The players are now out, and the votes are in. The Jets are going to be flying high again - along with Philadelphia, Green Bay and, possibly, Cincinnati.
High marks also for Houston, Atlanta, Jacksonville and, surprisingly, Detroit. But big, loud raspberries for Oakland and Dallas.
That's how the media over here are evaluating more than 15 hours of exhausting coverage of the NFL Draft at the weekend; coverage that, at times, felt like we were watching a marathon - and, afterwards, felt like we'd run it, too.
No.1: Stafford picked first
The Draft is such a peculiar and preposterous beast, you sometimes feel you need to stand up and shout "None of these players have even taken a snap yet!" as various pundits pontificate over the No 175 pick with stentorian overtones.
No team ever won a Super Bowl on Draft day, yet it is treated with such awe and reverence you could be forgiven for thinking it is a sport in its own right rather than just one aspect of the l-o-n-g pre-season maneouvering.
But it is easy to get ensnared by the magnetic pull of the intricate dissection of every choice (or lack of choice in some instances - see below) and the instant analysis of how much better (or worse) off a team just made itself.
Scrutiny
That in-depth scrutiny therefore leads to whole-scale 'grading' of each team's Draft-day deliberations, and the experts have largely pronounced the big winners as follows:
New York Jets: by surprising almost everyone with their dramatic trade for Cleveland's No 5 pick and grabbing USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, the consensus is Rex Ryan has pulled off a major coup and landed the gridiron Holy Grail of 'The QB of The Future'. Combined with the Round Three trade up for Iowa running back Shonn Greene, this has the pundits salivating over the potential for the Jets' offensive output in the next few years. To my mind, this is a lot to hang on a quarterback with only one full college season behind him, but then the talking heads get paid much more than I do!
Philadelphia: while there was the occasional dissenting voice (apart from mine) on the Sanchez scenario, the 'Iggles' scored a big whomping 'A+' from just about everyone connected with the Draft, including their own fans (which is a tough feat in Philly, where they once famously booed Father Christmas and also gave the bird to Donovan McNabb on Draft day in 1999). Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is universally acclaimed as a future star while Pittsburgh running back LeSean McCoy is also rated a 'steal' at No 53 overall. Plus Philly had also wheeled and dealed to bring in Buffalo tackle Jason Peters and Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs, giving them major upgrades there, too (although you do wonder how they will get on with both a LeSean and a DeSean - wideout Jackson - on the same team!).
Green Bay: bearing in mind how the defence let down the Brett Favre-less offence in 2008, it was pretty clear where the Packers' priorities lay, and the pundits gave them big props for coming up with ferocious Boston College nose tackle BJ Raji and USC linebacker Clay Matthews. The fact the Pack are moving to a 3-4 defence makes this an ultra-smart Draft, according to those in the know and, with the NFC North being arguably the most wide open division in the NFL, it puts Green Bay in a healthy position to regain lost ground from last term.
Cincinnati: badly in need of some good vibes after the way they slowly disintegrated in 08, the Bengals got major credit for as solid a draft, from round 1 to 7, as anyone over the weekend. Again, believing that defence is the best form of attack, Marv Lewis added some serious beef to his D with USC's non-stop linebacker Rey Maualuga (who many observers were staggered to see still hanging around in round 2) and Georgia Tech's highly-rated defensive end Michael Johnson (another steal at pick No 70). But he also didn't neglect his under-performing O, and came up with man-mountain offensive lineman Andre Smith (who weighs in at a shade under 24 stone) and the high pedigree of 6ft 5in tight end Chase Coffman - the son of former Packers tight end Paul Coffman.
Other teams to earn vigorous nods from the sideline observers were Atlanta (who landed giant Ole Miss defensive tackle Peria Jerry as well as trading for the Chiefs' blue chip tight end Tony Gonzalez); Houston (who bagged a bunch of really well-regarded athletes, led by USC linebacker Brian Cushing); Jacksonville (after a nightmare year for their O-Line, Jack Del Rio sensibly opted for two new linemen, including Arizona's feisty Eben Britton) and Detroit.
Pick-me-up
Badly in need of any kind of pick-me-up after last year's miserable 0-16 effort and the collapse of Michigan's automotive industry (which is also connected to Lions owner William Clay Ford), Detroit bit the bullet and shelled out the big bucks for quarterback Matt Stafford in the fervent hope he will be their QBotF. A $78m contract is an awfully big amount to wager on the strong-armed Georgian, but most pundits feel the NFC North doormats HAD to roll the dice on Stafford, while they also made some nice moves to land Oklahoma State's Brandon Pettigrew (rated the best tight end in the Draft), aggressive safety Louis Delmas and sharp receiver/return man Derrick Williams.
Only time will tell for the toothless Lions, but you have to feel they cannot possibly be facing another O-fer in 09.
But then came the blunderful moments of the Draft, led (yet again) by the Raiders and, more surprisingly, the Cowboys.
There are few teams that have been more dysfunctional than the Oakland men in the last six years (Detroit aside) and you just might have thought owner Al Davis would go for a bit more substance and bit less style this year; less flash more dash. Not a bit of it.
Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey was rated one of the fastest players in the Draft, but his only problem (according to the draftniks) was that he has a tendency to drop as many as he catches. A bit of a drawback for a wide receiver. And at No 7 in the first round? Many pundits were stunned. Equally, safety Michael Mitchell was rated a low-round choice at best. So the Raiders picked him in the second round. Some of their other five picks were equally mystifying, and few can see a rosy future for any of these next season.
Dallas had less to work with after trading their first-round pick to Detroit last October for wideout Roy Williams, but they confounded everybody by backing out of the 2nd round altogether and then assembling a mixed cast from day two that looked like a special teams convention. With the 'Boys looking so fragile at times in their meltdown moments of 2009, many expected them to beef up both lines and add some more teeth to their defensive backfield. They are still waiting.
The sub-text of much of the first day of the Draft, though, was the amount of teams opting out of a choice rather than committing themselves to a player they didn't fancy.
As I mentioned in my preview last week, many felt that the talent pool for 2009 was a little shallow in top-end terms, hence there were no less than seven instances of teams trading DOWN in the first round. The Patriots traded out of the first round completely, while the Cowboys didn't pick at ALL on the first day (although that decision has also been quietly rubbished by the pundits).
The Cleveland trade for the fifth pick (allowing the Jets to snag Sanchez) was THE big talking point, though. The arguments about who is the best quarterback - Sanchez or new $78m Motown man Stafford - will now be going full throttle.
But, for once, I fancy the abused Lions to come out top on this one. Detroit to win more games than the Jets in 09? Unlikely. But Stafford to be the more successful long-term? I'll take that bet.
