Winners and Losers of The 2009 NFL Draft

It's one of the best times of the year.  Fans from all 32 NFL teams come together to forget about the downfalls and triumphs of the previous year while at the same time look forward to the upcoming season.

While the NFL Draft isn't an exact science, we as journalists (most notably ESPN) make a valiant effort into proclaiming why this team won the draft and why this team failed miserably.

The true winners and losers of the draft won't be known for three to four years down the road, but in the continuing effort of the mass media here are my winners and losers of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Winners:

Philadelphia Eagles- First of all you gotta love the idea of getting Jeremy Maclin with the 19th pick in the draft.  The thought of pairing him up with DeSean Jackson has got to be making NFC East defensive coordinators a little nervous.  Getting LeSean McCoy in the second round as the eventual replacement for Brian Westbrook isn't too shabby either. His elusiveness and pass catching abilities shouldn't cause the Eagles to miss a beat when Westbrook needs a breather.  Not to be forgotten either, is that the Eagles picked up Jason Peters, to replace the departed Tra Thomas, by trading their second first round pick.

New England Patriots- The past few years the Patriots have had trouble keeping their secondary healthy and it seems like when Bill Belichick sees a problem he goes out and addresses it.  Former Oregon Duck Patrick Chung comes from the same mold as current Patriot Rodney Harrison.  He isn't the best cover guy but you know when you go over the middle you'll be keeping an eye out for him.  Ron Brace will be a decent back-up for Vince Wilfork while New England has had success grooming offensive lineman over the years so look for Sebastian Vollmer to be the next good lineman for the Patriots.  Also, adding the explosive Brandon Tate, even with his positive drug test, to line up with Randy Moss and Wes Welker has to make Tom Brady forget about Gisele at least for awhile.

New York Jets-  This is all boom or bust for the J-E-T-S.  While many people aren't as high on Mark Sanchez as I am, you have to take into consideration what the Jets gave up to move only 12 spots up into the fifth pick.  By swapping first rounders and giving up a second round pick with a bunch of back-up players the Jets get their potential franchise quarterback.  The pick-up of Iowa running back Shonn Greene was a great value in the third round.

Losers-

Oakland Raiders-  The Raiders did what the Raiders do, which is to go against conventional wisdom.  The chance to draft Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree was there and the Raiders instead went with the guy with the fastest 40 time in Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey.  DHB is regarded as having the most upside, but the Raiders need production now from their wideouts as their leading wideout last year had only 22 receptions.  Same goes with Mike Mitchell, a guy their head coach compares to Ronnie Lott.  Mitchell is somewhat of an unknown commodity having played with the Ohio Bobcats.  Reportedly, Mitchell was being pursued by the Bears and the Cowboys in the second round, so maybe the Raiders could be onto something here.

Dallas Cowboys-  The result of the Roy Williams trade came back to bite the Cowboys in the back end as the 'Boys didn't have a pick in the first two rounds.  The Cowboys downfall at the end of last year was not being able to stop the run and I personally would've liked to see some effort into shoring up that side of the ball to go along with the signings of Igor Olshansky and Keith Brooking.  Also, what is Jerry Jones thinking with the drafting of USC kicker David Buehler?

Kansas City Chiefs-  The Chiefs had the chance to draft Aaron Curry and instead went with LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson.  While Jackson fits in with the new 3-4 defense the Chiefs want to run, you have to wonder why a team with only 10 sacks last year passed on the most explosive defensive player in the draft.

Well there you have it, for now those are the teams that set themselves for years to come or at least until next year when we do it all over again.