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2015 NFL Draft Recap

The NFL Draft is over. Find out what some of the biggest storylines were throughout the weekend.

John Owning

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The third day of the NFL draft is in the books and teams should be riding high. They all will receive an influx of talent and each team has playoff dreams.

One of the biggest storylines coming out of draft weekend was the fall of Randy Gregory, who was believed to be a top-10 talent when the pre-draft process began. However, a positive test for marijuana at the NFL Scouting Combine and other off field concerns led to Gregory falling all the way to the end of round two and into the laps of the Dallas Cowboys.

Another big storyline was Brett Hundley, who came out early, but slipped all the way to the Green Bay Packers in round five. Hundley is a player who flashes the best talent among all the quarterbacks in this draft; unfortunately, he was very inconsistent with his eye level, mechanics and accuracy. Luckily for Hundley, he couldn’t have gone to a better team as he will get a chance to sit back and develop behind of Aaron Rodgers.

Another interesting storyline throughout draft weekend how far undersized, one-gap penetrating defensive tackles fell. Clemson’s Grady Jarrett was one of the most disruptive defenders in the nation last year as he routinely made life miserable for opposing offense. Despite that, he fell all the way to the Falcons in round five. Another productive, but undersized defensive tackle who fell a lot was Ohio State’s Michael Bennett. He was projected to go in the second or third round, but he fell all the way to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round.

The strangest storyline of draft weekend had to be the strange circumstances surrounding La’el Collins and his fall out of the draft. He was considered to be a first-round lock going into the NFL draft, but after the police wanted to question him in regards to the death of his ex-girlfriend, he became undraftable. If Collins ends up being innocent in all this, it will be one of the most unfortunate events in the history of the NFL draft.

One team who appeared to make the most out of draft weekend was the Atlanta Falcons. They got the best pure pass-rusher in the draft, Vic Beasley, in the first round. Furthermore, they got great value in the third round and beyond as they selected blue-chip prospects Tevin Coleman, Justin Hardy and Grady Jarrett in rounds three, four and five respectively.

In a division as weak as the NFC South, this draft could be enough to push the Falcons over the top and into the playoffs this year.

It is really unfair to criticize a team’s draft without ever seeing the players they selected actually play, but one team who didn’t appear to maximize draft weekend was the St. Louis Rams. They selected Todd Gurley when they already had Tre Mason, Jamon Brown looked to be a fringe-draftable player on tape and they made a big time reach when they selected Sean Mannion, who has the looks of a great quarterback, but plays like a backup quarterback in the CFL. Never say never, but the Rams didn’t appear to get great value throughout draft weekend and their team may suffer greatly because of it.

Now that the draft is over, teams will scramble to sign undrafted free agents to help fill their roster. This is a crucial time for many teams as there are numerous players who go undrafted but make a huge impact every year. Some of the undrafted free agents who could make that type of impact for teams include La’el Collins, Zach Zenner, DeVante Davis and Josh Harper.

The NFL draft is one of the biggest events on the NFL’s calendar and has become a year around job and many will undoubtedly start working on next year’s crop of prospects.

John Owning is a NFL columnist for Football Insiders. He has years of experience covering the NFL, NFL draft and NCAA football. John's work has been featured on the Bleacher Report and DraftBreakdown.com

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