The winners and losers of the 2020 NFL draft first round

Here’s who came out on top and who didn’t after Thursday.

The bad news: the 2020 NFL draft first round is over after all the hype and excitement leading up to the event that took place remotely.

The good news: there are six more rounds to go! More sports to watch and dissect and enjoy! Wahoo!!

The other good news: we can look back and analyze what went down on Thursday night (our Steven Ruiz also graded every first-round pick and looked ahead to who’s left).

Let’s look at the winners and losers from a first-round that had a few surprises but that wasn’t as wild and chaotic as some people hoped.

Winners

Tom Brady

He was already a winner heading into the draft. But now, the new Buccaneers quarterback gets one of the best tackles in the draft — Tristan Wirfs — to protect him. We know Brady thrives when he isn’t under pressure all the time.

Teams that waited on wide receivers

We knew the draft class was filled with WR talent … and although Henry Ruggs’ speed is undeniably enticing, the Raiders taking him set up some teams to pounce on the value that came with that choice. The Broncos might have gotten the best receiver in the class in Jerry Jeudy at No. 15 and CeeDee Lamb fell right in to Jerry Jones’ lap at No. 17 for the Cowboys. I think the Vikings getting Justin Jefferson at No. 22 was solid, and there are a bunch of intriguing names — Tee Higgins, Denzel Mims, Tyler Johnson and Van Jefferson — who could be good selections moving forward.

Jerry Jones

Drafting from a yacht AND getting Lamb without having to make a trade, even though wide receiver is a strength for the Cowboys? That, as people say, is quite a flex.

Kliff Kingsbury

Speaking of flexes, his home setup went viral and Isaiah Simmons fell to the Cardinals.

Miami Dolphins

They already came in as possible winners with three first-rounders. Then, the Fins came out of the opening round with a possible franchise quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa), a tackle with upside (Austin Jackson) and a cornerback with promise (Noah Igbinoghene) while also trading down to grab yet another pick. Solid.

NFL fans

They’ve been waiting for this for what felt like forever and got to watch an actual NFL event.

The Chiefs offense (and fantasy owners)

Taking Clyde Edwards-Helaire wasn’t great from a value point of view. But whatever! The Chiefs just won the Super Bowl! They’re playing with house money! So take the running back who could thrive under Andy Reid as a dual threat. Fantasy football owners are definitely going to target him in drafts.

Losers

Roger Goodell

My colleague Andy Nesbitt broke it all down, from the awkward booing thing to the costume change to his basement to the botched 2020 draft announcement.

NFL fans

It wasn’t the craziest of first rounds, and thus far we don’t know of any technical difficulties that turned the draft into complete chaos. Oh well!

Safeties

Did NFL teams forget how important it is to have a good do-it-all safety? Not one was taken in the first round (unless you count Isaiah Simmons? Which I do not).

Aaron Rodgers

Welp.

Las Vegas Raiders

It felt like Henry Ruggs was a reach at No. 12 with Jeudy and Lamb on the board (classic Raiders to go for speed first, amirite?). And although the Raiders hit some home runs with last year’s draft class despite what some people thought were reaches at the time, it seemed like Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette could have been acquired later in the draft.

Los Angeles Chargers

Look: maybe Justin Herbert turns out to be good. But it seems like there are a lot of flaws. And then they traded up with the Patriots — don’t teams know NOT to do this, like, ever? — to get Kenneth Murray. They needed a linebacker, but did they need to give up a second- and third-rounder to do so?

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