Tag Archives: Draft Rankings

NFL Draft

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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NFL Draft, Uncategorized

Top 10 interior defensive linemen of the 2024 NFL Draft:

Finishing up our first month of positional draft rankings, we close the chapter on trench warriors with the interior D-line. This group includes all players on the defensive side of the ball lining up anywhere from a zero- to a four-/five-technique depending on your labelling, although it’s rare to find such a clearly defined alignment roles these days. Just for clarification on how I will reference them:

0 = head-up on the center, 1 or shade = shoulder of the center, 2i = inside shoulder of the guard, 2 = head-up on the guard, 3 = outside shoulder of the guard, 4i = inside shoulder of the tackle, 4/5 = head-up on the tackle

This is a group that includes two incredible prospects worthy of top-20 selections and between five and seven other names that should go on day two. You can find useful players after that, but there is certainly a drop-off and you’re looking at role players or unrefined projects.

Let’s get into the list now:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior offensive linemen of the 2024 NFL Draft:

Week two of the big men portion as part of this positional draft rankings series is here and we start on offense yet again! This group includes guards and centers, where I’ll specify which of the three interior spots I believe guys can plug into at the next level, as well as potentially kick out to tackle in a pinch for a few of them, and also explain which offensive systems they’d optimally fit with.

This group is not as strong at the top specifically as the offensive tackle class, but I think we have at least two names worthy of going in the first round and the other nine (including one name who just missed the cut) all deserve to go on day two. After that, the rest of the group understandably has some flaws but also intriguing features, such as athleticism, raw strength or other to build upon. Let me quickly mention that this analysis is purely based on film evaluation, since there’s a medical situation to pay attention to with numbers three and six.

We’ll dive into the list now:



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NFL Draft

Top 10 edge defenders of the 2024 NFL Draft:

Finishing up week three of your positional draft rankings, we switch back over to the defensive side of the ball, with the guys threatening the edge against the offensive tackles we discussed a few days ago. The NFL has evolved to a point where we can group them together as EDGEs rather than having to use traditional 3-4 outside linebacker and 4-3 defensive end designations, although I will describe which roles I believe these prospects can fit at the end of each paragraph, along with analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, plus in which range I’d personally value them. At this point, I also want to re-iterate that my rankings are based purely on tape evaluation, without information on potential medical or off-field concerns.

This class hasn’t been discussed a whole lot I’d say because we don’t have a headliner like Myles Garrett, one of the Bosa brothers or Chase Young at the top, but there’s still plenty to like. Personally, I believe you can make a case for any of the top three names as EDGE1, depending on which type of player you’re looking for and they’ll all be inside my top-15 overall prospects. I could see about nine or ten additional guys hear their names called on day two, although I don’t see as many intriguing developmental projects in the middle to late rounds as the OT class featured.

I want to note that typically, I have used two or three paragraphs – depending on position – to describe the positives for each position. In this case, I simply used “run defense” and “pass-rush” and added a short line about them dropping into coverage, if I thought it was fitting, since none of these guys were asked to do that 100+ in any season, as far I’m aware.

Here’s the list:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 offensive tackles of the 2024 NFL Draft:

We talked about a lot flash with a tremendous wide receiver class last week and then while not as stacked with top-end talent, an incredibly deep cornerback group. Now, let’s transition to the trenches and start with the guys asked to block, so the quarterback can even get the ball out in the first place.

Although I don’t want to hype up all these positions, this is a strong stretch we’ve arrived at, because I would argue while we can discuss the order the two groups we just talked about plus offensive tackle are the top three classes overall. I have six names with legit first-round grades, about ten more who should go day two and then there are some very interesting developmental to take on shot rounds four through seven.

Three players who played tackle in college but will be part of my interior O-line rankings next week – Duke’s Graham Barton, Kansas’ Dominick Puni and TCU’s Brandon Coleman.

Here’s the list and I think we start off with a slight surprise for many people:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 linebackers of the 2024 NFL Draft:

After starting our positional draft rankings series with the running backs a couple of days ago, we look at the guys lining up across from them in the linebackers. Once again, I’ll be going through my top ten along with a couple of names that just missed the cut, discussing individual skill-sets, bringing up relevant measurables and statistics, potential scheme fits and how I personally value them as prospects.

Similarly to the running backs, this group lacks real top-end talent, most likely with no linebacker going in the first round, but it’s a fairly deep class with a good ten names who could be long-term starters in the NFL along with some guys who present intriguing skill-sets to be developed and/or fit in a specific role. Since it’s a relevant topic right off the bat here, let me remind you that I don’t have any access to medical reports or personal backgrounds beyond what’s freely available (which the NCAA doesn’t make a whole lot public). So my evaluations are all based on what the tape tells me, without being able to fully judge ancillary factors.

This is what my list looks like:

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NFL Draft

The top 100 overall prospects of the 2023 NFL Draft:

All position rankings for this year’s NFL draft are out. So now it’s time to combine them all into my personal big board! Along with the 100 names here, I added the “next 30”, since I felt bad for leaving them off, considering the difference between them and they last few guys who made the cut is fairly marginal and I would be fine with anybody from that group being picked on day two.

Just to clarify, this isn’t necessarily how I would end up selecting these players, because while I do take positional value into account to a certain extent, I obviously understand what certain draft capital is worth and the investments teams picking up high are in position to / should make.

With 13 prospects respectively, the wide receiver and edge defender groups lead the way, closely followed by 12 cornerbacks. Only five quarterbacks quite made the cut – with a couple slightly outside the top-100 – while interior offensive and defensive line are both only represented with eight names.

Here’s the full list:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 quarterbacks of the 2023 NFL Draft:

We have arrived at the end of our positional draft rankings for this year and of course we finish up with the most-discussed group – the quarterbacks. I like to always conclude this series with the signal-callers, because with all the other positions, I can tick boxes and rank them in a more straight-forward manner, while this is the toughest spot to evaluate. So many things have to go right in their development and more than anywhere else, landing spot is a major factor. I try to weigh physical talent, mental fortitude, the knack for being a play-maker and the poise these guys play with, in accordance to ever-changing demands for the position.

To me there’s a big three, that I can see in any order depending on who you ask, and all are worthy of being top-ten picks. Then there’s one prospect more I believe belongs in the first round, before we have a major drop-off to three names I have in the third- to early fourth-round range. The final three names I believe have the potential to develop into sport-starters, but I personally wouldn’t be comfortable with ahead of day three. Beyond that point, there are a few guys I think could turn themselves into quality backups, along a couple of names sprinkled in that have some starter tools, but are far from a point where they can be real-time contributors at the pro level.

Here is my final top ten for 2023:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 safeties of the 2023 NFL Draft:

We have arrived at the final defensive segment of our positional draft breakdowns! In this edition, we’ll look at the top safeties available, which is always a somewhat challenging group, just because of where you project guys to play at the next level already. Whether it’s cornerbacks who will make the transition or some guys who could be seen as safeties or pure sub-packagelinebackers.

This class includes three names just in my personal top five, who primarily played nickel at the collegiate level and actually project best to stay there as they move on to the NFL, but otherwise their skill-set lends itself more to safety than outside corner. The rest of the list consists of a bunch of combo safeties, who can fill a multitude of roles and will offer their future defensive coordinators flexibility in terms of how they’re deployed, even though they aren’t necessarily great in one specific area. That’s sort of a sign of the NFL becoming more split-safety centric, where those guys are asked to fill a lot of different shoes.

Here’s what the top-ten looks like for me, along with a couple of guys that just missed the cut:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 tight-ends of the 2023 NFL Draft:

We’re entering our final full week of positional draft rankings, as we’ve gone through an offensive and defensive group for four weeks already – running backs and linebackers, wide receivers and cornerbacks, offensive tackles and edge defenders, interior offensive and defensive linemen. Today we’ll be looking at what I believe is the best tight-end class of the last decade and then on Friday we shift to the safeties, before finishing up with quarterbacks.

Since I just praised the group as a whole, let me say that there are five guys I currently have top-50 grades on, plus another I have in the late second-/early third-round range. There is a certain drop-off after that, but this entire top-ten could potentially make it inside my top-100 big board next week and even beyond that, there are some intriguing options, to a point where we may see a couple TE2s stick on teams as undrafted free agents or at least late day-three selections. This is a class however, where I didn’t really struggle in terms of ordering the top-seven names. After that, there was some more debate for me.

This is what I came up with:


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