2011 NFL Draft Grades Look Back A.F.C. North
One of the things I want to do here at NFLmocks is be open and honest about how well we do as prognosticators–good or bad. Mr. Know it Alls who run blogs chime in about how smart they looked before a draft, but few point out the alarming number of mistakes that are made. Count NFLmocks among the few. We’ll leave up what we said prior to each draft no matter how good (or probably more likely) how dumb we look.
I thought it’d be fun to go back over our immediate grade reactions for each team. I started with the A.F.C. East and here is the A.F.C. North.
Cleveland Browns
Sayre had the responsibility of grading the Browns last year and here our his thoughts.
Sayre liked the Browns draft overall and thought the first two picks were solid handing out a B for the Phil Taylor pick and a B+ for Jabaal Sheard. Greg Little was “the third straight character concern player they drafted, but apparently Mike Holmgren isn’t worried about it.” Little showed promise last year, but it remains to be seen if he can be a #1 WR. The Browns reportedly wanted Kendall Wright if he was available and also took Josh Gordon in the supplemental draft. A pretty good pick in the second round. Sayre was lukewarm on the the Jordan Cameron pick giving it a C+, but loved the Owen Marcic pick with an A. Sayre was a big proponet of the Eric Haag pick, writing, “This was one of the best picks the Browns made. Not because Hagg is going to be the ultimate steal at this pick, but I believe he is one of the hardest working players that was available in the draft, and he is also a guy who will be a special teams ace in the NFL, and what more can you ask of this pick”
I think this Browns draft looks good, especially at the top. Taylor, Sheard, and Little look like starters in the N.F.L. for a long time.
Overall
I absolutely hate to grade a draft before it has the chance to perform, but on paper this is a boom or bust draft. It could be an A+, or it could be a D. I will say, for now, that this draft was in the B to B+ range, because I like the risks that Holmgren is taking and I believe in taking calculated risks.
Hopefully the Browns can build off of a season that showed promise, potential, and something of a future with this draft. And it should also be mentioned that the Browns moved out of the sixth spot in the Julio Jones trade for a future first round pick which turned out to be Brandon Weeden.
Cincinnati Bengals
Sayre also had the task of grading the Bengals draft (a draft I was personally very high on outside of the Andy Dalton pick). Sayre gushed about the A.J. Green pick. “To me, the fact that the Bengals’ second choice supplemented this pick makes it an even better pick than it already was. Four picks into the draft, the Bengals got the best overall offensive player in the draft, and a fantastic #1 wide receiver option. Green isn’t as good a prospect as Calvin Johnson was, but he has the size, speed, and playmaking ability to be a Pro Bowl player early on in his career. It will take time–as it does for all new NFL receivers–to acclimate to the speed of the game and the ability of the players on the other side of the field, but Green is a gifted athlete who can take over a game. His potential in the NFL is unlimited if he can stay healthy. A Grade”. So far all of that looks to be true.
Sayre also was a big fan of the Andy Dalton pick (I was not).
“The Bengals get their future franchise QB with this pick, a guy that a lot of teams wanted that passed on him, and a guy they didn’t even have to move into the first round to get. This was a risky move by the Bengals, but it really worked out for them. Dalton is a guy who prides himself on accuracy, and is simply a winner. He has great college experience against all kinds of competition, and a lot of scouts were high on this guy.
Pick Grade: A”
Sayre did not really like the Dontay Moch giving the pick a C grade. Sayre was back to hyping the Bengals draft with an A for Clint Boling.
Overall:
Overall Draft Grade: B+
The Bengals hit home runs with three of their first four picks. I love the Green, Dalton, and Boling picks, and I’m not sure many more teams did much better than that. That being said, the Bengals failed to address the safety position even with the top guys available in round three, and I think they also could have upgraded on the defensive line. A solid draft for Cincinnati.
Getting the picks of Dalton and Green right were the most important for this draft. If none of the other players develop into anything for the future, but Dalton and Green make multiple Pro-Bowls no one will care too much about the other picks.
Pittsburgh Draft Grade
I graded this draft.
I liked the Steelers first pick because they attacked an aging defensive line. I wasn’t the biggest Hayward fan, but at that point in the draft I thought it was a good pick and gave the pick an A for philosophy and B+ for player value.
I also thought the second pick was a smart pick, I just had a different value for the player (B grade). Gilbert will get a chance to show how good he can be this year, when he is likely to be a starter.
I have thought for awhile the Steelers cornerbacks were average at best and liked that the Steelers attacked this position going back to back rounds with Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen.
I wrote about Brown, “Brown (B Grade) is a pretty good fit for the Steelers who use a lot of zones because they blitz so often. Brown may not have been the best cornerback or best player available, but it was still an above average pick. Nothing less should be expected from a team that usually sticks right to their big board and grabs their top players.”
I was fairly “meh” on the rest of the Steelers picks and thought overall “This wasn’t my favorite of the Steelers drafts of late, but it was still a very solid draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. There are teams that every year you know are just going to make some good quality picks and the Steelers are one of those teams. The Steelers addressed both needs (OL, and CB) in the first four rounds as well as obtained some good value (Heyward and Chris Carter). There were better drafts out there this year, but the Steelers still helped themselves now and in the long run.”
It’s tough to tell what the Steelers have from this draft–it is rare a young player gets significant snaps in the Steelers complicated defense. It’ll be interesting to see if this draft can counteract what is an aging defense.
I also graded the Ravens draft.
The Ravens first pick was one of my favorite in the first round.
“I know on the field he’s excellent. He’s big, strong, fast and even though he doesn’t intercept a ton of passes he really helps out in the run game and can be a very good press coverage man in the league. If he is dedicated to football he could be Nnamdi Asmougha. I think the Ravens are a perfect spot for him. They have some true leaders on defense. Great pick by the Ravens, the best pick they could have made in my opinion.
What’s a better time to take an uber talented player than late in the first round with a great locker room full of leaders in a winning atmosphere? There isn’t. Great pick by the Ravens.”
I really loved the Ravens draft overall. I gave high grades (B+ or A range to most of the Ravens pick). Only the 7th round pick of Anthony Allen. Overall I said about the Ravens draft
“Final Grade A
Great draft. There’s a reason why teams like the Ravens, Packers, Giants, Lions (recently), outclass everyone on draft day. They are just better drafters. This was a great draft by the Ravens and Ozzie Newsome showed his genius again. Tandon Doss was one of the best value picks in the entire draft in any round. They added great players while filling needs. Future G.M.s watch Newsome and take notes. This is how you draft. I debated giving this draft an A+, but I don’t want to get crazy. An A+ is like getting a future hall of famer, plus another pro bowl starter and a few other players, but this could be an A draft for sure.”
I am excited to see how this class develops to see if my affinity for this draft spot on or misguided.