TOP 300 Draft Prospects: NFL.com grades & projected round, BY POSITION. (color-coded "cheat sheets")

[KB_fan]

I remember data and information better when I work with it myself rather than just read something.  I've been noticing the draft seems top-heavy on defense, and I wanted to see if my perception was accurate.  So, I used the NFL.com draft tracker draft grades and created a ranking of the top 300 prospects.  (Basically grades 5.1 and higher)  I then created rough cut off points for the different rounds using the various grades & rankings. (Again these are ROUGH cut offs). 

I then sorted the entire list by position to create "cheat sheets" or quick guides to see what rounds have players at various positions.  The cheat sheets follow below, but here are some take aways.  Of course these are based on the NFL.com grades.  Dave Gettleman's grades of various players could be very different...,

• Don't look for a center or a safety before round 2.  None rank above #50.
• Safeties.  I know it's a position of need/interest.  Could be tricky:  0 with round 1 grades; 2 with round 2 grades; 6 with round 3 grades...
• DTs are ABSOLUTELY STACKED in round 1 (8 of the top 30 players are DTs), but there are also solid numbers of DTs in later rounds.
• OTs are VERY top heavy - half of the OTs will likely be gone in rounds 1 & 2 (7 ranked in top 70, then only 4 from 70 - 220)
• OGs:  the heaviest concentration is in rounds 2 and 3 (a full 50% of the guards available in the top 300)
• The TE class is very thin and bottom-heavy with only 4 TEs in the top 125 prospects; and 10 from #125-300 (almost all of whom are projected in rounds 6 & 7)
• Round 3 is the most-likely place for CBs: 10 are ranked from #66 - #104.
• DEs are pretty well spaced throughout the draft: 8 in rounds 1&2 ; 8 in rounds 3&4; 8 in rounds 5&6
• RBs too are quite evenly spaced throughout the different rounds of the draft.
• WRs:  A small but solid group is available in rounds 1 & 2, (8 in the top 60) then there's quite a big drop off until late in round 4 (only 2 WRs from 61 - 120)
• Pity the teams looking for a middle LB.  VERY VERY slim pickings.  Only 3 with round 1 - 4 grades.
• OLBs: quite a good number in rounds 1&2.  Hardly any with round 3 & 4 grades.

[KB_fan]

To make it easier to quickly visualize the info, I created a color code for various rounds of the draft (in fact I divided up rounds 1 & 2 into 3 levels each)  as follows:

grade     projected round   # of prospects

The grades and rankings are NFL.com's as of today, April 3.  (The rankings are compiled by sorting the grades from highest to lowest).

The "projected rounds" are my own rough division based on player grade & ranking, - note: the projected rounds are NOT based on mock drafts or expected team needs.  Obviously a run on a certain position could significantly change the draft order.   The rounds are a bit uneven in terms of numbers, but it gives a fairly good idea of relative value.

In his 3 drafts so far, Dave Gettleman has not drafted a player graded below 5.2 on the NFL.com grading scale.

[KB_fan]

OFFENSIVE LINE:

rank        player                                     pos   ht     wt       school                            grade     proj round

 

 

[KB_fan]

QBs / RBs / TEs:   (I'll post WRs separately since it's a long list)

rank        player                                    pos     ht     wt        school                          grade     proj round

 

[KB_fan]

WRs:

[KB_fan]

NOW for DEFENSE:

DEs and DTs:

 

(note: Below I grouped DTs & NTs together)

[KB_fan]

Linebackers:

 

 

[KB_fan]

Now for the Defensive Backs.  I'll do CBs and Safeties separately since the CB list is long.

CBs:

[KB_fan]

Safeties:

[KB_fan]

And finally, the kickers & punters.  A few are graded as highly as rounds 3 & 4, and since we need a new punter, why not see who's ranked where:

[stirs]

Makes me think the following:

1st  E Ogbah DE

2nd  K Clark DT

3rd  A Burns CB

4th  KJ Dillon S

5th  M Boehringer WR

7th  B Shell  OT

[KB_fan]

1 minute ago, stirs said:

Makes me think the following:

1st  E Ogbah DE

2nd  K Clark DT

3rd  A Burns CB

4th  KJ Dillon S

5th  M Boehringer WR

7th  B Shell  OT

Not a bad list.  Given that there seem to be some solid DTs in rounds 3 & 4, I might make an OT a higher priority if we could snag Shon Coleman or Spriggs in the 2nd.  But I confess I don't know much about the late round OTs.  Perhaps there's a good steal to be had...

Given the drop off in the mid rounds at some positions which we're likely most interested in, I could definitely see DG trying to trade up in the 2nd or 3rd.

[KB_fan]

This may be overkill and may cause people to go insane from too much color.... (sorry in advance!)..... but just in case it's helpful, below are the breakdowns for rounds 1 - 4 (the top 150 - 160 prospects in the draft), with each position color coded.  I see patterns more clearly by doing this kind of breakdown and color coding.

In round 1:  DEFENSE overwhelms.  61% of the top 33 prospects are on the defensive side of the ball. You see all the D-Line - GREEN - (DEs / DTs) with round 1 grades/rankings - esp from about 16 - 30.  [14 of 33 or 42% of players with round 1 grades are Dline prospects]

In round 2:  There's a lot more diversity.  In this round, the grades & rankings slightly prioritize offense (54%). There are 8 Olinemen in this round (22%) and also a good chunk of WRs, RBs and TEs.

In round 3:  the DBs (AQUA & LIGHT BLUE) dominate the list.  33% of the grades in this round go to CBs and Safeties.

In round 4:  WRs & QBs are predominant, with a sea of pink and red.  40% of the players with round 4 grades are WRs or QBs.

 

Here's the color code I used for the positions:

[KB_fan]

ROUND 1: