NFL Draft

Top 10 interior offensive linemen of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Continuing our discussion on the players in the trenches for this draft class, we’re moving on from offensive tackles and edge defenders to interior offensive and defensive linemen this week. As always, we’ll start on the side that has the ball and then transition to the guys lining up across from them on Friday. This group includes offensive guards and centers, which I’ll clarify if I believe the names mentioned fit better at specific spots or if they are capable of filling multiple roles.

This isn’t one of the strongest IOL classes we’ve seen in recent years, but there are two prospects worthy of going in the first round, three other guys in the top-50 range and about four more names who could go on day-two. Where I was surprised as I started digging deeper were some of the guys currently projected to go sixth/seventh round or even undrafted, who I believe could stick on NFL rosters for a while. So they may not come up here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a bunch of guards and centers get picked late.

This is what my top-ten looks like, with a little bit of cheating and one name at the bottom, who I couldn’t really slot in:



Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 edge defenders of the 2023 NFL Draft:

This officially marks the halfway point of our positional draft rankings. We’ve already broken down the top running backs, linebackers, wide receivers, cornerbacks and most recently offensive tackles. So now it’s time to look at this massive group of edge defenders, which is a much better way to classify these prospects, rather than calling them 4-3 defensive ends or 3-4 outside linebackers. Due to how hybrid NFL fronts are these days anyway, I like to lump those together, although I will mention their best schematic fit a few times and talk about how versatile coaches can be in how they deploy these guys.

We have a consensus top-three overall prospect headlining this group, but I don’t believe EDGE2 is too far behind him, especially when you look at what the NFL typically values. After that, I kind of look at the class having three tiers, where the first one consists of four names, who I all have first-round grades on, then the three guys in the next group I think deserve top-50 consideration and after that, there’s at least another four I consider day-two prospect. However, even beyond that point, there are several intriguing players, who I think can have legitimate roles at the next level, with varying degrees of physical upside compared to pro-readiness.

Just to clarify – Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore, Auburn’s Colby Wooden and Michigan’s Mike Morris I have all labelled as “IDL”. That list will come out next week.

For now, let’s get into this edge class:


Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 offensive tackles of the 2023 NFL Draft:

We’ve arrived at the big-boy portion of our positional draft rankings! After already breaking down the best running backs, linebackers, wide receivers and cornerbacks of this class, we will spend these next two weeks talking about the guys inside the trenches both inside and out for offense and defense – and we are starting with the offensive tackle position!

I believe there are four small-dunk first-round players among this group, who can all be week-one starters, with varying degrees of technical advancement compared to physical upside. After that, there are five names, who I’d have no problem with all going inside the top-75, including a couple of athletic specimen, who aren’t close to the potential of players they can become one day. At number ten, there’s one more highly talented prospect, who may actually go earlier than a few names I have listed above him, based on the ceiling he presents. After that, you’re looking at more so serviceable players, who will largely be backups, along with a couple of underdeveloped kids you may want to take a flyer on day three, if you have the edges of your O-line secured for now.

Just to clarify – North Dakota State’s Cody Mauch will see his name listed among the interior offensive line.

Here’s how I have this group stacked up:


Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 cornerbacks of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Switching back over to the defensive side of the ball here in week two of our positional draft rankings, we go from the wide receivers to the guys that will be lining up across from them on Sundays – the cornerbacks. I project most of these names to play outside primarily, but some of them may end up moving inside for their future team. However, I did not include names like Alabama’s Brian Branch or Illinois’ Jartavius Martin, who did line up in the slot for the most part in college and may also do so in the NFL, but project better as safeties, if they did side into another role.

Similar to the wide receivers, this is an incredibly deep group and I had to study more than 30 guys, in order to feel comfortable about my ultimate rankings. However, the difference is that we have two legit top-ten overall prospects and there are at least four other names worthy of being discussed in the first round. Beyond that, I think the rest of my top-ten and even the two names in the “just missed” category should be off the board after round two. And once again, we are far from done, in terms of guys I believe will find their way onto an NFL field.

I don’t want to waste any more time now and discuss this group:


Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 wide receivers of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Week two of our positional draft rankings is here. After breaking down the top running backs and linebackers in this year’s class, it’s time to talk about these wide receiver prospects. Once again, these are simply my personal rankings, without taking team fits and needs into account. So these boards will look a lot different depending on who you ask and especially with this position, I believe there will be a lot of variance for how teams have guys stacked up.

I believe there’s a pretty clear top tier, which includes four names we’ve all commonly seen get mocked in the first round. I don’t believe there’s a Ja’Marr Chase in this class or that this is as strong a group as we had last year, with Drake London and the two Ohio State guys. However, all four of these names should go on day one. After that, there’s a significant gap to the next group, which is where I have a few names mixed in, who I rarely hear being brought up. The rest of the top ten will all be top-100 prospects for me and at the end, I talk about one more guy, who I really struggled to find a place for. The real strength of this class however is the abundance of day-three targets, where altogether I watched more than 30 prospects with a chance of contributing at the next level.

Let’s dive into this:


Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 linebackers of the 2023 NFL Draft:

After kicking things off with the running backs earlier this week, we’re switching over to the defensive side for the first time for these positional draft breakdowns and look at this linebacker class. Especially as we get to these positions on defense, where what you covet depends so much on what your scheme asks of players and how play-callers utilize these guys, boards will look a lot different for each team. So this is just me looking at this from a more general standpoint and ranking these prospects based on how valuable their skill-sets can be for the NFL.

It’s kind of an ambiguous group of linebackers this year I believe, because as we get to the edge defenders a couple of weeks from now, you’ll see that there’s some overlap, where a player may be defined differently depending on who you ask. Wisconsin’s Nick Herbig for example will be part of my edge rundown, rather be listed here.

I don’t think there’s a single clear-cut first-rounder, taking positional value into account, but the first four names should all go in the second round and then there’s about seven names I think have a case to go in the third. After that, there are quite a few names, who can fill a certain role and contribute on special teams, but overall there are just too many guys I think are undersized or lack a certain quality, for me to call this a strong class.

This is how I have these names stacked up:


Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Top 10 running backs of the 2023 NFL Draft:

It’s positional draft rankings time! As I outlined on social media and my most recent video on the biggest risers and fallers from the NFL combine, over the next five-and-a-half weeks, I will be releasing top ten lists for each position in the draft. That means two groups every week, starting with running backs and linebackers, and I will follow that theme of talking about an offensive position first and then their defensive counterpart (wide receiver – cornerback, offensive tackle – edge defender, etc.).

As far as this running back class is concerned, we have a legit superstar prospect at the top, who draft evaluators have long held in high regard and were just waiting for to declare. I also think there’s a pretty clear number two – who might actually be underdiscussed – and number three has remained steady throughout this process for me as well. After that, you can argue there’s about ten names in one big bucket, where it largely depends on what flavor your team is looking for. Not all of them will, but I would have no problem with any one of them coming off the board before day. Even after that, there are a lot useful players, who you can find in the later rounds and be contributors for you to a certain degree.

This is how I have them stacked up:

Continue reading →
Standard
NFL Draft

Biggest risers and fallers from the 2023 NFL Combine:

Over 300 prospects from this year’s draft class showcased their athleticism this past week in Indianapolis, and as is the case every year, some of them helped themselves with their performances while others didn’t so much.

I decided to outline one player for each position, who I expect to rise up draft boards and another who’s probably falling right now, based on their respective performances.


Standard
NFL Draft

Mapping out the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Originally, I didn’t intend on writing about anything football-related this week, since there’ll be a ton of discourse coming out of Indianapolis over the next few days and I have a big recap of the scouting combined planned in video form next week. However, as team personnel and media members get together and information is exchanged, I thought we should take a sober look at the NFL landscape before smokescreens are about to be put out there and people are trying to create different narratives, specifically as it pertains to the draft. Of course, there’ll be legit storylines coming out of this as well, but you can’t allow this new information to change your view too much here.

So I decided to sort of create a blueprint for what I believe the first round may look like on April 27th, based on having watched all the players on tape – without testing numbers influencing our opinion – and understanding how different teams operate, what their needs currently are and how they may approach the offseason. I’ll be walking you all through picks one to 31 (or 32, if you count Miami’s forfeited selection) and break them up into certain segments, which could alter what happens next.

Let’s start with …


Continue reading →
Standard