Five worst picks from first round of the NFL Draft: Giants, Falcons pay steep prices

That is a lot of draft capital to give up for a risky quarterback on team that has a lot of needs. 

Falcons trade up for DL James Pearce Jr.

The Falcons were the other team to move back up into the back end of the first-round, giving up a ton of assets to move up 20 spots to take James Pearce Jr. 

Pearce Jr. is a fine pick in the first round, and combined with No. 15 pick Jalon Walker should help improve a Falcons defense that needs a ton of help. But giving up that many picks, including a 2026 first-round pick, is a steep price to pay. 

Pearce better be worth it when you are giving up a future first-round pick. 

Cowboys select OG Tyler Booker 

Booker fills a massive need on the Cowboys' offensive line, but it is a question of value. If you are taking a guard with the No. 12 pick in the draft, you better be getting a Larry Allen, Alan Faneca or Steve Hutchinson clone in that spot. It better be somebody that can transform the position and have a Hall of Fame career ahead of him. 

Is Booker that sort of player? Time will tell, but for right now it seems a little high just based on positional value. 

Seahawks select OG Grey Zabel

Everything that was just said about Booker also applies here to Zabel going to Seattle. Almost word-for-word.

Yes, the Seahawks desperately needed to upgrade their line, and especially on the interior, but guards in the top half of the draft just seem like questionable value given some of the impact positions that are still available. Good guards can be found later. 

Raiders take RB Ashton Jeanty 

This is simply a question of whether or not this is the right spot for Jeanty. He deserves to be a high pick and he should be a high pick. He is the best running back in this class and in the right situation could be an immediate impact player. 

But do the Raiders have enough on offense around him to allow him to excel, and were there other positions they could have looked at in this spot to make the team better?

The Raiders seemed to have taken the wrong lessons from the impact players like Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry had on their teams during the 2024 season. 

Those teams did not excel because they found the right running backs, those backs excelled because they were put onto the right teams. The running backs were not one of the starting points of the offense, they were the final piece of the puzzle. 

The Raiders are expecting Jeanty to be one of the first key building blocks and one of the first starting points. That does not always work out well.