AFC West - Key Player Transactions for the 2013 NFL Season

Since free agency has pretty much been picked over and the college draft is in the books, I have decided to go division-by-division to highlight some of the key additions and losses for all 32 NFL teams as part of an eight-part series for Sporting Charts. Starting in the AFC with the West, I will save the best for last by finishing things up with the NFC East.

The following is a link to my first installment as originally posted on Sporting Charts.

AFC West - Key Player Transactions for the 2013 NFL Season

Finding Value in the NFL Draft

Now that the NFL draft is in the books it is a good time to take a closer look at just how well some of the favorites to win next season's Super Bowl did at filling a couple of crucial needs that might just end-up putting them over the top.

Unfortunately as 33/1 longshots to win Super Bowl XLVIII the Eagles did not make the cut for the teams that I covered in this article for Bang the Book, but I thought it would still be an interesting read for all you draft junkies out there.

Finding Value in the NFL Draft

2013 NFL Draft Recap- Top Five Teams

It is next to impossible to properly grade a NFL draft right away as it will take at least two or three seasons to see how each team's picks actually panned out. One way to measure just how well a particular team did in a draft is to match the players it selected with its most pressing needs. The other way is to measure the value in a team's selections looking at what position a player was taken in relation to when they were projected to go. Getting first-round talent in the second or even third round is a major plus, while reaching for players earlier than projected counts heavily against their overall assessment.

I will go on record right now as saying that I absolutely loved Chip Kelly's first draft as the new Eagles coach. He did the right thing in the first round by taking the best offensive lineman on the board and then proceeded to add some very interesting pieces to the championship-run puzzle on both sides of the ball. As an added bonus, first-round pick Lane Johnson is the perfect athletic fit for Kelly's fast-paced offensive scheme.

In a few pre-draft blog posts I was hot on outside linebacker Dion Jordan as a first round pick. After closer inspection that would have been a major mistake given that he is a pass-rushing specialist at best, while Johnson is a player that can anchor the Birds' offensive line for the next 10 years.

The following is a link to a recent article I wrote for Sports Betting Review's blog covering my top five teams for this year's draft. I would have put the Eagles at the top of that list, but I did not what to come off as a complete homer.

2013 NFL Draft Recap- Top Five Teams