2021 Draft Grades

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

Let’s be honest, none of us really know squat about any of these players. If every draft expert and mock draft had Rashawn Slater as a Day 3 pick we would have believed it and we would all be livid that the Chargers took him in the first round.

You can definitely tell some people know nothing about the players by their insight on some of the picks. There are plenty of people here who know as much or more than the published talking heads out there. Quite a few posters here put more effort into evaluating talent than a lot of beat writers. It’s all a guessing game even for the teams that have all the information available to them, not just the film and measurables that we as fans get.

[Bolt-O]

Draft grades immediately after the draft are kind of 'fun', but are just as good as the perceived value against needs of the team. I do hope that the Chargers draft turns out the way that the grades show, but I think that this might be the hardest draft to judge for a while just because of the relative lack of recent performance.

I do think that some of the 'professional' draftniks take shortcuts by looking at other mock drafts vs looking at actual tape. I like the evaluations of prior professional scouts, like Daniel Jeremiah, or savants, like Joel Bushbaum was, or Greg Cosell, to most of the yahoos out there who just have 'great hair'.

[like54ninjas]

Let’s be honest, none of us really know squat about any of these players. If every draft expert and mock draft had Rashawn Slater as a Day 3 pick we would have believed it and we would all be livid that the Chargers took him in the first round.

No.
Many of us do our on prospect scouting.

[DragonIce]

If you're weighting the picks I can totally see an A+

I'm gonna guess you are younger. Lot of grade inflation these days.

Did any team merit an A+ draft grade? Doubt it. Higher picks merit more value, sure. But an "A+" mark demands excellence throughout and being extra special.

Did a few teams deserve 'D' or 'F'? Absolutely...Raiders/Texans. Chargers got an A- where I sit.

When I go to NFL.com and see all the A+ and A grades...it's a total farce. They are clearly trying to hype the fanbases to sell tickets.

[RTPbolt]

I'm gonna guess you are younger. Lot of grade inflation these days.

.

I have a feeling you are way off Dragonice.....Panama has been on this board and priors we came from for quite some time... Not quite sure why you went there....age discrimination is a real thing...young doesn't = stupid nor does older = wiser.

That said. We just have to take all this stuff with a grain of salt. Its opinion. Its subjective. I'm excited about pretty much all the picks the more I read. Were there other players that might be "better"? Maybe but we can't really say how they would do in what Staley and crew is planning. I think Palmer is going to be a nice surprise...his speed isn't bad at all and frankly Allen isn't all world fast and he gets the job done and has been a top 10 receiver in this league when he's healthy and he's not fast. I look forward to hearing about Palmer. I have a "feeling" McKitty wasn't used as a pass catching TE much but that based on tape I saw (brief mind you) he looked fluid catching balls and is a big dude and can play two TE roles....may not be Henry but he will be a different contributor and may just surprise with the new offense Staley will be building. I think we have 2-3 starters out of our litter and depth to develop that will get play time. We filled big apparent gaps, but we all don't really know what Staley has planned so maybe he feels we had an A+.... FA isn't done yet though.....our roster is still fluid and I expect dept to be brought in as team shed vets.

I think if we just look at the work done to date for our O, D and ST I can give my subjective opinion. O could have finally achieve a major change in this OL that with Slater's addition gives strength to our traditional bandaid OL....they might have the fix that could bring us back to the TOP offense when we went 12-4. D has had a lot of adjustment but the new scheme is completely unknown now with Staley taking over; we definitely have talent and I have hope Staley can do half what he did with the Rams last year to get us midpack. Our ST has had some injections of talent thru FA and Draft but so much relies on coaching at this point....lord I hope Badgely has been eating his wheaties or the new kid ...competition here. Overall we have things that seem pretty well addressed by our Draft picks and the FA changes. Our D can't really be much worse in how they lost games in the 4th quarter consistently. The O I have to believe will be improved with the OL and run game. 7-9 could see a swing upward if the stars align.

[Formula 21]

Grades are just for fun, they don’t mean anything. Like giving 4 stars on Amazon and finding out later that the product sucks. It’s just an expression of your initial happiness at the choices made.

[Eurobolt]

Grades are just for fun, they don’t mean anything. Like giving 4 stars on Amazon and finding out later that the product sucks. It’s just an expression of your initial happiness at the choices made.

Precisely, also as european I believe that NFL offseason is the most entertaining, enjoyable out of all US pro leagues.

[PhilaBoltster]

No.
Many of us do our on prospect scouting.

I look at clips and figures too, but can you honestly tell me that for an OL like Slater, if every mock draft in the world had him as a 4th round pick you would go against the grain and know that he was really worth a 1st rounder? I don’t believe it.

[Xenos]

Grades are just for fun, they don’t mean anything. Like giving 4 stars on Amazon and finding out later that the product sucks. It’s just an expression of your initial happiness at the choices made.

It’s just something fun to do now that there’s a longer lull.

[Guest]

I'm gonna guess you are younger. Lot of grade inflation these days.

Did any team merit an A+ draft grade? Doubt it. Higher picks merit more value, sure. But an "A+" mark demands excellence throughout and being extra special.

Did a few teams deserve 'D' or 'F'? Absolutely...Raiders/Texans. Chargers got an A- where I sit.

When I go to NFL.com and see all the A+ and A grades...it's a total farce. They are clearly trying to hype the fanbases to sell tickets.

Yeah, that is pretty close where I am--right on that A-/B+ edge.

The first two picks were very good picks based upon where the board fell. The only reservations I could have about either concern Slater being able to play OT in the NFL and Samuel's potential vulnerability to larger receivers (just like Verrett before him). But both picks were the exact right pick at that spot and with that board.

Honestly, the third round was brutal with McKitty widely recognized by multiple sources as one of the biggest reaches in the entire draft and Palmer being a reach as well. From an individual grade standpoint, Palmer would be a C- and McKitty would be an F (bottom 10-15 value pick out of 259 players taken).

But the 4th and 5th rounds were strong and the early 6th pick was good and then we had a bit of a soft finish with Rountree and Webb--not horrible value, just a bit soft.

Weighting much more heavily to the early A level picks, I could see an A- or a B+ in light of the impact of the brutal third round.

[like54ninjas]

I look at clips and figures too, but can you honestly tell me that for an OL like Slater, if every mock draft in the world had him as a 4th round pick you would go against the grain and know that he was really worth a 1st rounder? I don’t believe it.

Go look at my board in the draft section.
I watch college game tape 9-10 months a year.

[Panamamike]

I'm gonna guess you are younger. Lot of grade inflation these days.

Did any team merit an A+ draft grade? Doubt it. Higher picks merit more value, sure. But an "A+" mark demands excellence throughout and being extra special.

Did a few teams deserve 'D' or 'F'? Absolutely...Raiders/Texans. Chargers got an A- where I sit.

When I go to NFL.com and see all the A+ and A grades...it's a total farce. They are clearly trying to hype the fanbases to sell tickets.