NEW YORK -- Well, we told you the 2013 NFL draft was going to be unpredictable, and while it was in spots, there were also a lot of picks that turned out how I thought they might. But every time you thought it all made sense, something would happen to throw a wrench into the flow.
Start at the top. The tackles dominated the day as we thought they would, particularly early. But then Miami really surprised me. I thought the Dolphins would make the move up for a tackle, and instead they went with Dion Jordan after completing the trade with Oakland. And while I expected Oakland to move down, I thought the Raiders would be able to create more value from that No. 3 pick.
Elsewhere, the QB class we've said for a long time simply wasn't that good -- the top quarterback on my final Big Board was Geno Smith at No. 25 overall -- was essentially indicted by a grand jury of GMs. That was partly expected, but then Buffalo surprised me a little bit with the curveball on EJ Manuel.
Most picks made sense, but there were others I wonder about. Here are a few I really liked and others that raised questions:
More Kiper NFL draft content:
Second-round mock | Round 1 winners and question marks | Best available on Day 2
Three I liked
Pittsburgh Steelers
The pick: Jarvis Jones, No. 17
Summary: The Steelers saw the board set up really well. I thought they might be split between Jones and Tyler Eifert, but they really needed another pass-rusher. When the guy who led the country in sacks and tackles for loss -- and did it against plenty of SEC competition -- is sitting there at No. 17, you take him. Jones was No. 1 on my Big Board for much of the year but dipped some during the evaluation process after not working out in Indy and not running well at his pro day. Well, turns out he's better wearing football pads than Under Armour. Love the value.