2021 NFL Draft Grades

Just looking at these numbers makes me want to cry. I’m honestly not sure what is worse: The four AFC Championships the Jets have lost in my lifetime, or the win that put Trevor Lawrence out of reach. He’s the prize of the class and Zach Wilson is not a close second.

Kyle Pitts looks outstanding, but I’d understand if Ja’Marr Chase is viewed as the safer choice at the top of the draft.

Penei Sewell has received some flack for short arms, but some of the best offensive linemen in NFL history had similar length. It shouldn’t be a major concern.

DeVonta Smith has received some flack for his weight. Marvin Harrison’s playing weight for most of his career wasn’t much heavier than what Smith currently weighs. Smith will bulk up a bit and should be able to handle NFL contact.

As for Quarterbacks Zach Wilson and Justin Fields, while their overall grades are quite similar, they have fairly different strengths and weaknesses. I’m actually quite concerned by how poorly Wilson faired against elite competition. I view Fields as the higher upside choice. I don’t want to refer to either as the “safer” choice, since there are no “safe” options after Lawrence (and even he might end up being a bust).

I find Trey Lance fairly intriguing and it’s unfortunate he didn’t get to face tougher competition over his career.

Mac Jones did a fine job playing within himself in the confines (and context) of the Crimson Tide offense. He made good decisions and was reasonably accurate. Having said that, unlike Burrow, they won with him, not because of him. I could understand him slipping into the top 10. I can’t see him going third overall to the 49ers. His raw skills simply don’t merit that.

I’ll start doing writeups for the top players in each positional group next week. Also, defensive positions are pretty fluid these days and I’ll try to provide some insight into how certain players can be used in various defensive systems.

Rank	Name	School	Position	Grade
1	Trevor Lawrence	Clemson	QB	98.16
2	Kyle Pitts	Florida	TE	93.85
3	Ja’Marr Chase	LSU	WR	93.26
4	Penei Sewell	Oregon	OT	92.47
5	DeVonta Smith	Alabama	WR	92.02
6	Patrick Surtain II	Alabama	CB	90.06
7	Jaylen Waddle	Alabama	WR	88.69
8	Micah Parsons	Penn State	ILB	87.60
9	Rashawn Slater	Northwestern	OT	86.11
10	Zach Wilson	BYU	QB	85.81
11	Justin Fields	Ohio State	QB	85.08
12	Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah	Notre Dame	OLB	84.51
13	Jaycee Horn	South Carolina	CB	83.83
14	Najee Harris	Alabama	RB	83.16
15	Caleb Farley	Virginia Tech	CB	82.67
16	Zaven Collins	Tulsa	OLB	82.36
17	Christian Barmore	Alabama	DL	82.01
18	Christian Darrisaw	Virginia Tech	OT	81.73
19	Azeez Ojulari	Georgia	EDGE	81.57
20	Travis Etienne	Clemson	RB	81.15
21	Trey Lance	North Dakota State	QB	80.46
22	Gregory Rousseau	Miami (FL)	EDGE	80.23
23	Alijah Vera-Tucker	USC	OG	79.75
24	Kwity Paye	Michigan	EDGE	79.59
25	Trevon Moehrig	TCU	S	79.38
26	Javonte Williams	North Carolina	RB	78.68
27	Jaelan Phillips	Miami (FL)	EDGE	78.57
28	Rashod Bateman	Minnesota	WR	78.47
29	Teven Jenkins	Oklahoma State	OT	78.39
30	Mac Jones	Alabama	QB	77.35
31	Greg Newsome II	Northwestern	CB	76.92
32	Creed Humphrey	Oklahoma	C	76.74
33	Nick Bolton	Missouri	ILB	76.70
34	Jayson Oweh	Penn State	EDGE	76.52
35	Levi Onwuzurike	Washington	DL	76.14
36	Kadarius Toney	Florida	WR	75.86
37	Wyatt Davis	Ohio State	OG	75.59
38	Liam Eichenberg	Notre Dame	OT	75.44
39	Pat Freiermuth	Penn State	TE	75.42
40	Jalen Mayfield	Michigan	OT	74.61
41	Terrace Marshall Jr.	LSU	WR	74.59
42	Eric Stokes	Georgia	CB	74.57
43	Rondale Moore	Purdue	WR	74.52
44	Carlos Basham Jr.	Wake Forest	DE	74.41
45	Jevon Holland	Oregon	S	74.35
46	Asante Samuel Jr.	Florida State	CB	74.27
47	Tyson Campbell	Georgia	CB	74.21
48	Alex Leatherwood	Alabama	OT	74.07
49	Samuel Cosmi	Texas	OT	73.56
50	Dillon Radunz	North Dakota State	OT	73.23
51	Joseph Ossai	Texas	EDGE	73.03
52	Elijah Molden	Washington	CB	72.75
53	Dylan Moses	Alabama	ILB	72.58
54	Daviyon Nixon	Iowa	DL	72.55
55	Quinn Meinerz	UW-Whitewater	C	72.25
56	Trey Smith	Tennessee	OG	71.95
57	Tylan Wallace	Oklahoma State	WR	71.43
58	Josh Myers	Ohio State	C	71.09
59	Joe Tryon	Washington	EDGE	71.07
60	Andre Cisco	Syracuse	S	71.06
61	Aaron Robinson	UCF	CB	71.05
62	Ronnie Perkins	Oklahoma	OLB	70.82
63	Elijah Moore	Ole Miss	WR	70.64
64	Nico Collins	Michigan	WR	70.56
65	Jabril Cox	LSU	OLB	70.47
66	Jamin Davis	Kentucky	ILB	70.22
67	Landon Dickerson	Alabama	C	70.02
68	Chazz Surratt	North Carolina	ILB	69.74
69	Jay Tufele	USC	DL	69.71
70	Aaron Banks	Notre Dame	OG	69.57
71	Richie Grant	UCF	S	69.44
72	Ifeatu Melifonwu	Syracuse	CB	69.35
73	Michael Carter	North Carolina	RB	69.05
74	D’Wayne Eskridge	Western Michigan	WR	68.90
75	Tutu Atwell	Louisville	WR	68.82
76	Jackson Carman	Clemson	OG	68.49
77	Hunter Long	Boston College	TE	68.45
78	Walker Little	Stanford	OT	68.33
79	Alim McNeill	North Carolina State	DL	67.61
80	Brevin Jordan	Miami (FL)	TE	67.47
81	Patrick Jones II	Pitt	EDGE	67.40
82	Amon-Ra St. Brown	USC	WR	66.93
83	James Hudson	Cincinnati	OT	66.90
84	Baron Browning	Ohio State	ILB	66.86
85	Shaun Wade	Ohio State	CB	66.72
86	Rashad Weaver	Pitt	EDGE	66.58
87	Chuba Hubbard	Oklahoma State	RB	66.51
88	Kyle Trask	Florida	QB	66.28
89	Kenneth Gainwell	Memphis	RB	66.28
90	Dayo Odeyingbo	Vanderbilt	DL	65.81
91	Payton Turner	Houston	EDGE	65.63
92	Kendrick Green	Illinois	OG	65.43
93	Tyler Shelvin	LSU	DL	65.41
94	Hamsah Nasirildeen	Florida State	S	64.90
95	Marvin Wilson	Florida State	DL	64.76
96	Paulson Adebo	Stanford	CB	64.74
97	Kellen Mond	Texas A&M	QB	64.69
98	Ar’Darius Washington	TCU	S	64.65
99	Richard LeCounte III	Georgia	S	64.25
100	Osa Odighizuwa	UCLA	DL	64.15
101	Dyami Brown	North Carolina	WR	63.79
102	Tommy Togiai	Ohio State	DL	63.67
103	Monty Rice	Georgia	ILB	63.33
104	Davis Mills	Stanford	QB	63.25
105	Cam McGrone	Michigan	ILB	62.98
106	Trey Sermon	Ohio State	RB	62.49
107	Tommy Tremble	Notre Dame	TE	62.43
108	Shi Smith	South Carolina	WR	62.41
109	Deonte Brown	Alabama	OG	62.30
110	Sage Surratt	Wake Forest	WR	62.23
111	Seth Williams	Auburn	WR	62.10
112	D’Ante Smith	East Carolina	OT	61.96
113	Spencer K. Brown	Northern Iowa	OT	61.77
114	Kary Vincent Jr.	LSU	CB	61.16
115	Talanoa Hufanga	USC	S	61.14
116	Pete Werner	Ohio State	ILB	60.48
117	Caden Sterns	Texas	S	60.35
118	Kelvin Joseph	Kentucky	CB	60.26
119	Marquez Stevenson	Houston	WR	60.20
120	Tre’ McKitty	Georgia	TE	59.97
121	Trey Hill	Georgia	C	59.45
122	Jaylen Twyman	Pitt	DL	59.42
123	Ben Cleveland	Georgia	OG	59.03
124	Chris Rumph II	Duke	EDGE	58.86
125	Benjamin St-Juste	Minnesota	CB	58.86
126	Ambry Thomas	Michigan	CB	58.81
127	Ernest Jones	South Carolina	ILB	58.51
128	Jamien Sherwood	Auburn	S	58.49
129	Amari Rodgers	Clemson	WR	58.41
130	D.J. Daniel	Georgia	CB	58.19
131	Demetric Felton	UCLA	RB	58.11
132	Trill Williams	Syracuse	FS	58.03
133	Kylin Hill	Mississippi State	RB	57.93
134	Larry Rountree III	Missouri	RB	57.64
135	Adetokunbo Ogundeji	Notre Dame	EDGE	57.59
136	Paris Ford	Pittsburgh	S	57.52
137	Marlon Tuipulotu	USC	DL	57.11
138	Drew Dalman	Stanford	C	57.05
139	Jack Anderson	Texas Tech	OG	57.03
140	Tamorrion Terry	Florida State	WR	56.93
141	Jordan Smith	UAB	EDGE	56.88
142	Jaylon Moore	Western Michigan	OT	56.81
143	Anthony Schwartz	Auburn	WR	56.69
144	Marco Wilson	Florida	CB	56.63
145	Damar Hamlin	Pitt	S	56.62
146	Frank Darby	Arizona State	WR	56.52
147	K.J. Britt	Auburn	ILB	56.43
148	Tyler Vaughns	USC	WR	56.43
149	Quincy Roche	Miami (FL)	EDGE	56.34
150	Tommy Doyle	Miami (OH)	OT	56.30
151	Tony Poljan	Virginia	TE	56.20
152	Rhamondre Stevenson	Oklahoma	RB	56.03
153	Tre Brown	Oklahoma	CB	56.02
154	Robert Rochell	Central Arkansas	CB	55.97
155	Shawn Davis	Florida	S	55.77
156	Milton Williams	Louisiana Tech	DL	55.76
157	JaCoby Stevens	LSU	S	55.70
158	Robert Hainsey	Notre Dame	OT	55.65
159	Brady Christensen	BYU	OT	55.60
160	Javian Hawkins	Louisville	RB	55.48
161	Shakur Brown	Michigan State	CB	55.47
162	Buddy Johnson	Texas A&M	ILB	55.45
163	Khalil Herbert	Virginia Tech	RB	55.43
164	Elerson Smith	Northern Iowa	EDGE	55.32
165	Bobby Brown III	Texas A&M	DL	55.08
166	Divine Deablo	Virginia Tech	S	55.00
167	David Moore	Grambling State	OG	54.98
168	Jamie Newman	Georgia	QB	54.71
169	Ihmir Smith-Marsette	Iowa	WR	54.71
170	Jermar Jefferson	Oregon State	RB	54.57
171	Cade Johnson	South Dakota State	WR	54.56
172	Royce Newman	Ole Miss	OG	54.52
173	Israel Mukuamu	South Carolina	CB	54.52
174	Adrian Ealy	Oklahoma	OT	54.35
175	Shaka Toney	Penn State	EDGE	54.17
176	Sadarius Hutcherson	South Carolina	OG	54.15
177	Jaelon Darden	North Texas	WR	54.09
178	Josh Palmer	Tennessee	WR	54.02
179	Dan Moore Jr.	Texas A&M	OT	53.91
180	Deommodore Lenoir	Oregon	CB	53.80
181	Khyiris Tonga	BYU	DL	53.46
182	Malcolm Koonce	Buffalo	EDGE	53.19
183	Kayode Awosika	Buffalo	OT	52.87
184	Tyree Gillespie	Missouri	S	52.82
185	Victor Dimukeje	Duke	EDGE	52.79
186	Keith Taylor	Washington	CB	52.68
187	James Wiggins	Cincinnati	S	52.59
188	Alaric Jackson	Iowa	OT	52.54
189	Kenny Yeboah	Ole Miss	TE	52.47
190	Bryan Mills	North Carolina Central	CB	52.44
191	Charles Snowden	Virginia	OLB	52.38
192	Tarron Jackson	Coastal Carolina	EDGE	52.26
193	Camryn Bynum	Cal	CB	52.18
194	Garret Wallow	TCU	OLB	52.11
195	Jamar Johnson	Indiana	S	52.10
196	Michal Menet	Penn State	C	52.00
197	Dez Fitzpatrick	Louisville	WR	51.89
198	Michael Carter II	Duke	CB	51.87
199	Rodarius Williams	Oklahoma State	CB	51.85
200	Brenden Jaimes	Nebraska	OT	51.66
201	William Bradley-King	Baylor	EDGE	51.61
202	Jaret Patterson	Buffalo	RB	51.55
203	Cole Van Lanen	Wisconsin	OT	51.49
204	Cameron Sample	Tulane	EDGE	51.49
205	Chris Evans	Michigan	RB	51.40
206	Simi Fehoko	Stanford	WR	51.37
207	Chauncey Golston	Iowa	DL	51.32
208	Naquan Jones	Michigan State	DL	51.30
209	Olaijah Griffin	USC	CB	50.83
210	Cornell Powell	Clemson	WR	50.53
211	Austin Watkins	UAB	WR	50.47
212	Daelin Hayes	Notre Dame	EDGE	50.40
213	Darius Stills	West Virginia	DL	50.23
214	Darren Hall	San Diego State	CB	50.06
215	Mark Webb	Georgia	S	49.87
216	Bryce Thompson	Tennessee	CB	49.72
217	Drake Jackson	Kentucky	C	49.65
218	Justin Hilliard	Ohio State	ILB	49.62
219	Tommy Kraemer	Notre Dame	OG	49.57
220	Wyatt Hubert	Kansas State	EDGE	49.56
221	Josh Ball	Marshall	OT	49.50
222	Paddy Fisher	Northwestern	ILB	49.45
223	Robert Jones	Middle Tennessee	OT	49.45
224	Jimmy Morrissey	Pitt	C	49.41
225	Drew Himmelman	Illinois State	OT	49.41
226	Dazz Newsome	North Carolina	WR	49.29
227	Noah Gray	Duke	TE	49.23
228	Elijah Mitchell	Louisiana	RB	49.21
229	Hamilcar Rashed	Oregon State	EDGE	49.11
230	Tedarrell Slaton	Florida	DL	49.04
231	Joshua Kaindoh	Florida State	EDGE	48.83
232	Cary Angeline	North Carolina State	TE	48.80
233	Sam Ehlinger	Texas	QB	48.71
234	Warren Jackson	Colorado State	WR	48.36
235	Thomas Graham Jr.	Oregon	CB	48.29
236	Tariq Thompson	San Diego State	S	48.28
237	Jonathan Adams Jr.	Arkansas State	WR	48.20
238	Javon McKinley	Notre Dame	WR	48.00
239	Larry Borom	Missouri	OT	47.92
240	Briley Moore	Kansas State	TE	47.91
241	Tony Fields II	West Virginia	OLB	47.47
242	Brandon Smith	Iowa	WR	47.34
243	Patrick Johnson	Tulane	EDGE	47.32
244	Trevon Grimes	Florida	WR	47.29
245	Amen Ogbongbemiga	Oklahoma State	ILB	47.20
246	Kylen Granson	SMU	TE	47.18
247	Malik Herring	Georgia	DL	47.06
248	Whop Philyor	Indiana	WR	46.99
249	Pooka Williams	Kansas	RB	46.92
250	Nick Eubanks	Michigan	TE	46.77
251	Joshuah Bledsoe	Missouri	S	46.71
252	Avery Williams	Boise State	CB	46.71
253	Isaiahh Loudermilk	Wisconsin	DL	46.66
254	Dylan Soehner	Iowa State	TE	46.62
255	Derrick Barnes	Purdue	ILB	46.55
256	Brady Breeze	Oregon	S	46.48
257	Matt Bushman	BYU	TE	46.32
258	Rachad Wildgoose	Wisconsin	CB	46.19
259	Janarius Robinson	Florida State	EDGE	46.18
260	Jhamon Ausbon	Texas A&M	WR	46.01
261	Rakeem Boyd	Arkansas	RB	45.90
262	John Bates	Boise State	TE	45.83
263	Christian Uphoff	Illinois State	S	45.57
264	Jose Borregales	Miami (FL)	PK	45.55
265	Foster Sarell	Stanford	OT	45.26
266	Quinton Bohanna	Kentucky	DL	45.24
267	Quintin Morris	Bowling Green	TE	45.13
268	Brandin Echols	Kentucky	CB	45.01
269	Mustafa Johnson	Colorado	DL	44.83
270	Ben Skowronek	Notre Dame	WR	44.75
271	Brenden Knox	Marshall	RB	44.72
272	Josh Imatorbhebhe	Illinois	WR	44.67
273	Jake Curhan	California	OT	44.64
274	Damonte Coxie	Memphis	WR	44.61
275	Osirus Mitchell	Mississippi State	WR	44.29
276	William Sherman	Colorado	OT	44.18
277	Jonathon Cooper	Ohio State	EDGE	44.16
278	Ian Book	Notre Dame	QB	43.96
279	Aashari Crosswell	Arizona State	S	43.77
280	Grant Stuard	Houston	OLB	43.57
281	Tay Gowan	Central Florida	CB	43.50
282	Carson Green	Texas A&M	OT	43.39
283	Nahshon Wright	Oregon State	CB	43.26
284	Isaiah McDuffie	Boston College	OLB	42.61
285	Raymond Johnson III	Georgia State	EDGE	42.52
286	Landon Young	Kentucky	OT	42.45
287	Pro Wells	TCU	TE	42.45
288	Tre Norwood	Oklahoma	CB	42.29
289	Trey Ragas	Louisiana	RB	41.75
290	Feleipe Franks	Arkansas	QB	41.42
291	Dax Milne	BYU	WR	41.29
292	Max Richardson	Boston College	OLB	40.72
293	Brennan Eagles	Texas	WR	40.58
294	Ryan McCollum	Texas A&M	C	40.04
295	Jonathan Marshall	Arkansas	DL	40.02
296	Erroll Thompson	Mississippi State	ILB	39.51
297	Ta’Quon Graham	Texas	DL	39.48
298	Shane Buechele	SMU	QB	39.44
299	Isaiah McKoy	Kent State	WR	38.72
300	Austin Faoliu	Oregon	DL	38.26

The Superb Owl

Both ESPN’s FPI and The Action Network are backing the Buccaneers.

FPI:

Buccaneers

12934

19271

0

TAN:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Buccaneers	0	8847	13182	0

AFC Championship Game

ESPN’s FPI is backing the Bills:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Bills	2572	3833	0

So is The Action Network:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Bills	3	13558	13965	0

NFC Championship Game

Tom Brady’s career playoff statistics are absurd. It’ll be a long time before we see anyone even approach his nine championship game wins. Given that, it’s not surprising to see ESPN’s FPI show some faith in him:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Buccaneers	14944	24956	0

The Action Network agrees:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Buccaneers	3.5	15918	15017	0

ESPN’s FPI is currently down $122,918

TAN is currently up $21,114

Buccaneers @ Saints on the History Channel

ESPN’s FPI is backing Old Man Brady:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Buccaneers	10427	15536	0

The Action Network is backing Brady as well:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Buccaneers	3	11739	11397	0

Cleveland @ Kansas City

ESPN’s FPI is sitting this one out.

The Action Network likes the Browns to keep it close:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Browns	10.5	5439	4317	0

Baltimore @ Buffalo

ESPN’s FPI has Baltimore as the slight favorite:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Ravens	14859	19762	0

So does the Action Network:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Ravens	2.5	13096	13227	0

LAR @ GB

ESPN’s FPI likes the Rams:

Ravens

14859

19762

0

So does The Action Network:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Rams	7	6276	5061	0

ESPN is currently down $97,9712

TAN is currently up $24,772

The National Championship Game

ESPN’s FPI is backing the Buckeyes:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Ohio State	15415	43625	0

So is The Action Network:

Team	Line	Risked	To Win	Result
Ohio State	9	15538	13873	0

As a Jets fan I just want Fields to have a monster game and stay healthy.

AFC 3-6

The Action Network is taking the night off. ESPN’s FPI is backing the Browns:

Team	Risked	To Win	Result
Browns	3329	7856	0