NFC Draft Grades
by Weedseed1 | 6 years ago | 0 Comments
NFC Draft Grades
(NFC North)
Weedseed
Oh the NFC North… home of cheese heads and the purple people eaters. Is this the season Trent puts it together? Can Beech play spoiler for and sneak into the playoffs? Will the Vikings finally be as dominate as we all thought they were going to be? Will the Lions continue to overachieve? This division could be a fun one or a dull one and a lot of that hinges on how these teams did in the draft so let's dive in to how these NFC North teams did.
Detroit Lions
Best Pick: Houston Redding QB
Worst Pick: Vaetuitonga Porton DT
Grade: B+
The Lions get a B+ almost entirely because of quarterback Houston Redding. Redding is without question the best qb in this draft, and I would argue the best prospect since Hillman. Redding doesn’t have a cannon, but makes up for that with very nice mobility. This is the type of qb whos athleticism decreases interceptions(But increases fumbles), and if used properly can give no hope to the rest of the NFC North. They scored a nice linebacker later in the first with Conner who really can run, but totally whiffed on third round defensive tackle Porton. Porton should not be on a roster with low 70’s strength, and low 60’s speed he is not athletic, he's not strong, and has poor block shedding and pass rush attributes. Plenty rosterable players in the 3rd and Porton is not one. Lions smashed the 1sts round, but were pretty lackluster from then on giving them a B+.
Green Bay Packers
Best Pick: Miles Purvis LB
Worst Pick: Nat Porter DT
Grade: B
Is it just me or does it seem like the Packers draft a linebacker in the first every year? Anyways, the Packers had a pretty good draft, value wide. Purvis isn’t quick/ss dev, but is ready to start out of the box anyways. 2nd round guard Charlie Medina is one of the better value picks in that round, and really what I thought was there worst pick, wasn’t an awful pick and still demands a spot on a roster with above average athleticism for an interior linemen. With 2 season to go, I did expect the 10th pick to be a bit more impactful like maybe corner Hanna to help with the a quickly depleting secondary. Overall, not bad and a solid B grade for this class.
Chicago Bears
Best Pick: Deandre Draft CB
Worst Pick: Will Mercilus HB
Grade: C+
The Bears went all in this offseason for defensive backfield spending big in FA on Vernon Hargreaves and Jack Wendling, then to go cornerback with the 5th pick in the daft. Draft is a top fleit corner and instantly elevates the play of this secondary and should match up well with Vikings new toy in Ricky Conner. With the rest of the division getting more explosive, secondary does look to be the best counter, but I do wonder how much the Bears looked into QB Houston. Overall, the Bears draft was just okay. 3rd round tackle Christian Arkin looked to be a good pick with nice athleticism and strength, but with slow dev, most likely won’t develop in time to be an impactful player. This team didn’t wow me in this draft and this class belongs in the middle of the pack, C+.
Minnesota Vikings
Best Pick: Dewitt Simon DE
Worst Pick: TJ Scott HB
Grade: B
The Vikings came into this draft with a small amount of draft capitol trading first round pick to the Dolphins for wide receiver Ricky Conner, but still were able to find rosterable players late in the draft. 3rd round pick guard, Russ Sullivan, is in that same late round linemen mold with low strength, but at 21 years old, has some really nice run blocking attributes with 85 run block and 92 impact. My favorite pick of this class is defensive end Dewitt Smion. Not as athletic as Cowboys defensive end Woodyard, but if a lot more polished coming in with 89 power move.Great value for a 4th rounder. Worst pick is running back TJ Scott. Scott doesn’t have good or even avg elusiveness or trucking, making his ceiling very low and his only saving grace is that he has 90 speed and accel. Not the worst of the worst picks as he was a 5th rounder. Overall, good value for most picks, B grade.