Category Archives: NFL Draft

NFL Draft

Top 10 linebackers in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Continuing my series on the top ten prospects at each position, I want to take a look at this year’s class of linebackers. To make this clear – I differentiate between interior defensive linemen, edge rushers and off-the-ball linebackers. So this list won’t include guys like Arden Key or Harold Landry, who most would call 3-4 outside linebacker, because they primarily will still play on the line, despite maybe not putting their hand in the dirt a lot. So these upcoming prospects can be anywhere from true 4-3 middle linebackers to outside guys in a scheme with three down-linemen, if I think they will have a large role off the ball as well.

This linebacker class has a quadruple of headliners and then a bunch of guys, who I have rated very closely together. Of course, these lists deviate strongly depending from team to team, depending on their defensive scheme and what their coaches value. The trend that is clear with these guys though, is the fact, that the NFL is looking for more and more athletic guys at the position.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 running backs in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Over the next six weeks, I will break down my top ten (plus) prospects at each position heading into the draft in late April. These rankings are solely based on what I’ve seen on tape and in pre-draft events. Neither do I have exclusive medical reports of these players, nor did I have the chance to sit down with each and everyone of them. Today I’m starting with the running backs.

Much like last year, this RB class has a lot of talent at the top and depth throughout the top 20 or so. While there is a clear number one guy for me, from two until fifteen, there will be a multitude of opinions and my rankings may vary heavily from the mainstream media, once we get past the top spots. Here it is:

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NFL Draft

NFL Combine standouts 2018:

With the combine wrapped up in Indianapolis, I wanted to take a look at who impressed the scouts with their numbers and on-field workouts. While the tape is clearly the main material for evaluating these prospects, putting them into positions, that might reveal their weaknesses, can go a long way in telling you what someone can’t do. On the other hand, with a great showing at this event, players can force scouts to go back to their film, because of how well they performed and showed something, the evaluators didn’t expect them to be able to do. Either way, here are my standout performers over the weekend:

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NFL Draft

Biggest question marks for some of the draft prospects:

Every year, there’s some NFL prospects with major question marks going into the pre-draft season. While a large portion of the film work already done, they have a chance to impress scouts at the combine and their respective pro days, forcing those guys to go back to the tape and re-evaluate what they’ve seen from these young men. Of course, you can’t analyze quarterbacks going through their progressions or safeties reading route-patterns in shorts, but there are some details to keep your eyes on. I picked out ten (or rather eleven) players, who are looking to hear their names called early on in late April and will have to prove some of their doubters wrong, to fulfill that dream.

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NFL Draft

Senior Bowl week standouts 2018:

This week down in Mobile, Alabama is one of my favorite ones of the year. More than a hundred of Senior prospects for this upcoming draft are put into positions, where they are comfortable in, but also some they are not used to. The organization’s staff does an excellent job bringing together some of the top talents in the country and it’s not just about these kids from the big-name schools, but rather they give some lesser known guys a chance to show off. This really is a chance for young players to boost their draft stock. Look no further than Temple’s Haason Reddick a year ago, who went from being considered a potential late day two pick, to being selected 13th overall by the Arizona Cardinals. We saw some superstars emerge from this event in recent years and there’s a good chance someone on this list will be in that category a few years down the line.

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NFL Draft

Biggest winners, losers, steals and reaches of the 2017 NFL Draft:

The 2017 NFL Draft is in the books and every team got better last weekend. Yet, some teams did a better job than some others and a couple of players got help via the draft. On the other hand, there are a few prospects who saw their draft stock drop and they had to wait longer than expected to hear their name called, while a bunch of them did not have their phones ring at all. Here’s a recap of what happened in Philly:

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NFL Draft

Sleepers in this year’s draft:

The 2017 NFL Draft is only a couple of days away and while everybody’s discussing what will happen in the first round, I wanted to shine some light on the prospects that not everybody might know about, but that I really like. Most of them will be selected on day three, even though they are really good players. There’s no actual criteria for what is defined as a sleeper. I just looked at where these guys are listed on the big boards if the major networks and compared it to my rankings.

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NFL Draft

First Round Mock Draft 2017:

With the 2017 NFL Draft less than a week from today, I finally put up my predictions for the first round. It is basically impossible to predict all the picks, because of the crazy things happening on draft day every year, whether that be trades or last-minute information coming up, which led to Laremy Tunsil sliding pretty far last year. I decided to leave the order the way it is and try to mock the first round that way. The number one pick should be easy, but nobody really knows for sure what will happen from there on. Each pick can have a domino-effect on the entire draft and things could shape up completely different. Here’s what I came up with:

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NFL Draft

Top 100 players in the 2017 NFL Draft:

Over the last five weeks I ranked my top prospects at each position in the draft. Now that I’ve finished evaluating them all and putting lists together, I compiled all of that into a top 100 big board. The crazy part about this list is that it includes a total 27 defensive backs. On the other hand I have only six quarterbacks and offensive tackles respectively on my board – the two most important offensive positions according to most coaches. This is an extremely deep draft at so many positions, which kept some great players off my list, so I added ten more names.

Different to my positional rankings, I took injuries and off-the-field concerns into account. If you are interested in analyses on the top prospects at each position, you can find them all right here.

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NFL Draft

Top quarterbacks in the 2017 NFL Draft:

After publishing my rankings on all the other positions in the draft, I want to wrap things up with the quarterback class. Overall this is a pretty weak group of signal-callers coming into the league for this upcoming season. There are four of them that could end up being selected in the first round because of how many teams are looking for a QB. After that the other players available all have question marks, whether those are injuries, a lack of size or arm strength, accuracy or decision-making. Personally I would only select two of them in the first round and maybe another five on day two.

I watched tape on a few other guys if you want my opinion on them, but this is a very good and deep draft at many positions. Some teams will reach to find their solution at the most important position, while better prospects stay on the board.

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