2012 NFL Draft Grades: 3 Teams That Improved the Most in Round 1

There was a lot of movement on day one of the 2012 NFL Draft, but three teams took advantage of all of that shuffling and improved significantly. 

Here is my list of the top winners from Thursday's first round.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings were able to dupe the Browns into surrendering three draft picks (No. 118, No. 139, No. 211) to move up just one spot to select Trent Richardson, and Minnesota ended up getting its guy at No. 4 anyway.

Matt Kalil is a future Pro Bowler at left tackle and I had him graded out as the second-best player in this draft behind Andrew Luck. Kalil will step in right away and within a year or two he will be one of the NFL's best offensive tackles.

Then the Vikings traded back into the first round, acquiring the 29th overall pick from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for the 35th and 98th selections. At No. 29 Minnesota snagged Notre Dame's Harrison Smith, the second-best safety in the draft.

With those picks the Vikings greatly upgraded their roster and filled two of their biggest needs. It's safe to say that Minnesota won the first round of this year's draft.

San Diego Chargers

While everyone around him was moving up, down and all over, Chargers general manager A.J. Smith stayed put and landed one of the draft's best players.

I have no idea how the Chargers got so lucky, but Melvin Ingram, arguably the best overall defender in this year's draft, was somehow still on the board when they picked at 18. Ingram is probably the best pass rusher in the draft (I had him in a dead heat with USC's Nick Perry) and will immediately step in and help San Diego.

Ingram is a versatile player who even returned kicks, and ran a fake punt for a touchdown last year at South Carolina. But his best asset is his ability to just make plays. He's always around the ball and should help the Chargers as they try and get back to being an attacking defense.

In 2011 they only sacked the quarterback 32 times. Ingram will immediately give them a dynamic player off the edge to rotate with guys like Shaun Phillips, Jarret Johnson and Antwan Barnes. 

The Chargers needed to improve a lot this offseason and they have. Ingram is just the latest piece to that puzzle. 

New England Patriots

In what were two shocking moves the Patriots actually traded up in the first round of this year's draft and landed two defensive playmakers. New England moved up to No. 21 to take Syracuse defensive end/outside linebacker Chandler Jones, and only needed to send the 27th and 93rd picks to the Bengals to make that move.

The Bill Belichick and company moved up to No. 25 to grab Alabama inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower. To make that move the Pats send the 31st and 126th picks to Denver.

New England's front seven was in desperate need of an overhaul after the team surrendered 6,585 yards in 2011. And by drafting these two guys they got significantly more athletic up front.

Jones is a raw athlete, but his ceiling is incredibly high. He is the kind of guy Belichick can essentially mold in to whatever he wants. He'll be an edge rusher who can line up as an end or an outside linebacker in New England's 3-4/4-3 hybrid scheme.

Hightower has great size at 265, and possesses great range and versatility as a pass rusher. He can play in the middle next or can line up across from Jones and come off the edge. It will be interesting to see how the Patriots use him, but he's a fantastic football player who won't be overwhelmed by the jump to the NFL. He's really a perfect fit for the Patriots.