The new rookie wage scale helped facilitate a number of moves at the top of the draft.
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III walks on stage after he was selected as the second pick overall by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the NFL football draft at Radio City Music Hall, Thursday, April 26, 2012, in New York.FOXBOROUGH -- The draft got off to a wild start with three trades in the top five after having just one in previous seven years combined.
After Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went to Indianapolis and Washington as expected, a plethora of trades rearranged the top of the draft, a direct result of the new rookie wage scale that tamps down first-year players' earning power.
The Cleveland Browns, who feared that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would jump over them, made a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to move up one spot from No. 3 to take former Alabama running back Trent Richardson.
Minnesota took USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil, the player it was believed to be targeting all along, and received fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-round picks in return.
The Jacksonville Jaguars then made a trade with the Buccaneers to move up from the No. 5 to 7 and selected former Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.
The Cowboys kept the ball rolling by jumping up from No. 14 to 6 in a trade with the St. Louis Rams, who also received a second-round pick, to take LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, leaving the Bucs with former Alabama safety Mark Barron, a favorite of the Patriots, to go along with the fourth-round pick they received from Jacksonville.
The Rams, who were targeting Blackmon before trading down, also missed out on former Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox when they were jumped by Philadelphia, who sent third- and fifth-round picks to Seattle to move up from No. 12 to 15.
St. Louis did, however, end up with Michael Brockers, a defensive tackle out of LSU and one of the top-rated run-stuffers in the draft.