Top 5 Offensive Impact Players Taken In The 2013 NFL Draft

Top 5 Offensive Players Taken In The 2013 NFL Draft

The 2013 NFL Draft is officially over and it was certainly an interesting one.

The first round was filled with linemen both offensive and defensive, when usually it’s filled with offensive skill players. The second round was when a lot of big names started to fly off the board, but it was the third and fourth rounds where the quarterbacks finally started to go.

It seemed like this year, not many teams thought that there was a franchise-changing quarterback to be taken. Instead, the big names like Matt Barkley and Ryan Nassib fell all the way down the board and will start their careers off as backups.

The real value of the players taken in the draft on the offensive side comes with the receivers and running backs. Game-changers at the college level were left until the second round at highest and the fourth and fifth rounds at lowest.

No team was ready to use a high pick on any real skill players until the second round, but these are going to be the players that really change an offense. It won’t be the tackles and the centers; it will be the players that pile on the numbers on the field and put points on the board. It’s going to be the speed backs, the game-breaking receivers, and the quarterbacks who become the face of their franchise.

Without a clear best skill player in the draft this year, we find ourselves lucky enough to have multiple players who will make a huge impact on the field come the 2013 NFL season.

5. Geno Smith (Quarterback, New York Jets)

Mark Sanchez’s days as starting quarterback for the Jets are quickly coming to a close now that Geno Smith was chosen with the first pick in the second round. The New York Jets still don’t have enough offensive weapons to let Smith become a legitimate player in his rookie year, but he should win the starting job regardless and begin a new era of quarterback play for the Jets.

4. Tyler Eifert (Tight End, Cincinatti Bengals)

With Tyler Eifert in hand, the Bengals can now use a two-TE set much like the Patriots do. Combining Eifert with Jermaine Gresham will pose huge problems for defenses once they realize Eifert can run routes as crisply as a wide out and can jump over defenders to catch balls that nobody else can.

3. Jonathan Franklin (Running Back, Green Bay Packers)

Eddie Lacy is going to find himself in shock once Jonathan Franklin shows the Packers what he’s capable of. Franklin fits the skill set of a Packers offensive running back because of his great pass-catching ability along with his great acceleration out of cuts. Franklin should be the feature back going into next season on a team that’s been dying for a good rushing offense for the better part of a decade.

2. Marcus Lattimore (Running Back, San Francisco 49ers)

Marcus Lattimore was the steal of the draft. The 49ers got lucky that so many teams were scared enough of his injury that they were able to grab him in the 4th round. When healthy, Lattimore was an animal in college who looked to be headed towards a Heisman campaign in 2012 until his gruesome leg injury. If he heals up, Frank Gore will find himself splitting carries with this soon-to-be NFL star.

1. Tavon Austin (Wide Receiver, St. Louis Rams)

Tavon Austin is headed to a team that currently has zero legitimate receiving threats, so the expectations are already high. With his ability to make something out of nothing, Austin should find plenty of success in his first year with Sam Bradford’s short passing accuracy being a huge plus for him. Austin is also being paired with his college receiver mate Stedman Bailey, and the two of them working in tandem should pose some big problems for defenses in 2013.