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Mike Borgonzi has said he had decided on his pick well before draft night, but nearly a year later the question remains: would teams choose the same players if given a second chance? With about eleven and a half months of game tape and injuries behind us, a fresh look at the top selections reveals how quickly postseason realities can reshape draft grades and roster priorities.
Tennessee at No. 1 — Cam Ward, QB (Miami)
The Titans’ choice still reads like a long-term blueprint: a quarterback with an expansive arm and the athletic tools to grow into a franchise leader. Over the past season Ward learned what it means to be the linchpin of a rebuild, absorbing both praise and pressure as Tennessee adjusted its offense around him.
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His combination of arm strength and mobility places him at the top of his draft class in raw ceiling, but that upside has come with familiar rookie inconsistencies — timing on intermediate routes, reads under complex coverage and the occasional mechanical hitch when forced to process late. For Tennessee, the trade-off is clear: short-term growing pains in exchange for a QB who could anchor the roster for years.
Jacksonville at No. 2 — Armand Membou, OT (Missouri)
Jacksonville landed at No. 2 after a move that reshaped the draft order, and their decision still looks defensible in hindsight. The club encountered turbulence at multiple spots — notably with the high-profile rookie whose role never fully solidified and who finished the season on injured reserve — yet the Jaguars managed wins by leaning on a makeshift receiving corps.
That said, the offensive line remained a recurring concern, and adding a top-tier tackle like Membou early could have been a more conservative route to protecting Trevor Lawrence. In short: the Jaguars showed they could win imperfectly, but a different pick might have smoothed the path for their franchise quarterback.
New York Giants at No. 3 — Tetairoa McMillan, WR (Arizona)
New York invested in a big-bodied target to change the complexion of its passing game. McMillan’s size and contested-catch ability were attractive traits for a team seeking more consistent downfield threats and red-zone presence.
He flashed the physical attributes teams covet — contested grabs, spatial awareness against press coverage — but needed refinement in route polish and separation techniques. For the Giants, the question has been whether those raw traits will translate quickly enough to help the offense climb in a competitive division.
What a re-do would reveal:
- Development vs. immediate need: Several teams faced the classic choice between taking the highest-upside player and selecting for more immediate roster stability.
- Injury impact: Late-season injuries changed perceptions about a few rookies, altering how teams would weigh medical risk on a second pass through the top ten.
- Line of scrimmage value: Protection and front-seven upgrades often pay faster dividends than taking a raw playmaker, a lesson some front offices learned the hard way.
Not every team’s original pick would change under closer inspection, but many selections look different when judged with a season’s worth of context. As front offices prepare for the next cycle, the lesson is familiar: draft night certainty is rare, and hindsight will always nudge evaluations toward roster balance and injury resilience.
