After months of preparation, the NFL Draft is now upon us.
Teams around the league will make their selections from a pool of top-performing players starting at 7:00 tonight, but who will be taken first?
NFL pundits have debated and argued, and a former Green Bay Packer O-Lineman has also weighed in.
Super Bowl winner and current Manitowoc Lincoln Head Football Coach Evan Smith made his predictions on this week’s episode of the On the Line Podcast.
The Tennessee Titans have the first overall pick, and Smith said he is 100% certain they will be taking a quarterback 1st overall, likely either Shedeur Sanders from Colorado or Cam Ward from Miami.
The reason he is so sure boils down to what happened earlier this off season.
Smith recalled, “We talked about this story in free agency…I said if they wanted to address that in free agency, they should have went out and made it known that they want to sign Aaron Rodgers to basically say like, hey, we’re going to go take a shot, we’re going to take the quarterback, we’re going to give him some time to develop behind this guy for a year.”
Cleveland has the second overall pick, leaving them in a rather interesting situation.
The Browns have some position groups they would likely want to address, but with Travis Hunter potentially being available, they could go for the best athlete on the board, but Smith gave another interesting option.
“If you get Abdul Carter…now you have the best pass rusher already in the league on your team. You pair that guy with another dude with a head of steam kind of coming off the other side of it,” he speculated. “That’s in itself pretty much kind of would set your defense up for success for quite, you know, for a lot of time.”
As for the third pick, which belongs to the New York Giants, Smith predicts the Browns’ pick will play a direct factor in their selection.
“If they go Carter, the Giants are taking Travis Hunter,” he said. “If they take Travis Hunter, the Giants are going to take Abdul.”
The Green Bay Packers were slotted with the 23rd overall pick, and Smith predicted that their selection could go one of a few ways.
“In the first two rounds…if there’s a receiver there that you feel could be a number one type guy, I’ll go get them,” he said. “If not, then I would go and get the best corner you can in whatever slot you can.”
You can hear more of Smith’s take on the NFL Draft by going to SeehaferPodcasts.com.
Draft night coverage will be aired on 1240 WOMT and at WOMTRadio.com with the voice of the Green Bay Packers, Wayne Larrivee, Bill Schmid from Parkers OT, and Doug Russel starting at 6:00 tonight.
SeehaferNews.com will also be on hand all three days.
