NFL Draft

Recapping the 2018 NFL Draft:

The 2018 NFL Draft is in the books and there’s a lot of things to discuss. All 32 teams improved over the weekend, but there’s always some, who do more so than others, and several players were selected earlier or later than they should have been. Therefore, I want to point out my biggest winners and losers, steals and reaches of the draft.

Of course, there is a load of college prospects, who didn’t receive any call until the event was concluded, but for this article, let’s focus on those players, who actually were drafted. I couldn’t give an analysis on every single prospect mentioned, but you can find pretty much all of them among my positional rankings, if you’re interested.

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NFL Draft

First Round Mock Draft 2018:

Over the last six weeks, I put in a boatload of work to bring out my rankings and analyses on the top draft prospects at each position, followed by a top 100 big board. So now I’m happy to present my first and only mock draft. In recent years I always stayed with the original draft order, but since the first round usually is crazy and you see all kinds of trades, I decided to include them in this year’s edition.

To make this clear – this is a projection for what I think will happen on day one of the draft, not what should happen. I already disagree with the number one overall pick.

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NFL Draft

Big Board for the 2018 NFL Draft:

Now that we’ve finished up on the positional rankings, it’s time to put all those names in a hat together and rank them regardless of position. It is kind of hard, comparing a running back to a defensive tackle, but it comes down to this – if both these players were available, who would I pick regardless of my team needs? The top two guys on my list, I consider generational prospects.

If you want to read about any of them, I have in-depth analyses on every single one of them among my positional rankings. So make sure to check that out as well!

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NFL Draft

Top 10 quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Here we finally are! After spending more than a month on the rankings and analyses of the top prospects at each other position, we are down to the final one – the quarterbacks.

Unlike a lot of scouting pages and grading systems, I don’t weigh accuracy, arm strength, leadership or any of these abilities the same. I look at every factor and grade the total package.

This group of signal-callers includes six potential first rounders and there’s a solid chance four of the top five picks end up being spent on QBs. After that, there’s a lot of different opinions, on who the next guys are. I believe all of my top ten players have a shot at starting for an NFL franchise some day and a few guys at the top could be special players.

I really wanted to go in-depth with these quarterbacks, especially the top guys.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 safeties in the 2018 NFL Draft:

We are about to wrap this thing up! After we’ve talked about the running backs and linebackers, wide receivers and cornerbacks, offensive and defensive lines and now tight-ends just recently, we are down to the safeties, before finishing up with the QBs.

This safety group includes a bunch of different players and body-types. Some of them might lack the speed for a high-safety role, others might not have the physicality to come down in the box, and then there’s a bunch of them, who have the versatility to take on different tasks. The NFL is looking for matchup pieces and the safety position has never been this diverse.

In my rankings, I have two safeties, who I believe are both top ten prospects. After that, a lot of the evaluations depend strongly on taste and scheme fit. I could see up to ten safeties drafted within the first two days in Dallas.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 tight-ends in the 2018 NFL Draft:

We have come to the final three positional rankings, leading up to the draft. This week I’m going to talk about the tight-ends and safeties, before finishing up with the quarterbacks. Let’s start with the big pass-catchers.

Talking about this position group is always interesting, because there are so many different types of players. You have the true Y-tight-ends, who play in-line and are big parts of a team’s rushing attack, or what basically are big slot receivers nowadays, who don’t want to block at all, plus everything in-between.

There are six tight-ends, who I believe are worthy of a selection through the first two days of the draft and one, who I have a late first-round grade on.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 edge rushers in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Back on the edge with this version of my positional rankings. Today I want to take a look at the defensive side of the ball, since I talked about the top offensive tackles a couple of days ago. I categorize 4-3 defensive ends, 3-4 outside linebackers and sub-package pass-rushers as edge defenders.

This class has one headliner, who has a good chance of being the first defender off the board, and four more prospects, who could hear their names called on day one of the draft. All in all, I see a dozen players at the position selected within the first three rounds.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2018 NFL Draft:

After talking about the top interior offensive and defensive linemen last week, we move outside to the offensive tackles and edge rushers. Once again, I’m going to start with the offense and take a look at this tackle class. In a pass happy league, pass protection has to be the main factor for those guys protecting the edges, but I want to see them move people in the run game as well.

This group has two guys, who should absolutely be drafted in the first round and another one, who will end up in my top 50 as well. After those three, my rankings might vary strongly from the mainstream media, but I’m trying to project who I think will develop into quality starters and not necessarily who is ready to go day one.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Now that we’ve talked about the top interior offensive linemen, it’s time to jump back to the defensive side of the ball and look at their direct opponents. This position group includes all players along the interior of the defensive line. So they can go from a true nose in a 3-4 to base defensive ends in a five-technique and any spots in-between, like shade nose players or penetrating three-techniques.

I think this unit has some immense talent, but most of the prospects aren’t nearly fully developed. Of my top ten (or rather eleven) guys, seven are underclassmen and one of the seniors comes from a Division II college.

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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior offensive linemen in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Time to go into the trenches! After talking about skill-positions over the last two weeks, I want to shift my focus on the offensive and defensive lines. In this edition of my positional rankings, we are taking a look at the top interior O-linemen available in the draft.

There is one standout prospect, who I believe is one of the top three overall players available. Behind him, I think there are three more potential first-round picks and even after those, there are up to four guards or centers, who I think are worthy of a second round selection. To me, this class of interior OL is the best we’ve seen in a couple of years now.

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