Yahoo.com Draft Grades

[BigMeatballDave]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu..._grades_050111

Bite me, if repost


Denver Broncos
Picks: LB Von Miller, S Rahim Moore, OT Orlando Franklin, LB Nate Irving, S Quinton Carter, TE Julius Thomas, LB Mike Mohamed, TE Virgil Green, DL Jeremy Beal.
Grade: B
Analysis: A good rule of thumb in the NFL (and pretty much in just about any sport) is take the bigger guy first. The Broncos went against that theory by selecting Miller over Dareus. That said, Miller is the kind of disruptive, pass-rushing force who could be a perennial Pro Bowler. He is explosive and has a great personality, ingredients for becoming a great player and leader. The rest of the draft was very wise. In particular, getting Moore to rejuvenate an ancient secondary was critical (plus backing up that pick with Carter in the fourth round). Throw in the selections of Franklin and Irving and you have a draft that could easily feature four or five starters. That’s exactly what the Broncos had to get in this draft.

Kansas City Chiefs
Picks: WR Jonathan Baldwin, C Rodney Hudson, LB Justin Houston(notes), DE Allen Bailey(notes), CB Jalil Brown, QB Ricky Stanzi, LB Gabe Miller, DT Jerrell Powe, FB Shane Bannon.
Grade: B-
Analysis: The Chiefs moved back six spots in the first round and still got an offensive weapon who may start right away in Baldwin. The 6-foot-5 Baldwin is a beast and gives the team a great complement to Dwayne Bowe. However, like Bowe, Baldwin can be a bit of a head case. For instance, he had the gall to complain that the Pitt coaching staff was not throwing to him very much because they wanted to hurt his draft stock. Second-rounder Hudson should start this year or next depending on what happens with Casey Wiegmann. Third-round picks OLB Justin Houston and DE Allen Bailey could easily become starters as rookies. Neither figures to ever be great, but both should be solid starters.

Oakland Raiders
Picks: C Stefen Wisniewski, CB Demarcus Van Dyke , OL Joseph Barksdale, CB Chimdi Chekwa, RB Taiwan Jones, WR Denarius Moore, TE Richard Gordon, WR David Ausberry .
Grade: B+
Analysis: The Raiders get credit for getting DL Richard Seymour two seasons ago with the first-round pick they gave up from this year. Seymour has turned out to be a fine acquisition, even if he’s getting long in the tooth. Starting there, this draft simply reeks of Raiderdom, starting with the selection of Wisniewski in the second round. The latest Wiz will not only play for his uncle, former Raider great Steve Wisniewski, but will probably start from Day 1 because starter Samson Satele just wasn’t that good the past two years. From there, the Raiders basically drafted a 4 x 100 relay team with Van Dyke, Chekwa, Jones and Moore. The Raiders are nothing if not consistent.

San Diego Chargers
Picks: DT Corey Liuget, CB Marcus Gilchrist, LB Jonas Mouton, WR Vincent Brown, CB Shareece Wright, RB Jordan Todman, OL Steven Schilling, LB Andrew Gachkar.
Grade: B
Analysis: As you can tell, this draft screams defense as four of the top five picks (all in the first three rounds) were on that side of the ball. That started with Liuget at No. 18 overall. Liuget may not be the most dynamic lineman out there, but he’s solid across the board and could play any spot in San Diego’s three-man front. From there, the selection of Gilchrist (who can also line up at cornerback) and Wright restore some much-needed depth in the secondary. Mouton has more than a few detractors, many who say he’s just not that tough, but he’s a very good athlete who is learning to play in the front seven.



NO WAY is the Chiefs draft the least of this division.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by milkman

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that the Donkeys keep getting these high grades.

I mean Miller is going to be good, but misused a bit in a 4-3, and Dareus seems like he would have been a far better selection, since he would have filled a need, and he was rated higher than Miller beofre the draft.

Moore is a good selection, but after that, their whole draft seems like a head scratcher to me.

I think a lot of it can be due to how well your PR staff rationalizes your draft picks, but also taking a guy in the top five who is thought to be a top five talent.

Besides, very few journalists know the AFC West teams as well as a lot of posters on here.

That said, I think the Broncos had a lot of pretty good draft picks. The grade that makes no sense is San Diego's. They had one of the worst drafts of any team, maybe the worst draft, but AJ Smith is still thought of a name commodity, so he gets a pass. That Mouton pick was almost Mike Mitchell bad.

[Easy 6]

The donx are like dallas north, no matter what they do, the press is inclined to gush over it.

Yahoo sports should stick to covering volleyball & curling.

[Quesadilla Joe]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Yeah.....and that was at the DE position. Dumervil didn't play LB in the 4-3 like Miller is going to be playing.

John Fox has been coaching defense in the NFL for 22 years. He knows that Von Miller is a once in a decade type pass rushing talent and I don't think he would have drafted him if he didn't have a pretty good idea on how to utilize his skillset.

Originally Posted by HotRoute

Wait wait wait...... Where hell is your sig?

Only fitting that you quite on that too

I don't have sig privileges on this account yet. My last account was sabotaged by a mod.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Yeah.....and that was at the DE position. Dumervil didn't play LB in the 4-3 like Miller is going to be playing.

Valid arguements on both sides. The truth here, as with all newly drafted, is that we will see what we see once they have played for a couple of years.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by notorious

Thats the truth for everyone here.

Not really.

I put stock in them if I think they make sense. The pundits loved the Chiefs draft last season, most of them lauded the hell out of the McCluster and Arenas picks. When the Chiefs did get criticized it was for taking Berry over Okung and taking Moeaki at all.

I started ignoring them because they were just stupid and clearly didn't have as good a feel for the Chiefs as the fans did. I knew the Chiefs made the right decision with Berry and I also thought they made the wrong one with McCluster instead of Cody and took Arenas at all.

I put stock in grades when the writers appear to know what they're talking about. When the Chiefs were getting A+ grades last season, I was left scratching my head. When the Chiefs are getting B- grades this season, I'm even more confused.

Given what we needed and where we picked, I just don't see how this draft doesn't grade out as an A draft. Even if these guys bust out, it's still an A draft because of how often we were able to get need guys that were also in the running for BPA. I'm not terribly worried about this guy's grades because its apparent from his comments that I know more about the Chiefs and their needs than this he does.

[HotRoute]

DEN - Denver made two solid draft picks. Their second-round selection of Darrent Williams will give them a solid defensive back to pair up with Champ Bailey in the future. I am also a fan of the Maurice Clarett pick

OAK - Quarterback Andrew Walter, taken in the third round, has a powerful arm, and can fit into Oakland's system. Middle linebacker Kirk Morrison was a decent selection in the third round as well. Oakland really hit a home run in round six. They drafted DT Anntaj Hawthorne, DE Ryan Riddle and OT Pete McMahon, all very underrated players.

SD - Wide receiver Vincent Jackson was a reach in round two.

This made my day thanks

Do you have anymore?

[HerculesRockefell]

Originally Posted by scott free

The donx are like dallas north, no matter what they do, the press is inclined to gush over it.

Not really. Most of Shanahan's drafts weren't that highly thought of immediately afterwards, and their draft last year was ripped for trading up for Tebow.

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by HerculesRockefell

Not really. Most of Shanahan's drafts weren't that highly thought of immediately afterwards, and their draft last year was ripped for trading up for Tebow.

Probably because there is absolutely no defense for that.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

I think a lot of it can be due to how well your PR staff rationalizes your draft picks, but also taking a guy in the top five who is thought to be a top five talent.

Besides, very few journalists know the AFC West teams as well as a lot of posters on here.

That said, I think the Broncos had a lot of pretty good draft picks. The grade that makes no sense is San Diego's. They had one of the worst drafts of any team, maybe the worst draft, but AJ Smith is still thought of a name commodity, so he gets a pass. That Mouton pick was almost Mike Mitchell bad.

I won't argue that the Donkeys got good players, but, my argument is that they made head scratching decisions.

Dareus would have been a better pick because he was rated higher, and he plays at a position of greater need.

If, howevr you want to go that route, Miller is a good pick, but if he's backed up by Marvin Austin in the second rather than Moore, that would have made far more sense.

But I would argue that they could have gone Dareus, Moore, then Houston and done even better.

And I'm not even going to mention Nate Irving.

Nate Irving?

[Thig Lyfe]

Originally Posted by sedated

DEN - Denver made two solid draft picks. Their second-round selection of Darrent Williams will give them a solid defensive back to pair up with Champ Bailey in the future.

Dumbass should have known Darrent Williams would get murdered!

[ChiefsCountry]

I like Denver's draft other than Franklin and Irving. The rest were really solid picks especially their 7th rounders.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

7 of the Broncos' 9 picks are at TE, S, and LB. That reeks of a GM who's never done a draft before.

They had Miller rated higher than Dareus and considered trading back into the 1st for Fairley, other than that they didn't like where the DT's fell. Thought they were reaches. I wanted Paea and Austin back-to-back in the 2nd, but they did draft some talented kids at positions of need. We needed a Sam, a Mike, a FS and a SS. Also our line was horrible at run blocking, Orlando Franklin was brought in to compete for the RT spot and will be a serviceable Guard right away if he can't win the RT position. We also needed a pass catching TE. They really should end up with 4 or 5 starters out of this. The next process is Free Agency where Denver plans to target some DT's that are known commodities. It's a process. Our _efense sucked huge amounts of ass last year and needs a large influx of talent. Rome wasn't built in a day, yada yada yada...

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by listopencil

They had Miller rated higher than Dareus and considered trading back into the 1st for Fairley, other than that they didn't like where the DT's fell. Thought they were reaches. I wanted Paea and Austin back-to-back in the 2nd, but they did draft some talented kids at positions of need. We needed a Sam, a Mike, a FS and a SS. Also our line was horrible at run blocking, Orlando Franklin was brought in to compete for the RT spot and will be a serviceable Guard right away if he can't win the RT position. We also needed a pass catching TE. They really should end up with 4 or 5 starters out of this. The next process is Free Agency where Denver plans to target some DT's that are known commodities. It's a process. Our _efense sucked huge amounts of ass last year and needs a large influx of talent. Rome wasn't built in a day, yada yada yada...

Denver had more needs than actual draft picks... they selected what appear to be very skilled players. Are they the most magical and logical picks? Nobody knows...

Here is what I do know... they could have selected a DT with that #2 pick and most here would have found fault with that selection. It's normal.

[rad]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

The Von Miller pick by the Broncos is a great pick..........if they still ran the 3-4. I swear that the people that grade these drafts aren't taking that into consideration. They're going to basically strip him of his strengths for the first two downs.

Rosey from Rotoworld did the AFC draft grades, and seems to know his shit:

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nf...c-draft-grades

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by rad

Rosey from Rotoworld did the AFC draft grades, and seems to know his shit:

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nf...c-draft-grades