Grade Your Team’s Draft

[BigKen]

Patriots get a B.
I love some of our picks and we get some immediate impact and some solid players.
We also get a lot of projects which prevent the A grade.

B+

The entire 2018 draft with the exception of Sony Michel were on the IR. The Patriots will have 10 2019 rookies and 9 2018 IR returnee rookies. There is a boatload of talent to refresh the World Champs.

I can't wait until July.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Denver Broncos

Round 1
Pick 20 (20)
Noah Fant TE Iowa

Round 2
Pick 9 (41)
Dalton Risner OL Kansas State

Round 2
Pick 10 (42)
Drew Lock QB Missouri

Round 3
Pick 8 (71)
Dre'mont Jones DT Ohio State

Round 5
Pick 18(156)
Justin Hollins EDGE Oregon

Round 6
Pick 15 (187)
Juwann Winfree WR Colorado
______________________

I'd say Denver gets a B+. Only thing keeping it from an A is we didn't get a stud ILB who can really take advantage of Fangio's history at making LB's great. But our 1st 2 picks will be instant starters, Lock will sit at least a year(maybe 2 depending on how Flacco does but getting Lock at 42 when most people had us taking him at 10 is amazing value), and Jones should see quite a bit of playing time this year as well. As for Hollins and Winfree you don't see many Day 3 players have an immediate impact but they provide some good depth.

Denver had a very good draft IMO. Stud ILB would've meant trading up or missing out on one of your first three picks. Just not a lot of stud ILBs this year.

 

[Southieinnc]

B+

The entire 2018 draft with the exception of Sony Michel were on the IR. The Patriots will have 10 2019 rookies and 9 2018 IR returnee rookies. There is a boatload of talent to refresh the World Champs.

I can't wait until July.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...eams-2019-patriots-giants-raiders/3594666002/

 

[kburjr]

All depends om how Gary pans out. B+ if he shows up and c if he crashes. Their next 3 picks are solid. The last 3 are projects. If one make the final roster it will be a success. My money is on the ND RB.

Lots of talent in the undrafted pool. Like to see them sign a bunch pf OL and find that gem in the pile. Beau Benzschawel of Wisconsin comes to mind.

 

[PhilSimms11]

(1)QB Daniel Jones-Duke
(1)DT Dexter Lawrence-Clemson
(1)CB Deandre Baker-Georgia
(3)DE Oshane Ximines-Old Dominion
(4)CB Julian Love-Notre Dame
(5)ILB Ryan Connelly-Wisconsin
(5)WR Darius Slayton-Auburn
(6)CB Corey Ballentine-Washburn
(7)G George Asafo-Adjei-Kentucky
(7)DT Chris Slayton-Syracuse

Incomplete grade. Time will tell how well the Giants drafted. Hopefully, they have 4 Hall-of-Famers in there as did the '74 Steelers.

 

[SJ76]

B+


First 3 picks are studs. If the other picks hit, it would be an A.


Should be an A just for the fact that Seattle passed on Taylor Rapp. That kid is a beast and everyone in Warshington knows it but the Seawags

 

[Gman]

New York Giants

• Daniel Jones - QB
• Dexter Lawrence - NT
• Deandre Baker - CB
• Oshane Ximines - OLB
• Julian Love - CB
• Ryan Connelly - ILB
• Darius Slayton - WR
• Corey Ballentine - CB
• George Asafo-Adjei - OL
• Chris Slayton - DL

Not even gonna try to give a letter grade... which even in the best of circumstances, means little in the immediate aftermath of a draft. Too much rides on Jones... whether he turns into a player or not... and on that question, who knows?

So leave Jones out of it, then... I'm very happy that the Giants focused heavily on defense and I think they got a good mix of players and potential here.

Super excited about the makeover of the CB position. This went from an area of weakness with frighteningly bad depth to an area of optimism and potential strength. Remember that the Giants got CB Sam Beal in the supplemental draft last season and he basically red shirted... so a lot of young talent here to go with Janoris Jenkins. I think Julian Love is one of the steals of the draft.

The Giant are a bad team and had too many holes to fix in one draft... but I like this as a start. That aside: the lion's share of any assessment here will come down to Jones... is he a player... or not?

 

[Battlelyon]

B+


First 3 picks are studs. If the other picks hit, it would be an A.


Should be an A just for the fact that Seattle passed on Taylor Rapp. That kid is a beast and everyone in Warshington knows it but the Seawags

Gaines is a huge gain in talent at NT

 

[deanpet21]

New York Giants

• Daniel Jones - QB
• Dexter Lawrence - NT
• Deandre Baker - CB
• Oshane Ximines - OLB
• Julian Love - CB
• Ryan Connelly - ILB
• Darius Slayton - WR
• Corey Ballentine - CB
• George Asafo-Adjei - OL
• Chris Slayton - DL

Not even gonna try to give a letter grade... which even in the best of circumstances, means little in the immediate aftermath of a draft. Too much rides on Jones... whether he turns into a player or not... and on that question, who knows?

So leave Jones out of it, then... I'm very happy that the Giants focused heavily on defense and I think they got a good mix of players and potential here.

Super excited about the makeover of the CB position. This went from an area of weakness with frighteningly bad depth to an area of optimism and potential strength. Remember that the Giants got CB Sam Beal in the supplemental draft last season and he basically red shirted... so a lot of young talent here to go with Janoris Jenkins. I think Julian Love is one of the steals of the draft.

The Giant are a bad team and had too many holes to fix in one draft... but I like this as a start. That aside: the lion's share of any assessment here will come down to Jones... is he a player... or not?

The Giants should of had the Skins draft in Haskins and Sweat. I ddint understand why the Giants took Lawrence over Sweat. You guys don't have any pass rushers to speak off. Isnt a pass rusher more valuable that a run stopper? The Jones vs Haskins debate will go on for years.

 

[SJ76]

Gaines is a huge gain in talent at NT

I agree. Not sure if he will be better than Brockers at NT out of the gate but he’s strong and will be a good asset at the LOS.

 

[Gman]

The Giants should of had the Skins draft in Haskins and Sweat. I ddint understand why the Giants took Lawrence over Sweat. You guys don't have any pass rushers to speak off. Isnt a pass rusher more valuable that a run stopper? The Jones vs Haskins debate will go on for years.

Only time will tell, of course... no point in debating Haskins vs Jones right now, IMO... their play on the field is the only thing that's gonna decide that question.

Regarding Lawrence over Sweat... the Giants had/have holes everywhere on defense... they literally couldn't go wrong with regards to filling a defensive need at that pick.

The Giants couldn't stop the run at all towards the end of last season... so no problem with the Lawrence pick for me.

Pass rush for the GMen is still a huge question mark... but like I said earlier, the Giants had too many holes to hope to fill all of them in one draft.

 

[jarntt]

Denver Broncos

Round 1
Pick 20 (20)
Noah Fant TE Iowa

Round 2
Pick 9 (41)
Dalton Risner OL Kansas State

Round 2
Pick 10 (42)
Drew Lock QB Missouri

Round 3
Pick 8 (71)
Dre'mont Jones DT Ohio State

Round 5
Pick 18(156)
Justin Hollins EDGE Oregon

Round 6
Pick 15 (187)
Juwann Winfree WR Colorado
______________________

I'd say Denver gets a B+. Only thing keeping it from an A is we didn't get a stud ILB who can really take advantage of Fangio's history at making LB's great. But our 1st 2 picks will be instant starters, Lock will sit at least a year(maybe 2 depending on how Flacco does but getting Lock at 42 when most people had us taking him at 10 is amazing value), and Jones should see quite a bit of playing time this year as well. As for Hollins and Winfree you don't see many Day 3 players have an immediate impact but they provide some good depth.

I'm not saying it's a bad pick and I get all of the pre-draft hype for both and I get that the scouts seemed to like both a lot, but something about having a thousand guys to pick from and making the 2nd best TE on a team a top 20 pick would worry the crap out of me. The odds of both of these guys being top 20 players when all is said and done just seems incredibly unlikely.

 

[jarntt]

I have no guess on what grade to give the Cowboys draft. They didn't have a first rounder and certainly didn't go the route that most fans expected/wanted. This current group (led by McClay) has proven to be as good as anyone in the league at picking talent so I was happy to read that they picked players that THEY had rated highly and in particular with McGovern a guy who was by a mile the highest rated guy left on THEIR board.

I am a BPA guy and I don't worry about a draft that might not provide a year 1, week 1 impact and I don't worry about picking particular positions of need, that's what Free agency is for. Most importantly I don't think any mock drafts are worth anything other than wiping your ass on. Every media guys puts them out and none of these guys really have a clue and most just copy every other draft, whether consciously or sub-consciously. I think most fans/"experts" rank teams drafts based on how the picks ranked on the consensus mocks which is just ridiculous. I think other than top 10 picks you don't necessarily worry about year 1 and it is short-sighted to draft guys solely for immediate impact.

So while I can't put a grade on guys I just don't know that well, I was very happy to read that the Cowboys stuck to their board with their early picks

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Pittsburgh
1.10 - Devin Bush, LB Michigan
3.66 - Dionta Johnson, WR Toledo
3.83 - Justin Layne, CB Michigan St
4.122 - Benny Snell Jr, RB Kentucky
5.141 - Zach Gentry, TE Michigan
6.175 - Sutton Smith, OLB N Illinois
6.192 - Isaiah Buggs, DT Alabama
6.207 - Ulysees Gilbert, LB Akron
7.219 - Derwin Gray, OT Maryland


Thoughts:

Bush... Excellent trade value for grabbing Bush. Really hope he pans out, but on paper they got a steal in terms of trade up value. They’ve been scouting this kid for multiple years, and were foaming at the mouth to draft him. Can’t fault them for pulling the trigger when Denver didn’t demand more than what they did. A

Johnson took a lot of us by surprise. But we know better than to doubt Colbert & his WRs. Tape looks like an AB clone. B

Love the Layne pick. Very surprised to see a handful of CBs go off the board before Layne. Got some late 1st pre-draft buzz. Excellent value. A+

Snell... Excellent physical runner. Not incredibly athletic but has good vision and decent short area burst. Should solidify the RB corps. B-

Gentry... Really confused by this pick. After losing Jesse James they have a big home for a blocking TE. Scouting reports say Gentry is not a good blocker, more does he have reliable hands. Thinking this might be a panic pick after Moreau got taken 4 spots ahead of this. D-

Smith... Love this pick. Kid absolutely dominated the MAC. He’ll transition to OLB in the Steelers schemes. Might take some time, but he’ll be a productive STs guy this year. A

Buggs... Interior DL guy that was widely considered overrated. Led the Bama defense in sacks last year, but had a lot to do with the supporting cast. Still only drafting for a depth piece so no pressure for him to contribute right away. Steelers D-Line coach is Karl Dunbar, the former Bama D-line coach. He is supposedly ecstatic over getting him. C+

Gilbert... Productive college career and looks like a decent project, but the LB room is loaded and this was a waste of a pick. He seems destined for the PS but who knows. C

Gray... Necessity for competition on the line. Probably should have picked this position sooner but i’ll take it. C+

Overall... B or B- . They filled a lot of needs, and got some good depth pieces. Only 2 picks do I really not care for. Decent draft!

You've done such a great job, that I will just piggyback my thoughts.

B+

Steelers went into this draft with no immediate starting needs after FA...but everyone knows Barron and Moncrief are most likely stop gap players. Only losing 14 draft spots to move into the top 10 and getting a plug and play MACK ILB was huge.

The few detractors I talked to are pointing to them staying at 20 and getting Savage and moving up in the 2nd rd for a CB was the better move or taking Brian Burns at 10...I like both players, but don't agree...the DEF sorely needs a Mack LB that can do it all in lieu of trying to cover up for him with sub packages.

CB...again didn't need a starter, but Layne offered good value and is starting caliber talent, should get a real shot to start in 2020.

TE...tend to agree with you here. I also think the pick they wanted was taken and they decided to stick with the position. I liked the guy we got in the SportsHoopla mock better, but I do like the fact that one of his better skills is catching the ball so we'll have to see if he can be more effective than JJ was in that dept.

Other picks...the 2 LBs both seems like they will end up inside, Dirty Red gets some company. Snell was talked about down here in ATL...PIT they like their big RBs, he fits....good depth pick. Buggs likely will end up at DE...don't see him playing NT at all....like the Gray pick to pad the OL coffers.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I'm not saying it's a bad pick and I get all of the pre-draft hype for both and I get that the scouts seemed to like both a lot, but something about having a thousand guys to pick from and making the 2nd best TE on a team a top 20 pick would worry the crap out of me. The odds of both of these guys being top 20 players when all is said and done just seems incredibly unlikely.

When you're in a DIV with a team like KC that has that big TE that is mostly a big WR the middle of the field and mismatches are hard to defend. I can see being a highly targeted TE. Can he be the playmaker that Kelce is...idk, but thought it was a good pick for DEN/Flacco.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I have no guess on what grade to give the Cowboys draft. They didn't have a first rounder and certainly didn't go the route that most fans expected/wanted. This current group (led by McClay) has proven to be as good as anyone in the league at picking talent so I was happy to read that they picked players that THEY had rated highly and in particular with McGovern a guy who was by a mile the highest rated guy left on THEIR board.

I am a BPA guy and I don't worry about a draft that might not provide a year 1, week 1 impact and I don't worry about picking particular positions of need, that's what Free agency is for. Most importantly I don't think any mock drafts are worth anything other than wiping your ass on. Every media guys puts them out and none of these guys really have a clue and most just copy every other draft, whether consciously or sub-consciously. I think most fans/"experts" rank teams drafts based on how the picks ranked on the consensus mocks which is just ridiculous. I think other than top 10 picks you don't necessarily worry about year 1 and it is short-sighted to draft guys solely for immediate impact.

So while I can't put a grade on guys I just don't know that well, I was very happy to read that the Cowboys stuck to their board with their early picks

I think you take mock drafts way to literal...I agree with you in terms of their worth...but it's just BS fun, no more, no less...the guys that get paid to make them really don't know a whole lot more than we avg joes do, but a few have carved out a decent living in ad revenue....more power to 'em.

BPA always solid drafting, but truthfully it's kinda going out the window to a large degree. Teams try to fill needs with what they feel is the best talent, often leaving better football players on the board. Supply and demand impacts the draft board a lot more now than it ever has.

This yr it was 3 down ILB...the powers that be felt there were only 2 guys that could do that from day one, they both went top 10. Are they going to be top 10 players? We don't know, doubtful for off the ball defenders, but not many ILBs were taken within the top 100 players drafted.

The grading stuff is mostly about filling needs and what caliber player filled the need.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Given what the Chiefs had to work with? B-. If Hardman is an actual player and not just fast, then there's a lot to like with what they did.

 

[deanpet21]

Only time will tell, of course... no point in debating Haskins vs Jones right now, IMO... their play on the field is the only thing that's gonna decide that question.

Regarding Lawrence over Sweat... the Giants had/have holes everywhere on defense... they literally couldn't go wrong with regards to filling a defensive need at that pick.

The Giants couldn't stop the run at all towards the end of last season... so no problem with the Lawrence pick for me.

Pass rush for the GMen is still a huge question mark... but like I said earlier, the Giants had too many holes to hope to fill all of them in one draft.

So you value run stoppers over pass rushers? You can make the argument that Sweat could of been the pick at #6. He dropped b/c of a misdiagnosis medical report not talent.

 

[beardown07]

Considering the limited picks that the Bears had, they did OK. I like David Montgomery in the 3rd. He seems like a Matt Forte type of back. (Tho, I kinda think trading Jordan Howard was dumb, but I digress)..

The only thing I really don't get with our draft is taking another RB in the 7th. 2 RBs out of 5 picks seems a little goofy to me, and I'm not super-stoked about Riley Ridley(WR) with their 2nd pick, but the Bears were in an unfamiliar spot this draft, with no real glaring needs and a pretty complete roster already in tact.

I'll give it a C+. Would be higher if not for the 2nd RB pick

 

[Gman]

So you value run stoppers over pass rushers?

Not necessarily. More fundamentally I value the better player over the lesser player.

Who will be the better player out of the two... ?... only time will tell.

You can make the argument that Sweat could of been the pick at #6. He dropped b/c of a misdiagnosis medical report not talent.

That may have been an issue with Sweat... the extent to which it was is arguable, and I would personally hesitate from characterizing that as the only issue with him.

Sweat is a good prospect, but he is not without flaws otherwise... power being one.

Don't get me wrong, I like Sweat and would be happy to have him... but NFL teams have their own research into health concerns and are not just reading the headlines like you and I... Sweat fell even after the more positive medical report came out.