2012 NFL Draft Grades: Assessing a Wild First Round for the NFC West

The 2012 NFL draft is into the second and third rounds Friday evening, and if the draft's second day is anything like the first, there will be excitement, anticipation and more trades than you can shake a stick at.

In the NFC West last season, it was a story of one "have" (the San Francisco 49ers) and a bucket full of "have-nots" (everyone else). Let's take a look back at Thursday's action one more time and see if anything has happened so far in the draft that might change that pecking order in 2012.

Arizona Cardinals: Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame (13th Overall)

The Arizona Cardinals badly need to improve the offensive front after allowing the second-most sacks in the National Football League a year ago.

However, rather than address the big uglies in the first round, the Cardinals chose to improve the weaponry at quarterback Kevin Kolb's disposal by selecting the 6'3" Notre Dame standout, who reeled in 100 passes for the Fighting Irish a year ago.

The pick may make wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald happy but it likely left Kolb conflicted. While it's always nice to have a shiny new toy, it's hard to complete passes to either Floyd or Fitz from your back.

Grade: B-

San Francisco 49ers: A.J. Jenkins, WR, Illinois (30th Overall)

After the San Francisco wide receivers caught all of one pass in their NFC Championship Game loss, it became plainly evident that the 49ers needed to address the position in the offseason, which they did with the additions of Mario Manningham and Randy Moss in free agency.

Wide receiver A.J. Jenkins caught 90 passes for nearly 1,300 yards last year for the Fighting Illini. Even with that solid production, the 6'0", 190-pound senior was generally considered a second- or third-round pick by most pundits.

This pick has been pretty thoroughly panned as a significant reach. With such other options as Rueben Randle of LSU and Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech available, it's hard to disagree, even given San Francisco general manager Trent Baalke's excellent track record.

Hey, no one's right all the time.

Grade: D+

Seattle Seahawks: Bruce Irvin, DE/OLB, Seattle Seahawks (15th Overall)

The Seattle Seahawks started off their 2012 draft by sliding back three spots and picking up two later-round picks and capped off their first round by making a pick that ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. labeled "mind boggling" (per Pro Football Talk).

West Virginia defensive end Bruce Irvin racked up 22 sacks over the past two seasons in Morgantown. Irvin showed off his wheels at February's NFL Scouting Combine, blazing through the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds.

Irvin was rated as a top-15 prospect on several teams' draft boards. With questions surrounding Irvin's ability to play with his hand down in the NFL at less than 250 pounds, and numerous academic and legal issues (including an arrest as recently as last month), this was easily the riskiest pick of the 2012 draft's first round.

Grade: D

St. Louis Rams: Michael Brockers, DT, LSU

Sometimes when a team has more needs than you can count, it's better to be the ant than the grasshopper.

Apparently the St. Louis Rams adopted this philosophy in the first round of this year's draft. The team followed up their trade with the Washington Redskins by once again moving back in the round, swapping spots with the Dallas Cowboys and picking up an extra second-round pick in the process.

The Rams then used the 14th pick of the draft's first round to address one of their many needs by choosing 322-pound defensive tackle Michael Brockers of LSU.

It may not have been the sexiest pick of the first round, but it's hard to fault a rebuilding team for taking a sensible approach and filling a hole while snagging an additional top-50 pick.

Grade: B+