Mohamed Sanu getting the last laugh gave the second day of the NFL Draft a heartwarming angle.
Tormented by an anonymous prankster who tricked the Rutgers wide receiver into thinking he had been drafted by the Bengals in the first round Thursday, Sanu ended up going to Cincinnati after all last night.
The Bengals took Sanu with the 83rd overall pick as the league got through the second and third rounds at Radio City Music Hall, setting up this afternoon’s four-round finale.
Sanu had been heartbroken Thursday when an unidentified Rutgers student called him just before Cincinnati’s first-round choice claiming to be a Bengals representative and telling him he was the choice.
Cincinnati took Wisconsin offensive lineman Kevin Zeitler with that pick instead, but the Bengals made up for it last night by making Sanu the 11th wide receiver to come off the board. Sanu’s stock had fallen during the run-up to the draft because of concerns about his speed.
That was about it as far as drama for the second and third rounds, but then again, it would have been difficult — impossible, even — to top a slugfest of an opening round Thursday that featured more trades (19) than any draft since the 1970 merger.
One of the biggest questions of the entire draft — how far would Janoris Jenkins fall? — was answered quickly on Day 2. The talented but troubled North Alabama (via University of Florida) cornerback was grabbed by the Rams 39th overall with one of the picks St. Louis picked up in the Robert Griffin III trade.
Jenkins was considered such a liability because of positive drug tests and other off-field concerns that some scouts wondered if he would fall all the way to the sixth or seventh round.
Another major character concern, Ohio State offensive tackle Mike Adams, also found forgiveness on the second day of the draft. Adams, who reportedly tested positive for marijuana at the scouting combine, was taken 56th overall in the second round by the Steelers, a team in dire need of offensive linemen.
Jenkins’ selection followed the successive picks of a couple of names familiar to the Jets and Giants — Coby Fleener and Courtney Upshaw.
Fleener, a tight end from Stanford linked to the Giants, was reunited with Andrew Luck in Indianapolis with the 34th pick, while Upshaw, an Alabama linebacker high on the Jets’ list, went to the Ravens one spot later.
Last night also showed just how top-heavy this year’s class of quarterbacks was in the eyes of many scouts. The first round was filled with passers, but another wasn’t taken until Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler went to the Broncos 57th overall.
The biggest surprise of the night was turned in by the Jaguars, who finished 5-11 last year but took a punter — Cal’s Bryan Anger — with the seventh pick of the third round (70th overall). Even Anger seemed stunned to go that high.
“I guess they liked me more than I thought,” Anger told reporters in Jacksonville.
The second round also was notable for a run of offensive linemen, a seemingly natural response to the flurry of defensive tackles and ends gobbled up the day before. Seven blockers went in the second round, including three in a row starting with the Panthers’ choice of Midwestern State (Texas) guard Amini Silatolu at No. 40.