NFL Draft

Top offensive tackles in the 2017 NFL Draft:

After talking about some of the most talented position groups in the running backs and safeties last week, I’d like to take a look at one of worst offensive tackle classes in a while.

When you read about scouts’ opinions you see that there is no clear-cut number one prospect across the boards and you understand that if you need someone at the position you either grab him early or try to find somebody in free agency. To me there are three prospects in the top 40, but after them there’s a pretty significant drop-off. On the other hand, I have to say there are some intriguing developmental guys in the middle- and later rounds.

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Draft

Top safeties in the 2017 NFL Draft:

After ranking my top running backs in the draft a couple of days ago, I now look at a defensive position group, to be more accurate I list my top safeties in this class.

Similar to the RBs this safety group is one of the best I’ve seen in years. I could see at least five guys get drafted in the first round and the about same number going in the second. I also love the diversity when I see one-year studs, four-year stars from the FCS as well as guys who played on the outside all of their collegiate career.

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Draft

Top running backs in the 2017 NFL Draft:

This ranking of the running backs will kick off my evaluations of the top prospects at every position in this year’s draft over the next few weeks. So make sure you check in to read my rankings leading up to April 27th.

In today’s passing league we often talk about how the running back position is being devalued, but with guys like Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon turning into stars early in their career, people in the draft room will start to bet their money on those young runners. This class has elite quality at the top and depth throughout. I focused on my top ten+ prospects, but I went deeper in my evaluations. So if you want to have my reports on any other players just let me know in the comments.

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Draft

Who impressed at the NFL Scouting Combine:

After the NFL Scouting Combine over the weekend and yesterday I wanted to list the players who stood out the most in Indianapolis. John Ross breaking the record for the 40-yard dash at 4.22 probably made the most noise, but he didn’t do any of the on-field drills. For me it’s more about who had the best all-around performances. Here are some of those guys:

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Draft

Whose draft stock is rising right now?

With an epic Super Bowl taking place in Houston not many people (who aren’t scouts or GMs) have paid a lot of attention to the college athletes entering the NFL. I watched the East-West Shrine and Senior Bowl practices and games for you to catch up to who improved their draft stock the most. Here are the players who helped themselves the most:

Continue reading

Standard
Storylines around the NFL

First- and second-year NFL players who aren’t talked about enough:

There have been a couple of spectacular rookies who have been in the conversation all year like Dak & Zeke in Dallas or Joey Bosa in San Diego, but there are a lot of very good rookie and sophomore players who rarely anybody talks about. They migt not all have put up huge numbers, but they are stars in the making.

Continue reading

Standard
Power Rankings

Top 10 defenses in the NFL right now:

Defenses run the table right now. Other than Pittsburgh’s and Atlanta’s high-powered offenses it’s the defensive units that have carried the premier teams over the first five weeks. Sure those team’s offenses make the critical plays and Tom Brady will be the main figure in New England from now on, but the top defenses have made the winningest teams go. The criteria for what makes those units elite has changed over the past decade or two, since the focus has shifted more to being able to lock down receivers and mix coverages well, but I feel like being able to make offenses one-dimensional by shutting down the run has a lot of value.

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Offseason

Biggest roster holes in the NFL:

No roster in the NFL is perfect. Good players move on if they don’t get paid as much as they would like, draft picks don’t always meet expectations and there’s a cap limit because of which teams don’t have the money to invest equally in every position. So it’s not only the teams who select early in the draft who would like to upgrade some position groups. All of them would benefit from that. So here are the biggest holes on some of the NFL’s rosters.

Continue reading

Standard
NFL Draft

Biggest winners and losers, steals and reaches from the 2016 NFL Draft

It was a very eventful and surprising three days in Chicago and all teams improved their roster. So now it’s time to look at who benefited most from the draft and who had to come out of it with some form of disappointment. The lists include both teams and players and at the end I put up the biggest steals on this year’s board and which players I thought didn’t present a good enough value at the spot they were taken. None of them are ranked in any particular order.

Continue reading

Standard