AFC Draft Grades.
For A Brief Moment On Thursday Evening During The First Round Of The NFl Draft, The Jacksonville Jaguars traded up From Pick Five To Pick Two To Take Colorado’s “Do It All” Football Star Travis Hunter in A move that Seemed Destined To Dominate The Draft Redirect By The End Of The Weekend’s Festivities. Then The Longest and Most media-disgusting fall since the Berlin Wall in 89 happened, Colorado Quarter Shedeur Sanders Son Of Deion Sanders, Fell, Not Only Out Of the top ten , top Twenty But The First Round, Out Of Day One And Day Two, Out Of The top five Quarterbacks Taken. “Shedeur’s Tumble” the Soon Movie Name, Sports Documentary And ESPN “30 For 30” Ended In The Fifth Round, Almost Unfathomable the Day Leading To The Draft--The Browns Who drafted A Quarterback Already Ended Shedeur’s Wait. Draft Night started With Cam Ward A Guy Who struggled To Hear His Name Called By Recruiters Then the Titans selected Him Number One After He was Projected As A fifth-round pick Last Season. I’ll Review and Give My Grades On Each Team's Draft Judging Based On How They Addressed Team Needs, Pick Value and My Opinion of the players i know and learned. Most Teams Resisted The Urge To Reach For A Quarterback In The Earlier Rounds A Lesson Learned From Previous Drafts as The Quarterback Market breaks Towards “Equilibrium”. I Don’t Know All 257 Prospects Drafts so I’ll Lean In On Other Bigs Boards From Pff, NFL.com and ESPN and Perhaps Other Sources.
AFC East:
Buffalo Bills—The Bills Have Strived For Years To Rebuild Their Once Vaunted Secondary and The Defense as A Whole. Buffalo Spent Their First Five Picks On Defense, Four SEC Player Straight, As Their Second Attempt at A Reboot Started With First Round Pick Maxwell Hairston The Cornerback From Kentucky. Hairston Struggled With Injuries This Past Season But he’s hyper-athletic and If He Returns To His 2023 Form He’s The Guy The Bills Need. The Defensive Line Needs An Elite Presence, The Bills Didn’t Get One Instead The Added Depth Behind The Group They Have Presently. The Bills Add Two Landmark Defensive Interior Players In TJ Saunders In 2nd, Deone Walker In The Fourth, and Landon Jackson The 6’6 edge Who Might Kick Inside On Certain packages. Jordan Hancock From Ohio State A Strong Coverage Safety. The Bills Added To The Offense Late adding Tight end Jackson Hawks a Blocker Type who Figures To Get Special Teams Work. Dorian Strong Adds Another Prospect To The Group. The Bills Picked A Slough Of Blue Chip Prospects Not One “Small School” On The Board Instead Picking From A Crop Of Battle Tested Players.
Grade, B-.
Miami Dolphins—The Dolphins Roster Featured Two Crater Size Holes At Defensive Tackle and Offensive Tackle and They Reached To Fill Both Needs But Pull Out with Solid Prospect. Kenneth Grant The Former Michigan Defensive Tackle a 340 lbs Nose Tackle Who Can Eat Up Blocks, and Crush A Run Scheme. In The Second Round, The Dolphins Grabbed Offensive Tackle Jonah Savaiinaea he played Tackle In college but Projects As A guard. The Dolphins Didn’t Have A Day Two Pick Instead Their Draft Continued in The Fifth With Jordan Phillips Defensive Tackle Maryland, and Another Defensive Interior Player Zeck Biggers to At least Ensure That The Team Won’t Lose depth At The Position For Another Two Years. The Dolphins Add Safety Dante Trader Jr. from Maryland to Maybe Fill The Gap Left By Jevon Holland. The Dolphins Get Quarterback Quinn Ewers, A Projected Day Two Pick, In Seventh Round. According To The PFF Big Board, The Dolphins Reached On Nearly Every Pick Except Ewers Who The Dolphins Choose As A Value Pick Rather Than A Position Of Need. Assuming Miami Could Have Fetched A Deal, Trading Out Of The 11th Spot And Amassing More Picks Instead Of Selecting Grant At That Position Would’ve Increased The Team’s Value From This Draft and Maybe Grant Or Someone from Caliber Remains On The Board Later In The First Round. Most Teams Reach when Compared To The Board But Miami Still Needs Depth at Wide Receiver, Running Back(Drafted One), And Along The Defensive Line Not At Edge. Grade, C+
New England Patriots—I’m Still Haunted By The Reality That The Patriots Lost Out On The Number One Pick By Winning That Final Game Thus Losing The Trade Value The Jags Gave To The Browns. The Patriots Locked Up Will Campbell In The First, He’s Not Entirely a Fool Proof Prospect But He’s A Good Start On The Line. Treyveon Henderson Gives Me “Mixed” Vibes. He’s A Phenomenal Player Who Averages Seven Yards Per Carry At Ohio State But Did The Pats Need A Running Back? Rhamodre Stevenson Hasn’t Replicated His 1000 Yard Season But A Pick Like Elijah Arroyo At 50 or Luther Burden At 39 Made More Sense For The Pats. The Pats grab A Wide Receiver Kyle Williams in The Third But He’s A Bit Of A Project Player Similar To what The Patriots have In Pop Douglas But Slightly Bigger. In The Third The Patriots Pick Up Jared Wilson A Top End Center With Excellent Movement Skill Who Could Create Gaps For The Patriot's New Running Game. Defensively The Patriots Grab Safety Craig Woodson and interior Pass Rusher Joshua Farmer a Productive Player From Florida State. Bradyn Swinson Edge Rusher From LSU A Top 50 Player Fell To Fifth Round. Of course, This Wouldn’t Be A Patriots Draft Without A Special team or Two Kicker Andres Borregales and Long snapper Julian Ashby. Mr. Irrelevant Cornerback Kobee Minor And Tackle Marcus Bryant Fill Out The Patriots Draft. I Feel Conflicted As The Patriot Filled Needs But Didn’t Pull Tremendous. Grade, B-.
New York Jets—The Jets Pitch A Solid Outing For Their Draft Picking A Wealth Of Blue Chipper Starting With Tackle Armand Membou At Right Tackle. Member Ranked As The Best Tackle On Some Board and He’s Now Responsible For Holding Up Pass Pro For Justin Fields. The Jets Draft Tight End Mason Taylor Out Of LSU A Player Who Flashed Elite Athleticism Who Rivaled The Top Tight Ends In This Class At The Top. In The Third Round The Jets Select Azareya’h Thomas Cornerback Out of Florida State He’s Tall At 6’2 But Lacks Speed After Clocking A 4.58 Forty Time Perhaps The Jets Will Trust His Play Speed And His Close Quarters Coverage. In The Fourth The Jets Selected Arian Smith a 6 Foot Receiver With 4.36 Speed But Rank Well Out Of The Fourth Or Even The Seventh Round According To Pff. The Jets Added More Defensive Depth with Malachi Moore At Cornerback From Alabama, Again Just 4.5 Speed At 5’11 But He’s Started At Alabama Since His Freshman Year In 2020. The Jets Bookend Their Linebacker And Edge Group With Fransisco Mauigoa, and Tyler Barron Both Of Miami. I Thought The Jets Could Have Added More Depth At Wide Receiver behind Garrett Wilson because Rolling into The Season With Allen Lazard and Tyler Johnson Over A lot Of Unproven Prospect Makes For Another Disastrous Offensive Season. Grade, B-.
AFC West:
Denver Broncos—Denver’s Draft Didn’t Pan Out As Projected With The Team Hunting More “Explosiveness” On Offense. If Jahdae Barron Holds Up To His Pedigree At Corner Opposing Teams Could Find Themselves No Longer Facing A Formidable Defense But An Uncrackable One. RJ Harvey The Ultra Productive Lead Back From Central Florida joins and Reinforces The Broncos Stable Of Backs. The Broncos Love Of Big Receivers As The Offense Adds Pat Bryant A 6’3 Wide Receiver From Illinois In The Third Round. He’s Not The Explosive And Dynamic Threat With Just 4.6 Speed But He’s Another Option To The Offense. The Broncos Added Edge Rusher Sai’vion Jones Out Of LSU and Quandarious Robinson From Alabama Before Ironing Their Draft Off With kicker Jeremy Crawshaw and Tight end Caleb Lohner. The Broncos Boosted One Of The Best Pass Rushes In Football But Adding Depth At A Position That Could Prove Expensive For Them In The Coming Years Seems Sensible.
Grade, C+.
Los Angeles Chargers— The Chargers Drafted Running Back Omarion Hampton In The First Round and He’s A Talented Back But He’s A Running Back So The Value Already Looks Fuzzy. Wide Receiver Tre Harris In Second Round He Served As Ole Miss’s Go-To Guy On Deep Routes In Offense In Ole Miss That constantly Threw Deep Routes. His Presence May Re-Awaken The “Social Media” Justin Herbert Who constantly Deep Before Jim Harbaugh Arrived and Made The Offense Focus On Efficiency. The Chargers Go Defense Back To Back With Jamaree Caldwell At Defensive Tackle a Team Need and Kyle Kennard Out Of South Carolina In The Third and Fourth Rounds Respectively. Kennard Proved great Value as An 81st Rank Player On The Board going 126th Overall. The Chargers Add Another Deep Threat in Keandre Lambert-Smith who Clocked A 4.37, 13.8 Average Depth Of Target and A 98.7 Deep Receiver Grade. Big Tight End Oronde Gadsden is built More Like A Wide Receiver But Lacks The Polish For That Position Should Prove A Solid Deep Threat. The Chargers Offensive Line Added Branson Taylor To Add Depth Behind Rashawn Slater. The Chargers Scooped Up Two Safety Prospects In Rk Mickens(Top Seven Safety In This Draft) In The Sixth and Trikweze Bridges In the Seventh Round. I Don’t Like The Hampton Pick Simply Because He Joins A Staple Of Backs and The Chargers Had More Pressing Needs But Overall Los Angeles Came Out Solid.
Grade, B-.
Las Vegas Raiders—The Raiders Got Their Draft Started With Ashton Jeanty At Six and Either He’s Going To Turn The Franchise Around Or He’s Going To Prove Another Cautionary Tale About Drafting Running Back In The First Round Or Worse Of All Top 10. The Raider Finished At The Bottom Of The League In Rushing But Drafting A Running Back Top Ten Never Creates The Solution. Jack Bech The Wide Receiver From Texas Christian University The Big Slot Receiver Who Can Provide Geno Smith With An Option Close To Jaxson Smith-Njigba. The Raiders Add Cornerback Darien Porter To The Defense. Returning To The Offense The Raiders grabbed two tackles In The Third Round With Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant Both Of Whom Could Find Themselves In Play Depending On Kolton Miller’s Status In The Future. Dont’e Thornton Jr The 6’5 Receiver Who Ran A 4.3 Will Give The Raiders An “X” Type Receiver and At Worse A Vertical Threat? Tonka Hemingway and JJ Pegues Join The Raiders Interior Defensive Line. The Raiders Draft Two Quarterbacks In Cam Miller, and Tommy Mellott Who Provide Better Prospects As Backups Behind Aidan O’Connell. Cody Lindenberg Linebajcer is Out of Minnesota. Outside Of The Jeanty Pick, Which I Hate, I Think The Raiders Pulled A Solid Haul.
Grade, B.
Kansas City Chiefs—The Chiefs Pushed Out A Solid Draft Getting Josh Simmons At The 32nd Pick. He's probably not Ready To Start The Season But He’ll Bookend The Left Or Right Tackle When He’s Healthy. Getting Omar Norman-Lott A Top 50 Player At 68th Pick Marks A Massive Score As He Pair With Chris Jones. In The Third Round Edge, Rusher Ashton Gillette joins A Budding Pass Rush Unit. Nohl Williams a Press Corner To Develop Behind The Guys the Chiefs Already Play and Maybe Push Kristian Fulton. Jalen Royals A Top Ten receiver at 133 Could Prove A Steal. Jeffrey Bassa is Off Ball Linebacker Out Of Oregon At A Top Seven Player At His Position and Brashard Smith is out of SMU. I Think The Chiefs made Away With A Few Steals and If Simmons pans Out This Draft Hit Automatically.
Grade, B.
AFC NORTH
Cleveland Browns—The Browns Produced A Spiral Psychedelic Trip Of A Draft Board And While Cleveland Picked Up Some Solid Prospects I Don’t Know How Much The Browns Improved. Mason Graham Gives Cleveland A Solid Interior Pass Rush Option With Instant Impact Value Upfront On the Defensive Line. Carson Schwesinger The Linebacker From UCLA who Can Add As A Pass Rusher And Picked Up 21 Coverage Stops. The Browns Draft Ohio State Stand Out Quinshon Justin’s With Their Second Round Pick As He Projects To Take the Bell Cow Duties In Cleveland and Cleveland’s Fourth Round Pick Dylan Sampson Adding To The Revamp Backfield. Harold Fanin The Tight End in The Third Round Who Should Provide A Solid Secondary Option In 12 Personnel Or Someone Who Takes Over If The Browns Decide To Move On From David Njoku At some Point. The Quarterback Decisions Puzzled Me, Taking Dillon Gabriel In Third Based On His Intangibles Stands As A Reach But Then Dipping With Shedeur In The Fifth Round Created More Conflict. Shedeur Has Great Value Late But They Dont Add A Receiver Or A Tackle or Even Some Safety Depth Behind Grant Delpit. The Browns Have Trench Depth At Quarterback Running Back On Offense But Very Little Anywhere Else And Tons Of Depth On The Defensive Front and Linebacker But Little Place Else. Grade, C.
Baltimore Ravens—The Ravens always Seem To Come Away With Value Late In The Draft And Baltimore Did Just That By picking Malaki Starks Who Replaced Marcus Williams and Mike Green To Add To The Edge Rushers Contingent Baltimore Already Assembled. The Ravens added Tackle Depth With Emery Jones Jr from LSU and Carson Vinson From Alabama A&M. Bilhal Kone Cornerback From Western Michigan, Kicker Tyler Loop With Justin Tucker's Future In Question, and LaJohntay Webster Wide Receiver From Colorado. Arenas Peebles Defensive Interior Player From Virginia Tech. More Offensive Line Depth With Garrett Dellinger and Robert's longer beam. Baltimore Came Away With Some Solid Prospects But Got Going Out Of The Gate.
Grade, A.
Cincinnati Bengals—The Bengals Draft Board Earned A lot of Censure Because They Reach For Several Players Against The Board But The Bengals Addressed A lot of Areas Starting With Shemar Stewart A Traits Heavy edge Rusher Flagged For His Lack Of Production At Texas A&M. Demetrius Knight Jr A 25 Year Old Linebacker Prospect But He’s Maturity Helps Knight Bring exceptional Football In and a Grown Physical Presence. The Bengals finally Address The Offensive Line In the Third Round With Georgia Gaurd Dylan Fairchild a Solid Pass Blocker Who Could Emerge As A Starter. Linebacker Barrett Carter Joins The Revamp Core He Played Solid In Run Defense But Needs To Sharpen Up In Coverage. Jalen Rivers Joins The Tackle Group And Tahj Brooks From Texas Tech Adds To The Rushing Attack. I Don’t See How Linebacker Became A Priority As The Bengals Signed Oren Burks In The Offseason On Top Of The Other House Linebacker Cincy Could’ve Added Receiver depth Considering how Much Money They Spent On The Top Two Receivers. Perhaps The Bengals Expect Leaps From Guys Like Jermaine Burton at receiver and Amarius Mims At Tackle But Not Myles Murphy At Edge. I Didn’t The Draft But Liked It.
Grade, B.
Pittsburgh Steelers—The Steelers Resisted The Temptation To Draft A Quarterback Early Even As Multiple Options Fell and They Didn’t Trade George Pickens Instead The Steelers Stayed and We Will Learn The Repercussions Or Value Of Their Discipline. The Steelers Take Derrick Harmon Defensive Tackle To Arm The Middle Of Their defense. Harmon Had His Name In the Mix Of All The Defensive Tackles Not Named Mason Graham. He Possesses True Pass Rush “Stuff” And Could Prove The Blue Chip Prospect Pittsburgh Wanted. In The Second Round The Right Place For Running Back The Steelers Select Kaleb Johnson Out Of Iowa A Tough Yardage Replacement Back for Najee Harris. The Steeler Added Edge Rusher Jack Sawyer From Ohio State is Not The Flashiest Guy But A Serviceable Add To The Depth Chart. Yahya Black is an Awesome Name And A Defensive Interior Guy To Add More Depth At The Position. Will Howard is a Top Five Quarterback By Some Grades, A Guy Who Lead Ohio State To National Championship But Also Enters The League Older Than CJ Stroud. Carson Bruener At Linebacker and Donte Kent At Cornerback flesh Out The Steelers Unit. The Steelers Look Solid On Paper(On screen Really, Who Uses Paper) But Sometimes Reaching For A Quarterback Stands As a Better Ideal Than Not Having An Exact Answer So We’ll See What Pittsburgh Does In That Position.
Grade, A.
AFC South:
Tennessee Titans— The Titans Selected Cam Ward Number One To The Surprise Of No One But The Pressure Starts Now. Shedeur Sanders Falling Into Oblivion indirectly puts The Focus On Cam Ward Who Has To Succeed Or Else Not Did Tennessee make The Wrong Choice With Him Over Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter But Shedeur, Who Succeeds And Outplays His Fall Makes a Pick Look Like One Of The Worse In History. Underneath Ward, The Titans Produced A Solid Draft edge Rusher Oluwafemi Olafejo From UCLA to Add Depth To The Position. The Safety Position Fell In This Draft As The Titans Picked Up the Second Ranked Safety In Kevin Winston Jr ranked 33rd Overall Player At 82nd Overall And He Figures To Have An Immediate Impact. The Titans Slightly Reached for Wards’s Former Teammate(New Teammate) At Miami Wide Receiver Chimmere Dike In The Fourth Round But Made Up For The Move by Nabbing Tight End Gunner Helm Later The Seventh Rated Tight End At 120 And Elic Ayomanor, The Fifth Rated Receiver At 138. Ayomanor Reminded Me a lot Of Stefon Diggs when I Watch His Film. Jackson Slater At Guard From Sacramento State, Corner Back Marcus Harris From California, And Running back Kalel Mullings From Michigan. Ayomanor feels Like The Standout of This Draft Class As He’ll Probably Push Former First Rounder Treylon Burks Out As The Number Three Probably The Number Two Receiver.
Grade, A.
Jacksonville Jaguars— The Trade The Jags Made Moving up From Five To Two Would Have Proven The Sticking Point Of Draft Talk Had Shedeur Not Falling But The Jags Secure Travis Hunter The Number One Prospect Of The Draft. He’s Bookend To Roam As a Receiver Where He and Brian Thomas Jr Could Form One The Deadliest Outside Duos In Football. The Jags Needed Safety Help And Maybe Reached For Caleb Ransaw out Of Tulane The 221st Ranked Player Taking At 88th. Wyatt Milum Helps Absolve The Jags' Tackle And Blocking Issue, as He Graded Out As One Of The Best Blockers and Left Tackles he’s Not Incredibly Long Or Athletic But He’s Got Good Strength For The Position. In The Fourth Round Bhayshul Tuten Running Back Out Of Virginia Tech. The Jags Bolster Their Defense With Their Next Few Jack Kiser Line backed From Notre Dame, Jalen McLeod Edge Rusher From Auburn, Rayuan Lane III. In The Seventh Round The Jags Even Things Off With Jonah Monheim Center From
USC and LeQuint Allen running Back Syracuse A Few Solid Prospects. If Travis Lives Up To Half The Hype The Jags Have Their True Centerpiece Of The Franchise.
Grade, A.
Houston Texans—The Texans Traded Out Of The First Round But had One Of My Favorite Drafts Of Any Team Grabbing Some Of My Favorite Players. Jayden Higgins 34th Overall He’s The Standout “X” Receiver in This Draft and He’s Built similarly to Nico Collins. I projected Higgins as A first Round Pick But I’m More Comfortable With Him Going In The Second Round. Aireonate Ersey Tackle Who Adds Depth To A Needed Position. Jaylin Noel wide Receiver from Iowa State in The Third an Absolute Steal If His Athleticism Projects and His Receiver Prowess Full Bloom In the NFL. He Pushes Christian Kirk Maybe off The Roster As A Turbo Slot Option. Another Jaylin Smith Cornerback From USC As The Run On Jaylin Continued But didn't end. The Texans Made A Bit Of A Reach According To The Baird Taking Smith 97th When He Ranked 241 Overall Player. Jo’Quavious Marks came In The Fourth Round. Safety Jaylen Reed From Penn State In Round Six. Quarterback Graham Mertz From Florida is in round Six. Defensive Tackle Kyonte Hamilton from Rutgers And Tight End Luke Lachey Round Out The Texans Draft. The Texans Score Big Trading Back But Still Revamping Their Offense This Draft May Turn The Texans From AFC Sleeper to Contender.
Grade, A+.
Indianapolis Colts—The Colts start the Draft By Filling Out The team's Top Need, Tight End With The Number One Tight End(According To The Board) Tyler Warren. Warren Brings The Full Package As A Football Weapon who Can Catch Work As A Wild Cat Passer, and A Blocker. I Ranked Warren Him Behind Colston Loveland. JT Tuimoloau The Pass Rusher From The Ohio State University, The Colts Took Pass Rush Early Last Season But Continue To Need Depth At The Position. Cornerback Justin Walley From Minnesota. Jalen Travis Tackle Iowa State At Massive 6’8 339 Lbs Guys This Size Don’t Always Work Out But He’s A Great Prospect. DJ Giddens Running back Kansas State The 96th Ranked Prospect Taken 151st Overall Adds Soldi Depth To The Running Back Room. Riley Leonard is a Quarterback at Notre Dame in The Seventh Round and He Could Function As A backup and Development piece if Neither Daniel Jones Or Anthony Richardson is out. Tim Smith Defensive Tackle From Alabama and Hunter Wohler Safety From Wisconsin finish Off The Colts Draft. The Colts Addressed A Few Major Needs On Offense and Defense While picking Up Some Solid Prospects.
Grade, B
