Draft Grades (AFC North)

Baltimore Ravens- Baltimore was another favorite among "experts," but again, I have to disagree. They grabbed Oregon defensive tackle Haloti Ngata at the 12 slot. While, I think this was a solid pick for the Ravens, there aren't any others that stand out for me. They took another Duck in wideout Demetrius WIlliams and a big bruising tailback in P.J. Daniels of Georgia Tech. Ray Lewis has been squawking in the off-season about the Ravens needing to surround him with better players and Ngata is a start. While the draft was a mediocre one for the Ravens, they may get their #1 pick as soon as today in quarterback Steve McNair. While McNair may only have a couple seasons left in him, he's definitely a step up from Kyle Boller in terms of experience, talent, and execution. Grade- B-

Cincinnati Bengals- Odd for a Marvin Lewis coached team, but Cincinnati's weakness last season was on defense and they made a key point to upgrade that defense, by picking up South Carolina cornerback Johnathan Joseph in the first round, taking USC defensive end Frostee Rucker, Michigan State defensive tackle Domata Peko, and Florida State outside linebacker A.J. Nicholson. To go along with this, they upgraded their offensive line by taking LSU tackle Andrew Whitworth. It was an effective couple of days for Lewis and company, addressing their key needs. Grade- B

Cleveland Browns- Head coach Romeo Cornell has been working hard all off-season in picking up a load of players, including the likes of Willie McGinest, LeCharles Bentley, Kyle Shaeffer, amongst others. There's also rumor of Cleveland acquiring quarterback Joey Harrington via a trade. Cornell and company kept up their good work on Saturday and Sunday, especially on the defensive side of the ball, taking Kamerion Wimbley, defensive end from Florida State and D'Qwell Jackson, inside linebacker from Maryland. They also acquired Oklahoma wideout Travis Wilson, Washington State tailback Jerome Harrison, and Colorado big man at fullback Lawrence Vickers. This will give Cleveland added depth and competition at wideout and tailback, two positions where they can't seem to find consistency. Grade- B

Pittsburgh Steelers- Pittsburgh lost Antwaan Randle El in the offseason to free agency, Jerome Bettis to retirement, and they released backup quarterback Tommy Maddox. They took care of both of those needs with wideout Santonio Holmes in the first round and Willie Reid (returns) in the second round. They also drafted MAC standout quarterback out of Bowling Green, Omar Jaccobs. With their last pick, they drafted the big bruising back out of Virginia Tech, in Cedric Humes. While they filled some need areas, they also gave up a lot in order to draft Holmes. Humes is a risky draft pick because of his history with injuries and Jaccobs, coming out of Bowling Green, has a few question marks following him around. The biggest being, was it his talent and ability that allowed him such achievements with the Falcons or was it simply the system? Grade- B-