There’s no reason for a lot of preamble. We’re going right down the alphabet, grading each team’s complete draft. In this group we see how a Super Bowl runner-up tries to fill its biggest need and a couple of surprise top-level grades for teams no one expected to make any noise in the draft.
Buffalo Bills
The haul: Shaq Lawson, DE, Clemson – Round one, Reggie Ragland, ILB, Alabama – Round two, Adolphus Washington, DT, Ohio State – Round three, Cardale Jones, QB, Ohio State – Round four, Jonathan Williams, RB, Arkansas – Round five, Kolby Listenbee, WR, TCU – Round six, Kevon Seymour, CB, USC – Round six
The Bills really needed to add a legitimate quarterback in this draft and there’s an easy argument to make that they didn’t. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Where Buffalo ruled this draft was pretty much every pick outside of Cardale Jones. They took two players with first-round grades with their first two picks, then in the third round got a DT with a second-round grade. Williams at running back will be an impact player and Listenbee will lay down his own highlight reel by the end of the season.
The sore thumb on this winning hand is Jones, who not only shouldn’t have been drafted in the fourth round, but probably not drafted at all. On a roster with Tyrod Taylor and E.J. Manuel, Jones is the last guy you add to that mix. Once he signs his contract he’ll be the only QB they have under contract for the 2017 season. Seems to me that Rex Ryan has played with enough scrub quarterbacks in his day that he’d be exhausted by that prospect by now.
Grade: A-
Carolina Panthers
The haul: Vernon Butler, DT, Louisiana Tech – Round one, James Bradberry, CB, Samford – Round two, Daryl Worley, CB, West Verginia – Round three, Zack Sanchez, CB, Oklahoma – Round five, Beau Sandland, TE, Montana State – Round seven
My wife watches those “reality” shows where dumb rich women argue and yell at each other for 30 minutes a week and each one of them tries to work in their catchphrase once an episode. I, by virtue of some kind of osmosis, have picked up on these as I walk past the television. My favorite is “Oh, you tried it.” I think it fits the Panthers draft perfectly.
The desperation to find a cornerback for the Panthers to replace Josh Norman is palpable in this draft. They should have just gone corner the whole way, but probably got embarrassed so they took Sandland in the seventh instead. Out of all these guys I like Sanchez the best, but they all should turn into NFL corners. Do any of them have the ability to turn into Norman? No one has a clue but the Panthers did what they could by adding the bodies at the right spots.
Grade: C+
Chicago Bears
The haul: Leonard Floyd, OLB, Georgia – Round one, Cody Whitehair, OG, Kansas State – Round two, Jonathan Bullard, DT, Florida – Round three, Nick Kwiatkoski, ILB, West Virginia – Round four, Deon Bush, Safety, Miami – Round 4, Deiondre’ Hall, CB, Northern Iowa – Round four, Jordan Howard, RB, Indiana – Round five, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Safety, William & Mary – Round six, Daniel Braverman, WR, Western Michigan – Round seven
The Bears slid right into this draft under everybody’s radar and had one of the best three days possible. As the “home team” in the Chicago-based draft, it’s only fitting. Floyd was the exact player they needed and they made sure they’d get him in the first round. Whitehair was the best guard in this draft and could have been a first rounder himself. Bullard definitely had some first round grades.
My favorite player in this crew is Bush out of Miami. He’s a burner safety and I can’t wait to see what Vic Fangio will turn him into as a pro. They made sure Fangio would have plenty of defensive backs to work with, taking three including a couple of dominant guys from smaller schools in Hall and Houston-Carson.
Grade: A
Next: The Bengals, Browns and Cowboys
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