Round One Recap: Buckeye WR’s go back-to-back

Ohio State had a successful first round of the NFL Draft.

It was quite the spectacle on Thursday night of the NFL Draft, as Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave showed up on the red carpet dressed like they were about to be starring in a buddy cop movie. The two close friends no doubt spoke about this for many years while in Columbus, but I doubt either of them thought they would be drafted so close together — much less back to back. They had such a great chemistry with Zone 6 for the Buckeyes, so I was glad to see the two teammates get to share in one last moment together before their lives were forever changed.

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When I first saw the duo strolling on to the red carpet, I will admit I got a little bit nostalgic and sad, yet proud and optimistic about the future of two of the Buckeyes’ best and most popular wide outs in the history of Buckeye nation. All the time and battles gone through together led to this absolutely awesome moment of being able to be drafted with one of your best friends is next-level cool.

What made things even more storybook like is the fact the duo got drafted BACK-TO-BACK in the first round, going 10th and 11th overall in the draft. They not only got to experience the draft with their teammate, but celebrate on stage when they were picked less than 10 minutes apart from each other.

I mean, when Michael Irvin is the one getting your number you know you have made it

I wanted to take a quick look at the fit before the second round of the draft starts tonight, and how we can expect the two to perform in their rookie seasons, or at least what kind of situations they are stepping into.

Garrett Wilson was first off the board (but not the first WR, looking at you Atlanta) and was chosen to end up in the Big Apple with the New York Jets. Now, I know many of you claim the Jets are cursed, and while I do not disagree with that statement, if anybody can break a curse it’s our guy Garrett. He heads to New York to team up with the Jets’ first round pick last season, Zach Wilson, for the now patented Wilson-to-Wilson combo connection.

The Jets not so quietly had one of the best first rounds of the draft, which is to be expected when you make three picks. Garrett joins an offense without a true No. 1 wide out threat. Elijah Moore and Corey Davis are good players, but neither has the potential that can be had out of Garrett. I think he will vault to the top of that depth chart in training camp or by the latest the first month of the season. He will have ample opportunities for targets, and for you fantasy football dynasty players is looking pretty great to pick up for the long haul.

The offense he will entering is still a bit of a question mark, but he will be able to grow and development with the young QB already in place. Gaining chemistry and good practice habits is key to any rookie in the NFL, and with coach Brian Hartline’s discipline and work ethic instilled into our wideouts, I think that will be no issue for Wilson in his transition to the League.

Then we get to one of the most popular Buckeyes in my time on this earth, Chris Olave. The Columbus Saint…. errrr… excuse me the New Orleans Saints made their presence known once more in Ohio, as they swoop in to take one of our favorites. This is a very interesting situation Olave now finds himself in, and one I may be a bigger fan of than most people I have seen. I think Jameis Winston is a capable QB with good weapons, and he excels in throwing the ball deep down the field.

What does Olave do better than almost anyone in the draft class? Track and catch the deep ball. Olave will open up all kinds of space in the underneath routes for Michael Thomas (oh look another Buckeye in New Orleans) and their play styles will compliment each other so well.

Everybody always jokes about how Michael Thomas being the slant king, but with Olave taking the top off of the defense those slants will be even more wide open and the YAC will only increase this year if I was a betting man. Now of course that’s a bunch of bologna how Thomas only runs slants, but just wanted to make sure how good Olave is going to be for Thomas’s game.

The first year without Sean Payton is going to be a good indicator what direction the Saints are headed in the coming years. If Jameis can play even average football with Olave now in the fold, their offense is a whole new animal. Kamara along with Thomas and Olave all healthy and on the field at once is a three-headed monster which I very much look forward to seeing.

There were obviously some very mixed feelings on the landing spots for Ohio State’s two stars, but that’s the price you pay when you are elite and go higher in the draft to the teams who may not be as well established. They may not have landed in the perfect situations, but I am willing to bet that the two of them will make the situations perfect for themselves. We know how hard these two work at their craft and their will to be great, so why not believe their greatness will rub off on others around them? I don’t see any reason why it can’t.

Call me a homer but these two studs are going to be All-Pros in no time.