The 2018 NFL Draft: Very Strange, in a Good Way

The 2018 NFL Draft is one of the strangest of my lifetime. The talent level looked “less than” and that turned out to be incredibly wrong. Even worse, the two QBs no one believed in became maybe the two best QBs in the league not named Patrick Mahomes (or Jalen Hurts). The Eagles were the defending champs and looked like they whiffed big time. Just like the rest, that wasn’t true at all.

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Top 10

Sam Darnold looked to be the frontrunner for the #1 selection right up until the morning of the draft when Baker Mayfield jumped from maybe the 2nd round to first overall. I still have no idea how he did it, but his personality has been known to win people over, so he rubbed off on the right people I guess. Did it help him at all? Not really. Without a doubt, he would have been better off going to almost anywhere but Cleveland where he washed out after 4 seasons and very little help on offense.

The Giants took a running back with the 2nd overall pick because they are dumb. Even if Saquon Barkley was the best RB prospect of our lifetimes, the Giants simply did not understand how draft value worked at this point (and the jury is still out). Of course, this all worked out for the Eagles.

Who did the Giants miss on? Well Sam Darnold looked like a huge bust, but is now the reigning Super Bowl winning QB. Maybe he just needed to get the Jets stink off him? Quenton Nelson and Roquon Smith have been All-Pros in 11 out of their 16 total seasons. Then of course, at #7 the Bills took Josh Allen out of Wyoming. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought Allen was going to be a huge bust, a Jay Cutler at best. I may think he gets the benefit of a lot of ball washing, but I wasn’t even close to correct on this take.

Rest of the 1st Round

They next 21 picks ended up with some real talent. Minkah Fitzpatrick (#11) is a 3x 1st Team All-Pro; Vita Vea (#12), Tremaine Edmunds (#16), Derwin James (#17), Jaire Alexander (#18), and Frank Ragnow (#20 are multiple time Pro Bowlers; and Daron Payne (#13), Kolton Miller (#15), and DJ Moore (#24) have been competent starters their whole careers. Of course, there was one more pick in the first round.

The Eagles traded the #32 pick (and #132) to the Ravens for #52, #125, and a 2019 2nd (Miles Sanders). Baltimore selected Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. 3 MVPs later and he is the steal of this draft and was a total franchise changer for the Ravens.

For all the talent named above, the only 1st Rounders with Super Bowl rings are Saquon Barkley, Sam Darnold, Vita Vea, and Sony Michel. Why? Because the Chiefs, Rams, and Eagles didn’t make any selections.

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The Eagles

Speaking of the Eagles, the Champs were coming off the first Super Bowl win in team history and were picking 32nd before the Lamar Jackson trade moved them back in the 2nd round. Already without a 2nd round pick thanks to the Carson Wentz trade and without a 3rd round pick thanks to the Ronald Darby for Jordan Matthews trade, we were seriously short on picks. Of course, we did have an extra 4th round pick thanks to trading Sam Bradford to Minnesota before the 2016 season. All in all, the Eagles ended up making 5 selections, 4 of which made plays in Super Bowl 59:

Dallas Goedert – 2nd Round, #49

The average fan had never heard of Dallas Goedert before Draft season. After the Combine and his Pro Day, that all changed. Men this big are not supposed to move this well. The Eagles passed at #32 because they thought they could get their Zack Ertz replacement in the 2nd round, just like Ertz was their Brent Celek replacement years earlier. Here we are in 2026 and Goedert is still out there with the Eagles taking discounts to stay and contend for Super Bowls.

Avonte Maddox – 4th Round, #125

Maddox had an up and down time with the Eagles mostly due to untimely injuries. That was all rewarded for both Maddox and the fans though when he made the 4th down pass break up in the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl 59. The next play was The Dagger.

Josh Sweat – 4th Round #130

The Sam Bradford trade is one of the best moves you will ever see a GM make. Howie Roseman waited until someone was desperate and then squeezed the Vikings for everything. He landed a 2017 1st round pick in the deal and then had the audacity to ask for more. As if he wouldn’t have said yes to Minnesota at that price already! Nope, he needed a 2018 4th as well. That turned out to be athletic but injured flyer out of Florida State Josh Sweat. My FSU friend texted me “baller” as soon as the pick was made. He’s a silly person, but he was right.

Matt Pryor – 6th Round #206

He never did much for the Eagles, but he is still kicking around the league now with Arizona after stints in Indy, SF, Chicago, and back with the Eagles. Still, the guy has made $13m in the NFL before this season. Good for him!

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Jordan Mailata – 7th Round #233

All of the above was just preamble to the star and savior of this draft, Australian Football pro, Jordan Mailata. It’s easy to label him a great move now and Howie Roseman should be given credit for buying the lottery ticket, but none of us had any idea how good Mailata would become considering he had barely played any American football at all at this point. He was just a very big man who could move.

Also at this point, we had no idea just how bad we were about to screw up and would desperately need this wildcard. Jason Peters had been injured during the season and his career was winding down. That led the Eagles to trading up in 2019 for OT Andre Dillard. Well Dillard was not only perennially injured, but flat out stunk and left us in a serious offensive line hole. That is until Mailata ended up taking to the NFL and Jeff Stoutland, becoming one of the premier OTs in football. Without him leveling up the way he did, the Eagles latest run of success might have been DOA. Not only to Pro Football Focus name him the single best player in football 2 years ago, but he has routinely signed early extensions that have made paying him a breeze. He may have been the biggest draft gift the Eagles have ever received and that includes Jason Kelce.

Photo: NBCSports

Trade and Draft Details: Wikipedia