Thor's NFL Draft Snap Grades

Baltimore Ravens | Snap grade: B+

Loved the first three picks. Fate of class will be decided by the soundness of Hollywood Brown’s foot, whether or not Sack Daddy Ferguson’s speed-to-power heavy game translates (myself and Jim Nagy are among the crowd that thinks it will, most of #DraftTwitter is on the other side), and whether Miles Boykin can play up to his athletic ability. The athleticism on Baltimore's offense with Lamar Jackson, Justice Hill, Hollywood, Boykin (and, to a lesser extent, Mark Andrews) is unreal. Dibs on Ravens in Madden. 

Buffalo Bills | Snap grade: B

The Bills absolutely crushed their first three picks. Buffalo is going to love Ed Oliver, or as I call him, John Randle 2.0. I thought the rest of the haul was pretty weak, but getting three potential immediate starters righte off the bat sure helps. 

Cincinnati Bengals | Snap grade: C+

Getting Jonah at 1.11 was clutch. I thought the Bengals had a regrettable Day 2, but they roared back with a strong Day 3.

Cleveland Browns | Snap grade: A-

Despite not having a first-round pick, the Browns emerged with a first-rounder — free-falling CB Greedy Williams. Assuming he’s healthy (rumors suggest the fall had to do with an undisclosed health concern), that’s highway robbery. The Browns also got a linebacker infusion with Tatitaki, a kid I'm bullish on, and Mack Wilson, whom the NFL gifted Cleveland a no-risk flier on in Round 5.

Mack shouldn't have declared -- I think he could have been a first-rounder next year if he'd answered questions the NFL had about him -- and is rawer than the linebackers Bama typically sends to the pros. Mack has been described as boom-or-bust. That's not exactly right. He's average-or-savage. He's an awesome special teams player whose floor as a linebacker is good backup/replaceable starter. What is that profile worth on a dirt-cheap four-year contract? A fifth-round pick or so, right? So you've now removed the risk from his profile and given Cleveland a coinflip chance of a boom for free. 

Denver Broncos | Snap grade: B

I’ve been a Drew Lock’s-not-a-first-rounder truther for over a year, but, even though I wouldn’t have done it, I’m not going to bash taking him at 2.42. I thought the rest of the picks were nice, particularly stealing Dre’Mont Jones in Round 3.

Houston Texans | Snap grade: B

The Texans could have traded a nominal amount of draft capital to move up a few spots to take Andre Dillard, and instead overdrafted Tytus Howard when the Eagles beat them to the punch. That was a regrettable sequence. But after that, the Texans killed it pick after pick.

Houston took verified #myguys Scharping and Warring. In addition to the Lonnie Johnson selection, that was three straight picks right around where I had them slotted overall. I felt like we were sharing draft boards. I wish I could grade them higher than a B, but they'd have had an A+++ with Dillard and only would have had to sacrifice a few late-rounders to do it. You do that. You just do.

The Eagles acquired No. 22 (Dillard) from the Ravens for No. 25 (Hollywood Brown), a fourth-rounder, and a sixth-rounder. Houston would've beat that offer with No. 23, a fifth-rounder (the Omenihu pick) and a sixth-rounder (the Crawford pick). Let me ask you, reader: Would you rather have Tytus, Omenihu and Crawford or Andre 300 and a UDFA DL like Daniel Wise and a UDFA CB like Derrek Thomas?

Indianapolis Colts | Snap grade: D

I assume #DraftTwitter will love this class, but I think the Colts, feeling themselves, got cute after the Rock Ya-Sin pick (and perhaps even with it). Banogu never put it together at TCU under one of the best defensive staffs in the nation, Parris Campbell can’t catch balls more than 10 yards downfield, and Indy may get very little out of their six Day 3 picks.

Jacksonville Jaguars | Snap grade: A-

Jacksonville destroyed their first two picks, getting one guy I didn’t think had any chance of dropping to 1.7 in the first place and then a guy many thought would go at 1.7 in the second. Outside of the bizarre Quincy Williams pick, I liked what Jacksonville was doing.

Kansas City Chiefs | Snap grade: D+

Thornhill was a really strong value at 2.63, and I think Darwin Thompson is going to surprise, particularly now that he wound up in KC. He’s a great receiver and a freak athlete in the Tarik Cohen mold. But, man, the Hardman pick was rough, and Fenton feels like a wasted pick. There were multiple UDFA WRs I would have preferred to Hardman.

The Chiefs could have traded back an entire round and gotten Hakeem Butler (the first pick in the fourth round). The Chiefs would have gotten a minimum of a 2020 third-rounder for their troubles (for context, the Saints gave the Dolphins No. 62, No. 202, and a 2020 second-rounder for No. 48).

Or, heck, they could have stayed put and taken D.K. Metcalf. Reader, there are three boxes. I'd like you to pick a present to give to Pat Mahomes, our lord and savior. Box A: Hakeem Butler, a fifth-rounder, and a 2020 third-rounder. Box B: D.K. Metcalf. Box C: Mecole Hardman. You give that choice to a thousand men, the only one who opens Box C is Brett Veach.

Los Angeles Chargers | Snap grade: A

Making one pick late in each round, the Chargers sat back patiently waiting as the NFL slid value pick after value pick into their slot. This was less a pillaging of talent and more of an audit on the NFL, and I loved it. Tillery is a triumphant pick at 1.28, for reasons you can read about in my defensive line deep dive (links to my position reports and top-500 board are on the bottom of page 2).

Adderley was my S1, Tranquill fits where the NFL is going at LB, and Easton Stick is a Taysom Hill-level sub-package offensive weapon option in the short-term who could turn into Phillip Rivers’ heir apparent in the long-term. I think this is what people miss about Stick: Even if he never becomes a starting-caliber quarterback, he's still at minimum a decent backup NFL quarterback who can do Taysom Hill things as a sub-package and special teams player.

So let me ask you another question, reader: Where does Taysom Hill go if you redraft the 2017 NFL Draft? What round? Okay, whatever you just answered, you need to bump it up a round to account for the possibility that Stick can develop enough as a passer to become a viable starter (he's objectively superior to Hill in this phase)

Remember: Stick's going to bring elite athleticism to the position (with a frame to take hits, unlike Lamar and Kyler), so he just needs to become, say, 85% of Mitch Trubisky as a thrower to provide 100% of the value that Trubisky does, due to the value of Stick's legs. He isn't seen as a steal of a fifth-rounder, but he is. Because his floor is Taysom Hill, and Taysom Hill would have been a fifth-rounder minimum in 2017, yes? 

Miami Dolphins | Snap grade: D-

I thought there were better options on the board than Wilkins, and the rest of the haul is forgettable.

New England Patriots | Snap grade: A-

And another one! Harry was an awesome pick, Winovich was a Round 3 steal, and I think both Cajuste and Froholdt will outplay their draft slots.

New York Jets | Snap grade: A

Sensational. You get the best player in the class at 1.3, you get strong value on all three Day 2 picks, and then you get the biggest steal in the latter portion of the draft in Blake Cashman in Round 5. Assuming Cashman’s shoulders hold up, he’s going to surprise.

Oakland Raiders | Snap grade: F

I actually loved what the Raiders did on Day 3, but I refuse to bump them up to a D- for the small-potatoes stuff. Thursday night, Mike Mayock’s first day in charge of the draft, was one of the most breathtaking squanderings of draft capital that we’ve even seen on Day 1 of the draft.

Mayock took a mid-first rounder at 1.4, a second-round passing-down back with 18th-percentile athleticism at 1.24*, and an athletically-limited one-trick-pony enforcer SS with 36th-percentile athleticism at 1.27 who I predict will be outperformed by more than one safety who went on Day 3.

*(laughably, this news was leaked months in advance, probably because Mayock had loose loops about his Jacobs affinity with his NFL.com friends, who helped stoke Jacobs' out-of-control buzz by mocking Jacobs in the top-five after the national title game — and yet no team bothered to hop Oakland for Jacobs, all the indication you need that Mayock and Jon Gruden were on an island with regards to Jacobs' value range).

These weren’t even Las Vegas-esque high-upside gambles. Where's the upside here? Can you envision Farrell becoming one of the class’ top-three players 20 years down the line? Can you envision Jacobs and Abram becoming top-25 players in this class? How? At their respective positions with their respective games in the moder NFL, each would have to become superstars to qualify.

Jacobs would have to become an every-down stud (something he's never been) and Abram would have to become at least "objectively good" in coverage (something he's never been), and both will have to get their without upper-tier athleticism. Those are two new cars whose value dropped by half as they were driven off the lot.

Pittsburgh Steelers | Snap grade: B-

The Steelers made a nice move up to take Devin Bush, my second favorite linebacker in this class, but their later selections were hit-and-miss. Both Zach Gentry and Benny Snell are replacement level pieces at best, and taking Diontae Johnson over Hakeem Butler was front office malpractice. That said, I was gaga for the selection of NIU’s Sutton Smith in the fifth round. He’ll will outplay that slot. Guaranteed.

Tennessee Titans | Snap grade: A+

This is how you do it. Simmons was an inspired pick — he likely would have gone in the top-10 if not for the ACL tear — and Brown, Hooker and Walker were all mega-steals. There's like a 22% chance that A.J. Brown will end up as this class' best receiver when we look back in 20 years. And his floor is as a volume-reception Leonard Fournette-sized athletic big slot. A.J. Brown is worth this slot even if he never develops even 1% better. What he is right now will play in the NFL. And he's probably going to keep improving.