What turned out to be a wild NFL Draft with an insane amount of twists and turns is finally over. To sum up, Cam Ward went No. 1 overall as expected to the Tennessee Titans, and then, all hell broke loose.
From the Cleveland Browns trading out of the chance to select Travis Hunter to Shedeur Sanders falling all the way to the fifth round (!), the proceedings did not play out how anyone could have possibly expected.
While most of the picks made throughout the draft made lots of sense, four selections made in particular were egregious enough to get general managers fired in the future.
4) Omarion Hampton did not fill a need the Chargers had
The Los Angeles Chargers selecting Omarion Hampton in the first round of the NFL Draft was a head-scratcher for sure, mainly because they had a golden opportunity to get Justin Herbert some much-needed help.
Last season, we saw Herbert have great success throwing to rookie wideout Ladd McConkey and virtually nobody else. In Los Angeles' lone playoff game, McConkey had nine receptions for 197 yards and a touchdown. The other receivers combined for five receptions for 45 yards. Despite that, the Chargers felt the need to draft Omarion Hampton instead of adding a receiver like Matthew Golden to give Herbert a bonafide WR2.
I get this pick to an extent. Jim Harbaugh is a run-first head coach, and Hampton is absolutely worth a late first-round selection. Hampton, in particular, should fit Harbaugh's scheme nicely. However, the Chargers just signed Najee Harris to a one-year deal over the offseason, and they didn't do that for Harris to sit behind Hampton in their backfield. Couldn't the Chargers have addressed their back of the future later in the draft while getting Herbert a high-end weapon to throw to?
Hampton the player is fine, but the Chargers whiffed on a player they needed a whole lot more.
3) The Buccaneers ignored their needs with the Emeka Egbuka selection
Similarly to the Chargers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ignored their needs to select a good player who plays a position they're set at. Emeka Egbuka had an outstanding career at Ohio State, and I have no doubt that he'll be a solid NFL wideout, but did the Buccaneers really need to do this?
The team just re-signed Chris Godwin to a three-year deal. Mike Evans is still in town. Jalen McMillon is coming off a really solid rookie year. Where does Egbuka factor in? What does his role mean for the three established wideouts already in town?
Egbuka gives them a long-term solution at receiver, but if they didn't believe Godwin was that guy, why did they bring him back? Tampa Bay had needs on the defensive side of the ball that they ignored to make this pick. Again, Egbuka is a good player, but the right fit was not with the Bucs.
2) Trading into the first round to select Jaxson Dart is Joe Schoen's way of asking to get fired
You knew this one would be here. On one hand, doing what you can to get a quarterback you believe can be a franchise guy is never a mistake. Joe Schoen didn't even give up all that much to trade back into the first round. If Jaxson Dart does turn into a franchise quarterback, nobody can or will complain. On the other hand, though, how many people other than Schoen and Brian Daboll believe Dart is a franchise guy?
This class has long had the reputation of being a bad QB class, and yet, it feels like the New York Giants forced a QB pick and robbed themselves of a chance to select a quarterback in a much better 2026 class.
Again, if Dart turns out being New York's franchise quarterback, nobody will bat an eye. Still, there's a reason most mock drafts did not have this guy as a first-round quarterback. It feels like the Giants were desperate to land a quarterback, and since Cam Ward was not available, they did what they could to get the second-best option in their minds. Sometimes, the second-best option is not worth selecting, and it feels like that'll be the case with Dart.
The Schoen-Daboll regime likely has one quarterback left. Hedging their bets on Dart could prove to be a massive mistake.
1) The Browns will regret trading out of the position to select Travis Hunter
Look, there's a lot to like about what the Cleveland Browns did. They received an absolute haul for trading out of the No. 2 pick. Mason Graham has the potential to make things awfully scary on the defensive line playing with Myles Garrett. With that being said, though, there's a reason that the Browns were able to get the kind of haul that they did. They traded out of the opportunity to select Travis Hunter.
Hunter is a generational unicorn. He's not Shohei Ohtani, but he's still awesome. It would not be shocking at all to see Hunter become a star on both sides of the ball. The Browns might not need cornerback help right now, but they certainly could use a wideout, and again, they passed on a generational prospect. As good as Graham and the draft picks are, it's unlikely any of the players Cleveland gets from this deal will turn out to be better than Hunter.
Browns GM Andrew Berry took a massive risk with this deal. If Hunter turns into a two-way phenom, that'd be a bad look for Cleveland. If the Browns fail to get multiple game-changers from this deal, that'd be a bad look for Cleveland. The only way Berry comes out of this looking good is if Hunter doesn't quite meet the hype and if the Browns hit home runs with the haul they got. The odds of both of these things happening are slim.