Nfl Draft

No. 21 Cleveland Browns: QB Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State - - Weeden is 28 and began his professional sports career as a baseball pitcher. He was drafted out of high school in the second round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft, the first selection of the Yankees. He was traded to the Dodgers a year later, and later played in the Royals organization. Injuries and a high ERA convinced him to quit baseball. He enrolled at Oklahoma State in 2007. Comment: Weeden will be 29 in the fall, having been a professional baseball player before heading to college.

No. 10 Buffalo Bills: CB Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina - - Some evaluators think Gilmore is the best cornerback prospect in the draft. He was a rare true freshman starter for the Gamecocks, and had 52 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, and nine passes defended his first year. Comment: The Bills have built a supreme defensive line, and now they're building the back end. Not bad for a team that ranked 30th in points allowed in 2011. MORE Photos: 2012 NFL draft picks First round of draft is a rush to judgment NFL considers suspending Pro Bowl after 2013     NFL draft: Cornerback Stephon Gilmore chosen 10th by Bills

No. 3 Cleveland Browns: RB Trent Richardson, Alabama - - Richardson helped lead Alabama to two BCS championships and last year won the Doak Walker Award and was a Heisman finalist. Some evaluators think he's the most promising college back since Adrian Peterson. Richardson didn't participate in the scouting combine after undergoing minor knee surgery, but he recently escorted a cancer patient to her high school prom. Comment: The Browns need to be able to pound the ball in the AFC North, especially when the weather turns cold, and Richardson gives them that ability.

NEW YORK -- The Cleveland Browns have made the first trade of the NFL draft, swapping positions with Minnesota at the top of the first round. The Browns will pick third, presumably to take Alabama running back Trent Richardson, and the Vikings have moved back one spot to fourth. Minnesota collected picks in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds. Minnesota can still pick up USC tackle Matt Kalil at No. 4, or possibly LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. The Browns likely made the move so Tampa Bay, which picks fifth, could leapfrog them for Richardson.

There could already be a big loser in Thursday night's NFL draft: the broadcast TV networks.  ESPN and the NFL Network are carrying live coverage of the first round of pro football picks starting at 5 p.m., and network executives are bracing for a mighty wallop on ratings for shows like "The Big Bang Theory" and "American Idol. " That's because over the last few seasons, the NFL draft officially arrived as a TV Event. Last year the first round drew more than 8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.

2. Washington Redskins: QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor - Jim Harbaugh recruited both Griffin and Andrew Luck to Stanford. Griffin declined the scholarship offer because he reasoned there would be a logjam at quarterback. He is the only player from Baylor to win the Heisman Trophy. As a high school track star in Texas, he broke state records in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Comment: The Redskins run a bootleg offense - - roll right, roll left - - and Mike Shanahan says Griffin is the best he's coached at doing that since Steve Young.  MORE Photos: 2012 NFL draft picks First round of draft is a rush to judgment NFL considers suspending Pro Bowl after 2013     Robert Griffin III selected second by the Redskins    

There are two elite quarterbacks in this week's NFL draft -- Stanford's Andrew Luck and Baylor's Robert Griffin -- and they will be claimed by Indianapolis and Washington at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. With more than one team still in the market for a franchise quarterback, attention will turn to Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, who seems to have become the consensus third-best QB in this year's class. Tannehill played receiver for his first two years with the Aggies before becoming starting quarterback midway through his junior season.

Arizona State linebacker Vontaze Burfict had the most dramatic plunge in the NFL draft, going from a player who was widely believed to be a first-round prospect a few months ago to an undrafted free-agent signee of the Cincinnati Bengals. The oft-penalized Burfict had as many red flags as yellow ones. His final season was riddled with 15-yard penalties; he fought with teammates and refused to enter a game late in the season; he was overweight and slow at the combine, running a 5-flat 40, and, according to FoxSports.com, failed a drug test there.

No. 7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: S Mark Barron, Alabama - Some scouts say Barron reminds them of a young Ronnie Lott. He didn't work out at the combine, having just undergone double hernia surgery, but his stock has been climbing for weeks. He considers himself NFL-ready . “We played in a very difficult defense, first of all,” he said at the combine. “We did a lot of different schemes. My role was, as far as communicating, I had a lot to do with that on the back end. And I felt like sometimes, I brought some energy to it with the hits I make and things of that nature.

USC receiver Robert Woods will announce Monday whether he will make himself available for the NFL draft or return to USC for a final season, Woods said at the airport after the Trojans arrived in El Paso, Texas, for the Sun Bowl. The Trojans play Georgia Tech on Monday, and the junior said he would announce his decision after the game. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Woods, the Trojans' career receptions leader, said he received a draft evaluation from the NFL that gave him a range that topped at the second round.