We’re closing week two of this series, where I go through all eight NFL divisions with a heavy focus on the draft and the player acquisition process generally, as we look at the AFC East.
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NFC East Draft & Roster Review 2024
Entering week two of our divisional draft & roster review series, we take a deep dive into the NFC East.
Once again, I will deliver short scouting reports on each individual player selected by these team, what the roster currently looks like and their fit within it, before finishing up with my general thoughts on what these teams did. At the end of the video, I rank the four draft classes against one another.
AFC North Draft & Roster Review 2024
After kicking off our divisional draft and roster review series with the NFC North earlier in the week, we’re switching conferences and look at the Ravens, Bengals, Browns and Steelers!
I’ll quickly break down each of their new players and relate them to what the rest of the roster and their role within it could look like!
NFC North Draft & Roster Review 2024
Now that we’ve arrived at what I consider the actual “off”season, it’s time to bring back my divisional draft rankings series!
Over the next month, I’ll be taking a look at all 32 NFL franchises, going division-by-division, alternating between NFC and AFC. I’ll deliver quick scouting reports on every single player they drafted, discussing the state of the team’s roster and how these new additions fit in, trying to understand what their roles may look like.
And we’re starting things off with the NFC North!
Undrafted free agents from 2024 who could make an early impact:
The 2024 NFL Draft has come and gone, as we wrap up our extensive coverage of this stage of the league calendar. Before we sort of transition over into the final stages of discussing how teams have built up their rosters, discussing how the new additions fit in across my divisional draft and roster review series starting next week, I wanted to show some love to a few players who didn’t actually hear their names called over the course of the weekend in Detroit.
Just last year, I called out Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent, who ended up starting four games, Vikings linebacker Ivan Pace Jr., who was a borderline Pro Bowl performer, and Buccaneers defensive back Christian Izien, who was their quasi-starter in the slot. So there’s always still talent to be found once the draft is wrapped up and while opportunity has to be taken into account here, in the right situation there are UDFAs that could play significant roles as early as this season, even if it’s not in a starting capacity necessarily.
Here are some names, who I believe are capable of contributing and are in a situation where they could get a chance to do so:
Recapping the entire 2024 NFL Draft:
The 2024 NFL Draft is in the books and it’s time to recap all the action. Thursday started off pretty chalky until the Atlanta Falcons sent shockwaves across the internet when they selected Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall. We didn’t see a defensive player selected until pick number 15. Late in the first round leading into day two, we saw a big run on wide receivers, which the depth of the class was illustrated by 35 total names coming off the board. Offensive tackle came in close behind that with 27 selected and cornerback actually edged out the WRs by one more taken (36), as the two other quality position groups. The big surprise was that we didn’t just get six quarterbacks inside the top-12 to set a new record, but then it took 138 additional spots before we got to QB7.
In this article, I’m going to break down the biggest winners and losers from the weekend, which can be teams overall in terms of the hauls they put together, individual players, coaches or general managers. After that, we’re getting to the biggest steals and reaches, based my individual rankings, consensus boards and general circumstances. All of this of course comes with a certain level of subjectivity and it’ll be another three years before we can make any definitive statements on these new members of the NFL, but I strongly believe in team-building through the draft, understanding where you can acquire value, how to maneuver around the board and how this piece fits into the puzzle, as you consider the way you’ve positioned yourself coming in and the vision behind the operation.
Let’s get into it:
My ultimate 2024 NFL Mock Draft (including picks for non-first-round teams)
Draft week is here, as we’re only days away from Chicago Bears being officially put on the clock, and it’s time for me to reveal my final mock draft!
This is based on what I think will happen – which was as challenging as I can ever remember in a year, based on how much uncertainty we have near the top already – rather what I would do if I was running these 32 franchises.
Top 100 prospects of the 2024 NFL Draft:
Over the last six-and-a-half weeks, I’ve analyzed the skill-sets of the top ten draft prospects at each position in detail. Now it’s time to put it all together and present my personal big board – numbers one through 100, plus the next 30 names. The way to look at this is thinking of me as a scout for the generic 33rd NFL team, without taking needs and preferences for the franchise into account.
In retrospect, we already knew wide receiver would be insanely deep, illustrated by 17 guys making the cut, but the counterpart group of the cornerback doesn’t finish too far behind with 13 names on here. Meanwhile, running backs and tight-ends are the least-represented groups, with only five guys each. The quarterbacks have driven the conversation throughout the pre-draft process, but you’ll see here shortly that I’m not as high on the group past the top two names as the general consensus.
Keep in mind, I noted injury or off-field concerns with a star (*) and depending on how well I could actually judge how they should impact rankings, I took them into account. The one prospect I excluded here was Texas interior D-lineman T’Vondre Sweat, who we aren’t sure about exactly what the arrest for DWI means for his draft stock.
This is how the board stacks up for me:
Top 10 safeties of the 2024 NFL Draft:
We’ve arrived at the final defensive edition of our positional draft breakdown series. Earlier this week, we discussed the tight-end class, so now it’s time to look at their counterpart – the safeties. With nickel being the most common personnel grouping these days, the body/player type you choose in the slot is crucial for how you can structure the rest of your defense, which I’ll reference the term “big nickel” for, meaning what on paper is a safety being put in that spot, whether that’s for matchup purposes or more importantly run defense on early downs in particular. The labels “strong” and “free safety” are inadequate for today’s game, since barely any teams use them in anymore. More common now is to split the field into boundary (short side) and field/wide side.
This safety group lacks big names at the top, where the two that were commonly found in way too early mock drafts have since slid down the board and it seems highly unlikely we’ll see one selected in the first round. I do still believe there is one that belongs in the early second range at least and this class is surprisingly deep I’d argue, where altogether I believe we see eight or nine taken on day two and then there’s a bunch of package/role players and designated special teamers with plenty of experience on defense, to some degree with pretty diverse roles.
Here’s how I have them stacked up:
Top 10 tight-ends of the 2024 NFL Draft:
In our first month of the positional draft breakdown series, we already discussed running backs, linebackers, wide receivers, cornerbacks, offensive tackles, edge defenders, interior offensive and defensive linemen. This week, we’ll be taking a look at the tight-ends and safeties, before we finish up with the long-awaited quarterback rankings.
This group is obviously headlined by a player who has dominated college football the last three years and has been destined to sit atop this list ever since he was a true freshman. After that, there’s another player who should be a top-50 pick. From that point onwards, these rankings can look a lot different depending on what you personally value and which type of player you’re looking for. I personally have three other names that belong inside the top-100, along with one more guy who could easily be up there with a clean medical bill. The depth in this class is certainly underwhelming however and I would think we’re looking at 15 or 16 total TEs drafted.
Since I mentioned it just now, these rankings are solely based on film analysis, without taking any injury or off-field concerns into account. And for the purposes of this exercises, a “Y” tight-end refers to a player playing on the ball next to the offensive tackle, an “F” is your more modern move option – which also includes big slot players – and an “H-back” or wing is someone lining up off the ball, either on the hip or just behind the tackle.
Let’s now get into it:
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