NFL Draft Round 1 Winners & Losers

Round of the NFL draft is in the books. Day 2 continues Friday, April 25, with Rounds 2 and 3 at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers. The first round started just as everyone thought it would. Former Miami QB Cam Ward was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the first overall pick.

Then, the rest of Round 1 gave us a number of surprises. It started with a blockbuster trade and ended with the seventh offensive lineman of the round going to the Kansas City Chiefs. In between, it was a little wild and a little crazy. There were some big winners and, unfortunately, there were some losers too. Here’s a recap of Round 1 of the NFL draft. 

No Surprise at No. 1

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Ward would go No. 1 to Tennessee. He did. Franchise great Warren Moon even showed up to un-retire his No. 1 jersey and offer it to Ward. The top pick wore No. 1 at Miami and at Washington State before that. 

The Titans get a quarterback of the future, but Will Levis is on the losing end of this deal. Levis was picked in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft. He became the Titans starter later in his rookie season and would be the starter heading into 2024.

Levis was benched late in the year, opening the door for the Titans, who finished the 2024 season 3-14, to draft Ward with the first pick of the 2025 draft.

Hunter Is a Big Deal

It was also expected that Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter would go at No. 2. What was not expected was the trade that landed Hunter in Jacksonville. The Cleveland Browns traded out of the No. 2 spot, getting a second- and fourth-round pick this year and another first-rounder in 2026. That allowed Jacksonville to sneak in and grab Hunter.

It’s the first time since 1997 that a team moved into one of the top two picks and didn’t select a quarterback. A wide receiver hasn’t gone that high since the Detroit Lions took Calvin Johnson at No. 2 in 2007. No corner has ever gone that high either.

A Feast Up Front

Ask any NFL coach and he’ll tell you – you better be good up front, especially on the offensive line. If you can’t protect your quarterback or run the football, your chances of winning anything, let alone a Super Bowl, are not very high. 

The feast up front started at No. 4 when the Patriots took LSU OT Will Campbell. With Drake Maye looking like a franchise quarterback, Campbell could be his blindside protector for the next decade. 

Six more offensive linemen were taken in Round 1. Armand Membou of Missouri and Kelvin Banks Jr. from Texas made it a trifecta of big guys up front taken in the top 10. Membou was selected by the New York Jets and Banks went to the New Orleans Saints. Ohio State OT Josh Simmons was the final pick of the first round.

They Might Be Giants

They are Giants now. Former Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter went No. 3 to New York. The Giants then pulled a fast one, giving the Houston Texans an extra second- and third-round pick this year and another third-rounder next year to move up and pick at No. 25. 

It was well known that the Giants were in need of a quarterback. The Daniel Jones experiment ended badly and New York wanted a shot at a new quarterback of the future. The Giants pulled the trigger on Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart, a tough, dual-threat type who could very well be what the Giants have been missing.

What About Shedeur?

Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, regarded by many as the second-best quarterback behind Ward in this draft, was left scratching his head after the Giants pick. Surely, he was excited when he heard the Giants were moving up. The Steelers, also in need of a quarterback after Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both moved on, passed on a quarterback at No. 21. Pittsburgh drafted Oregon DT Derrick Harmon.

Sanders then watched as the first round ended and his name was not called. There had been plenty of speculation that NFL teams would shy away from drafting Sanders for a number of reasons. One, of course, was dealing with the drama that comes from Sanders’ father, Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders. 

Another Browns Disaster?

The Cleveland Browns are one of our NFL franchises that have never been to a Super Bowl. It has been disaster after disaster for the Browns pretty much ever since owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore in 1996. The franchise returned to the city in 1999. Since then, the team has had 38 different starting quarterbacks. 

The Green Bay Packers have had eight in the same time period and five of those guys combined for 20 starts. Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and current starter Jordan Love have started the rest. The Browns are again in need of a quarterback.

In Round 1, the Browns decided not to take Hunter at No. 2 nor draft a quarterback with the pick. Instead, the Browns traded the pick to Jacksonville. It was Cleveland’s first first-round pick since 2021. The Browns traded away their first-round picks in 2022, 2023, and 2024 in the deal that brought Deshaun Watson to Cleveland. Yes, another disaster. 

Yet another disaster may lie in wait. The Browns have 40-year-old Joe Flacco and former Pittsburgh first-round flop Kenny Pickett on the quarterback depth chart right now. Cleveland holds the first pick in Round 2 of the draft. The best available quarterback, according to most experts, is Sanders.