Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was chosen by the Colts with the first overal pick of the NFL Draft Thursday, while the Redskins followed through on a promise made by their general manager Bruce Allen earlier in the day and selected Baylor quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin, III. Luck entered this draft as the consensus No. 1 overall pick to succeed Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.
After completing a trade with the Vikings in the hours leading up to the draft, the Browns then chose Alabama running back Trent Richardson, one of five Crimson Tide players projected as possible first-round picks in the weeks leading up to the draft. The Browns were slotted at No. 4 but wanted to pick Richardson badly and traded their pick at No. 4, to go along with picks in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds. Richardson was the star running back of the national champion Alabama team that beat LSU in the BCS title game in early January.
The Browns were in position to pull off the first major trade since entered Thursday with a league-best 10 picks in the draft.
As for the Patriots, they own the 27th and 31st overall picks in the first round. They have a tradition of trading down for value and head coach Bill Belichick acknowledged as much again on Thursday before the draft on NFL Network.
"We'll have to see how it plays out," Belichick said.
The first round will conclude late Thursday night. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held on Friday. The draft concludes on Saturday with rounds 4-7.
For complete coverage of the draft and Patriots from the team of Chris Price, Mike Petraglia, Nick O'Malley and DJ Bean, visit the Patriots page at weei.com/patriots [1] and the blog It Is What It Is [2].
Links:
[1] http://www.weei.com/patriots
[2] http://www.itiswhatitis.weei.com
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/patriots