4 biggest reaches in the first round of the NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is always filled with interesting decisions. Here are four early picks that I just can’t wrap my head around. 

There’s never been an NFL Draft that quite goes according to the book, and successfully predicting the results of each pick in the first round would be like winning the lottery twice over. Regardless of how much time and effort you put into studying prospects and looking up big boards, NFL teams will always come away with different evaluations in the NFL Draft.

As a Steelers fan, I wasn’t pleased with the selection of Najee Harris with the 24th overall pick, but it was hardly surprising. There are other fans, however, who were no doubt surprised by their team’s first-round draft choice this offseason – and not in a good way. Though some of these guys may turn out to be very good NFL players, where they were selected seemed very rich for me. Here are the four biggest reaches in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft:

WR Kadarius Toney, Giants

I didn’t hate Kadarius Toney as a prospect. I remember putting on his film back in December and noticing that there was a lot to like about his game. Though he came in just under 6’0” and 193 pounds, Toney has terrific athletic traits for the position, and he’s slippery in the open field. However, I can’t believe that he was taken with the 20th overall pick in the draft by the New York Giants.

During his first four years at Florida, Toney never had more than 25 catches or 260 yards in a given season despite being mostly healthy throughout. Even in his senior season on one of the nation’s most high-powered offenses, Toney managed to account for just 984 of Kyle Trask’s 4,283 passing yards.

While the Giants clearly need more explosive playmakers on their offense, they passed on better football players at the same position, like Elijah Moore and Rashod Bateman, to take Toney. I just can’t see him ever being more than a WR2 in the NFL.