Now that the NFL draft is concluded, rosters each teams roster is starting to take shape.While there will be more movement around the league let’s take a look at how each team in the NFL stacks up right now.
32. Miami Dolphins
Miami has an excellent draft. With their first pick, they took Christian Wilkins, who was one of my personal favorites coming into the draft.
Wilkins is a 315-pound defensive tackle who will be able to execute at a high level in Brian Flores’s new hybrid scheme, which incorporates many elements of both the 3-4 and 4-3 defenses.
The Clemson alum projects as a player who can play anywhere on the defensive line. He is a great player to build around, as he is a knowledgeable player, who earned his Masters degree from Clemson this past year.
He is smart, with high-character, which is going to be massive for the Dolphins franchise as they continue to build for the future.
In addition to drafting Wilkins Miami made a splash by trading for Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen.
Miami gave up their 2019 second-round selection and a fifth-round pick in 2020 to acquire the former UCLA star.
While this seems like a lot, they are getting a potential franchise quarterback in the building making the price reasonable.
The Dolphins now have a year to evaluate Rosen and see if he is their future quarterback.
He barely takes any cap room and fixes the team’s current gaping hole quarterback.
Later in the draft, Miami drafted both offensive lineman Michael Dieter and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel out of Wisconsin.
Dieter projects to be a starter at guard for the Dolphins, and Van Ginkel has the traits to grow as a hybrid linebacker in Brian Flores’s scheme.
Miami has some talent on both sides of the ball to build around, such as Wilkins, Rosen, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Xavien Howard, and Laremy Tunsil.
This team needs a change of leadership though, and it starts with their first-year head coach.
31. New York Giants
One could argue the Giants possibly had the worst offseason of any team in the NFL.
Going into the offseason, they had many needs, such as offensive line help and depth at linebacker, but instead, they sold pieces.
The Giants traded star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for Jabrill Peppers, a first round pick, and a third-round pick from Cleveland. As part of the same deal, they also traded their best pass rusher Olivier Vernon, and a fourth-round pick to Cleveland for offensive guard Kevin Zeitler, a guard, and a fifth found pick.
They also made the decision not to resign Landon Collins, who went to Washington.
Collins is a stud box safety, who makes plays against the run, blitzing, and has great ball skills.
Though they did allow a lot of players to leave they did still make additions and re-sign pieces.
The Giants signed receiver Golden Tate, signed wideout Sterling Shepard to a long-term deal, signed edge rusher Markus Golden, and also brought back center Spencer Pulley.
After a questionable free agent frenzy, the Giants might have had one of the most underwhelming drafts of any team in the league.
At pick sixth overall they selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones projects to be a starter in a few years, when Eli Manning retires.
With their second first rounder, they took Dexter Lawrence, a nose tackle from Clemson. Lawrence is outstanding against the run, but lacks the pass rush skills to be a three-down player in the NFL.
They also traded back up into the first round to get DeAndre Baker, a cornerback from Georgia.
Other notable names selected by the Giants included pass rusher Oshane Ximines and Julian Love, a corner out of Notre Dame.
Overall, it’s hard to tell where the Giants feel where they are at as a franchise. Will likely find out it’s not the best place after this season.
30. Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals are in a transition phase. After Marvin Lewis was the coach for 16 years and failed to deliver a postseason victory, it was time to go in a new direction.
This offseason, they re-signed linebacker Preston Brown and slot corner Darqueze Dennard.
They also brought back tight end Tyler Eifert.
Perhaps their biggest external signing was the addition of former Giants defensive end Kerry Wynn.
He projects to be a part of their defensive line rotation, alongside Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins.
In the draft, the team took offensive tackle, Jonah Williams from Alabama, who projects to be their left tackle of the future.
They also took Germaine Pratt, who can play strong side linebacker and Drew Sample, a tight end from Washington.
The most intriguing pick of their draft, however, might be quarterback Ryan Finley from NC State.
Finley projects to provide some depth in case Andy Dalton gets hurt, while also growing into the potential starter for the Bengals.
Overall, Cincinnati’s offseason wasn’t bad, but it seems they need to progress their rebuild by trading AJ Green, their star receiver, and also potentially trading Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins for draft picks.
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay has plenty of talent on paper. Mike Evans, Lavonte David, Gerald McCoy, Jason Pierre-Paul, and O.J. Howard are on their the roster, but it still seems they may be best starting over.
Bruce Arians is the new coach and now is reasonable for creating the identity of the Buccaneers franchise.
This offseason, the Buccaneers were pretty quiet, only signing Deone Bucannon and Shaq Barrett due to the fact they entered the offseason with little cap space.
As for the draft, Tampa Bay went defense with their first five picks, first drafting LSU linebacker Devin White.
White will be an instant starter for new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and his 3-4 scheme. He is a perfect body to build the defense around, and is much needed as Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David both are candidates to be cut after the 2019 season.
Their next four picks were also defense, with two corners, Sean Bunting and Jamel Dean, saftey Mike Edwards out of Kentucky and edge rusher Anthony Nelson out of Iowa.
Overall, Tampa Bay went into the draft with a bunch of older guys on defense, and got significantly younger in one draft which will help them in the future.
Right now though, with Jameis Winston never really being consistent, 2019 looks to be another transition year as the Bucs look to establish a culture, and continue to get younger.
28. Arizona Cardinals
Arizona was possibly the most fascinating team of this offseason.
First, they fired head Steve Wilks after one season, and hired Kliff Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech coach.
Kingsbury also brought in Vance Joseph as his defensive coordinator.
In free agency, the Cardinals signed Charles Clay, a tight end from Buffalo, Terrell Suggs, the veteran pass rusher from Baltimore, and Jordan Hicks a linebacker from Philadelphia.
They also acquired Marcus Gilbert in free agency, a right tackle for only a sixth-round pick. Overall, Arizona had some cap space, but spent it more conservatively, and took some flyers.
Overall, they did enough to improve the roster, without reaching for talent as much.
The draft is where Arizona impressed.
With the first pick, they took quarterback Kyler Murray out of Oklahoma.
Murray, the Heisman trophy winner, has a smaller frame, but is possibly the most athletic quarterback since Michael Vick. In Kliff Kingsbury’s air-raid offense, Murray will excel.
In the second round, the Cardinals selected Byron Murphy out of Washington, and he should be a day-one starter. With elite ball skills and zone coverage abilities, Murphy has the ability to be a Pro Bowl level corner.
They also traded Josh Rosen to Miami for a second and fifth round picks, and used pick 62 to select Andy Isabella, a speedy receiver out of UMass.
Isabella can fly vertically, which will be a good fit with Murray’s arm.
With the first pick of the third round, Arizona took Zach Allen. Allen is a defensive end, with a bigger body, who can be a rotation guy on day one.
Overall, Arizona needed young talent this year to complement Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, and David Johnson.
