https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/nate-davis/2024/04/27/nfl-draft-grades-2024-team-classes-ranking-cowboys-steelers/73378215007/
With the 2024 NFL draft complete, it's time to hand out grades. Which teams topped our ranking of the best team classes, and which fell to the back?
I always love the random unqualified dudes grading whether teams drafted according to their completely baseless draft board.
Edit: and yes, I have taken advantage of the fact that I told YouTube TV to record every NCAA game last year to go back and cut up every play of Drake Maye last year (so far only two games in) so I can also pretend I know what I'm talking about.
I mean tbf, this is the kind of thing that I feel like everyone is unqualified. Like, how are you supposed to know all the prospects AND all the needs of every team. Like, even all the nfl teams have a bunch of people to work on this all year, and that's just for the needs of ONE team!
Which is why almost all the coverage is a complete waste of time. I don't really value drafting for need conceptually, but very few coaches have the adaptability to just integrate any great player into their scheme (as an example exception, see Bill Belichick defenses. He's had damn good defenses with great ball hawk zone guys who couldn't play man, great man blitz heavy, 3-4, 4-3, 3 safety, etc.) So ignoring that most picks aren't ever going to be good enough to contribute to any NFL team, most teams are going to have pretty strong requirements in terms of scheme fit that very few outside the building really understand.
Doing the exercise myself (after the fact, because I can't force myself to suffer through college football), I am curious how many of them have access to actual film. Because TV copy is brutal. You don't see anything down the field until the ball is thrown.
These critics should drop using letter grades, in favor of Victoria Jackson’s movie rating system:
…and then award, like 15 stars to one team, and 3.5 to another.