2015 NFL Draft: Updated Order, TV Schedule and Day 1 Results

It’s the day after offseason Christmas for NFL fans, and it’s time for everyone to sit back and admire his or her new toys.

Optimism abounds around the league after the first round of the NFL draft, and for good reason. The 2015 draft class was loaded with marquee prospects who dominated football discussions since the final whistle of the Super Bowl.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans landed their future franchise quarterbacks, the New York Jets acquired arguably the best player in the draft and a number of other teams added depth in areas of weakness.

Here is a look at the first-round results and the updated order for the rest of the draft, the television schedule and a few of the notable first-round picks.

Day	Rounds	Start Time (ET)	Channels
Friday, May 1	2-3	7 p.m.	ESPN2, NFL Network
Saturday, May 2	4-7	12 p.m.	ESPN, NFL Network

Notable First-Round Selections 

No. 6 New York Jets: Leonard Williams, DE, USC

It’s not often that the steal of the draft happens in the top 10, but the argument can be made that the New York Jets landed the best value pick of the first round at No. 6.

Defensive lineman Leonard Williams was the one player in this class who was universally seen as a lock to live up to his sky-high potential. He tallied 80 tackles, seven sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and an interception at USC in 2014 and has the talent to put up even more impressive numbers than that when he reaches his prime.

Williams brings the size, strength and speed that teams covet from defensive linemen up front, and he is versatile enough to play defensive end or defensive tackle. His explosive first step allows him to beat tackles around the outside or stun guards up the middle, and his pursuit speed will help him stop the rushing attack.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

He is also powerful enough to occupy multiple offensive linemen at once, which is a scary proposition on a New York defensive line that already includes Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson. Everyone will have more space to make plays with Williams up front.

Best of luck to the rest of the AFC with the trio of Williams, Richardson and Wilkerson attacking opposing quarterbacks and Darrelle Revis shutting receivers down on the outside.

No. 7 Chicago Bears: Kevin White, WR, West Virginia

The Chicago Bears were a train wreck on defense last season, but they also lost wide receiver Brandon Marshall to the Jets.

The pro-Bears crowd in attendance in the Windy City was thrilled to see Chicago draft Marshall’s logical replacement, West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White. General manager Ryan Pace called White “an easy choice” amid other praise, per Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune:

"

I know I spoke to you about getting impact players in the draft, especially when you’re picking in the top 10. And that’s exactly what Kevin White is. We couldn’t be more thrilled right now. This guy’s dynamic, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s ultra-competitive. If I could stress one word for him, he’s competitive. You see it after the catch. You see it in the way he attacks the ball in the air. This is a dynamic playmaker for our offense. ... Big-play weapon for us. Competitive, tough player.

"

White gives Jay Cutler a legitimate deep threat on the other side of Alshon Jeffery. Few receivers in football can high-point a pass like Jeffery and come down with difficult catches in the red zone. The combination of Jeffery’s skill set along with White as a threat to turn an underneath bubble screen into a 70-yard touchdown is terrifying for opposing defenses.

Throw in Matt Forte as an underrated producer at running back who topped 1,000 rushing yards for the third consecutive season in 2014, and the Bears have the pieces to be a dynamic offense.

There will certainly be pressure on White to produce right away in an offense that has a number of veterans surrounding him. If he can’t provide at least 80 percent of what Chicago received from Marshall the past couple of years, opponents can focus on Jeffery and Forte and contain the Bears. 

The biggest problem for Chicago last year was defense, so it still has plenty of work to do in the later rounds of the draft even after picking White. There are a number of possible candidates, such as Randy Gregory along the defensive line or Landon Collins at safety, but Bears fans are likely pleased with White for the time being.

No. 15 San Diego Chargers: Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin

There was plenty of hype surrounding potential trades leading up to this draft because of the possibility that the Tennessee Titans could move that second pick to a team looking for Marcus Mariota, but that never came to fruition. Instead, the San Diego Chargers made the most notable move by trading up for the No. 15 spot to grab Melvin Gordon. 

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport noted that the Chargers played everything perfectly, assuming Gordon was their guy all along:

San Diego is in win-now mode since it didn’t trade 33-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers during the draft and brought in the likes of Stevie Johnson, Jacoby Jones and Orlando Franklin in the offseason. 

If the Chargers are going to follow through with the win-now approach and compete this year, they needed stability at the running back position after Ryan Mathews left for Philadelphia. Branden Oliver, Donald Brown and Danny Woodhead are all viable options, but Gordon was a production machine in college.

He tallied the second-most rushing yards in a single season in FBS history with 2,587 last year and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. ESPN Stats & Info put his production into statistical terms:

Gordon has the elusiveness to make defenders miss in the holes and the speed to turn a seven-yard run into a game-breaking touchdown. His shiftiness and burst will translate to the NFL and remind some of an established NFL superstar, per Adam Schefter of ESPN:

Gordon also has the power to run defenders over at the line of scrimmage, which is necessary to find the end zone at the NFL level. Chargers fans certainly hope he does plenty of that for years to come.