SimNFL Draft Grades Part 2

[kgreene829]

Ok this is part 2 of my SimNFL Draft Grades. Also a new thing I am doing is taking intent into account with picks, I realized that not every player drafted is someone who teams are expecting to be long term starters. Instead some players are drafted to be a backup, a developmental piece that could eventually start down the line, or a short term solution to a position. I can guess but I can’t really know for sure if that is the case or not for any pick so if you have any picks that were not intended to be starters please message me which picks those are for and I will change the grade and description for any picks that falls under that category. This way we have grades that are more realistic to the expectations the teams had going into each pick. The grade will also be a little bit based on how much I feel a backup was needed so while it will be very rare the backup grade could end up being worse than the normal grade. Also if you drafted someone to be a backup and it ended up being good enough to be a starter let me know too since it would be cool to know that. Everything else will follow the same format and rules so you can check that out in part 1 https://www.simfba.com/topic/6429-simnfl-draft-grades-part-1/. I also made some edits for picks I felt like I had more I wanted to say

Falcons OG Alex Hitchens
Panthers RB Kelvin Dupree
Bears CB Giannis Wright
Bears DT Cesar Whitehead

Are the picks that fall under that category. 

Texans FB Clinton Marte

Is a pick I added a 2nd evaluation too since I was given new information which changed the way I had to evaluate it.

 

As always this is not an opinion piece everything I say is a fact and if I hurt your feelings it's because I meant to.

 

Now let's get to the scrub teams who aren’t good enough to be in the 1st half of teams when they are listed alphabetically. Oh and that opinion and hurt feelings thing is actually only true for @tsweezy

Las Vegas Raiders: B+

Round 3 Pick 95 SS Andrew Zagunis 55/B: B+

I had Andrew Zagunis as the 3rd best SS in the draft but after thinking about it I moved him up to 2nd. Zagunis is a great player who fits the Raiders perfectly. The Raiders love SS Jeffrey Cullum and the fact that he is a big hard hitting safety. The problem is Cullum is 30 and in the last year of his deal. The solution grab the biggest hardest hitting safety in the draft. Andrew Zagunis is what Jeffrey Cullum was in his rookie year, the only difference is Zagunis has 11 extra pounds of muscle on him. Looking at the Raiders class you notice the other guys first the next 2 picks are good but Zagunis is being overlooked because not only is he a good player I believe he is the exact player the Raiders were looking for in the draft and he fell right into their laps.

Round 4 Pick 103 OT Jake Sosa 56/A+: A

Well if you're wondering why Zagunis was being overlooked here is one of the two reasons why. The Raiders didn’t have a ton of immediate needs so because of that they were able to take Jake Sosa, a great OT who they hope can grow to replace their star OT Nelson Garcia. Garcia is an 85 overall on an expiring contract. Garcia is 29 years old so he will likely be brought back but the race is on to find the next star OT and that's where Sosa comes in. Sosa is the 4th best OT in the draft but was the best on the board at this pick. I may be wrong but I think the Raiders will have Sosa starting for them and if not starting I expect James Kenyon the Raiders OT2 to be on a short leash and to maybe even be benched for Sosa in less important games to help Sosa’s development. I love this pick and to get a player of this caliber in the 4th round was a steal.

Round 4 Pick 114 DE Sam Moxey 54/A+: A

Sam Moxey is the other reason that Zagunis was overlooked. Moxey was selected 11 picks after Sosa and to get 2 huge steals 11 picks apart in the 4th is such a big deal it is understandable why Zagunis isn’t talked about. That’s enough about Zagunis, let's talk about Sam Moxey. Nicholas Sarno is the starting DE for the Raiders but they don’t have an amazing option next to him and with the two other DEs on expiring deals Moxey was drafted to be the DE2 for as long as Sarno is on the team. Moxey might not be ready to start yet but I think he will be in a similar situation to Sosa where the leash on the DE2 is short and Moxey might get playing time against lesser opponents. I have Sam Moxey as the 6th best DE but he is one of only 2 top 7 DEs picked after the 2nd round. Moxey is a bit raw but that’s probably why he was available in the 4th but given the playing time he should develop into a great player.

Round 5 Pick 132 CB Evan Duke 57/D-: C+

The Raiders did an amazing job drafting without a 1st or 2nd round pick but Evan Duke is a perfect example of how much not having a 1st or 2nd can hurt you. Jason Holliman is on the brink of retirement and Samuel Frazier is 28 and getting close to the end of his prime. I think the best thing the Raiders could have done in this draft was grab a CB who can develop to replace them. This was a good year to need CB since this CB class was amazing but only 3 of the top 13 CBs in this draft were on the board at pick 95 which was the Raiders 1st pick of the draft. The Raiders went to address a couple other needs and now at pick 132 of the 26 CBs drafted the CBs that were still on the board are ranked 14, 20, 22, 23, 25, and 26. I know they couldn’t have known that would be the case when they traded their 1st and 2nd so I won’t let that impact their grade too much, it just goes to show that trading high draft picks can lead to you really missing out. Now onto the actual pick Evan Duke was the 4th best CB on the board but was the top man coverage CB which is what they were looking for. The Raiders were able to get the best player for them available and Evan Duke is a good CB so it could have gone worse for them. I think Evan Duke will mostly see the field as a special teamer to start his career and with D- potential he isn’t in the best spot but Duke has a high floor and could break through that low potential and become a solid CB for them but I don’t think he will ever be that 1 or 2 option that the Raiders probably wanted. I think this was a great pick if you take into account the lack of a 1st or 2nd, the strong need for a CB, and the fact that the majority of the CBs were off the board at the time of this pick. This pick is a real testament to the Raiders front office and shows how good they are at scouting. With that said because of the things that made this pick so great it’s also what makes this a bad pick since it led to them getting one of the worst drafted CBs.

Round 5 Pick 155 OG Logan Travis B-/D: C

I think Logan Travis was a bit of a hail mary for the Raiders. The Raiders could use some improvement at OG and after getting some solid players and their biggest needs being ILB and OLB(I think that they are going to run a multiple man defense so they could use a better ILB2 than 63 overall Patrick Parker and while not as important could have used a replacement OLB2 for Larry Bushong who is 30 on an expiring contract) which were pretty shallow classes decided to see if they could find a hidden gem in Logan Travis. Logan Travis might not be that hidden gem but at B- overall D potential will be a solid backup and since they didn’t need OG too badly it’s not a terrible outcome for them.

Round 5 Pick 163 DT Chris Crawford 55/C: C

I think Chris Crawford is a similar kind of pick as Logan Travis. Obviously the Raiders are keeping Tulane alum DT Sylvester White since @cultur3 loves me and Tulane but I can imagine they wouldn’t mind getting someone who can come in and be an improvement at DT2. I think this pick is better than the Logan Travis pick but still isn’t anything more than what you were kinda expecting to get at this point of the draft.

I am giving the Raiders a B+ but it is really close to an A-. The Raiders absolutely knocked it out of the park with their first 3 picks and I think with their 4th pick they made the best of a bad situation. Like I said before I think they might have wanted to grab an ILB or OLB and maybe even both but the class for LBs wasn’t great so I don’t blame them for not drafting any. The Raiders drafted the best or close to the best players on the board at the positions and picks they drafted which again really goes to show how good the Raiders are at drafting. However with only 6 picks and 3 of them being in the 5th round they couldn’t fully capitalize on how good they are. I am really excited to see the Raiders back in the first 2 rounds next year.

Los Angeles Chargers: B-

Round 1 Pick 12 DE James McKinnon 56/A+: A+

I think the race for DE2 in this class is really close Nick Concepion 58/A, Hunter Suh 57/A, and James McKinnon 56/A+ are all great players so while I had McKinnon ranked as the 4th best DE in the class I think he can also be the 2nd best DE in the class so I won’t punish the Chargers for drafting him over the other 2 I mentioned. I think the Chargers can go either way but I expect them to have McKinnon to beat David Forbath for the DE2 job this season just because of the potential of McKinnon. I also think this is a weird position because with Abel Moore being 28 and on an expiring contract it's possible that after competing with each other for the starting spot McKinnon and Forbath start across from each other for the foreseeable future starting in 2025. Anyway, McKinnon is a super talented DE that the Chargers are super happy to have on their team. DE wasn’t the top need for the Chargers but was a need for them and I will talk a bit more about why I think the Chargers made this pick in the next pick explanation because I think it would make more sense.

Round 1 Pick 25 OT J’Mon Wolters B+/C-: C+

Ok O-line was the biggest need for the Chargers and this could be completely wrong but I think a lot happened that led to the Chargers drafting the way they did and trading up for Wolters. So I think that the Chargers knew about DaVonte Logan and Mike Penny and wanted to draft one of them at 32. I think the Chargers had expected one of them to fall so they drafted James McKinnon at 12(maybe they were also looking at Vince Gresham and him being drafted at 5 led to them taking McKinnon at 12). Then Logan and Penny were drafted at picks 15 and 16 by the Browns and Ravens and fearing more OTs going off the board, traded with the Cowboys to pick Wolters at 25 since the Cowboys were the next team in the draft that needed an OT. I don’t think Wolters is amazing but he is a good player at a position of need which is a good pick for the Chargers despite the fact that he is not great compared to the other OTs of this draft class. Now this doesn’t impact the grade of the pick but the Chargers got 2 UDFA OTs who are better than Wolters. Looking to the future J’Mon Wolters is the 4th best option at OT for the Chargers behind Jeimer Valera, Da'Norris White, and Aqib Lynch. The Chargers have the best long term OT room in the sim with 4 players who given enough snaps to develop should become at the very least starting level OTs.

Round 1 Pick 32 C Jorge Jacobs 59/B: A-

When I said O-line was the biggest need for the Chargers I meant it so 7 picks after drafting OT J’Mon Wolters the Chargers take center Jorge Jacobs. Jorge Jacobs is the 2nd best center from the draft only behind Ruben Shazier who was drafted 3rd overall. Like I said before O-line was a big need for the Chargers and Jacobs is a great player making this a really good pick. I think with Jacobs, Valera, White, Lynch, Wolters, and OG Tim Robinson(we will get to him eventually) the Chargers have the most promising O-line in the league with 6 players who will at the very least become starting level O-linemen.

Round 2 Pick 63 DT Phillip Bell B/C: B+

Next up is DT Phillip Bell. The Chargers needed a 2nd DT and Phillip Bell was the 3rd best DT on the board but with the best DT on the board being a nose tackle which would not be a great fit for the Chargers since they were probably looking for someone to line up next to starting DT Jesus Gonzalez. Bell was a solid pick but with only 1 better option on the board the grade gets a bit of a boost. 

Round 3 Pick 74 WR D.J. Sturdevant B/F: D

The Chargers really had a lot of holes and WR was another one and it’s one we will see the Chargers dip back into 2 more times. I am going to be honest this WR class was really good and the Chargers went 0/3. D.J. Sturdevant isn’t a bad WR he is solid but the F potential really hurts him. On top of that with the talent in this WR class, Sturdevant was just not a good pick in the 3rd round. I have him ranked 23rd of the 31 WRs drafted and the majority of the WRs in this class went in the 4th round or later. WR was a big need for the Chargers and they had the right idea drafting one but Sturdevant just was the wrong choice.

Round 4 Pick 107 RB Nick Pounders B/C+: B

Now Nick Pounders was a good pick. Pounders was the best RB on the board at 107 and with 2 65 overall RBs on expiring contracts and a 66 already locked up for 4 more years it made sense to grab a guy that can be your RB2 for cheaper and could even be a bridge starter if needed in the future once Alonzo Snead’s contract is up. If the Chargers were set on RB at this pick I think it was a great pick but I think that with 7 RBs on the roster you could argue that the need wasn’t really there. Regardless, Pounders is the best young RB on the team and will be a solid RB2 for years to come.

Round 4 Pick 113 QB Xavier Means B-/D: C-

The Chargers needed a backup QB and Xavier Means was drafted to be just that. Similar to Pounders you can argue the need while I think backup QB is important you can argue that they could have waited a bit longer. Better options for QB were on the board but the Chargers drafted Means because he is a scrambler and if you're bringing in a backup QB you want them to fit your scheme so I don’t blame them for passing up on better QBs to keep the scheme fit.

Round 4 Pick 128 CB Arnold Smith B/C+: C+

I think CB is another pick where you can question the need a bit. John Warnock may be on his way out since his contract is expiring and that's what this pick tells me. I think the Chargers plan is to go with Alan Laurent as CB1 and they are going to have a bit of a competition for the future between Brad Jones, Arnold Smith, and Simeyon McCoy(we will get to him later) for CB2-4 and if that's the plan then I do see the need. Smith was the best man CB on the board which makes this a good pick since they got the best CB available for them.

Round 5 Pick 131 WR Ryan Forbes C/C+: D-

I have Ryan Forbes ranked as the 29th WR drafted out of 31. Like I said before WR was a big need for the Chargers but just like with Strudevent, Forbes was the wrong WR. I will touch on it a bit later but I think the Chargers got really unlucky in the draft with things just not going to plan.

Round 5 Pick 138 OG Tim Robinson 53/A: B+

Another great O-line pick for the Chargers with Tim Robinson. Robinson has a decent floor with A potential and getting him in the 5th round is big. Robinson will probably take a bit of time to develop but if the Chargers stick with him and get him the snaps he needs then this pick will really end up paying off.

Round 5 Pick 140 OLB Derrick Vasquez C+/C-: C+

Just like the majority of their picks OLB is a need for the Chargers having 2 low 60s starting for them. I have 3 players drafted after Vaquez ranked above him but two of them are coverage guys and since I think they are running a multiple man defense it makes sense for the Chargers to avoid them. I think Vasquz is just an ok player but the OLB class wasn’t good and they really only had 1 better option available at this pick. This pick gets a C+ but the only thing the Chargers did wrong was need an OLB in the 5th round.

Round 6 Pick 173 WR Sean Plutko B-/C+: B

Sean Plutko was the best WR the Chargers drafted and only 2 WRs ranked higher than Plutko were still on the board at this pick. The Chargers obviously had the need and while Plutko still isn’t great compared to the other WRs he was top 3 available and in the 6th round the value is pretty good.

Round 7 Pick 216 DE Maurice Vereen B-/D+: C

The Chargers already drafted a great DE in the 1st round but decided to double dip in the 7th. Maurice Vereen was the last DE drafted and is ranked 16th of the 22 drafted DEs. While Vereen won’t be competing for a starting job like McKinnon he will be a solid backup option for the Chargers. Vereen isn’t a great player but is a solid player to get this late in the draft and is a solid get.

Round 7 Pick 226 FS Joe Socolovich B-/C+: B+

Joe “The Sock” Socolovich is a good pick at the end of the draft. A B- overall with C+ potential in the 7th round is just amazing value. Maybe we will see him get some playing time if the Chargers decide that Mike Schlueter is not a part of their plans for the future but we will have to wait to see if that's the case. Socolovich is a big Gary Payton fan and gave himself the nickname “The Sock” as it was his own spin on Payton’t “The Glove” nickname. Also Socolovich has an alter ego also named The Sock who is a super villain who wears a giant sock on his head and runs around. Reportedly he has the powers of a sock whatever the fuck that means. Anyway, Socolovich is a really good pick for the Chargers as they near the end of their draft.

Round 7 Pick 231 CB Simeyon McCoy B-/C+: B+

The same reasoning for the Arnold Smith pick applies here. While Simeyon McCoy is a worse player than Arnold Smith the fact that McCoy was selected 103 picks later makes this a much better pick. McCoy will fight with Smith and Brad Jones to be the future CB2 if no better option is brought in.

Round 7 Pick 235 TE A.J. Bonifacio D+/F: C-

A.J. Bonifacio has already been cut but being the 5th to last pick in the draft the expectations weren’t high. TE wasn’t a huge need for the Chargers but the pick gets a C- because again this was the 5th to last pick in the draft the expectations were so low that I can’t give it a lower grade than a C- because what were you really expecting to get.

The Chargers had some real nice picks but also some bad picks and they missed more than they hit. With that being said I think the Chargers got unlucky with the way the draft played out. The Chargers had 12 picks and they only had fully scouted 3 of the 12 selections they made. I think the guys that they scouted just were not falling to them and they had to make a good amount of blind picks. If that is the case then I don’t know how much you can really blame them because the picks that were fully scouted were really good picks. I had to grade them on the players that they did draft but they did pretty well for not having 75% of their picks scouted and the 3 picks that were scouted were great selections.

Los Angeles Rams: B-

Round 3 Pick 66 RB Isaiah Rogers 56/A: B

Isaiah Rogers is a good player and was great value in the 3rd round. I have Rogers as the 4th best RB in the class and he was the best RB on the board at this pick. I just have questions about the need for RB. I get Rogers is great but the Rams already have Bruce Dawson. I think this is compounded by the fact that the Rams didn’t draft an OG, OT, and drafted SS, ILB, OLB, and WR later than they may have if they didn’t pick Rogers. I feel that all the positions I mentioned are bigger needs than RB. The Rams had a limited number of draft picks this year and I don’t think getting a backup for one of your first draft picks was the move. With that being said Rogers is a great player and to get that kind of value in the 3rd is something that I have to respect.

Round 3 Pick 96 SS Bobby Britton 52/A+: B-

SS wasn’t a huge need but the 2 expiring guys the Rams did have aren’t good enough to really warrant long term investment so I get why they drafted Bobby Britton. The Rams got a bit unlucky because in the 16 picks before 96 3 SSs went off the board and I have all of them ranked above the real gut punch being my SS #2 Andrew Zagunis being selected the pick before Britton. Britton has a lower floor but with A+ potential I could see him pan out long term.

Round 5 Pick 161 ILB Gonzalez Tyson 53/B+: B

Gonzalez Tyson is the highest potential ILB in this draft class and while I have him ranked 8th out of the 15 drafted ILBs only 1 better ILB was on the board. You have to credit the Rams because this is the first time they didn’t take the best player available at their position. 77 overall ILB Tram Singh is on an expiring deal and might be someone the Rams let walk and 31 year old Julio Jimenez is not getting any younger. ILB was a position I thought the Rams needed to draft and while we will have to see if Tyson can become a starter in the NFL this is a great pick in the 5th round.

Round 6 Pick 171 OLB Andre LeMahieu 53/B: B

It’s not easy being perfect so the Rams settle for near perfect again grabbing the 2nd best OLB on the board in Andre LeMahieu. Richard Davidson is a great young OLB that the Rams just locked up for another 5 years but Paul Craven is 32 so LeMahieu in the 6th was a great way to improve your OLB2 if Craven retires and the Rams can’t sign anyone else. This was another position that I think the Rams needed to do and while LeMahieu isn’t someone that can be a starter next year he is a good backup option and is an improvement over what you had.

Round 6 Pick 194 WR Jamie Freese 53/C: B

Going into the draft the Rams only had 4 WRs on the team and only one of them was under contract for the 2025 season so I think WR is the perfect position to take with this pick. You don’t need an amazing WR for this next season and you will have chances to bring back your own guys and sign better guys. Grab a WR late in the draft that can be a good depth option at minimum and maybe you get lucky with a gem. Freese isn’t any kind of gem but he’s fast with decent hands and route running ability he won’t be anything amazing but Freese is the kind of guy that you're happy to have as a depth option for a year. Freese could be a decent 4th WR next year and maybe if he develops enough is someone you can live with as your 3rd WR.

I think it’s pretty obvious that the Rams were targeting high potential guys. This could be a sign of them going into a rebuild or maybe they are preparing for their window to close as almost all of their top players are 30 or older. I think the Rams really did a great job considering their lack of picks and the position of them. Obviously this is not a class that is going to be topping any draft rankings but the Rams took a look at their team and the draft picks they had and put together a draft class that made sense for them. The Rams put together a class that should be better than the grade I gave it but since it’s mostly based on development I take into account that maybe these guys could not develop like I expect them too.

Miami Dolphins: A+

Round 1 Pick 2 WR Arden Ejiofor 62/B+: A+

Ejiofor was a WR that a lot of teams had their eyes on and while he didn’t start as one of the top WRs the Dolphins realized that he was the best WR and rightfully assumed he wouldn’t make it to their next pick. Ejiofor was the best WR in the class and while WR wasn’t really a need for the Dolphins Ejiofor will be WR3 this year and the WR1 of the future. I think this is a great pick because the Dolphins are a great team and Ejiofor is someone that will make an impact day 1 and is a franchise WR.

Round 1 Pick 26 OT Mike Hubbard 61/C+: A+

The Dolphins have 66 overall Raul Macey who is 27 as their 2nd starter and while Mike Hubbard is a little bit worse he is 5 years younger. This pick doesn’t make the Dolphins better but with Michael Johnson being 33 it gives them a great OT replacement for the future. I have Hubbard as the 2nd best OT in the class so to get him at the end of the 1st round is great. I would have some complaints about this pick in a vacuum but because of some other picks the Dolphins made later they don’t apply.

Round 2 Pick 38 DT Robinzon Terrell 60/B-: A+

I think the biggest need for the Dolphins was getting a 2nd DT or ILB and waiting till the 2nd round to draft a DT would have hurt the grades on the Dolphins first 2 picks the fact that they were able to get those great players while still getting my highest ranked DT makes it that you can’t complain about any of the first 3 picks. I didn’t need DT so I didn’t look into the class too much and Terrell was not someone I had on my radar at all but the Dolphins did a great job to find him. Terrell is similar to Ejiofor in the fact that he will make an instant impact this time as the DT2 but with David Buchheit being 32 Terrell could find himself as the DT1 very soon and also like Ejiofor, Terrell is a franchise player.

Round 2 Pick 41 FS Jordan Dickson 62/C-: A+

This pick really hurt me because we traded up to pick 42 to take Dickson and then he went to the Dolphins in a draft and trade. Feelings aside this was a great pick for Miami James Garnette isn’t anything special and to get a FS that is just a little worse but is 5 years younger is a great move. Dickson is the best FS in this class and at this point Miami was flexing their muscles making the best pick possible for the 4th pick in a row.

Round 2 Pick 58 CB Brad Portis 62/C+: A+

Ernest Mccoy is the Dolphins best CB but they didn’t have a good #2 to play next to him and while Brad Portis isn’t a #2 yet he will develop into one soon. I have Portis ranked as the 3rd best CB in the draft with the 2 who I ranked above him both being top 15 picks. Portis is one of the top CBs in a loaded CB class and was an amazing pick for the Dolphins. Portis is another player that should develop really well and be a great player for the Dolphins for a long time.

Round 3 Pick 86 C Edward Colon 58/C-: B

Edward Colon is the first Dolphins pick I don’t love. I have Colon ranked as the 4th best center and while he was the best on the board I feel like this wasn’t the best pick they could have made. Colon is a great player but Carlos Lackey was drafted in the 2nd round last year. I get Colon is a better blocker and maybe the Dolphins don’t like the line captain archetype so I can kind of understand moving on from Lackey. This pick doesn’t hurt the Dolphins too much because they are so good they don’t have many real needs. TE is a need but the TE class was weak, same with SS getting someone who can be the long term replacement for Robert Yellowhair would have been nice. Maybe Andrew Zagunis or Keibert House would have been good picks but I don’t think SS would have been a great pick here since they could have less impact. They could have even taken a FB since they don’t have any on the roster. Maybe they even draft other positions earlier and because of that get better players. I assume the Dolphins like Colon more since he is a better blocker and it's a good pick from the standpoint that this is someone they value and will have a bigger impact than maybe anyone available at those other positions. I feel like the Dolphins could have done better but unless they missed out on a player they wanted between this pick and where they wanted them I can’t say for sure that going in a different direction would have been better for the Dolphins. At the end of the day Colon is someone the Dolphins value and is a good player so it’s not a bad pick but like I said I just feel like they could have done better but I am not sure how.

Round 4 Pick 123 OLB Myles Bolles 52/A+: B+

Myles Bolles is a solid player with great potential and I think was a good pick for the Dolphins. Bolles was the 2nd best OLB on the board at 123 but I am pretty sure Bolles was the Dolphins guy from the start of the draft. The Dolphins like speed OLBs more than any other archetype and that's something that works great for the speed scheme they probably will be running. Maybe they had some interest in Jourdan Conner but he was picked way too early for them. Bolles is a good player and I think he is going to pan out for the Dolphins so while not the flashiest pick this was a great pick for the Dolphins. Adding this right before I post I am very proud of myself for not making some kind of balls joke here.

Round 5 Pick 136 QB Blake Smith B-/C+: B-

Dean Hammonds is still the guy in Miami but with a 5th and such a good team already why not bring in a rookie QB. Blake Smith is a solid QB and he fell probably a bit further than he should have. Being a scheme fit for Miami's offense, why not bring him in? Smith has an absolute cannon of an arm along with being pretty accurate. The Dolphins drafted Korey Gonzalez in the 7th last year who looks like a good promising young QB so maybe they try to move him and run with Smith as the long term backup for Hammonds. The Dolphins were probably out of scouting points here and decided to grab someone who would fit their scheme and since he was an A- before scouting it was a good shot to take. I think Smith is a good QB that fits the Dolphins offense perfectly but already having a good backup QB and having other positions that would have made more sense to take a shot on I can’t give it a super high grade but don’t get it confused I really like this pick.

Round 5 Pick 151 ILB Ali Sandoval B-/C-: B

I think Ali Sandoval was also a bit of a shot in the dark and I think that’s also the case with the next two picks. The Dolphins top ILB Michael Berger is 33 so it made sense to try and get a replacement for him and while I think Sandoval is a good player I don’t think he will be much more than a spot starter. I don’t think that means this was a bad pick, I like Sandoval and think he will be a solid player and in the 5th round this is a solid pick but I don’t think Dolphins fans should be rushing to buy his jersey.

Round 5 Pick 156 OG Robert Hernandez B/D-: B-

I think Robert Hernandez is very similar to Ali Sandoval in almost every aspect. OG is a position that made sense for the Dolphins to at least take a shot in the dark with and that's what they did. Hernandez is a solid player but is not someone that you should expect a ton out of since the Dolphins are too good for him to get the snaps he would need to develop. I think Hernandez will be a solid backup but since he will be riding the bench don’t expect him to develop into someone you would be happy having as a starting O-lineman.

Round 7 Pick 227 WR Kyle Grant C+/A+: B+

The Dolphins have a lot of WRs so Kyle Grant might not be able to find playing time which is a real shame. I think if the Dolphins spent the time to develop Grant he can become a good WR for them. Obviously Grant is never going to be a WR1 and probably won't be a WR2 but I think Kyle Grant can develop into a good WR3 or 4 that isn’t that expensive. I really think Grant can become a strong WR3 that can elevate your WR room but like I said that's only if the Dolphins are willing to give him the snaps he needs to develop.

The Dolphins started this draft on fire drafting 5 players over 60 overall with their first 5 picks. I think with the first 5 picks it’s clear that while the Dolphins wanted to get players that can help them in a push for a Super Bowl now they also made sure that each player they picked is someone that can help them in the future. With some key pieces aging I think the Dolphins made great picks that while impactful now will make it really easy to bounce back after losing key vets in the next couple of seasons. The Dolphins 6th pick while not as good as the first 5 also falls into that category. Even after those first 6 picks I think the Dolphins did a good job of grabbing players that while maybe they won’t all become starters could be important pieces for the future. I think the Dolphins put on a clinic and showed us all how to manage a fringe Super Bowl contender by making good trades for picks despite the win now mentality and to go all in and hit on those picks not just to try and win in this window but to grab players that can help open up another window right as your first window closes.

Minnesota Vikings: C+

Round 2 Pick 35 OLB Rasheed Downs B/A-: A

The Vikings didn’t have a 1st round pick so they got things started with Rasheed Downs in the 2nd round. The Vikings had a couple big needs and OLB is one of them with no players above 60 overall. I have Downs as the 3rd best OLB in the class so he was a great pick for the Vikings. The 2 OLBs I have ranked above Downs were both drafted after him but the Vikings clearly value coverage OLBs pairing a great coverage OLB in Jeffrey Kersting with the best coverage OLB in the draft. Passing on the 2 OLBs I have ranked above Downs may not have been intended but I don’t think they would change this pick with that knowledge. Now let's get to Downs himself, Rasheed Downs is obviously great in coverage but he can really do everything at a high level. While we will have to wait for his overalls to be revealed to really see what he can do, Downs looks like a great player.

Round 2 Pick 44 RB Yogi Oladipo C/A+: C-

The Vikings RB room is led by 27 year old Milton Evans who is a 69 overall and behind him you have 3 23 year old's in Aldrick Ynoa, Rees Finnegan, and Bene' Humber. I think the RB room is talented but with the 44th pick the Vikings took Yogi Oladipo who has good potential but isn’t amazing. I think this pick was a bit of a reach especially since the Vikings have young talent in the room already and I just don’t understand why they would go after Oladipo. I am just not a big fan of this pick, I think Oladipo could develop into a solid rotational RB but the Vikings already had a nice room of 4 RBs. On top of that I have Oladipo ranked as the 16th best RB of the 19 that were drafted. I would not have gone RB here because I just feel like it’s not a need but even with going RB DaQuan Badgley, Isaiah Rogers, and Jeff Holley were all drafted after Oladipo and are all RBs I have ranked in the top 5.

Round 3 Pick 79 WR Jordan Suter B/B-: B-

I have Jordan Suter ranked as the 13th best WR of the 31 draft and only 4 WRs ranked above Suter were picked after him so this is a better value pick. I think Suter is a good WR he can do a bit of everything but like with the Oladipo pick I don’t see the need. Alex Williams III is obviously WR1 and that's cool Suter probably will never be a WR1 but instead could be a good complimentary weapon as a WR2 or 3. The problem is the Vikings have a ton of young WRs already that could fill that role Trenton Adam, Adrian Daniels, and Cassanova Perrizo are already on the team along with 3 other young WRs around that overall and while Suter is better than they were as rookies you have so many young guys with potential I think you can argue this pick was better used at a different position. I think you could have benefited more from drafting a DE or SS here but the players. With that being said the only players available at those positions that I have as better players are DE Hunter Suh 57/A, DE Sam Moxey 54/A+, SS Andrew Zagunis 55/B, and SS Keibert House 55/B. I think if you had grabbed one of them it would have been better but you could have grabbed someone else and been worse off and since Suter is such a good player I don’t think it’s as bad as I was first making it out to be but now you have a pretty big logjam.

Round 3 Pick 88 ILB Tyler Bradley B-/B-: B

I think Tyler Bradley is a really good pick, I have Bradley ranked as the 7th best ILB drafted and I consider him your 2nd best ILB(obviously taking age and potential into account along with overalls). I am assuming you are going to have Bradley be the backup for Gordon Wilburn since it makes no sense to run a 1 DT set when you have 3 DTs I like. Bradley probably will never develop into a ILB1 but he should at the very least be a solid 2nd option for you in the long run which is never a bad thing to have.

Round 3 Pick 93 DT Jason Marte B-/B-: B

The Vikings have 76 overall Neil Henry, 64 overall Rigoberto Pascual, and the 11th pick from last year 64 overall Marcus Sirles so I assume Jason Marte was also drafted to be a backup. I think Marte is a great player but as of now he has no path to playing significant minutes for the Vikings. Neil Henry is on an expiring deal but being 27 I expect the Vikings to bring him back and Sirles is going to start too since he is a great young player. Despite the fact he might not get much playing time Marte is a good player and is a good pick for the Vikings.

Round 4 Pick 105 QB Dylan Gomes B-/B-: D

Dylan Gomes is a good QB and with QBs falling down the board the Vikings decided to take one. Christian Sinnock is obviously going to be the starter still so Gomes is probably not someone we will see much of. Gomes will probably slot in between Brandon Smith and Derrick Marshall to be the Vikings QB3. I like Gomes and think he is a solid QB but I just don’t get this pick at all. After drafting Gomes the Vikings have 5 QBs on their roster THIS ISN’T MICHIGAN and like I said the backup QB is probably going to be Brandon Smith. I can’t give this pick less than a D because I think Gomes is a good player but like I said this pick just makes no sense.

Round 7 Pick 218 CB Matt Viloria C-/B-: D+

Matt Viloria has already been cut and is the worst player in the Vikings draft class from a talent standpoint. I have Viloria as the worst CB drafted but only 2 CBs were drafted after him so the expectation was for Viloria to be at or near the bottom. I think the fit for CB made a bit of sense but I feel like you had enough CBs already. The main thing is Viloria isn’t that good and while you do expect that at this pick that combined with the amount of CBs on your roster making this pick a bit redundant makes me give it a D+.

Round 7 Pick 237 DE Fish Vander Laan C+/A+: B

Fish Vander Laan has a low floor at C+ but with A+ potential he could develop into a solid backup which is something you can really be happy getting with the 3rd to last pick in the draft. Vander Laan should be the DE4 for the Vikings and the fit, while not amazing, wasn't bad.

I think the Vikings started the draft off great by grabbing Rasheed Downs and Tyler Bradley and Jason Marte were good selections in the middle of the draft. I think you made 2 and I could argue 3 picks that just didn’t make a ton of sense and that is what pulled the grade down. With that being said I do have to give credit other than Matt Viloria all of the Vikings draft selections are good players but football is more than just grabbing good players nobody is losing sleep over the Vikings grabbing a 3rd string QB and a 5th string RB.

New England Patriots: C

Round 1 Pick 17 WR Logan Njoku 59/C+: C+

I have Logan Njoku ranked as my 9th best WR and he was the 4th WR drafted. I don’t think this is a terrible value because of that but it could have been a bit better. Of the 5 WRs ranked above Njoku that were drafted after him only 1 was being talked about openly as a WR that could go in the first 3 rounds. The other 4 WRs were gems that people had found. I don’t think this was a huge reach but the Patriots reached a little bit with this pick. Now looking at the fit, that's also a bit off. The Patriots had 4 WRs going into the draft and 3 of them are on their rookie contracts so the need wasn’t huge. I think a DE or OLB were bigger needs but OLB would have been a worse pick unless they drafted one of the top 3 guys. For DE I think they would have wanted a run stopper and the only run stopper that would have been a better pick had already been drafted. So while WR wasn’t a big need I think it made enough sense. 

Round 6 Pick 179 FS Dan King C+/D: D+

Dan King isn’t good. This was a mid 6th round pick so while you aren’t expecting anything great Dan King is a bit worse then you are expecting. I don’t have much else to say about this pick, I am not a huge fan of it but it’s late enough that I can’t punish it too much.

The Patriots only had 2 picks and one of them was in the 6th so for the sake of the summary we are just going to pretend Dan King and that 6th round pick doesn’t exist because it has such little impact on their grade. I like Logan Njoku and think he will be solid but I think they had 8 players that they could have taken that would have been better for them. With that said Logan Njoku is a great player and I think in the future while they may be upset about not having more picks to grab more players the Patriots will be happy with what they did get out of this draft.

New Orleans Saints: B

Round 1 Pick 6 CB Stansly Alvarez 61/C-: B+

Stansly Alvarez was the 1st CB drafted and I have him ranked as the 2nd best man CB in the draft so while not the best pick they could have made Alvarez is a great CB and I doubt the Saints are losing too much sleep over it. The Saints were lacking a real CB2 and while he might take a year or two to get to that point Alvarez is their guy. The Saints do have a good amount of young CBs but they likely won’t reach that level which is why I think picking Alvarez makes sense. I think you can argue a couple positions would have been better for the Saints to pick but I feel like most of their needs lineup with the parts of the class that weren’t as good DE could have been a better position to address with Erik Schaefer likely retiring soon and RB with Kenneth Williams likely retiring soon this was a good DE and an ok RB class. With that said I think Alvarez was a good pick and they did address both those positions later so while they didn’t get the best player they could have in my mind Alvarez is such a great player it makes up for it a bit.

Round 2 Pick 60 SS Justin Ramirez B/B-: B+

The Saints really wanted to upgrade their secondary and so they grab Justin Ramirez in the 2nd round. I really think they wanted to draft Garrett Smith with the 6th pick but the Titans took him at 1 and they scrambled to draft Ramirez which is why he isn’t scouted but I could be wrong. I like Ramirez I had him as the #2 safety in this class and moved him down to 5 but I think that range is all pretty close that 5th isn’t a bad thing. Kevin Hansford was the only SS on the Saints roster entering the draft and while Hansford is solid he’s at the level that if you can upgrade from him you should. However I think Ramirez was drafted to help solve the FS problem instead Joseph Willis is worse than Hansford and on an expiring deal and Nick Parra is young and on an expiring deal. I expect us to see Ramirez and Parra fighting over the starting FS spot for the Saints in the 2025 season if they don’t already give the job to Ramirez before that. I think this is a good move for the Saints as they won’t have to tie up money into a player that isn’t worthy of it and I think the FS class was a little bit worse than the SS class.

Round 2 Pick 64 TE Hakeem Judd B-/C-: C+

TE is another position where the Saints weren’t in a good spot but would have loved to upgrade so they grab TE Hakeem Judd. Judd was the 1st TE drafted in a TE class that was nothing like the previous year's draft which had 2 amazing TEs. I have Judd ranked as the 3rd best TE in the class but the gap between him and my #1 TE is almost nonexistent. The Saints have 2 other TEs on the roster but one is on an expiring deal and the other has 2 years left. I think the Saints didn’t want to pay to keep either of them so while Judd isn’t great and probably projects to be a similar player as one of the TEs Raymond Anderson I think it’s a good move to save some money. The Saints are not in money saving mode since they have a ton of cap room for the future but it’s never too early to worry about the cap and while I don’t think Judd will be a great player I think he will be good enough that it’s not terrible. I think Judd was a bit of a reach for the Saints since only 2 other TEs were taken before round 5 and the TE class wasn’t good but they got one of the best TEs in the class and TE is a bit of a need so this pick could have been worse.

Round 3 Pick 67 WR Matt Zavala B+/C-: B

The Saints started off day 2 by drafting Matt Zavala in a pick I like. The Saints WR room before the draft was not terrible but they could have used an upgrade and Zavala comes in and is already their 4th best WR behind a 67 a 65 and a 60 who are 27, 28, and 24 respectively. I have Zavala as my 11th ranked WR which isn’t great but he was the 4th best WR available at 67 which isn’t bad. Zavala was one of the better WRs pre-draft and I think the Saints went BPA with this pick and it worked out pretty well for them. I think since the Saints aren’t great this opens the door for them to trade one or both of their top 2 WRs and still have an ok room around young QB Ben Rivera. I think the Saints could have used some other positions more but I already mentioned that earlier and with the state of their team I think just getting the best players available is better for them then drafting by order of need. Like I said I have 3 WRs ranked above him that were still on the board which while not terrible isn’t great.

Round 3 Pick 70 DE Thaddeus Pestano B-/C-: C-

Thaddeus Pestano was drafted to hopefully be the replacement for vet DE Erik Schaefer and while I like the move to draft a DE Pestano was not the right choice. I think Pestano is a good player I have him ranked as the 10th best DE drafted but 4 players I ranked above him were still on the board including my DE #3 Hunter Suh who at 57/A is a better player now and in the future while also being a speed rusher like Pestano. Sam Moxey 54/A+ was also on the board and while yes neither were talked about as top prospects going into the draft they would have been much better options. This DE class had some real good players and while I like Pestano and think he can be a solid player they really missed out on two players that I think could really be special.

Round 5 Pick 134 WR Gregory Donnal B/C+: B+

The Saints decide to double up on WR by drafting Gregory Donnal which is a pick I like even more than when they drafted Zavala 87 picks earlier. I have Donnal ranked as my 14th best WR drafted which is 3 lower than Zavala but in the 5th round he was the 3rd best WR on the board. In terms of value this was a much better pick and who knows with better potential Donnal could end up being a better player. This move makes all but 2 of the Saints WRs under 25 years old which makes me think that they could move their “vet” WRs for some picks. I just think this was a good value pick getting a good WR in the mid rounds.

Round 5 Pick 135 RB Devante Fuentes 55/C-: B

RB was a position that had some really good players but the top 6 which I see as a bit ahead of the rest of the class were all gone after the 3rd round. I think Fuentes is a good RB especially in the 5th round. I have Fuentes as my 11th RB but my 9th and 10th ranked RBs were still on the board. I don’t think it’s a huge deal passing on my 10th ranked RB Garett Cordier because Fuentes is not far behind Cordier but Stanley Segovia has the potential to jump from this 2nd tier of RBs to the first tier. The Saints may have passed on Segovia because he is a balanced RB and with Fuentes and UDFA RB Jalen Armah both being receiving RBs it looks like they really wanted someone who can catch the ball out of the backfield. 

Round 6 Pick 169 CB Chaz Zeitler B/D: C

Chaz Zeitler isn’t an amazing player but he gives the Saints another depth option at CB which isn’t terrible. Like I said before this is around the part of the draft where you are ok if your pick turns out to be a career backup. That’s why while Zeitler is not anything special the Saints are probably not upset with this pick but I doubt we will ever be putting together Chaz Zeitler highlight tapes that don’t involve a clipboard, bench, or tablet.

Round 6 Pick 170 DT Carl Melton B-/C: B

Carl Melton is a bit of the same story as Chaz Zeitler especially with Preston Miller who was drafted 19th last year on the team and Duane DePaula is in his 3rd year and is also a good DT. For this late in the draft I think Melton is a good player but he was drafted to backup the two young DTs that were already on the roster and if that's all you want from him this is an amazing pick.

I liked this draft class by the Saints, they got some good players but I think they missed out on some great players at multiple points in the draft and I didn’t even mention how good some of the WRs that were still on the board at their picks were. I think they got some really good players that help them out but I just can’t grade them as high as the players alone would have had me grade them because they missed multiple players at multiple positions that if they had taken would have them in top 5 draft conversations. Moving away from the players they missed, I think Alvarez and Ramirez will be great starters for this team and Zavala, Donnal, Fuentes, Judd, and Pestanos will be good players that you don’t have to worry about replacing. I also think Zeitler and Melton will be great backups, this class really is good and I think the Saints did a great job but they got burned by just happening to draft positions that had gems. While I can see how lowering their grade because of that can be a bit unfair we don’t ever say “man the Jets got a good QB in Chad Pennington in the 2000 draft but it does suck they missed out on Tom Brady” if fans knew what Tom Brady would be they would burn Metlife to the ground for choosing Dolphins legend Chad Pennington over Buccaneers lifer Tom Brady. TLDR good draft that was hurt by passing up on some real special players at those same positions.

New York Jets: A-

Round 1 Pick 10 WR Marvin Thomas A-/B-: A+

Oi i’m Bri ish mate. The Jets are owned by Spoof who I as well as at least a few others found out was a lot more British than we thought on draft night. The reactions to hearing the England man speak in the chat were “Oh he is british british” from @kgreene829, “SO BRITISH” from @SageBow, “CAN ANYONE UNDERSTAND THIS GUY” and “WHAT IS HE SAYING” from @subsequent, “HES WAY MORE BRITISH THAN ME” from @Kirby and “Yeah he actually is more british than Kirbs… hahahah most British user” from @JC.. Now let’s get to the pick Spoof was in my DMs for a month before the draft talking about some stud WR he found who he immediately confirmed was Ejiofor once I told him that’s who I thought he was talking about. Luckily Spoof had a backup plan after Ejiofor was drafted 2nd overall and made my WR2 Marvin Thomas the 3rd WR off the board. Marvin Thomas is a great WR that gives the Jets a good player to eventually replace Donald Galligan who could be on a different team by the 2025 season as he is on an expiring contract and 30 years old. I think Thomas is a hard pick to evaluate. Thomas an early pick which you expect to be good so it takes a lot to give them a good grade but on top of that I have Thomas ranked as the 3rd best at his position and while he was drafted 3rd at his position it’s weird to give someone a good grade for taking the 3rd best player at a position in the top 10. With that said this pick gets an A because I made up my mind before I wrote that and because Thomas is a great player and a great young WR to pair with new 3rd year QB Luke Trahan is exactly what the Jets wanted after they moved down from 1 after trading up to 1(Spoof has a serious trading problem it’s like @tsweezy but without the good team) and he even gets to play with his brother Jets WR Charles Thomas and you know it’s true because I just made it up and wrote it down.

Round 1 Pick 13 ILB Davis Covey 58/B-: A-

Davis Covey is another good pick for the Jets Mark Keesey is retiring soon since he’s 33 and the other ILBs the Jets had are the textbook definition of mid. Covey might not turn out to be a LB that you see making tackles in the play by play all the time but he’s a great coverage guy who can stop the run at a high level too. Covey is the perfect player for a team like the Jets that while they did make a lot of good moves and got better still has a bit of work to do before they are ready to be considered a problem. I think Covey was a bit of a reach, maybe he doesn’t fall much further than 13 but I think my top 6 ILBs are all close enough that if the Jets waited a bit longer and took a slightly worse LB you could argue they might be in a better position. Of the other player they could have possibly gotten at 13. That is a bit nitpicky I know but my #1 ILB was taken in the 6th round my #5 ILB was taken in the 3rd and my #6 ILB was taken in the 5th. I don’t know maybe the Jets liked Covey because he was the best coverage ILB by a wide margin and if that’s the case then I get it and like I said it is a bit nitpicky but I want to say more than I love this pick.

Round 2 Pick 54 K Ronald Baker 63/C+: A-

Ronald Baker is by far the best kicker in this draft class and the Jets didn’t have a kicker on their roster. I think the Jets biggest needs left were OLB, CB, DE, FB and P and this OLB class wasn’t great. While I think 3 players on the board would have been good picks the best OLBs weren’t the top guys so Spoof could have missed them and figured he can wait a little longer to find Pistons legend Jacob Wiseman’s replacement. CB was an amazing class and while a CB was something the Jets needed they got a player on par with the best CB available in Josh Tom as a UDFA. DE and FB were drafted in later rounds and we are still waiting on the punter to be addressed. Look I get why people would see a kicker as a bit of a waste of picks but kickers were a huge problem last season and with no kicker on the Roster the Jets got a monster that will be on the team for his entire career I think Baker is a great pick because he can develop and still be a young player when the Jets are competitive and with 73 kick accuracy as a rookie the Jets will never have to worry about if their kicker will miss a big kick because as long as they get him in FG range he might be the most automatic kicker in the league. Ronald Baker was the highest overall left on the board, the Jets grabbed a guy they knew was a great player at a position they needed and maybe going for a “high value” position would be better for them but you can’t know that for sure. TLDR I like this pick a lot and I think the narrative about kickers not being as valuable should not exist after we watched a feature length film of missed FGs last year.

Round 3 Pick 68 FB Michael Elias 59/B-: A-

Spoof was very open to me throughout the draft process that he thought this RB class was really bad so he went out and traded for one but he wanted to upgrade the other back on his team so he took FB Michael Elias. I don’t like this pick for one reason and that’s because I have always been bad at spelling Michael because when I don’t think about it I mess up the spelling by either switching the h and a or the e and l. Now some other draft “experts” might tell you about positional value but I have always been a fan of the chad fullback. Elias is the best FB in this class so in terms of FBs this was the best pick that the Jets could have made. I think the whole FB isn’t a value position thing isn’t a huge because they can be very effective if used right.

Round 3 Pick 89 DE Hunter Suh 57/A: A+

Hunter Suh was an DE that wasn’t on a lot of teams radar going into the draft but as we got closer to the draft I had talked about Suh with other teams and while he admitted it was a smoke screen I had another GM tell me he is not making it past their pick he even said that Suh was going to be a first rounder. Well the board fell a certain way and Suh fell to the end of the 3rd round. While his stamina is concerning I have Hunter Suh as high as the 2nd best DE but only as low as the 4th best DE in the class. The DE class is really good at the top with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th being 3 really good players that are separated by so little in terms of talent ranking them doesn’t do them justice. Suh was drafted 47 picks 2nd lowest pick of the top 5 and depending on how good Sam Moxey becomes is either the best or 2nd best value DE in the class(just thought of that and it is going to be my next article and will be the final one before I go into dumb Tulane media mode). I think Hunter Suh and last year's 1st round pick DT Tony Macura are going to be terrorizing defenses for years.

Round 3 Pick 90 WR Matt Siri B/B: A+

I hated Matt Siri going into the draft because he is dumber than me which is hard but the Jets drafted him(fittingly the Jets are one of the dumbest organizations in the IRL NFL) and were rewarded because Siri is a great player. They drafted my WR3 with the 10th pick and now 80 picks later draft Siri who I have ranked as the 8th best WR drafted. The Jets also signed a UDFA WR in Kyle Shell making it pretty obvious that they are looking to restart the clock with their WR room by swapping out the stinky 26+ WRs with the new generation. Siri, Shell, and Thomas(the younger one) bring a new energy to the building that can only be the result of skibidi toilet, baby gronk rizz compilations, and a fun energy drink so make sure to get your New York Jets flavored Prime from popular internet personalities Logan Baul and PSI  “it taste like disappointment and missed playoffs”. Siri standing at 6’2” 188 gives the Jets some height and a bigger body as Thomas and Shell are only 5’9” 174 and 5’10” 176. Siri is a great player that can open things up for Marvin Thomas by punishing teams that double team him.

I think the Jets had a great draft and while it would have been great if they had more picks, as Jets owner Spoof said himself "Who cares about 4th rounders? They're all chumps.". I think the Jets got a great group of guys out of this and along with the draft related trades really changed the trajectory of the Jets. I think Marvin Thomas and Hunter Suh will become stars in the league and I expect Matt Siri, Davis Covey, Michael Elias, and Ronald Baker will all be great players too. I expect every one of the Jets draft picks to have an impact for the team now and in the future.

New York Giants: C

Round 1 Pick 4 WR Paul Canha 66/F: A+

Before the draft the Giants traded for 88 overall WR Mathew Madden who has been passed around the league like a blunt. Despite acquiring Madden and having 83 overall TE Randy Wright the Giants decide to grab another pass catcher in the WR that was ranked #1 going into the draft. At a 66 overall Paul Canha is the 2nd highest overall that has been revealed only behind 67 overall Ruben Shazier. A couple teams ended up getting scared away from Canha when they learned of his F potential. While F potential is bad and a reason to be skeptical Canha was the best WR in the draft if your only talking about current talent and while he will might fall behind some other WRs over their careers Canha is still good enough for me to rank him as the #3 WR in the draft. The Giants are far from a good team but Canha is probably the 2nd best player day 1 in the draft so while you can argue that maybe they would have been better with a lower floor higher ceiling player I don’t think anyone can criticize this pick that much because the Giants grabbed the most skilled and talented player available. The Giants probably could have used another position more but when you need almost everything you grab the best players regardless of position. Lamar Johnson or Wilfredo Joseph if the Giants decide to trade Johnson before his contract expires just got a great new weapon.

Round 2 Pick 36 CB Sam Voth 59/D+: B

I like Sam Voth and I think it’s a good idea to go CB get a great skill player on offense and defense to build your team around is a good way to start turning whatever the Giants were before the draft into an NFL roster. The problem is they chose the wrong CB, I have Voth as the 6th best man CB in the draft but Isaiah Williams 58/A and Brett Maxey 57/B- were still on the board and would have been better options. I think if Voth can develop better than I expect him to then it can turn out to be a good pick but I can’t see any way Voth was a better pick than Williams or Maxey.

Round 6 Pick 167 RB Christian Simon C+/C: D+

John Knighten is 34 and the Giants need a replacement so with a limited number of picks they draft Christian Simon in the 6th round. Normally you're not going to get a good RB in the 6th round but they could have gotten one with Stanley Segovia 53/A+ who was drafted 17 picks later and would have been a much better pick for the Giants.

Round 6 Pick 197 OG Carlos Tom C/C-: C-

Carlos Tom was the 3rd to last OG drafted and while 7th round pick Trevor Gonzalez was better it’s not by much. This pick could have been a bit better but who cares Gonzalez is not good enough to change anything and is worse than the 2 UDFA’s they grabbed anyway. With this being so late it doesn’t matter too much and Tom should be a ok backup option for the Giants

Round 7 Pick 234 CB David Whitesell C+/C: C

David Whitesell was the last CB drafted and while he isn’t great I am not combing through all the UDFA’s to see if he was the best choice so as far as I am concerned this was the best CB available so while Whitesell isn’t great it’s the 7th round and he’s good enough that this is an ok pick. Whitesell should be an ok depth/backup option for the Giants.

I really like the Canha pick but the Giants drafted Voth over 2 CBs that are better than him Simon over a RB that is a tier above him and 2 picks at the end aren’t changing anything. I can sympathize with the Giants, needing pretty much everything is a tough situation to be in because if you need RB and ILB you scout RB and ILB and you can get some of the top guys at those positions. When you can make an argument for pretty much every position at each one of your picks the scouting points get spread out to find the best player and you don’t get to scout more than just a handful of guys at each position. This makes it really easy to miss out on some of the better players that are ranked lower predraft. This is why we saw them draft Canha and Voth because while they are good players they went lower than the information all teams were given says they should go because people found flaws when scouting them. However since the Giants needed so much their points were spread so thin scouting the top guys at almost every position they probably saw those flaws and didn’t have any better options scouted so they ended up going with two players who were seen as the best of the class before the draft.

Philadelphia Eagles: A

Round 1 Pick 20 DE Whit Wilson 59/C-: B+

Ok the Eagles are going to be a bit hard to grade. I talked with the Eagles a lot during the draft process and they attack the draft in a very specific way where they look at players but they value fit over everything else. While I think this is a valid way of drafting it makes things complicated because they have no problem taking a player they know is worse because he fits what they want to do and that makes things difficult to rank because how much does the player being a good fit matter in my rankings. I haven’t seen any pick as something where a team passed on a better player for fit and it changes their grade if they don’t pass on this player. I will attempt to evaluate this fairly while keeping that fact in mind but I am ready to get the “lmao Fredrick Douglas sucks but he’s so much better than Kelvin Dupree because his plays over broken tackles is so high” I don’t know my ADHD meds have worn off and now for some reason 1800’s abolitionist Fredrick Douglas plays for the Eagles so shoutout Fredrick Douglas I guess and let's actually talk about the pick. I have Whit Wilson as the 5th best DE drafted and I know for a fact that the Eagles knew about both Nick Concepion and Hunter Suh(DE2 and 3) because they didn’t want a speed rusher. So while I have Wilson as the 3rd best DE on the board at pick 20 the Eagles had Wilson at the best DE on the board. Not just that I was told that Whit Wilson was the top DE on the Eagles board but then you have Ace saying that they thought Wilson was better than he actually was. I am giving this pick a B+ I think Wilson is a great player that the Eagles are happy with because they don’t like speed rushers. I can respect that and raise their grade a bit because of that. However I have to be honest about the fact that Concepion and Suh are better players because they both have A potential. I think a B+ is fair because they got a great player that fits what they want from a DE, but Concepion and Suh are good enough that while they might not value them as much as Wilson they will be better that I think it would offset the malus they would get in a scheme.

Round 2 Pick 49 RB DaQuan Badgley 59/A-: A+

In his draft grades Ace talked about how his class lacked a true star prospect saying “DaQuan Badgley is the closest I think we got, but it will take some time to see his true potential.” about DaQuan Badgley. I think Ace is just wrong about this, Badgley is the 4th highest overall RB from this draft class and with A- potential I have him as the 2nd best RB from this draft class behind only Kelvin Dupree. Gregg Lemay is on an expiring contract and I think if they don’t trade him first they will let Lemay enter FA if he doesn’t retire. I think Badgley is a good RB obviously he’s a great receiving option out of the backfield but his agility and speed are good that he should be great on outside runs. I think Badgley was a great pick especially since after the top two of McGee and Bianchi the top RBs in my eyes were Dupree and Holley. I think Badgley is a player people will look at years ago wondering how they could have overlooked him.

Round 2 Pick 52 CB Riley Correa 59/C-: B-

I had Riley Correa as the 5th best zone CB in the draft and had 2 players above him who were picked 3 and 6 picks after him. Deante Hedges is close enough that they are interchangeable but Brad Portis going to the Dolphins is a bit of a stinger. 62/C+ is a big enough difference that it matters but it’s not enough that you're losing sleep and regretting it. I think Correa was a good pick for the Eagles but it could have been better. Andrew Kangas is 31 so the time to grab his replacement is now last year in the 2nd they drafted Nate Semien who is good and has great potential and I think Correa will end up being the CB2 for the Eagles behind Semien. John Robinson and Luis Brogdon are also good CBs but I think with both of them in their 3rd year it’s ok to look for a new CB to be that 2nd option. Also the Eagles are a team that doesn’t really have holes so they can afford to just grab whoever they think is the best player and I am sure if they feel they have too many CBs a team would be willing to make a trade for one of their spare 24 year old A- potential guys.

Round 3 Pick 84 SS Keibert House 55/B: A-

Oh man this is a fun one. So the Eagles are moving standout SS Ryan Reininger to LB this year and Keibert House was drafted to be the starting SS. I have told Sage this already but I just want to say I love the Reininger move positional changes are coming and let’s get crazy with it. I think Reininger has everything you would want a LB to have, he’s great against the run fast and can cover. I think you would like for Reininger to be a bit stronger and a better tackler but that’s something that will come as he develops more as a LB. I think the earlier you have a guy get to a new position the better it will be for you since they get more time developing at that position so as a LB Reininger will develop strength and tackle more than he would at LB(I could be wrong on that but that’s how I see things). So now let’s get to House, I don’t get the joke but I am online enough to know that it is never Lupus. When I look at House the only thing I can think is oh my god they did it again. I think House is just a budget version of Reininger because while it will take longer I can easily see House having very similar attribute grades to what Reininger has now. I really don’t think I have to say anything else after comparing House to one of the better picks in SimNFL history but I have House as the 3rd best SS literal inches(CONVERT IT BRITS) behind my SS2 Andrew Zagunis. Also this is only like one of 3 times it happens in this draft because the Eagles don’t have any holes but with Reininger moving to LB the Eagles needed SS so it fills a need. I can’t really explain why but I just don’t see this pick as an A but it’s deserving of an A- and if I am right about House being a Temu Reininger then this grade might be a bit low.

Round 4 Pick 117 QB Andrew Moncrief 55/B: A+

I was a big fan of Andrew Moncrief and wanted him to be the new backup QB of the Ravens and maybe even the next Ravens QB after David Chop but with the needs we had it had to be at a late enough pick and he just didn’t fall far enough. I have Moncrief as the 2nd best QB in the class and I hope we get to see him at some point this year. At 32 years old you can see the parents starting to clean up in the background and you know this Pool Party is going to end any second. I think we could even see Moncrief as the Eagles starting QB next year and while Moncrief is nowhere near the QB Pool is right now with Moncrief only having 2 less throw accuracy as a rookie I doubt the Eagles are worried about losing their starting QB. This is a pick that we could look back on in a couple years as a steal where the Eagles got a franchise QB in the 4th round I know this move doesn’t help them right now but the 2nd best QB was taken in the 4th round and is probably going to be the future long term starter that is an amazing pick if it pans out and if it doesn’t it’s still not that bad.

Round 4 Pick 124 WR Evan Gordon 58/B-: B+

When talking about my top WRs, if they aren’t top 5 I usually mention that 2 players I have ranked above them were drafted later in the draft one of them is 6th round pick Travis Chirinos B+/A- and Evan Gordon is the other one. The Eagles have 2 29 year old WRs in the last year of their contract and while they have 51.83 mil in cap space next year if they can find a way to keep that cap open by replacing one of them on a cheaper deal the Eagles can afford to make some splash additions to their team in FA. I think Gordon isn’t near that level but he gives the Eagles another promising young WR and he may be the best one. Gordon isn’t special but as a 58 overall with B- potential I think he can develop into a good WR. I don’t think Gordon will ever be a WR1 but Gordon could be a good 2nd or 3rd option as part of a strong WR corp and to get that in the 4th is a great pick. The Eagles WR depth wasn’t bad before this pick so I think they would have been fine without it but this was a good pick. I think the value was also great but I just don’t get the feeling that this is an A or higher level pick so we are going with a B+.

Round 4 Pick 126 DT Chris Holmes B+/F: B

I think DT was another good position for the Eagles to hit, Michael Cuevas is on an expiring deal and Jamie Gooley isn’t an amazing replacement. With their love of pass rush OLBs and Palardy as a coverage ILB and Reininger who would be a run stop ILB the Eagles are either going to run a 3-man Front Spread Stopper or a 2-Gap defense and because of their bias against speed rusher DEs I think it’s going to be a 2-Gap defense. This means that they will either have 1 or no DTs on the field for any given play. I get it’s late in the draft but like I said earlier the Eagles are very particular when it comes to roster building, I don’t think they would draft a player if they didn’t have some kind of plan for him. I also just got confirmation Chris Holmes was intended to be a backup which confirms the thought process I originally wrote here. I think this is a good pick when you look at it in that way because it’s a backup which is never bad to get. Holmes has a high floor as he is probably around a 57 overall, the F potential is what really hurts this pick but I like it and maybe he ends up winning the starting job. While you can argue that the 4th round is a little early to look at backups, the Eagles addressed their main needs and trading back a bit to a pick that a backup makes more sense would give them so little back it just doesn’t make sense.

Round 5 Pick 150 ILB Jarrod Young C+/B: B

I think the Eagles were in backup mode here, Jarrod Young is a solid player and someone I think is a good pick in the 5th round but Ryan Reininger is moving to ILB and Keibert House was drafted to give them someone who can be the starting SS without Reininger. That tells me the Eagles are all in on moving Reininger to ILB and with Christian Palardy already on the team that gives the Eagles their 2 ILBs and makes it so Young has no path to being a starter. Morgan King and Jake Miranda the other two ILBs on the roster have 1 and 2 years left on their contracts respectively and Young would give them a backup on a rookie deal which leaves more money for the Eagles to use on players that will have more of an impact on winning games. I think if that’s what your expecting out of Young then this is a good pick I am never going to give a player who will be a backup anything over a B because it’s my rankings and I do what I want but Young is a good player that while not perfect checks most of the boxes you want from a backup that likely won’t see the field that much.

Round 6 Pick 183 C Trayvon Wadley B/C: B

Randy Harrell is a 76 overall center who is 28 years old and on a 4 year contract. Trayvon Wadley is a solid player in a strong center class but unless the Eagles for some reason are planning on moving on from Harrell early should be giving out fistbumps and water cups. I think Wadley while not amazing is a good player but with a player of Harrell’s level above him just isn’t someone that the Eagles are planning to invest in. Harrell was the only center on the roster for the Eagles before the draft so Wadley gives them a good young backup option and being drafted in the 6th round means the Eagles didn’t give up anything huge to get him. Maybe the Eagles were looking super far ahead and drafted Wadley to be the replacement for Randy Harrell when his contract ends and a 32 year old Harrell retires but I doubt it. Wadley gives the Eagles a good backup option and with Harrell’s 43 stamina could even play a snap here or there on long offensive drives. The fact that Wadley is a good player, was drafted in the 6th round, and is the only other center on the roster makes this a pick I really like.

Round 7 Pick 221 FB Ryan Witherspoon C+/B: B

Based on the personnel I think the Eagles are going to be running a spread option offense which does not use FBs. With that being said it’s always nice to have at least 1 FB which the Eagles didn’t have going into the draft and nothing is stopping the Eagles from using a FB at RB or TE. I think the Eagles had a 7th round pick and decided to draft Ryan Witherspoon. I think if we don’t see Witherspoon play a little bit at RB or TE this year then we will see him when Aaron Pool retires. Pool is 32 years old and after draft Andrew Moncrief the Eagles are set up perfectly to move to a vertical offense which outside of QB fits the Eagles team more than the spread option offense does. Gregg Lemay the starting RB is on the last year of his contract which also lines up with the switch to a vertical offense since he would be a bad fit for the scheme. While this is a move that we probably won’t see bear fruit this year, it gives the Eagles a solid player if they don’t like any of the FBs in next year's draft or free agency. While I think the Eagles will try and get a better player between now and next season, Witherspoon is a solid player that shows that the Eagles are preparing for the next era of Eagles football and are preparing to go all in on newly drafted Andrew Moncrief once Pool retires.

Ace said he was biased and gave the Eagles a B+ in his draft grades but I think he sold his draft a bit short. Yes the last 4 picks were not guys who will make big impacts immediately if ever I felt they were all solid picks but I love the DaQuan Badgley, Keibert House, and Andrew Moncrief picks. On top of that Whit Wilson was a great pick that was made a little worse by their scheme over everything model. I think looking at the rest of the draft it’s a couple guys that will either be backups, fight for a starting job, or is a move for the future. Yes they aren’t flashy picks but those picks are crucial for building a team that can go further than the average team and a team that can stay competitive for long stretches.

Pittsburgh Steelers: C+

Round 1 Pick 29 OG Felix Rodriguez B/A-: B+

The Steelers OG room is pretty good with 3 guys over 60 overall but with 2 of them on expiring deals and right at the end of their primes they decided to draft someone that will allow them to move on from Hing Hill and Melvin Adams. Felix Rodriugez is the best OG from this past draft and because of the talent in the room he might not start this year but with A- potential Rodriguez has a bright future. While Rodriguez is a great player the fact that he is coming in on a rookie deal is a big thing for the Steelers and something I will touch on a bit later.

Round 2 Pick 61 DE Benardrick Taylor B-/C-: C

Benardrick Taylor is a good pick that also is likely coming in to replace a solid player on their way out. Segundo Garcia is a 63 overall and while solid being 28 years old and on the last year of their contract might just not be worth what it would take to bring him back. Taylor is not an amazing player and is made worse by the top 6 DEs being so good but with only 2 of them being available at 61 it’s easy to miss and with neither of them being run stoppers which is the Steelers preferred DE archetype(6 of the Steelers 7 DEs are run stoppers with the only non run stopper being balanced with comparable run stopper archetypes to other run stoppers of that overall) the Steelers might have decided to pass on them. I rank Taylor as the 11th best DE and 5th best available at 61 but Taylor was the 3rd best run stopper and 2nd best available at 61. I respect the Steelers going for a guy that fits their identity and scheme so I am looking at this compared to the other run stoppers but even then the Steelers could have done a bit better. I think at the end of the day Taylor is still a solid player which helps this pick a bit and with how good the rest of the Steelers D-line is they can afford for Taylor to be a little bit worse.

Round 4 Pick 122 OT Chris Diaz 53/B+: C+

I messaged smackemz to see the reasoning for this pick and he said that because Shawn Talley is 31 and could retire combined with David Braley and Guillermo Alfaro potentially being expensive to resign Diaz would be a nice developmental option for them. I don’t hate it especially since the Steelers are in a bit of a cap crunch obviously the Steelers would have preferred a guy like Chris Reyes who was selected 15 picks later but Diaz was the 3rd best O-lineman on the board so while the gap is solid it’s not a super egregious mistake. I think the move gives them options at OT because they are probably bringing back 80 overall James Knoll so they could bring back one of Braley or Alfaro to replace Talley when he retires. The Steelers could also opt to let them both walk and hope that Diaz or 6th round pick last year Niuman Dahl to develop into the other starting OT. I think the pick could have been better but I don’t hate it too much so while I am giving it a C+ it’s not too far off from a B-.

Round 5 Pick 159 TE Jadeveon Desir D+/C+: F-

Jadeveon Desir sucks. I have to be honest, Desir is really bad. I like to give teams the benefit of the doubt with picks that I don’t get and even have been reaching out to some teams asking them to explain the reasoning behind some picks but I am not even doing that for this pick because no amount of reasoning will get this pick a good grade. Devontae McKinney is a monster and the Steelers have multiple other TEs that I like so I just don’t get this pick. The pick didn’t make sense but on top of that like I said Desir is not good and without looking through is one of the worst players drafted. I hate to pile on like this but this is just not a good pick and I have to be honest about the fact that I think this may be the worst pick in the draft.

Round 6 Pick 176 DT Trenton Williams 53/C+: C+

The Steelers only had 1 DT on their roster and yes Robert Berry is a monster on an absolute steal of a contract but it’s always nice to have a backup. In the 6th round the Steelers grabbed Trenton Williams to be a backup in a move I liked. Williams is young and cheap which are the most important things but being 53 overall with C+ potential is a solid player to get in the 6th. Obviously if Berry was to get hurt the Steelers would be in a terrible position but Williams is cheap and at least gives them someone they can play if that were to happen which I think is the main thing the Steelers were looking for in this pick.

Round 6 Pick 192 OLB Naz Fiers 51/A+: A-

The Steelers have a good OLB room 77 overall Anthony Rizzi on a 3 year contract that is good value for what you’re getting starting on the other side is Michael Ruby who is a 67 overall at only 26 years old with Willy Jimenez as a good backup at 66 overall under contract for 2 years at a $1.4 million dollar cap hit. Despite all that, I like the Steelers drafting Naz Fiers because with A+ potential he can develop with special teams snaps and could turn out to be a solid player in his prime and he gives the Steelers options. With the team friendly contract Jimenez is on I could see a team giving up a good amount to get him or maybe you even trade Anthony Rizzi for an even bigger return. The Steelers could opt to keep Jimenez and Rizzi and trade Fiers or even keep all of them and play some of them at ILB which is a position that could use an upgrade if the Steelers decide not to re-sign Jon Saksena or Narinder Beckmann. I think however you slice it Fiers is nice depth and his A+ potential gives him a good upside that most 6th round picks don’t have.

Round 7 Pick 230 RB Brian DeFratus 49/B: D+

Brian DeFratus is not a great RB but he has solid potential and being drafted so late it’s not a terrible pick. I think DeFratus isn’t great and is a bit redundant with Jermey Longoria already on the roster but again with this pick being so late you can rationalize it a bit. I think what really hurts this pick is the position since I like the Steelers RB room. Dario Tamayo is a great RB but is in the tailend of his career but behind him you have Michael Carmouche who is 26 and a pretty solid RB at 63 overall, we already mentioned Longoria who while not great isn’t terrible and DeAndre Wieters is a 58 overall at 23 and while C+ potential isn’t great I think Wieters is a good RB that is who the Steelers should be investing in as at the very least the short term solution for the RB position.

The Steelers didn’t really have any needs for this year but really focused on preparing for the future. The Steelers have a lot of players on expiring deals and only have $56.65 million in cap space in 2025 and might have to let some good players walk because of that. I have them at a C+ because I think they could have made some better picks by addressing a different position. Daniel Ennis III a 59 overall 23 year old is the only WR on the roster after this season and I think while a good number of positions made sense to address WR should have taken priority over everything else. I think that is made an even bigger mistake with how good the WR class was. Other than that I think that TE and RB didn’t need to be addressed but were and at least for TE and RB the player picked wasn’t that great anyway. I am reading through this before I post it and I am not sure why I was so blunt with things here, sorry about that.

San Francisco 49ers: B

Round 1 Pick 22 QB Andrew Solano 56/B-: B

I think Andrew Moncrief was the 2nd best QB in the draft and was an absolute steal by the Eagles but the other Andrew was also a great pick. After Hiram Maronde, Andrew Solano was the consensus best QB in the draft and I loved this move for the 49ers so much and had them taking Solano in most of my mock drafts. I think Brandon Ramirez is also a good QB and is on an amazing contract so I am interested in seeing what the 49ers do at QB but I think you can’t really go wrong with either of them. I will admit I was expecting Solano to be a little bit better but with the playing time to develop could be a better QB in year 3 then Ramirez is now. I think with Solano being a bit worse than I expected I don’t love this pick as much but no matter which direction the 49ers decide to go at QB they will have a good young QB to spare and could get a good return from a QB needy team.

Round 2 Pick 34 Paul Fowler 54/C+: C-

Paul Fowler was the 4th best DE on the board at pick 34 and the 7th best DE drafted. I am a big fan of the top of this DE class but Fowler unfortunately is the best DE that I don’t consider part of the top of the class. Don’t get me wrong I think Fowler is a good player but the 3 DEs picked before Fowler are great and the 3 in the top 6 picked after Fowler are also great. Fowler is not the only non top 5 DE picked before Hunter Suh but he was the only DE that fits that description picked before Nick Concepion. Fowler isn’t bad but someone had to be the best DE outside of those top 6 and it just happened to be Fowler so despite him being a solid player he looks worse in comparison. I think missing out on Concepion and Suh hurts a bit but Mel Wolf and Michael Hamman are good options and are under contract long enough that the 49ers will have another chance to find a great replacement if that’s what they want to do.

Round 2 Pick 62 FS Mike Barr B-/B+: B

I have Mike Barr as the 2nd best FS in this class and was picked after my #1 FS in the class. I think Jon Gordon is a great player but it’s nice to have a backup and Barr gives you a good player if you do decide to move on from Gordon for any reason the 49ers may have. The 49ers couldn’t have drafted a better FS with this pick in my eyes and I think FS was a position that made sense to address so while I don’t have a ton to say about how this pick could have been better I feel it could have been better. Since I feel like the only thing wrong with this pick is the FS class not being as good I won’t drop the grade too much but addressing another need because of a bit of a weaker class would have been a better idea in my mind.

Round 4 Pick 99 DT Dante Gates A/C-: A+

Dante Gates is the best pick the 49ers made. This draft had some great value picks with a couple teams getting some real gems in the mid to late rounds and Dante Gates is one of them. The 49ers had 4 DTs over 60 overall going into this draft but they can trade them all free up $7.53 million in cap space and get either picks or players to help them compete now. Gates is a nose tackle which goes without saying because why would you want any other DT when all 308 pounds of Gates can do everything you would want from a DT. The F stamina isn’t great and it would suck if it kept him off the field but bust out some oxygen mask or smelling salts and get that man right back on the field. I haven’t given the 49ers their draft grade yet but I think Gates is so good that if I give this class a B- without Gates it would get at least a B+ with him. I do have to question what the 49ers were doing drafting a DT though.

Round 4 Pick 121 WR Jester Soroka B/F: C+

I loved Jester Soroka, I wrote a whole backstory on him and why his name is Jester Soroka, unfortunately for him he went to a team that has arguably too many good WRs. The 49ers have 5 WRs over 60 overall 2 of which are 24 and 1 of them is 23 so even if the 49ers were to get rid of the 2 27 year olds who have 3 years left on their contract Jester would still be WR4 behind the 3 I mentioned and a 59 overall WR who is also 24. With that said I don’t hate this pick, yes they could have gotten better WRs at this pick they didn’t need to which is why I think the only thing about this pick I didn’t like is it being in the 4th round. I think if the 49ers instead drafted Eric Ford in the 7th round who I have as my worst WR drafted I think that would be a good pick for them because I feel like they were looking for depth with this pick. That’s the main reason I am giving this pick a C but the 49ers also missed out on 7 WRs who I ranked higher than Soroka that were drafted after pick 121. Unfortunately for this hypothetical CB Danny Garcia 55/A was drafted 1 pick earlier and is someone who I think would have been an amazing pick for the 49ers.

 

Round 5 Pick 160 OT Blake Robinson B/D: C

Rubby Stewart is amazing and is one of if not the best player drafted in SimNFL history but I thought the 49ers could have really used at least 1 more O-lineman to slot in anywhere on the line. The 49ers waited until the 5th round but drafted OT Blake Robinson and while the 49ers were never going to get the O-lineman I thought they could have used in the 5th round I think they made this move realizing that outside of Stewart the O-line could be improved a bit. I think Robinson is a solid player but with him having D potential I don’t think he is someone we will see starting for the 49ers ever. Looking through the other positions that I thought the 49ers could use this pick was after where all but 1 player that would help them was drafted and that player was CB David Rader 54/A+ so I can’t fault them that much but I don’t think Blake Robinson is a player that will have any significant impact on the 49ers.

Round 6 Pick 165 OLB Michael Bell C+/D+: C

I think starting with this pick the 49ers drafted guys to be backups. Michael Bell is not a good player Rodney Labell is a 74 overall and is 26 years old so he is the #1 option for the foreseeable future and Kyle Taylor is a 65 overall with 2 years on his contract so till that contract is up he is probably the other starting OLB. Outside of those 2 the 49ers had no OLBs on their roster going into the draft so this late into the draft a backup OLB isn't a bad pick. Naz Fiers was drafted 27 picks later and would have been a much better pick if the 49ers are ok with not having a speed OLB though and I don’t care what role you have planned for a player, 9 times out of 10 you want the better player and the time you don’t is only when you're worried about cap and the better player costs more.

Round 7 Pick 204 DE Buck Alburquerque C/C: C

Buck Alburquerque is in a similar spot. I talked about the state of the position when talking about Paul Fowler but those were the only 3 DEs on the roster at this point so Buck Alburquerque comes in and gives them a 4th DE because it’s nice to have 2 backup DEs. Fish Vander Laan was drafted 34 picks better and would have been a significantly better pick.

Round 7 Pick 214 FB James Gyorko C+/D: C

Luis Ortiz and Richard Connors are 64 and 61 overall respectively so Gyorko is the 3rd FB on the roster and with Connors on an expiring deal it would be kind of dumb to pay what he would cost to bring him back. Gyorko comes in so that the 49ers can let Connors walk and still have a backup. Ryan Witherspoon was drafted 7 picks later and if the 49ers were ok with not having a blocking FB would have been a better pick. 

I am giving the 49ers a B but it is so close to a B+. I really like 3 of their top 4 picks with the one I don’t like not being terrible and I think the rest of their picks are backups/depth guys. I think if they had waited longer to draft a WR or grabbed one of the better WRs that was available I would have given them a B+. This wasn’t a super flashy draft but the 49ers didn’t need to have a flashy draft they have a good team that was lacking a QB they got a huge gem in the 4th that is good enough that it makes sense to make him the starter but other then that they drafted a bunch of guys to be backups. If you think it’s bad that the 49ers drafted a ton of backups look at their roster I think the only positions that made sense for them was QB and CB so they came out of the draft with only 1 position that I consider a need. At the same time if the 49ers drafted a good CB this draft would have been at least an A- maybe even an A.

Seattle Seahawks: A+

Round 1 Pick 9 RB Clayton McGee 62/D+: B+

I doubted him a bit and thought that Richard Bianchi would be better but McGee is the highest overall RB from the draft but his D+ potential prevents me from ranking him as the best RB in the draft. I instead have McGee ranked as my 3rd best RB in the draft, I can even understand him falling down to 6th which is more of a reflection of how good the top of the RB class is then McGee being bad. Rankings aside FSU has become a Seahawk RB pipeline with McGee and Yacksel Knox being former teammates for the Seminoles McGee also becomes the 7th player on the Seahawks to come from a Florida college with DE Zachary Willwerth and OG Luis Cruz coming from UCF, DT Timothy Jeffcoat coming from UF, and OG Jonathan Fawcett and SS Daryl Dillon coming from FAU. I am avoiding talking about McGee but McGee is a great player who we could see fall behind other players at his position because of potential but nobody can deny how good McGee is. The big question is what comes next, we see super skilled players come out of college all the time but they fail to improve once they get to the NFL level. McGee is good enough that even if he only progresses 8 overalls for his entire career he would still be good enough to be a contributor for the Seahawks but when you draft a player 9th overall and they are as good as McGee is day 1 you are hoping they can become the type of player that future players model their game after. While we will have to wait to see if McGee can develop enough to be the RB we all expected him to be, I wouldn't be too shocked if he is remembered as a good RB but above that the guy the Seahawks drafted over multiple other great RBs in 2024. I am giving this pick a B+, I don’t think the pick was bad and you can say a lot about McGee and what he is compared to what he was expected to be but the main thing that hurts this pick is how early in the draft it was.

Round 2 Pick 50 WR Joe Edmunds 58/A+: A+

Now we’re talking. I have Joe Edmunds ranked as the 5th best WR in the draft behind 4 60+ overalls and he was the best WR on the board at 50. A lot of teams got burned by Travis Chirinos and B.J. Barrera being drafted so late making it so they didn’t draft the top WR on the board so Edmunds is one of 9 WRs that can say they were the best WR on the board when they were picked. Edmunds has 70 catching already so his A+ potential could make it so that at his peak Edmunds catches everything thrown at him. The Seahawks also needed a WR for the future badly 73 overall Eric Palkovich is a fossil at 35 years old and 78 overall Terrence Hoffman is 30 on an expiring deal so even if the Seahawks do resign him who knows how long he will be around for. 66 overall Ronald Geda was the best long term WR by a lot but I don’t think Geda is good enough to be a WR1. Edmunds is the future WR1 for the Seahawks and is the perfect WR to pair with Kemoko Allard.

Round 3 Pick 73 DE Meyers Wilson 57/D: B-

DE was one of the bigger holes on the Seahawks roster going into the draft and after addressing the 2 biggest holes on the roster with their first two picks they decided to grab Meyers Wilson. Paul Huffman is great but on an expiring deal and being 30 you can’t expect him to stick around much longer, Zachary Willwerth is 28 and on an expiring deal so maybe the Seahawks bring him back on a short deal, and Ted Molina is 29 and on an expiring deal and being just a 60 overall I don’t think the Seahawks bring him back. Obviously you would have loved for Wilson to be better especially with 2 top 6 DEs still available and maybe they wanted to stay away from Hunter Suh because he is a speed rusher but Sam Moxey would have been an amazing pick and his balanced archetype means no malus for him no matter what the Seahawks plan to do. Compared to the Seahawks other picks this isn’t a great pick and I might go as far as saying this was the worst pick of the draft for the Seahawks but Wilson is still a good player. The D potential is going to be put to work and the Seahawks are hoping he can still develop a decent amount with it but Wilson is in a 3 way tie for the 4th highest overall DE drafted. I think the D potential sucks and maybe I am being too optimistic but I think Wilson will develop well enough for this to still be a good 3rd round pick. This pick obviously looks a lot better if we didn’t have 6 amazing DEs come out of this draft and probably would be around the 9th best DE in a more normal class instead of the 12 I have him ranked at. Don’t let the B- fool you, I like this pick but again compared to the top guys and the guys who were still on the board I can’t really give this pick a much higher grade.

Round 4 Pick 106 CB Brett Maxey 57/B-: B+

The Seahawks had a decently strong CB room but because they hate us all they decided to add a great CB to the room. I have Bretty Maxey as the 5th best man CB and as the best man CB on the board at this pick. The Seahawks have Daniel Mendoza who at 74 overall is a good CB1 option but they were lacking a true CB2 Mike Hargreaves and Rasul Miller are both good young players but are still a little bit shy of what I would consider a true CB2. Last year the Seahawks took Reggie Ladendorf in the 5th round and while only a 58 overall his A potential makes him an interesting candidate to develop into a CB2. I think Maxey wasn’t a huge need since the main CB need especially if you were taking one this late is depth since they only had 4 CBs on the roster but nobody is upset about bringing in a player of Maxey’s caliber. I think it will be interesting to see how the Seahawks plan to use and develop their CBs but long story short they have 5 good young CBs now.

Round 4 Pick 129 OLB Carlos Mateo 59/A: A+

The Seahawks organization deserves to be put in jail. They had such an amazing draft but barely talk about it. Edmunds is an amazing WR and they drafted the OLB and ILB that I bring up as the player that other teams should have drafted. 84 overall Brandon Schroeder is on an expiring deal but being 26 years old with A+ overall the Seahawks are not going to let him leave but 71 overall Howard Dellinger is 32 so it would be nice to have a replacement for him. I assumed that the Seahawks were going to resign 66 overall Gerald Brouillette who is 28 to a short deal but Carlos Mateo is just a young version of Schroeder if you made him a little worse. Hot take I don’t think Mateo as good as he is is going to get to 84 overall in 4 years. The Seahawks are going to have Mateo and Schroeder joining Alejandro Rua as pass rushers which is going to be giving QBs and O-linemen nightmares for years. Oh yeah and Paul Huffman and Gary Wheeler exist, but luckily for the rest of the league they are 30 and 28 years old so at least one of them will be gone soon. Going back a bit I love Gates but there is a reason I only said he was one of the best value picks in the draft because Mateo is better and was drafted 30 picks later. The Seahawks are going to have one of if not the best defense in the league for years to come and we haven’t even gotten to their next 2 picks which were also defense.

Round 6 Pick 172 ILB Breshad Barnes 60/B-: A+

I got so excited I already spoiled this pick a bit in my Mateo grade but yes Breshad Barnes was an amazing pick. I have Breshad Barnes ranked as the best ILB drafted and that’s amazing to get at the top of the 6th. ILB was a position that made sense to upgrade and the timing was also perfect. The Seahawks ILB room is not bad but not good and I could be wrong but with only 3 ILBs and all of them being 64+ overall with all of them under contract for at least 2 years I feel like Seattle was looking for a backup ILB in the late rounds and just happened to find Barnes. I think the Seahawks benefited from the fact that they had a great draft to this point because looking at their previous picks you can understand why they waited to draft Barnes at 172 but if they didn’t have all of those players lined up maybe Seattle jumps the gun and drafts him earlier. While that wouldn’t be terrible Barnes in the 1st round would have been a good pick but to get everything they got and then get Barnes in the 6th round is just amazing. I don’t have more to say this was a great pick.

Round 7 Pick 210 TE Ervin Dotson 51/C-: B

This pick is a bit of a drop off from the first 6 picks but that doesn’t mean the Seahawks are done making good picks. Kevin Black is amazing but at 32 years old how much time does he really have left and Briean Smith is not a great replacement. Seattle had the luxury of waiting at least one more year to find their new starting TE and they might still bring in a better TE between now and the first season without Kevin Black but Ervin Dotson was a great pick. Dotson is only 3 overalls worse than Smith and is 2 years younger so Dotson is on track to be the TE1 as soon as next year. Do I think Dotson is a long term solution at TE no but this late in the draft to get a player who is an upgrade over your current option for a replacement is nothing to overlook. Maybe the Seahawks are quick to grab a TE at the end of this season and Dotson is only ever a backup I think while not as good this would still be a great pick because you upgraded in the 7th round.

Round 7 Pick 225 FB Chunky Nuno F/C: C-

Chunky Nuno

 

I assumed that was enough of a description for this pick but let’s actually talk about it. Obviously this was a meme pick since everyone loves Chunky and if you're looking at everything except football talent then this is a top 3 pick in the draft. Unfortunately the government the admins I made me write a serious article so we can’t give Chunky Nuno the A+ he deserves. Look this wasn’t a good pick but everyone knew that was probably going to be the case when the pick was sent in so I am going to cut you a deal and just give this pick a C- instead of the grade it probably deserves. This pick was the 15th to last pick while maybe they could have gotten a great player here, I don’t think anyone in Seattle is losing sleep over not using pick 225 on a serious selection. WR Kyle Grant C+/A+, OT Micha Price B/B-, DE Fish Vander Laan C+/A+, and one other player I will mention soon were the only players good enough drafted after this that are good enough to really make a team regret drafting Chunky and while they would have been nice it’s whatever especially after the absolute clinic the Seahawks put on with their previous picks.

Round 7 Pick 233 QB Frank Robinson C+/C+: C+

I like this pick for the Seahawks a lot. Yes, he's a 7th round QB that probably won’t see the field much during his career in Seattle but this was the 7th to last pick in the draft. On top of that Blake Johnson, Chad Schettino, and Evan Cooper are on expiring deals and since Komoko Allard won the starting job is it really worth bringing them back? The Seahawks only have $66.28 million in cap space and have a decent amount of expiring contracts and like I said earlier it’s never too early to start saving money. Robinson is super cheap and is under contract for 4 years and gives them a 2nd QB under contract past this year which is very valuable. I know they were just looking for a backup but I have Robinson ranked as the 8th best QB drafted but 6 picks later the Titans drafted Brandon Alexander C+/A+ who I have as the 4th best QB drafted. Yes the Seahawks were just looking for someone so didn’t care about overall or potential but a better player is always better so it could have been better but because they just needed anyone who could play football good enough to succeed in college that won’t impact the grade too much.

I don’t know what the Seahawks are going to do on defense as they have a CB room that is 5 deep that all have an argument for playing, 2 great OLBs and Carlos Mateo who should be great, Breshad Barnes at ILB who should be great, a great DT and Alejandro Rua who is going to be great, and FS Godwin Johnson and SS Daryl Dillon. That's 13 players and then you have Paul Huffman and now Meyers Wilson. The Seahawks have a ton of talent on defense and almost all of them are young so if they can figure out how to get them all on the field and get the most out of them they could be the best defense in the league. The only problem is how do you get them all on the field, the Seahawks have 11 players who are young and I think deserve to play, those being all 5 CBs, Carlos Mateo, Brandon Schroeder, Breshad Barnes, Alejandro Rua, Godwin Johnson, and Meyers Wilson. That breaks down into 5 CBs, 1 FS, 2 OLBs, 1 ILB, 1 DT, and 1 DE and maybe you can get it to work by moving a CB to SS moving Rua to DE and moving one of the OLBs to ILB and running a lot of the 3-2-6 Dime formation(LE1, RE1, ROLB1 | MLB1, MLB2 | CB1, CB2, CB3, CB4, FS1, SS1) in the 2 gap scheme, maybe 4-1-6 Dime formation(LE1, DT1, DT2, RE1 | MLB1 | CB1, CB2, CB3, CB4, FS1, SS1) in the 4 man front stopper scheme moving Wilson to DT both OLBs to DE and a CB to SS, maybe 3-2-6 Penny formation(LE1, DT1, RE1 | MLB1, ROLB1 | CB1, CB2, CB3, CB4, FS1, SS1) in the 3-man Front Spread Stopper scheme moving one CB to SS and one OLB to DE, or 4-1-6 Dime formation(LE1, DT1, DT2, RE1 | MLB1 | CB1, CB2, CB3, FS1, SS1, SS2) in the speed scheme moving Wilson to DT both OLBs to DE and 2 CBs to SS. Dude I am just going on and on and maybe this is a non issue and the Seahawks have everything figured out this is not meant to discredit the Seahawks at all I think it’s a great thing that it’s this whole thing to figure out how to get everyone playing because this is only a problem because the defense is loaded with talent. I love the first 6 picks of this draft some more than others but that’s more of a testament to them having some amazing picks and not any picks being ones I didn’t like. The last 3 picks are a bit of a dropoff but they were all in the 7th round so I don’t hold that against them and those picks were important I explained why I think Frank Robinson was an important pick, Ervin Dotson is a good pick in the 200’s, and of course Chunky Nuno was someone you have to draft because this team was missing someone with a great name. I don’t think the Seahawks had the best draft in the league but it is up there and it’s one that has flown a bit under the radar.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: B

Round 1 Pick 19 DT DT T.Y. Hubbard 59/B-: B+

Oh, what's that, T.Y. Hubbard was drafted 19th overall. I am about to go on a bit of a tangent about multiple people doubting my mocks mostly because I think it’s funny. You can skip it if you want you won’t be missing out on much but I will judge you.

 

I was super high on Hubbard as a DT and before the draft said this in the discord “I am calling my shot now T.Y. Hubbard is the 2nd best DT in the draft” @Bundy was a big critic of me mocking Hubbard at 10 in my final mock draft and I was off by 9 picks and while Bundy was right about the Chargers needing a DE I was right about the Charger wanting a DT and Hubbard being drafted early and being a beast. @Jmjacobs said “Poisoning the minds of the league with his bad takes” and while he could be talking about a lot of things I said I am acting like he was talking about Hubbard because that would make me right and him wrong. SB+ graded my mock and gave some grades I want to point out Hubbard 59/B- at 10 was given a D, OT DeVante Logan 62/B+ at 16 was given a D, DE Hunter Suh 57/A at 17 was given a D, WR Marvin Thomas 60/B- at 20 was given a D, QB Andrew Solano at 22 56/B- was given a D, OT Burch Ramos 61/D+ at 26 was given a D, OLB Ja’Wuan Gray 59/A+ at 30 was given a D, and OLB Jourdan Conner 59/C+ at 32 was given a D. Marvin Thomas was drafted at 10, DeVante Logan was drafted at 16, Jourdan Conner was drafted at 18, T.Y. Hubbard was drafted at 19, and Andrew Solano was drafted at 22. To defend Jiret a bit @nemolee.exe said “This is laughable. Carolina taking a CB? Shazier at 10?!” Carolina went on to take my 10th ranked CB in the 4th round and also take Shazier not at 10 but instead at 3. Moral of the story, don’t question me or my mocks again.

 

Ok let’s get to the actual pick Howard Phillips is a 74 overall and is 31, Matthew Zimmer is a 77 overall and is 30 years old and they are the starting DTs for the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers thought it was time to bring in a 3rd DT because Phillips is on the last year of his deal and could retire. Now I liked the idea of the Buccaneers taking C Jorge Jacobs here but the Buccaneers biggest need was center and they didn’t know who Jorge Jacobs was but it’s a good thing they didn’t listen to me because while Jacobs is a better player DT is a more important position. Also even though Tampa didn’t have any centers on their roster before the draft it was possible that in 2025 the only D-lineman on the roster would have been the 24 year old 59 overall DE Mitch Rivers. Hubbard is a monster and is someone that should be great for a Buccaneers team that could be rebuilding their D-line.

Round 2 Pick 51 OLB Ja'Wuan Gray 59/A+: A

The Buccaneers must be huge fans of my mocks because while they didn’t take the players I mocked to them they took 2 players that I liked in the 1st round that based on overalls would have been a reach. It pays off too since I have Gray ranked as the best OLB drafted, him being the highest overall OLB drafted combined with an A+ potential makes this a great pick for Tampa. Alan Feehan is a great player and at 29 he should still have a couple seasons left in him and Robert Wilkinson and Stephen Pearson are good players who are even younger and all 3 have 3 years left on their deals. The need for OLB wasn’t big and I felt like ILB was a bigger need since they are probably losing Patrick Cannady to retirement since he is 34 but maybe they can slide one of the OLBs over to ILB or maybe even trade them. I think the lack of need isn’t ideal but especially for players of Gray’s caliber you shouldn't let players like Wilkinson and Pearson stop you from getting a great young player. If the need fit I think this would be an A+ pick and I think despite not needing OLB as much Gray was a great choice but I feel like fit and need are still important enough that an A+ would be too high of a grade.

Round 3 Pick 83 C Ryan Wiggins B/B-: B

Ruben Shazier would have been an amazing player for Tampa but the Panthers took him 3rd overall and they opted to go with a player they knew more about over Jorge Jacobs in the 1st. Because of that the Buccaneers take center Ryan Wiggins in the 3rd and bring the number of centers on the roster to 1. Ranking the centers you obviously have Shazier at the top, I already said he might be the best player in the draft and then you have a pretty big gap but Jorge Jacobs is next and is still a great player. After Jacobs you have another gap but not as big and then you get to the rest of the class. I think depending on how you value potential the next 3 can be shuffled around a bit but Ryan Wiggins is in that next 3. I think Wiggins is a good player obviously he doesn’t hold a candle to Shazier and is a good bit worse than Jacobs but I think grabbing him in third is a good pick. Wiggins will never be as good as the two centers drafted before him but I think he will develop well and be a good player for the Buccaneers which is not a bad thing to get from a 3rd round pick.

Round 3 Pick 94 OT Trevon Ingram B/D+: C-

Trevon Ingram is someone I was not high on and him being taken in the 3rd round while not amazing could have been worse as I could have seen him going earlier. Ingram isn’t terrible and I think if he had C or better potential this would have been an ok pick but D+ potential combined with his overall being a little bit lower than middle of the pack. I think last year’s 1st round pick Damien Knebel is a good OT and George Benton is ok but still someone you would like to upgrade and with OG Ronald Price being 32 years old maybe they were thinking of playing Ingram at OG. I get wanting to go OT and don’t hate the idea that much but I feel like the Buccaneers have other positions that would have made more sense to address. Unless you're planning on moving a OLB to ILB I think an ILB could have been worth a shot here, CB is a position that was a pretty big need and the class was so good that I feel that was a real missed opportunity. Those are the two big ones that weren’t addressed but even if you were dead set on OT I have Ingram ranked as the 6th best OT available.

Round 4 Pick 110 WR Devon Alford B-/C-: C

Devon Alford is a player I like but I feel like this was the wrong team at the wrong time. I think WR makes sense but I can say the same thing I said about picking OT at 94 Tampa has bigger needs than WR. Alford was also taken a bit early while not a bad WR Alford was the 8th best WR on the board at 110. Like I said the problem with this pick isn’t Alford I think if taken in the 5th round by a different team it’s a great pick and is a solid pick even with Tampa but because they could have addressed bigger needs combined with the slight reach it’s not as good of a pick as Alford could have been.

Round 4 Pick 116 SS Niko Suarez C+/B-: C+

Niko Suarez is a solid SS and he was the best SS available so while I think the value would have been better if taken a bit later nothing was missed out on. Also since after Suarez the quality of SSs drafted fell off a bit what I see as a reach isn’t terrible because if Suarez is drafted by another team then the situation is really bad. I don’t think Suarez is amazing and Tampa probably feels the same way as they brought in 2 UDFA SSs but Suarez is not a bad player. I think you can make an argument that maybe Tampa should try to grab a SS again next year but that’s a bit premature and who knows maybe one of the 3 rookie SSs develops a ton and silences those questions. I think this pick was ok but nothing special, it’s a solid pick that gives you an option at SS for next year which is good but I don’t think it would be crazy to say at this pick the Buccaneers could have gotten a better player at positions they needed either the same amount or more.

Round 5 Pick 149 FB Owa Flaherty B-/B: B-

Donald Johnson is a very good FB but he’s 31 so in the 5th round Tampa drafted someone to replace him. Johnson was born in Tampa and stayed local in Tampa by going to USF and QB Gregory Taphorn was also born in Florida and went to college at UF so since 2 of their top 7 players came from Florida they decide to draft Owa Flaherty out of FAU to bring in some more of that Florida magic. Flaherty is a really good pick in my opinion, he’s a good player and great value in the 5th and maybe he sits for a year or two before becoming the starter. I don’t have much else to say Flaherty is a good player that when given the chance should be solid and he’s got good enough potential that he should develop enough to help the team out in the future.

Round 5 Pick 154 P Troy Jackson B+/C: B+

Troy Jackson was someone that I loved ever since he murdered every ball at the combine. I like this pick, obviously I can keep talking about positions they didn’t address that they might have needed but I said it 3 times already and I am sure the message has been received. I think punters and kickers which we will get to are pretty important for the sim and could be the difference in big games so getting someone you like in the draft can be very big. I think that if you can get a rookie you like at either of those positions and not have to worry about it for at least 9 years when they retire then you should. While punting and kicking might not be as important when your team isn’t as good, if you can get one early and have them develop when you're ready to compete you should have a good player already on the team instead of having to scramble to find one. Kickers are a bit more important and their importance is more documented, we have seen games be decided on missed kicks but punting is just as important if not more. I am not giving a kicker or punter other than Ronald Baker anything higher than a B+ so take it and be happy I know what I am talking about.

Round 6 Pick 166 RB Jalen Watkins B/F: B+

I think Jalen Watkins is an interesting pick for the Buccaneers, yes RB1 Max Smith is on an expiring deal and at 29 he might not be offered a contract extension so having a replacement is important. I think the replacement is last year’s 3rd round pick Chris Williams, he’s a 60 overall with A potential he has a bright future and should be the lead back for the foreseeable future. Now we get to Watkins who with B overall and F potential is interesting because while yes the Buccaneers would probably rather have Stanley Segovia 53/A+ who was selected 19 picks later how much of a bad thing is the F potential really. Yes obviously any team would rather have a player with higher potential if the overalls are the same but since the plan for Watkins is probably to be a backup is the F potential that bad. With B overall Watkins probably comes in as somewhere in the range of 55-57 so how does that stack up with a guy like Mickey Tulowitzki who has B- overall and C- potential he probably comes in somewhere in the range of 52-54. Tulowitzki’s potential will make it so he will become a better player than Watkins but that means Watkins will be cheaper to keep after the rookie deals. Again since Tampa has a better option who will be the starter having a high floor rookie that will be around let’s say a 62 overall in his prime as the backup on a cheap deal doesn’t seem like a bad thing. So while you always would prefer a better potential I think you can make a real argument that Watkins having F potential in a way helps Tampa. I don’t know just a little something I thought was worth thinking through. Anyways I think Watkins will be a good backup for Tampa and in the 6th round getting a career backup isn’t a waste of a pick.

Round 6 Pick 182 TE Tim Therrien C+/C-: B+

This TE class was not good and Tampa needed TE so they waited but ultimately decided that they had to draft one so they took Tim Therrien in the 6th round. Therrien isn’t that good but he’s one of the 3 TE’s that based on what I can see since 2 of them are unscouted is tied for the 4th best TE in the class. I don’t know how Therrien stacks up with the TE that has their attributes revealed but I have him above the 3rd round TE Thad Downs which says great things for the value of this pick. Since Therrien was not scouted I can’t say anything about his actual attributes but everything but his stamina and injury is an A so it looks like this could turn out to be a pretty solid pick. I think this is a good pick, it’s late so if it doesn’t pan out that’s ok but as far as I know now Therrien is one of top TEs in all attributes which is a positive.

Round 6 Pick 187 K Ike Tauchman B+/C+: B+

I talked a bit about it when talking about Troy Jackson but I love the idea of taking a kicker and Ike Tauchman while no Ronald Baker should turn out to be a good pick. The current Buccaneers kicker isn’t that good and is on the last year of his deal so Tauchman should be ready to come in and cement himself as the Buccaneers kicker for the next decade. I don’t have much more to say Tauchman should be a good kicker for years to come and this late in the draft the value of getting a career starter is amazing.

I think Tampa had a solid draft, they got a couple guys who should be long term starters, a long term backup, and some guys that we will have to see how they pan out. I really loved them getting T.Y. Hubbard and Ja’Wuan Gray early but other than that I just feel like nothing was too special. Ryan Wiggins, Owa Flaherty, Troy Jackson, and Ike Tauchman should all be good players that start for them which is nice and Jalen Watkins will be a nice backup. After that you have a couple guys that will have to find their spot, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Nico Suarez and Tim Therrien earned starting jobs and the same goes for Devon Alford but for being in the WR rotation but that’s something that I think is far from a given and I think Trevon Ingram won’t develop into a starter that you are comfortable with. The Buccaneers didn’t have any real misses but at the same time of me not being too surprised if they make an impact I can see Alford, Suarez, and Therrien not panning out and being replaced especially since 2 UDFAs were signed to compete with Suarez and Therrien already. I think they are close to a B+ but just a tiny bit shy. I think the main thing is while the first two picks are great if you take them out this draft just isn’t that impressive and maybe I am being too critical but looking through this draft I just don’t feel anything it just kind of exists if you know what I mean. I also want to clarify this is more of a reflection on the state of the Buccaneers at the time the new ownership took over. The Buccaneers needed quite a bit and they weren’t going to be able to address everything and they did a great job at filling holes and getting guys who I think can have an impact on the team but at the end of the day they still have some work to do which is the main thing that I get when looking at the team and the draft. This was a great start but the job's not finished and seeing all the work they did bringing in UDFA’s I think the Buccaneers realize that's the case.

Tennessee Titans: B-

Round 1 Pick 1 SS Garrett Smith 61/C-: A-

I was a big fan of Garrett Smith until I was told some info on him which turned out not to be true. I think Smith is super athletic and with his 80 zone coverage can lock down a zone completely. Smith’s C- potential isn’t as good as the Titans would have preferred but even with that Smith should turn out to be a good player. A big thing that helps this pick is the SS class while not terrible wasn’t great so while I didn’t peg SS as one of the top needs for the Titans it was a position that made sense to upgrade. I think it is a bit of a risk because if they started with their bigger needs they probably don’t upgrade at SS but if the other positions the Titans need also don’t have deep classes or they make the wrong picks it could mean coming out of the draft with your biggest needs unfilled and your biggest upgrades are not as big. Now as it relates to the team after this pick the Titans have a strong secondary and it’s going to keep getting stronger Garrett Smith, Sergio Collins, and Robert Canady should be a really fun trio for a long time. Collins is a 60 overall A potential FS drafted 30th last year and Canady is a 61 overall A potential CB drafted 25th last year. On top of that Kendal Shaffer is a young 63 overall CB being selected in the inaugural SimNFL draft so I think the Titans have their core secondary for a long time. The only time they will have to worry about the secondary is bringing in backups and maybe one last depth CB. My final thoughts because this is a pick I have gone a bit back and forth on and have rewritten a couple times is I think you can’t discredit the fact that the Titans upgraded and got the best safety in the class. My main problem is this is the 1st overall pick so I am having trouble grading it because Smith is a great player but like you expect that with the 1st overall pick. A big part that goes into my grades is how good is the player you got compared to what you are usually expecting from this pick and Smith is the kind of player you're expecting with the first pick. This puts me in a weird spot where I feel like the grade I would give it wouldn’t do the pick justice. I am going to give this pick an A- and I inflated that a bit from the B it would normally get because to give a player like Smith a B just doesn’t seem like it’s in the spirit of these grades. The main reason I say that is I take what you're expecting to get from a pick into account as a way to boost the grades of later round picks, while the players might not be as good as players taken in the first round they are more impressive because of how late it is. I think then using that logic to lower the grades of 1st round players would be wrong because 1st round players aren’t worse picks because they were in the 1st round and instead great late round players are so good because they aren’t 1st round picks or wherever they should have gone. The reason a late round gem is so special is because they should have gone higher but when a player is taken in the 1st round they can’t go much higher and you can’t go higher than the first pick. I don’t know if that made sense to anyone other than me but that explains it and for some reason I can’t avoid writing entire books whenever I talk about the Titans.

Round 3 Pick 78 ILB Joe Yanda B-/C: C

Joe Yanda was a player with a very wild stock leading up to the draft and even through the draft. Yanda wasn’t one of the top ILBs when the draft class was first announced but with a combination of his good attributes and combine performance he saw his stock rise from what I felt was a late 2nd round guy to a late 1st round guy peaking early at 18 in the Big British before falling to 24 in version 1.0 of my mock draft. Yanda then saw his stock fall and hover around the 28-31 range in versions 2.0 and 3.0 of my mock and in Jiret’s February 22nd mock. Yanda saw his stock rise a bit when he was mocked at 25 in the NSNN mock draft but Yanda fell out of the first round in version 4.0 of my mock released shortly after. Leading up to the draft it seemed that Yanda had cemented himself as a late first early 2nd guy but ILBs fell early and the league was shocked when the Jets made Davis Covey the first ILB drafted at 13. The pretty clear consensus top ILB Kenny Daniel’s fall stopped at pick 30 where the Jaguars drafted him and Micheal Rozier was drafted 46th but the ILB class would not recover from that as the next ILB was drafted at pick 69 when the Browns took Carlos Blacknall. Finally we get to pick 78 where the Titans, a team that made sense to draft Kenny Daniel and even took him in some mocks, made Joe Yanda the 5th ILB off the board. Now since starting ILB Michael Damme is 31 years old on an expiring contract ILB was a position that the Titans could have used so the Yanda pick wasn’t too shocking but I feel like they would have been better off looking elsewhere. Yanda is solid and I think the 3rd round is around where he should have been picked, I don’t think that was the issue, I just think Yanda isn’t good enough for this pick to be worth it. The Titans are probably going to run a speed defense which only uses one ILB and maybe Yanda proves my next point wrong since his combine was so good he could play above his overall. Last year the Titans drafted Fabian Powell in the 4th round and while I can’t say for sure since Yanda’s overalls aren’t revealed it feels like Yanda is just Powell with a better floor and worse potential. Jay Vernon was selected in the 5th round and at 56 overall and B potential I think he is good enough to justify moving on from Powell but Yanda just seems like a wash to me. Like I said Yanda had a great combine performance and what we can see from his attributes looks good so maybe he proves me wrong but for now I see this pick as a lateral move. With that said his attributes and combine were impressive so I am just going to give this pick a C.

Round 4 Pick 111 TE Mike Urias B/F: B-

Mike Urias could be a similar story, his F potential hurts a bit because he might not be able to develop better than Adrian Evans and Corey Randle, two other young TEs on the Titans roster. This wouldn’t be as bad since Urias is a backup for now Jaime Perez has 2 years left on his contract and is a great player so Urias being a high floor backup isn’t a bad thing but his F potential could leave him stagnant and which while not a big deal for the Titans will probably lead to the other TEs becoming better players than him. Obviously the Titans would have liked for Urias to be better but with a great TE already I don’t think Urias having F potential is something they are too worried about.

Round 4 Pick 130 RB Lorenzo Carr B+/D+: B+

The Titans have 2 65 overall RBs and a 67 overall RB with 2 of them under contract for 2 years and the other 65 under contract for 4 years. I think the thought process here was RB wasn’t super high on their list of needs but if they can get a young RB to get to that level soon then I think they would be happy to trade at least 1 of their RBs and in the 4th round it’s not a terrible idea. Lorenzo Carr has D+ potential but because of his B+ overall he shouldn’t be too far behind a 65 overall so if I am right then the Titans get what they want with Carr. Carr is a very talented RB that can do anything the Titans would want him to and I think at the very least Carr will lead to Yao Richardson being traded because at 4 years older with D+ potential Carr is just a younger version of Richardson who will be further along in his development at any given point. I would not be too surprised if the Titans start to move towards Carr as their lead back because he is 5 years younger than both Steven Friant and Michael Vance and Carr will be a better RB in 5 years then both of them are now and since they are both nearing the end of their prime it makes sense. Now I just made a lot of assumptions on what the Titans are thinking and if you read my mocks you will know that I have been extremely wrong about what the Titans are thinking every time but this time has to be different right? I think if this is the way the Titans are looking at things then this was a good pick but if the Titans are instead just really interested in running a 4 RB offense then this is probably a bad pick.

Round 5 Pick 141 C Rashard Nall B/C+: B-

Rashard Nall was an A in the draft book so to fall all the way to the 5th round is wild and I think at that point you have to take him. It looks like the Titans used all of their picks figuring out who to take with the #1 pick and when a player that was rated so highly to start falls this far and you can’t scout them I can’t blame the Titans for taking him. Raul Salazar is 33 so he should be retiring soon and the Titans probably wanted to bring in some competition for 2nd year UDFA Adam Boyle. Boyle is currently on the trade block so maybe the Titans think differently but I lean slightly towards Boyle being the future starter. Either way if Nall is the future starter or backup I think in the 5th round the value isn’t bad.

Round 7 Pick 238 QB Brandon Alexander C+/A+: A+

This is an amazing pick no matter how you slice it. With the 2nd to last pick in the draft the Titans grab a QB with a great arm and great potential. Wayne Reimer is the starting QB that’s not up for debate but the Titans are now shopping David Paul. Paul is a 3rd year QB with A- potential at 24 years old Paul is a 62 overall which isn’t amazing but Paul is far from a bad QB. I can’t think of any teams that could use a QB that doesn't already have a young guy they are investing in but Paul is someone that I think could really help a QB needy team and could even be the franchise QB. I think Brandon Alexander is just the sim version of a real life QB who has been reincarnated to potentially relive his career in the sim. Brandon Alexander is Tom Brady. Ok it might not be perfect but the potential is clear not going to put anything controversial in these other than my terrible grades so just to be super safe Tom Brady is a top 10 QB of all time and Alexander’s A+ potential could get him to that level. If you really think about it, the 6th and 7th round are pretty much the same thing because only bums get drafted that late. Brady started off as the Patriots 4th QB and Alexander has the lowest overall of the 4 QBs on the Titans roster. Drew Bledsoe was 28 years old when the Patriots drafted Tom Brady and well established Titan’s starting QB Wayne Reimer is 27 years old. Everything lines up either perfectly or just a tiny bit off so you heard it here first Brandon Alexander is the spiritual reincarnation of Tom Brady he will relive his NFL career and the current Tom Brady is a clone or robot or something so don’t believe him.

I think the Titans had a good draft, Garrett Smith is obviously the focus but they also made some sneaky good upgrades with Lorenzo Carr and Mike Urias. I think Nall is a good pick no matter what the plan is for him. I am not huge fan of Yanda but to me that’s the only mistake and of course Brandon Alexander I was joking a bit about how good he will be but it opens things up a lot for them they have a player that could develop and be a good QB if they ever decide to move on from Reimer and can now trade David Paul and the return should help the team in some way. I wrote a lot in each player's own grade so I feel I don’t have too much to say about the team’s draft as a whole other than what I just did.

Washington Commanders: UNGRADABLE

This is the 2nd ungradable of the draft and is just a terrible way to end this article off. The Broncos draft was ungradable so that I could write a fair article about the rest of the teams but that is not the case with the Commanders. The Commanders draft is ungradable because I hate @tsweezy and I refuse to grade his draft.

Ok now lets rank every team's draft

1. Miami Dolphins: A+
2. Carolina Panthers: A+
3. Seattle Seahawks: A+
4. Philadelphia Eagles: A
5. Jacksonville Jaguars: A
6. Houston Texans: A
7. New York Jets: A-
8. Baltimore Ravens: A-
9. Cleveland Browns: B+
10. Chicago Bears: B+
11. Green Bay Packers: B+
12. Las Vegas Raiders: B+
13. Buffalo Bills: B
14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: B
15. San Francisco 49ers: B
16. New Orleans Saints: B
17. Dallas Cowboys: B
18. Tennessee Titans: B-
19. Los Angeles Rams: B-
20. Los Angeles Chargers: B-
21. Atlanta Falcons: B-
22. Indianapolis Colts: B-
23. Kansas City Chiefs: C+
24. Minnesota Vikings: C+
25. Pittsburgh Steelers: C+
26. Detroit Lions: C+
27. New York Giants: C
28. New England Patriots: C
29. Cincinnati Bengals: C-
30. Arizona Cardinals: C-
31. Denver Broncos: UNGRADABLE
32. Washington Commanders: UNGRADABLE

I think the Dolphins had the best draft followed closely by the Panthers and Seahawks, the Dolphins just hit on so many picks but I felt like the Dolphins incredibly strong start and sheer number of picks gave them an edge. The Panthers came up just behind them with the number of picks being the difference maker. Miami had more picks and hit on all of them which was able to give them what I see as a better draft even with the Panthers getting better players in their earlier picks. The Seahawks come in behind the two juggernauts with a draft that was quietly one of the best but they didn’t have the amount of picks that the Dolphins had and their top players fell a little bit short of Carolina’s.

The Eagles lead the pack for the next tier of drafts with a really strong draft missing out on the first tier because while a great draft their best picks just couldn’t come close to matching the best picks of teams above them. The Jaguars cleaned up all the best players that teams let fall but jumping the gun a bit on a WR in the 2nd hurt them and was the difference between the A they got and the A+ they missed out on. The Texans also had a very strong draft but all the teams ranked above them had misses coming from the 6th round or later if they had misses at all and while all of the Texans picks were pretty strong those top teams didn’t pick someone who was the 4th best available in the early round except for the Jaguars but they had a stronger draft around that miss.

The Jets draft is hard because of the lack of picks but I grade based on what they had and the Jets had 6 really good picks, if they had 1 or 2 more they are an A team but even with me balancing things out for the amount of picks the Jets got bit by not getting more players. The Ravens started off super strong with 3 big hits but a real drop in quality after that aside from a gem in Chirinos has them right at the edge of the A’s.

The Browns started off really good but a combination of them running out of scouting points causing a drop in the quality of picks and their best picks not being as good as the top teams best picks has them land as the best of the B’s. The Bears are in a similar boat but the biggest thing was a big swing and miss on Mike Kim in the 5th round while not a big problem with so many great drafts little things like that are the difference between tiers. The Packers had a great draft but the theme of these B+ teams is just not having enough and the Packers didn’t have enough picks to get past a handful of bad picks. The Raiders had a great draft for what they were working with but at the end of the day the lack of a day 1 pick really hurt them as a star in the first round would have elevated the class a lot.

Buffalo had some real bright spots that could have put them with the Ravens and Jets but 2 really good 7th round picks were not enough to make up for taking a bad player in the 3rd and using a 4th on a position they really didn’t need. The Buccaneers had a really strong draft class but a questionable pick in the 3rd followed by 2 players that have an uphill battle to impact the team in any way. The 49ers had 3 really good picks but because of the rest of their draft just being average they end up a lot lower than their best picks suggest they should be. The Saints had a good draft but it wasn’t too special the lack of a star is evident when comparing it to the drafts ranked above them but with no real egregious missteps they slot in right at 16. The Cowboys only had 2 picks but grabbing 2 nice O-linemen puts them right at the end of the B’s.

The Titans had a good draft and if it weren’t for a 3rd round selection of Joe Yanda could have even gotten a B+ depending on how good the player they take instead is. The Rams did everything right and made 5 great picks but that was the problem, the lack of a true star combined with only having 5 picks hurt them. The Chargers had a super up and down draft hitting big twice in the 1st having some hits throughout the draft but missing at a similar rate prevented the class from being ranked higher and if they made the right choices maybe even being one of the top drafts. The Falcons had a draft I really liked but taking a CB a decent amount ahead of where he should have been taken and not having enough picks to help cover up a bad pick like that dropped them a bit. The Colts draft was on pace to be a pretty boring and unspecial draft but two hits in the 5th round gave it the boost it needed to get into B- territory.

The Chiefs are the best of the C range drafts and are a pretty good example of what makes a C range draft the lack of many highs and lows and a lot of ok picks give the Chiefs a solid draft but compared to other teams drafts it’s not great. The Vikings are a similar story a bit of a higher high combined with a lower low had them a bit lower but Fish  Vander Laan put the cap on a draft they gave the Vikings enough good players to counteract some things I didn’t love about their draft. The Steelers had a couple picks that I just didn’t understand and didn’t have enough to get too far past that but with 2 good hits they are just better than having what I see as an average draft. The Lions just managed to avoid an average draft Ricahrd Bianchi, Shaq Ryan, and Joel Chirinos do just enough heavy lifting to elevate this class to a C+.

The Giants are the first average draft, after starting off hot with Paul Canha they cool down a bit but still got a good player in Voth even if they passed on some better CBs by picking him, but after they take the wrong RB they don’t have enough to get up to a C+. With only two picks the Patriots grab a good WR in the 1st round even if they did pass on some better WRs but Dan King in the 6th hurt the class just enough to put them from what I had as a C+ to the bottom of the C’s.

The Bengals are another team that could have used a day 1 pick but without it the hits in round 4 and 5 just wasn’t enough to get them anything above a C-. The Cardinals had a pretty solid draft if you ignore 1 pick but I couldn’t understand why they would take a DE and the DE not being that good didn’t help at all.

 

The Broncos and Commanders are super cringe and at the bottom of the rankings. Pro tip all you have to do is make 1 pick and I talk about your team just trade for the last and 2nd to last pick in the draft take a meme player and then read about your team.

Edited March 31 by kgreene829
had to fix the required minor spelling mistake I see right after I post

[smackemz]

On 3/31/2024 at 11:04 AM, kgreene829 said:

Jadeveon Desir sucks. I have to be honest, Desir is really bad. I like to give teams the benefit of the doubt with picks that I don’t get and even have been reaching out to some teams asking them to explain the reasoning behind some picks but I am not even doing that for this pick because no amount of reasoning will get this pick a good grade

We actually didn't mean to draft him tbh.  It was a fat finger interface blunder. 

[kgreene829]

3 hours ago, smackemz said:

We actually didn't mean to draft him tbh.  It was a fat finger interface blunder. 

oh that makes sense lol