Highlighting the value picks of '12 draft

In Round One, my runaway champ is the Steelers, for being fortunate enough to get David DeCastro at No. 24 in spite of the fact I believe he’ll be the best offensive lineman to come out of this draft and he was the second-highest-rated O-lineman on the board. The Chargers would have to be second with Melvin Ingram, the top-rated pure pass rusher in the draft, who fell to them at No. 18 as the sixth DL-OLB out of seven drafted in a run at the positions between picks 11 and 19.

It will surprise no one that my Round Two winner is Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens, who traded out of the first round to pick up extra second- and fourth-round picks and still got the 18th-rated player overall in the entire draft — Courtney Upshaw — at No. 35. I think you also have to love the Panthers’ work in Round Two as they ignored a lack of need at the position and grabbed OG Amini Silatolu at No. 40 in spite of the fact most teams had a first-round grade on him.

Round Three is a little tougher to call for me, but three picks stick out. I love the Rams’ chutzpah in drafting CB Janoris Jenkins, a first-round talent who had to wait until at least the second round because of the laundry list of character issues that surround him, and hedging their bet with CB Trumaine Johnson in the third was brilliant. Admittedly, Johnson has a few question marks of his own, but none to rival Jenkins’, and I think Johnson is every bit the prospect Stephon Gil­more and Dre Kirkpatrick are. I also loved the value the Texans got with OG Brandon Brooks at No. 76 and that the Titans found in DT Mike Martin at 82.

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