It's too early to make sweeping judgments of rookie players, right? For the most part, yeah, it's way too early for that, but there are a few players around the league who already look like NFL Draft mistakes.
So, let's try to fix those mistakes! One of my favorite games to play is the one where you go back to a past NFL Draft, one that happened at least two or three years ago, and you pick a team and you use hindsight to completely redo that team's draft. (Am I the only one that does that? Am I weird? Is "looking at Wikipedia and saying 'they should have taken that guy!'" even a game???)
Here are five draft picks that their team already regrets, as well as analysis on who should have been picked instead.
Tyler Shough - QB - New Orleans Saints
Who they should have drafted: Any of the defensive players picked soon after him.
Take your pick here. South Carolina defensive tackle T.J. Sanders? Texas defensive tackle Alfred Collins? Michigan cornerback Will Johnson? South Carolina linebacker Demetrius Knight? Heck, I could probably make an argument for Texas A&M defensive end Nic Scourton, who was drafted 11 spots after Shough.
The problem here is that the Saints needed a quarterback, but they fell into the trap that teams fall into, where they think drafting one in the second round is a good idea. It isn't. The only other second-round quarterback who is starting for the team that drafted him is Philly's Jalen Hurts.
When New Orleans passed on Jaxson Dart at No. 9 overall, that should have been the end of things. Maybe they could have traded up a couple of spots in the third for Jalen Milroe. Maybe they just take someone in the fourth or fifth to add competition. But the moment they picked Shough, the Saints resigned themselves to a terrible reality, which is that they'll almost certainly still be searching for a quarterback next offseason and they won't have gotten any long-term value out of their 2025 second-round pick.
Kyle McCord - QB - Philadelphia Eagles
Who they should have drafted: Will Howard
The Eagles traded for Sam Howell, then went on to release sixth-round pick Kyle McCord. That all might have been avoided if they had taken Ohio State quarterback Will Howard instead.
Howard didn't get to see the field in the preseason because of a finger fracture, but we're analyzing this one based on the butterfly effect — if Howard had been drafted by Philadelphia instead of Pittsburgh, everything about his offseason changes, including the injury.
So, why go with Howard here? Because the Eagles still needed a backup quarterback, and Howard looked really strong back in training camp before the injury. He's the better of the two, and if the Eagles had him on the roster, they might not have needed to make that Howell trade.
Armand Membou - OT - New York Jets
Who they should have drafted: Kelvin Banks Jr.
Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou was ESPN's No. 1 ranked player at the position in this draft class, so you can understand why the Jets drafted him at No. 7 overall back in April.
But Membou has had a lot of growing pains during the preseason. The talent is there, but he's been especially rough in pass protection, which is going to be an issue all season for the Jets.
Kelvin Banks Jr. was drafted two spots later in real life, but he looks like the far better player right now. He's already locked down the left tackle position for the Saints and he hasn't made any notable mistakes in camp.
Shemar Stewart - EDGE - Cincinnati Bengals
Who they should have drafted: Shemar Stewart (wait, huh????)
Okay, I'm cheating a bit here. Shemar Stewart looked solid but still a little behind the eight-ball during the preseason, but he would have been the right pick at No. 17 overall for the Bengals if they'd have simply gotten a deal done with him earlier in the offseason.
Stewart is a project. He has the physical tools to be an elite NFL pass rusher, but he also needs as many reps as possible if he's going to harness those tools into something that's actually productive.
Instead, he and the Bengals quibbled over contract language. It feels like Cincinnati does this a lot, and it really threatens to delay or even possibly derail the development of young players.
So, yeah! Stewart looked pretty rough in the preseason. Maybe the team would have been better off drafting someone like Tennessee defensive end James Pearce Jr., but ultimately, I think the right answer was just to draft the guy they drafted and then do whatever was necessary to get him on the practice field immediately. It was a bad pick because of the post-draft process for the Bengals.
Quinshon Judkins - RB - Cleveland Browns
Who they should have drafted: Luther Burden III
Look, we can't necessarily blame the Browns for this one, as they had no way of knowing that Judkins would be arrested on domestic violence charges during the offseason.
With that said, we can blame Cleveland for its bad allocation of draft capital. The team landed a starting-quality running back in the fourth round with Dylan Sampson, so they didn't really need to pick Judkins in the first place.
Cleveland could have just taken the other Ohio State running back, TreVeyon Henderson, and then not gone with Sampson later on, but a better option would have been to go wide receiver here, as the team needs help at that spot. Luther Burden III would be a huge upgrade in the slot over Jamari Thrash.