192279,"date":"2025-04-28T21:50:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=192279"},"modified":"2025-04-28T21:50:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:50:48","slug":"random-thoughts-post-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/04\/28\/random-thoughts-post-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: post NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers solely around the recent NFL Draft \u2013 draft grades, Shedeur Sanders, Arch Manning, Kyle McCord and Will Howard, and Travis Hunter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Draft grades<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to get caught up in the hype of the NFL Draft. It\u2019s fun to read the post-draft grades that national media outlets give each team. Of course, the true grade can\u2019t be made for at least two or three seasons, but it\u2019s still fun to read what others have to say. Everyone\u2019s a GM this time of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shedeur Sanders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drop of Shedeur Sanders certainly made for good television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was expected the Colorado quarterback would go in the first round, perhaps as high as No. 2 to Cleveland. He didn\u2019t get picked in the first round, or second third or fourth rounds. He did wind up in Cleveland, after the Browns traded up to get him in the fifth round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, he was probably overhyped. That\u2019s not to say he\u2019s not good or won\u2019t be good at the pro level. I think a lot of teams shied away because of his father, Deion Sanders, who can be quite vocal and has a thing for cameras. That\u2019s not to say he\u2019s a bad guy or anything like that, but a lot of coaches don\u2019t want to deal with a sideshow, especially coaches and general managers who are already on thin ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look at Cleveland\u2019s quarterback situation \u2013 Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett aren\u2019t long term solutions. Dillon Gabriel looks to be a career backup, which makes his third round selection even more baffling, which means Sanders will likely be starting at some point this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quinn Ewers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as Sanders dropped, the fall of Quinn Ewers was even worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a guy that was hyped as the top recruit coming out of high school just four years ago. We all know his story \u2013 he came to Ohio State for one year for the NIL money, then transferred to Texas. He could have played one more year at Texas or entered the transfer portal and played somewhere else and picked up big money. Instead, he entered the NFL Draft and slid to the seventh round before he was finally picked up by the Dolphins. It seemed hardly anyone talked about it which was odd, because he was so highly hyped. He could be in a good situation in Miami, but time will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Arch Manning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of draft experts and fans have already tabbed Texas quarterback Arch Manning as the No. 1 overall pick in next year\u2019s NFL Draft. He very well may be but there are two things to keep in mind. First, he\u2019ll have college eligibility left after the upcoming season and could go back to school. Second, it seems a little odd to me that he\u2019s so highly regarded, yet he couldn\u2019t take the starting job from Ewers, who had a good but not great college career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he goes gangbusters this fall, he\u2019ll likely be the No. 1 pick, but what if he\u2019s good, but not great?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle McCord and Will Howard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, who left Columbus for Syracuse, was drafted by Philadelphia in the sixth round, a few spots ahead of his replacement, Will Howard. It could be a win-win for both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCord is going into a great situation. He\u2019s going home (he\u2019s from Philadelphia) and he\u2019ll have a chance to learn and development from a great coaching staff and incumbent quarterback Jalen Hurts. Everyone loves a backup quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard, who led Ohio State to the national championship, is going into a situation where he may be a starter at some point in the season, depending on what Aaron Rodgers does or doesn\u2019t do. I\u2019m a little surprised Howard lasted as long as he did. He seemed like a lock to go in the fourth round. Obviously, he had a great playoff run for Ohio State but I wonder if NFL teams couldn\u2019t get past the regular season. Yes, he had a very productive season for Ohio State but think back to the one or two bad decisions he seemed to make in nearly every regular season game. If he can eliminate those types of mistakes, he could be an absolute steal by the Steelers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travis Hunter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that it matters much but I wasn\u2019t nearly as high on Travis Hunter as others. Why not? What is he? Is he a wide receiver or a cornerback? Face it, he won\u2019t be able to play both ways full time in the NFL unless he\u2019s planning on a career of two or three years. Sure, he may play full time one way and a few snaps the other other way, but there\u2019s a reason the NFL hasn\u2019t had a two-way player in many decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he\u2019s a wide receiver, was he really the top one in the draft? If he\u2019s a cornerback, was he the best one in the draft? You can make an argument for yes or no to either question, but it seems a lot of people bought into the two-way hype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as the trade that landed him in Jacksonville, great! The Jaguars got the guy they wanted and the Browns moved down three spots, added a second round pick this year and Jacksonville\u2019s first round pick next year. That\u2019s a big haul, especially if the Browns made\/make the right selections with those picks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers solely around the recent NFL Draft \u2013 draft grades, Shedeur Sanders, Arch Manning, Kyle McCord and Will Howard, and Travis Hunter. Draft grades It\u2019s easy to get caught up in the hype of the NFL Draft. It\u2019s fun to read the post-draft grades that national […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 17:16:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192280,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192279\/revisions\/192280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}