Monday Morning Draft -Wild-Card

Monday Morning Draft is back! This is a column that delves into the past weekend’s action from an NFL Draft perspective. As the season goes on, the draft picture and slotting will become more clear, but every Sunday will provide a few hints for next April.

By Charlie Campbell.
Send Charlie an e-mail here: [email protected]
Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell for updates.

Race for the No. 1 Pick:

Cleveland Browns:
The Browns made history by finishing 0-16 in the 2017 season with a loss to the Steelers backups. It was fitting for Sashi Brown, Hue Jackson, Andrew Berry, and Paul Depodesta that their first draft pick in Corey Coleman dropped an easy pass at the Pittsburgh 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter to clinch the winless season.

Cleveland had some bad coaching this season, plus was overmatched from a talent perspective on a weekly basis. The Browns were the last winless team in the NFL and did not significantly improve over last season despite lots of spending in free agency to go along with high draft picks. That lack of talent and passing on franchise quarterbacks ended up costing Sashi Brown his job after a stretch of 1-27 running the Browns.

As stated by owner Jimmy Haslam, finding a franchise quarterback is the No. 1 priority for new general manager John Dorsey. With the first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Dorsey will have his choice among candidates of Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. At this point, Rosen would be the favorite to be that pick.

To add insult to injury this year, the Browns lost to the three quarterbacks they’ve passed on recently and who look like three future franchise signal-callers. Carson Wentz won over them earlier in the year, and then the Texans’ Deshaun Watson killed Cleveland’s defense, teasing the organization with what could have been if it hadn’t passed on him twice in the 2017 NFL Draft. Mitch Trubisky put the final insult to the season with the Week 16 win over Cleveland.

Let’s Play Matchmaker:

This section will look at some of the top talent in college football and match those prospects up with teams that have a dire need at the position.

Kansas City Chiefs: Terrell Edmunds, S, Virginia Tech

Derrick Henry ran all over the Chiefs on Saturday, and those yards were key in Tennessee pulling off its massive comeback win over Kansas City. The Chiefs lost Eric Berry to injury during 2017, and they really missed him in the middle of the field throughout the year, with the exclamation point being the loss to the Titans. In 2018 NFL Draft, the Chiefs could use a safety upgrade to go next to Berry. That would improve their run defense, help their pass defense in the middle of the field, and help protect their defense if Berry were to suffer injury again.

Edmunds hasn’t gotten as much attention as his brother Tremaine Edmunds, but NFL sources have told WalterFootball.com that Terrell Edmunds has really impressed them as well. Edmunds has good size to be an NFL safety and has shown coverage skills the past few seasons while also being a physical defender that will tackle. As one source put it on Edmunds, “that guy plays like his hair is on fire.” In 2017, the junior totaled 59 tackles, two interceptions and four passes broken up before his season ended early with a shoulder injury. As a sophomore, he totaled 89 tackles, four interceptions and three passes broken up. Sources say they see Terrell Edmunds as a second-day prospect for the 2018 NFL Draft if he declares. He could provide a nice value for the Chiefs, because they are without their first-round pick.

Los Angeles Rams: Carlton Davis, CB, Auburn

The Rams had problems defending Atlanta’s big receivers in Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu. Los Angeles could use a cornerback upgrade across from Trumaine Johnson, and the need will be even more critical of Johnson isn’t re-signed. Late in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, a cornerback like Davis would be a good fit for the Rams.

Davis (6-1, 203) is a good corner who has size, length and press-man ability. He has nice quickness in the short part of the field and can battle big wideouts. Davis is a physical defender who really competes, but he does struggle with deep speed. The junior recorded 36 tackles with 11 passes broken up, one forced fumble and an interception in 2017. As a sophomore, he totaled 46 tackles, 10 passes broken up, one forced fumble and zero interceptions. Davis recorded three interceptions with 56 tackles and eight passes broken up as a freshman.

Buffalo Bills: Christian Kirk, WR, Texas A&M

The Bills’ passing offense was completely ineffective in their loss to Jacksonville. Buffalo was led in receiving by LeSean McCoy (6-44) as wide outs Kelvin Benjamin (1-9) and Zay Jones (2-20) were non-factors. Next year, the Bills could use more receiving talent to bolster their passing attack, and it would make sense to add some speed to go with their bigger receivers.

Kirk would be a good fit to work out of the slot between Jones and Benjamin. The speedy Kirk has mismatch speed and could be a deep weapon who challenges defenses downfield. In 2017, quarterback play was a problem for the Aggies, yet Kirk had 71 catches for 919 yards and 10 touchdowns while seeing a lot of double coverage his direction. He also played well in 2016 despite inconsistent quarterback play from the Aggies. He had 83 receptions for 928 yards with nine touchdowns that season while splitting targets with wideouts like Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones. In 2015, Kirk caught 80 passes for 1,009 yards with seven touchdowns. Multiple scouting sources have compared Kirk to Sterling Shepard and Jarvis Landry. Kirk would be a good option for Buffalo in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Carolina Panthers: Justin Reid, S, Stanford

The Panthers were torn up by former teammate Ted Ginn (4-115) and Michael Thomas (8-131) as Drew Brees spread the ball around to his play-makers to outscore Cam Newton and Carolina. Carolina found some quality play out of its young cornerbacks overall in 2017, but the team, could use some youth at safety. All of the Panthers’ safeties are aging, and they could use a steady presence on the back end to help lock down the deep part of the field. Having better safety talent could have helped to limit Ginn and Thomas.

The 6-foot-1, 204-pound Reid played really well in 2017 and has impressed NFL scouts. Sources who are tough graders said they thought Reid had first-round potential for the 2018 NFL Draft. They say that Reid doesn’t have Earl Thomas’ range as a free safety or Kam Chancellor’s size as a strong safety, but he does everything well. He is a good free or strong safety with the ability to run and tackle. They say that Reid is a polished, clean, good all-around safety similar to HaHa Clinton-Dix coming out of Alabama. In 2017, Reid totaled 99 tackles with four passes broken up and five interceptions. He had 57 tackles with seven breakups as a sophomore. Reid is the younger brother of 49ers safety Eric Reid, a first-round pick out of LSU in 2013. Justin Reid would be a nice fit for Carolina in the early rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft.