The 6 best team-player fits from an occasionally shocking NFL Draft 1st round

Not all NFL Draft destinations are created equal. Some first-round picks will be dropped into a crowded depth chart and have to fight their way into the starting lineup. Others will slide into starring roles by default, even if they’re raw prospects who could benefit from the lowered expectations of coming off the bench.

But some landing spots are the perfect pairing of player and opportunity. No team showcased this more than the 2018 Colts, who added Quenton Nelson in the first round and Darius Leonard in the second, only to watch each develop into immediate first-team All-Pros. With Nelson and Leonard crushing unfortunate souls as over-prepared rookies, Indianapolis made its triumphant return to the postseason.

So who can follow the Colts’ lead and ride a high-impact acquisition to not only shore up their biggest weakness but also create the momentum to push their team to a new level this fall? Here are the best fits of the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

San Francisco has spent the past six seasons rebuilding its defense with first-round picks, and Bosa could be the best of that bunch. The Ohio State star will join a 49ers front seven loaded with young talent and, more importantly, the kind of players who can keep opponents from doubling Bosa on the edge. He joins a group that includes former top picks Solomon Thomas, Arik Armstead, and DeForest Buckner, along with prized offseason additions Kwon Alexander and Dee Ford.

There’s a lot of questions left to answer in that group, but the pure talent is undeniable. Adding Bosa means they’ll get a few more opportunities to feast — and also frees up a potential Thomas trade. It also adds a little extra up-front support to a secondary that will have to make some key additions in Days 2 and 3 of the draft.

The Ohio State star’s acquisition won’t match the impact of a hopefully-healthy Jimmy Garoppolo, but the talented edge rusher pairing with a returning young(ish) quarterback certainly throws off some 2018 Colts vibes.

Thursday night started with rumors the Bills were trying to jump up to the third-overall pick in order to target Oliver. Instead, the Raiders (Clelin Ferrell) and Giants (Daniel Jones ...eesh) diverted from this year’s mock draft logic, leaving the tailor-made Kyle Williams replacement to slide to Buffalo at the No. 9 pick.

Now Houston’s physical marvel will take up residence in the middle of the Bills’ defensive line, and he’ll be surrounded by some other talented young players. Buffalo was one of 2018’s most surprising defenses:

Oliver’s flexibility will be a boon to a Buffalo front filled with good but not great players. He played over center as a nose tackle with the Cougars, but he’s versatile enough to fill almost any role defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier needs in his 4-3 lineup. Here’s what former NFL defensive end Stephen White had to say about Oliver and where he lined up in college:

Here you have a guy who is killing people with his quickness on one play, then dumping them on their ass with his power on the next, but he had to do all these wondrous things from mostly either heavy or head-up alignments in the games that I watched. What I mean by that is that he was either aligned head-up on an offensive lineman, which isn’t a good alignment for trying to fire off upfield, or he was in a “heavy” alignment. That means he was technically shaded to one side or the other, like a 2i on the inside half of the guard, but it wasn’t much of a shade and he was still staring across at least a half a man when he was in his stance.

Again, I’m sure his coaching staff had their reasons, but selfishly I would have liked to have seen Oliver lined up in the gaps a helluva lot more. It would have put him in much better position to really showcase the totality of his talents, which would have in turn allowed him to make even more big plays, which also probably would have translated into more success for his team, in general.

So, the Bills get to add that to a top-five defense. Pretty good. Pretty, prreetttty, pretttt-tay good.

Pittsburgh could have waited to see if Bush slipped, but instead got proactive to pay for the chance to move up from the 20th pick to No. 10 and select the Michigan linebacker. It’s a move the club needed to make. The Steelers’ defense has suffered mightily without Ryan Shazier, whose spinal injury gives him no guarantee to ever return to the field.

Bush instantly brings do-everything credibility to the middle of the Pittsburgh defense, providing a steady foundation that a constellation of star-caliber players — including T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward — to revolve around. A sideline-to-sideline insurance policy like Bush can make everyone else’s job a little easier and provide a massive upgrade over the likes of Jon Bostic and Mark Barron in the middle. The former Wolverines standout can slide right into the starting lineup and provide the spark the Steelers need to get back to the postseason.

Denver is confident Joe Flacco can be its quarterback for 2019 and beyond, passing up the opportunity to draft quarterbacks like Drew Lock and Dwayne Haskins to move to the 20th overall pick and grab Fant. This could be a massive misread given Flacco’s mostly-awful recent resume, but giving him an athletic tight end target is one easy way to attempt to relive his glory years. Which, again, was more than five years ago.

Flacco has always been a tight end-intensive quarterback, turning players like Todd Heap, Owen Daniels, Ed Dickson, and Dennis Pitta into primary options in Baltimore. Now Fant gets to be the next man up in that tradition. He’ll hopefully pair with a healthy Jake Butt in a two-TE set that should give the veteran quarterback plenty of intermediate options.

That’ll give the Broncos a little extra leverage over the top, where Emmanuel Sanders and Courtland Sutton should take advantage of the extra second safeties have to spend tracking Fant. Combine that with Pro Bowl rookie Phillip Lindsay, and you’ve got the most potent group of skill players Flacco has seen since he had the world questioning whether he was “elite.” Now the question is whether he’s too washed to take advantage of it.

Jon Gruden’s overhaul added playmakers and blockers to a new-look Raiders’ offense, but there was one glaring hole remaining after Marshawn Lynch’s latest retirement. In Jacobs, Oakland picked up one of the draft’s most versatile players, a jack of all trades who can run, block, and catch passes out of the backfield.

Jacobs will take up residence in a depth chart alongside Isaiah Crowell and Jalen Richard and may be able to beat out both to earn a starting role in Week 1.

The question is whether he’s ready for an expanded role. Jacobs only had 251 carries in three years at Alabama — fewer than Lynch had in five of his 12 NFL seasons. Fortunately for Oakland, Crowell averaged 4.8 yards per carry last fall and is 26 years old. Richard is 25 and has averaged 5.3 yards per carry in his Raiders career. With Jacobs, Gruden has bolstered a sturdy receiving corps with a rock solid tailback platoon, and now a once-regretful Raiders team should be extremely fun to watch in 2019.

The Chargers’ defensive line will feature Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Tillery in some combination. That is one hell of an antidote to facing Patrick Mahomes twice per year.

Bosa and Ingram will be in charge of pushing in the walls on opposing quarterbacks, forcing them to step up in the pocket and right into the waiting arms of Tillery, who fits exceptionally into Gus Bradley’s 4-3 defense.

That’s going to force opposing quarterbacks into bad throws, and a secondary led by Derwin James, Adrian Phillips, Desmond King, and Casey Hayward — all All-Pros in recent years — is going to feast. The Chargers’ defense is going to be scary in 2019, and that could be the missing piece that pushes Philip Rivers into his first Super Bowl.

OT Andre Dillard - Philadelphia Eagles (No. 22 overall)

With Jason Peters and Lane Johnson on board, there’s no pressure for Dillard to start immediately. He’ll have the opportunity to grow into Peters’ heir apparent and is a great insurance policy for a team that needs to keep Carson Wentz upright and healthy in 2020 and beyond.

WR Marquise Brown - Baltimore Ravens (No. 25 overall)

Brown should immediately become Lamar Jackson’s top playmaking wide receiver, and “Hollywood” has proven he can sync up with mobile Heisman-winning quarterbacks in his three seasons at Oklahoma. The question is whether Jackson, who wasn’t especially accurate as a rookie, can get him the ball enough to make him a game-breaker.

WR N’Keal Harry - New England Patriots (No. 32 overall)

Harry is a great, fast, physical receiver who joins a team devoid of targets for Tom Brady. It’s tough to believe in any wideout Bill Belichick drafts in the first three rounds these days, though.