As should be the case, the newest crop of rookies gets most of the attention around the NFL Draft.
But the draft affects veterans in a big way. The draft shows each team's plan for the 2023 season and beyond. We see which part of the cycle is coming. New players can't come in without veterans leaving. And veterans don't leave without new players coming in.
Luckily, the Footballguys staff is here to sort out this movement. We asked them to name a player who was expected to get competition in this year's NFL Draft but came out of the weekend unscathed.
See 14 Veterans Who Gained Value here >>>
See 9 Veterans Who Lost Value here >>>
See 5 IDP Vets Who Lost Value >>>
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Cleveland Browns
Tripp Brebner: A motley crew of veterans with lengthy medical records constitutes the Browns' linebacker corps. Expected availability alone might have compelled Cleveland to add competition in the middle rounds. Instead, the team added block-absorbing defensive linemen in Rounds 3 and 4. The reinforcements should help keep third-year man Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah clean. The undersized run-and-strike linebacker lost snaps to bigger, slower players who could stack and shed last year. Don't expect that to recur. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will regain his rookie-season momentum in 2023.
LB Azeez Al-Shaair, Tennessee Titans
Kyle Bellefeuil: The Tennesee Titans were a team I felt could be in play for a Day 2 linebacker when the draft got here. However, they ended up fading the position all three days. This is good news for the newly signed Azeez Al-Shaair, whom Tennesee gave a one-year $6 million deal during free agency. Al-Shaair comes over from San Francisco, where he was the third wheel to Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. However, Al-Shaair had a breakout 2021 season when Greenlaw was hurt, compiling a career-high 102 tackles (58 solos) and nine tackles for loss. With David Long leaving for Miami via free agency, Al-Shaair looks to be a prime candidate for the vacant starting linebacker spot. Al-Shaair has proven he can be a productive IDP asset when given ample opportunity, and he should get just that as the best linebacker on the current Tennesee depth chart.
LB Ernest Jones, Los Angeles Rams
Gary Davenport: After parting with Bobby Wagner in the offseason and doing nothing in free agency at the linebacker position, many expected that the Rams would add a linebacker in the draft. That didn’t happen, though—and that appears to lock in third-year pro Ernest Jones as the team’s top off-ball linebacker. Jones has already shown the ability to put up numbers—he logged 114 total tackles last year in just 66 percent of the Rams' defensive snaps. If Jones can maintain that kind of per-snap productivity this year and plays 90-plus percent of the snaps, he could hit the 150-tackle mark in 2023.
