2013 NFL Draft Winners and Losers: AFC North

Eric Olinger

brandon_weeden2We bring our Premium members a team capsule for every team in the NFL every off-season. These quick snapshots in time give you a good assessment of where we feel the value of those players lies at the moment. Unfortunately, things change often in the NFL and in dynasty leagues. The biggest value rises or drops come as a result of the NFL Draft. Rather than leaving those capsules untouched until next year, we decided to go division-by-division with extended coverage of veteran winners and losers from the off-season. Many values have stayed the same, so an entire team capsule would be redundant. However, these articles will cover some key draft additions that have a huge impact in dynasty leagues one way or another.

We begin our journey through the NFL with the AFC North.

Baltimore Ravens

Pick #32- Matt Elam, FS

Pick #56- Arthur Brown, ILB

Pick # 94- Brandon Williams, DT

Pick #129- John Simon, DE

Pick#130- Kyle Juszczyk, FB

Pick #168- Ricky Wagner, OT

Pick #200- Kapron Lewis-Moore, DE

Pick #203- Ryan Jensen, OT

Pick #238- Aaron Mellette, WR

Pick #247- Marc Anthony, CB

Winners

Tandon Doss, Tommy Streeter

The Ravens didn’t use one of their AFC-high 12 draft picks (before draft day trades) to add a wide receiver until pick #238 in round seven. With Anquan Boldin now in San Francisco and Torrey Smith locked into the WR1 role for the Ravens, Doss and Streeter will battle it out with less than stellar veteran Jacoby Jones for the starting spots opposite the deep threat. Streeter is a name to remember at 6’5”, 220 pounds, with legit 4.4 wheels.

IDP Leaguers

The Ravens hit the draft hard and heavy on the defensive side of the ball using six of their ten selections to retool the defense. They replaced future Hall of Famers Ed Reed and Ray Lewis with Matt Elam and Arthur Brown, respectively. Both guys will be among the first IDPs selected at their positions. They also added a couple of real interesting defensive ends in John Simon and Kapron Lewis-Moore. Simon was a coach favorite at OhioState. Former NFL star and now current positional coach at Ohio State, Mike Vrabel, “pounded the table” for Simon. Lewis-Moore had a fantastic season for the Irish in 2012, but tore his ACL in the BCS National Championship game. His rookie year will most likely be spent on I.R., but they’re names to remember for deep IDP leaguers.

Losers

Joe Flacco

Just because Doss and Streeter came out of the draft smelling like roses doesn’t mean Flacco should feel good. The Ravens will enter 2013 with more question marks at wide receiver than a defending Super Bowl champ should. Torrey Smith is still developing his skills into more of an all-around set and not just a deep threat, Doss and Streeter have done nothing at the pro level, and Jacoby Jones might have had a nice playoff run, but he’s not a legitimate NFL number two receiver. Dennis Pitta will probably be the de facto second option in the passing game, but someone needs to step up.

Cincinnati Bengals

Pick #21- Tyler Eifert, TE

Pick #37- Giovani Bernard, RB

Pick #53- Margus Hunt, DE

Pick #84- Shawn Williams, SS

Pick #118- Sean Porter, OLB

Pick #156- Tanner Hawkinson, OT

Pick #190- Rex Burkhead, RB

Pick #197- Cobi Hamilton, WR

Pick #240- Reid Fragel, OT

Pick #251- T.J. Johnson, C

Winners

Andy Dalton

What do you give a quarterback with a pop gun arm? The drafts best tight end. Andy Dalton’s arm strength and deep ball accuracy issues are well documented. They were both on full display in the playoff loss to the Houston Texans. That game was there for the taking and Dalton couldn’t hit A.J. Green on the deep throws. When he tried checking down to Jermaine Gresham, he couldn’t hold on to the ball. In steps Tyler Eifert. Eifert has sure hands, high points the ball and uses his big frame to shield blockers and make the tough catch. Dalton should take the next step as a passer when the Bengals go with their two tight end sets and when he’s not throwing it, he’ll be handing it off to his new running back, Giovani Bernard.

Giovani Bernard

Bernard was a popular mock draft destination for the Bengals and it came to fruition in round two. Bernard offers the most all around talent the Bengals have needed in the backfield for years. He’s often compared to Ravens running back Ray Rice. He can run, catch, pass block and has a nose for the end zone. He should start from day one.

Losers

BenJarvus Green-Ellis

You can’t fault “The Law Firm,” – he is what he is, a plodding goal line runner who lacks game breaking skills. Unfortunately for him, the Bengals found one of those dynamic players with Bernard. Green-Ellis’ best case scenario will be to carve out a role as a goal line back to preserve the wear and tear on Bernard.

Jermaine Gresham

I didn’t see the Bengals drafting Eifert in round one. But when they did, it made a lot of sense. Gresham was brutal in the playoff loss and he’s not much of a red zone presence, something the Bengals desperately need. Lucky for Gresham the Bengals won’t completely phase him out, the popular scheme in the NFL right now is the two tight end set. For fantasy leaguers, he won’t be the one to own.

Cleveland Browns

Pick #6- Barkevious Mingo, DE/OLB

Pick #68- Leon McFadden, CB

Pick #175- Jamoris Slaughter, SS

Pick #217- Armonty Bryant, DE

Pick #227- Garrett Gilkey, OT

Winners

Brandon Weeden

There were all kinds of rumors flying around about the Browns being interested in quarterbacks in the draft, especially if Geno Smith started to slide. Well, he did and the Browns didn’t budge. They will give the 29-year old a chance to succeed going into his second NFL season. With solid weapons in Josh Gordon, Greg Little and Trent Richardson, along with coaches who have a well documented ability to get the most out of their quarterbacks, Weeden won’t have any excuses.

Jordan Cameron

With Chud and Tuner in town, the hot topic has been who is going to start at tight end in this extremely tight end friendly offense. Chudzinski has featured the tight end everywhere he goes (see Kellen Winslow Jr., Antonio Gates and Greg Olsen). Now it appears his next project is Cameron, a 2011 fourth round pick and former college basketball player. Cameron has serious sleeper potential in 2013.

The Browns

You have to consider the Browns winners for gambling on Josh Gordon in the Supplemental Draft last year. At the time, it was shocking they would spend such a high draft pick on a then 19-year old wide receiver with off the field issues. It’s paid off wonderfully. Gordon may have been the first wide receiver taken in this year’s draft, definitely in the first round at least. The Browns have their first legitimate number one wide receiver since the early days of Braylon Edwards.

Losers

David Nelson

After signing as a free agent, Nelson was expected to man the slot for the Browns once he finished rehabbing his torn ACL. Maybe the Browns are just protecting themselves by adding depth, but adding Davonne Bess in a draft day trade really hurt whatever fantasy value Nelson had. It doesn’t help Bess’ value much as he’ll also be playing in a crowded receiving corps on an offense that doesn’t heavily use a slot receiver.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pick #17- Jarvis Jones, OLB

Pick #48- Le’Veon Bell, RB

Pick #79- Markus Wheaton, WR

Pick #111- Shamarko Thomas, SS

Pick #115- Landry Jones, QB

Pick #150- Terry Hawthorne, CB

Pick #186- Justin Brown, WR

Pick #206- Vince Williams, LB

Pick #223- Nick Williams, DT

Winners

Le’Veon Bell

Bell landed in a great spot. He’s a big running back that can play all three downs, plus pass protect, something the Steelers desperately need. Bell might go down a little easier than a guy his size should, but the coaching staff should be able drill some “Steeler Pride”  into him. Already being billed as “a three down back who can handle up to 30 carries a game,” Bell has the opportunity to be a high upside RB2.

Markus Wheaton

When Mike Wallace took his talents to South Beach, the Steelers lost one of the best deep threats playing the game today. In the third round, they drafted his replacement in Markus Wheaton. After he ran a 4.45 40-yard dash at the combine he was immediately compared to Wallace, so it’s only fitting he ends up in Pittsburgh. Look for Wheaton to see a lot of playing time as a rookie and replace Emmanuelle Sanders in 2014.

Losers

Isaac Redman / Jonathan Dwyer

It wasn’t hard to see the Steelers running game needed a makeover and they wasted no time in drafting their new feature back in the second round. Le’Veon Bell will immediately take over the starting gig and the newly signed La’Rod Stephens-Howling will be the change of pace back while Dwyer and Redman may battle over one roster spot. They both had chances to grab a hold of this job and both failed.

Ben Roethlisberger

The biggest weakness on the Steelers is and has been the offensive line. The Steelers responded by drafting ZERO offensive linemen. ZERO. With Big Ben continuously holding the ball too long and taking hit after hit, they should have invested in protecting him and they didn’t. On top of that, they drafted Landry Jones to back him up and possibly replace him a couple years down the line. It’s unfortunate because Ben is one of the most exciting quarterbacks to watch because he keeps plays alive long enough to make something interesting happen.

We’ll continue our winners and losers by division in the upcoming days and weeks.

eric olinger
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