Tag Archives: NFL Draft Rankings

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:


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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:


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NFL Draft

The 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:


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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:

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NFL Draft

Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2022 NFL Draft:

Two weeks into my positional draft rankings, we have arrived at the big boys! Today we’re looking at the best offensive tackles, before we get into the guys coming off the edge later this week. If you enjoyed reading my detailed analysis of this class, feel free to always read up my top running backs, linebackers, wide receivers and cornerbacks.

Back to this group – I believe there is clear top three, which at this point all seem like top-ten locks – and deservedly so. After that, there’s a significant drop-off, before we get to four other names, that I have graded in the late first to late second-round range. Rounding out my top ten, I believe the three remaining prospects are worthy of later day two picks, before we get into a bunch of guys, where either they can give you quality snaps early or have the talent to develop into starters down the road, but they all have certain limitations or questions.

And as a quick side note, there may be a few names that you feel like are missing here, because they qualified as interior offensive linemen for me, which I’ll break down next week. Some notable players that pertains to: Tyler Smith (Tulsa), Sean Rhyan (UCLA), Darian Kinnard (Kentucky), Andrew Stueber (Michigan) and Zach Tom (Wake Forest).

Let’s get into these tackles:

 

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Two weeks into my positional draft rankings, we have arrived at the big boys! Today we’re looking at the best offensive tackles, before we get into the guys coming off the edge later this week. If you enjoyed reading my detailed analysis of this class, feel free to always read up my top running backs, linebackers, wide receivers and cornerbacks.

Back to this group – I believe there is clear top three, which at this point all seem like top-ten locks – and deservedly so. After that, there’s a significant drop-off, before we get to four other names, that I have graded in the late first to late second-round range. Rounding out my top ten, I believe the three remaining prospects are worthy of later day two picks, before we get into a bunch of guys, where either they can give you quality snaps early or have the talent to develop into starters down the road, but they all have certain limitations or questions.

And as a quick side note, there may be a few names that you feel like are missing here, because they qualified as interior offensive linemen for me, which I’ll break down next week. Some notable players that pertains to: Tyler Smith (Tulsa), Sean Rhyan (UCLA), Darian Kinnard (Kentucky), Andrew Stueber (Michigan) and Zach Tom (Wake Forest).

Let’s get into these tackles:

 

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NFL Draft

Top 10 running backs in the 2022 NFL Draft:

We have arrived at the time, where I’m ready to present my top ten draft prospects at every single position. Leading up to the final weekend of April, I will put my top ten list for all of them – along with some honorable mentions – one after the other, alternating between offense and defense, basically as counterparts to each other.

Concerning the criteria, this is purely based on tape study, while I back up my case for the final spot in the rankings with advanced statistics and testing numbers to some degree. Injuries and off-field situation can/will not be taken into account, although it may reflect itself in my finalized big board, as long as I have enough information on physical conditions.

With that being said, let’s kick things off with my top ten running backs:


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