Welcome to Building the Dam’s segment on the 2019 NFL Draft winners and losers. A handful of us wanted to come together and share our thoughts on our most and least favorite draft picks of day one of the draft.

Below are our thoughts and opinions, but we encourage you readers to share your thoughts or your winners and losers in the comment section!

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Ross Parker

Winner: Green Bay Packers

The Packers continue their strong offseason with a great day one of the NFL draft. First at pick 12, they stop the fall of DE Rashan Gary to add talent to the defensive line. Then, the Packers traded up to pick 21 to snag safety Darnell Savage. Savage is a personal favorite of yours truly, and him landing on the Packers is a great fit where he can play right away. The Packers added talented players that will start right away, so an overall great day one for the Pack.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Loser: Cornerbacks

Headed into the NFL Draft, much had been made about the promising cornerback prospects in the NFL draft. Yet after one round of action, only one cornerback, Georgia CB Deandre Baker, has been drafted. It’s surprisingly alarming considering that prospects like Byron Murphy and and Greedy Williams were not taken after a lot of buildup to be taken in the first round. These cornerbacks may not wait long to hear their names called in day two, but it is still quite disappointing for many of these top prospects to not hear their names be called on Thursday night.

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Marcus Russell

Winner: New England Patriots

I can’t believe the Patriots got (in my opinion) the best receiver in the draft with the last pick of the 1st round. N’Keal Harry was a monster for Arizona State and is a godsend for The Pats as they desperately need reliable pass catchers around Tom Brady.

Loser: Josh Rosen

Rough night for Josh Rosen who’s value has plummeted just a year after being chosen as the face of the franchise. Kyler Murray swooped in to take his job and position in the franchise. Rosen (after months of speculation) will probably get traded for pennies on the dollars or return to Arizona as an unwanted man. Also, let’s not forget the head-scratching first round decisions by the NY Giants, Raiders and Falcons.

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John Severs

Winner: Jacksonville Jaguars

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Allen should not have been available at 7, but some of the teams in front of Jacksonville made some questionable decisions, and the Jags landed one of the best pass rushers in the draft. The Post-Bortles era is looking very exciting.

Loser: New York Giants

The Giants decided they needed to plan for a Manning-less future, and they decided the thing to do was draft the off brand Kroger’s version of Eli. There were so many better options at 6 overall. You want a QB? Dwayne Haskins was available, and now he’s going to play for your division rival. There were some amazing pass rushers just sitting there as well, and the Giants need one.

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The_Coach

Winners: Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots & Washington Redskins

The Atlanta Falcons may have gotten some of the best bang for their buck with their selections of two stunning offensive line talents in Boston College’s Chris Lindstrom (#14) and Washington’s Kaleb McGary (#31). I also liked the upside and potential of the Cincinnati Bengals’ choice of Alabama lineman Jonah Williams at #11 overall and New England (of course) snagging Arizona State wide receiver N’Keal Harry with the last pick in the first round. However, the huge promise of handing the reigns to #15 overall pick Dwayne Haskins from Ohio State at the quarterback spot and stealing Mississippi State edge rusher Montez Sweat at #26 overall, gave the usually confounding Redskins a solid first day of activity.

Losers: Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions & Green Bay Packers

No, I don’t have a vendetta against tight ends from Iowa, but the usage of the #8 overall pick by the Detroit Lions for T.J. Hockenson and the #20 overall pick by the Denver Broncos (after trading out of the top ten) for Noah Fant seemed misguided to me. Both the Broncos and Lions had major voids to fill and they missed their chances in my opinion. Also, I thought that Green Bay’s pick of Michigan defensive lineman Rashan Gary (#12) and their idea of trading up to grab Maryland safety Darnell Savage Jr. (#21) were huge stretches at best.

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Justin Sattelmaier

Winners: Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns

Honorable Mentions: Falcons (Go Offensive Lineman) & Patriots (N’Keal)

The Redskins won the draft by just sitting and waiting. Still not sure what the Giants are doing not taking Haskins, but the Redskins are not going to complain. They won the draft with the addition of the best QB in the draft and added a top pass rusher in Montez Sweat. Just to take a look at the meltdown of the Giants, Daniel Jones (in the ACC) went for 52 touchdowns and 29 interceptions in 36 games; capped off by a 59.9% completion percentage. Haskins came in and threw 54 touchdowns with 9 interceptions in 22 games with a 70% completion rating. Stats don’t lie, Haskins is better in every aspect of the game. Redskins stuck to their plan and didn’t waste any picks to go up and get him and reaped the benefits. Then they traded up and got a top 10 talent in Montez Sweat. This gives them a pass rusher opposite of Ryan Kerrigan and the young Redskins Defensive line. Look for them to pick up a WR and RB later in the draft to surround Haskins with talent and for them to win their division.

The Browns win because OBJ is alive and healthy and paired with Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry. The Giants had the meltdown of a century with their draft. Go Browns, #ringszn.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Losers: Seattle Seahawks

Honorable Mentions: Raiders (Obviously) & Giants (Obviously).

What are the Seahawks doing? They just paid Russell Wilson a lot of money and traded away a premier pass rusher. With their pick, they pick a second round pass-rusher? They had back to back picks which they could bolster help for Russell Wilson. They had their pick of Cody Ford or Jawaan Taylor at the offensive line to help protect Russell Wilson, either would have been a substantial upgrade. They then passed upon their choice of the human Batman suit of D.K. Metcalf or someone who the Beaver fans are all too familiar with and have seen his dominance in N’Keal Harry. Instead, they got a decent pass-rusher they could have picked later and traded their other pick. Really not sure why they keep trading down while they could benefit greatly from picking up talent. Instead they let the Patriots get N’Keal Harry, as if the needed to pass anymore to let the Patriots win.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

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Travis Johannes

Winner: Josh Rosen

Wait what? Yes, everyone else, including Marcus, has him tabbed as the biggest loser of the draft after Arizona picked Kyler Murray as his replacement 1st overall. I get that. But here is why I think he is actually the winner. Arizona is a god awful franchise. The only reason they don’t get more hate is the fact that the Raiders and Browns exist. Aside from Kurt Warner’s resurgence things have not gone well in the desert. They hired a failed college coach cause one time he drank from the same coffee cup as Sean McVay. Now Rosen will get traded to a team that wants him and unless it’s the Raiders he will have upgraded his situation.

Loser: Giants fans

How are the Giants the worst run franchise in a city that included the Jets? You wouldn’t think that would be possible.

Lol. What? I’m sorry Giants fans, I truly am.

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We will be continuing our draft coverage of days two and three on Building the Dam. Stay tuned for more instant feedback on our picks in the 2019 NFL Draft!

Day 1 Winners and Losers - 4/26

Day 2 Winners and Losers - 4/27

Day 3 Winners and Losers - 4/28

Overall Winners and Losers - 4/29