Tag Archives: NFL Draft prospects

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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College Football, NFL Draft

Biggest risers and fallers from the 2024 NFL combine

The 2024 NFL scouting combine is in the books and I’m here to tell you helped or hurt their draft stock working out in front of decision-makers across the league.

While you have to be cautious about what to do with that new information and what those testing numbers mean, they give us a reason to compare how things match up with the tape and if a couple of prospects are closely graded, this can be the decisive factor for how they ultimately stack up.

I present to you one name at each position that is currently on the rise and fall each:

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College Football, NFL Draft

Biggest standouts from the 2024 college all-star events:

The 2023/24 NFL season has come to a close, but we immediately transition into draft season, as all 32 teams have their eyes set on which young talent they want to bring in as their quest to Super Bowl 59 starts.

Some key events of the calendar have already taken place, when many of the top prospects tried to impress scouts and decision-makers across the league across multiple college all-star events. I did watch the Hula and Tropical Bowl games, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on the Shrine and Senior Bowl. For the participants there, I already had done some background work and could contextualize what I saw across three days of practice plus the actual games.

I’ll discuss the ten players on offense and defense each, who impressed me the most and should be moving up draft boards thanks to their performances – I actually ended up going with ten each for both events. At the end, I listed several other players who helped themselves during the early stages of the process.

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NFL Draft

My ultimate 2023 NFL Mock Draft (including picks for non-first-round teams):

We have made it! The 2023 NFL Draft is just days away and after grinding away at film of over 300 prospects, I’m once again trying to do the impossible exercise of predicting what will actually happen in the first round, along with showing love to the fanbases of those teams currently without a pick on day one and linking prospects to them.

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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 interior defensive linemen of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Finishing up our conversations on the top linemen inside and out on both sides of the ball, we end on the best interior defenders. While plenty of these prospects have flexibility in terms of alignment, based on main position, this list includes anything from a true zero-technique nose-tackle all the way out to a base D-end in a 3-4, lining up at five-technique straight across the offensive tackle.

This group includes what many consider the most talented all-around player in this draft. After that, I believe there are two more guys worthy of going in the first round, along with another three names I have second-round grades on and a kid who will go some time on day two I would think, largely dependent on how teams value a fairly narrow role. After that, there are a couple of names I value higher than consensus rankings and I think you can find useful pieces for certain roles way down the line potentially, but in terms of complete players that will play on all three downs, the board drops off pretty dramatically.

Here’s what it looks like to me:


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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:



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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:


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