Fox’s 2016 NFL Draft Grades: Teams #13-21
By jonfox
Taking a look at each team’s NFL Draft Grades.
With the draft over, it’s now time to pontificate on the just finished up draft with some NFL Draft grades. As I always have, I rank the teams by how many “Mel Kipers” they got. 1 is the least, 10 is the most and let me explain my criteria: I’m impressed by teams who balance the demands of filling needs and getting talent. A 10 Kiper team will see their picks ranked by the order that they drafted them because that means there’s been an even distribution of need based talent and talented lottery picks in the later rounds. And to explain this more, I believe that 1st round picks should be 5 year starters for their team, 2nd and 3rd round picks should be 3-4 year starters and anything after that is a pure gamble. So less risk in rounds 1-3 and crazy risk in rounds 4-7.
13. Indianapolis Colts
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Ryan Kelly, OL Alabama
Le’Raven Clark, OL Texas Tech
Hassan Ridgeway, DL Texas
Antonio Morrison, LB Florida
Austin Blythe, OL Iowa
Joe Haeg, OL North Dakota State
TJ Green, DB Clemson
Trevor Bates, LB Maine
It’s hard not to like what the Colts did in this draft, even if the TJ Green pick is one of the worst value picks in the entire draft. They had to go into the 2016 season protecting the franchise QB because Andrew Luck’s health determines their fate. I don’t get TJ Green for them. He’s very raw but physically gifted.
Grade: 7.11/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? TJ Green over any number of prospects.
14. Oakland Raiders
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Karl Joseph, DB WVU
Jihad Ward, DL Illinois
Shilique Calhoun, DL Michigan State
Vadal Alexander, OL LSU
Cory James, LB Colorado State
DeAndre Washington, RB Texas Tech
Connor Cook, Qb Michigan State
The Raiders did well adding defensive pieces. Joseph, Ward and Calhoun should play very quickly. Outside of that, they didn’t do much positive. Trading up for Connor Cook seems bizarre at best. He’s not a good locker room influence and can just be a drag on the offense/locker room by complaining for playing time.
Grade: 7/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Trading up for Connor Cook.
15. New Orleans Saints
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Michael Thomas, WR Ohio State
Sheldon Rankins, DT Louisville
Daniel Lasco, RB California
Vonn Bell, DB Ohio State
David Onyemata, DL Canada
The Saints dealt up a lot because they needed an injection of talent on both sides of the ball. Thomas replaces Colston at Flanker and Rankins is a cornerstone defender for their rebuilding defense. I’m not a fan of Vonn Bell, and dealing up to the 2nd for him was puzzling.
Grade: 6.99/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Vonn Bell(and dealing up for him) over Darian Thompson.
16. Detroit Lions
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Taylor Decker, OL Ohio State
Miles Killebrew, DB/LB Southern Utah
Graham Glasgow, OL Michigan
Anthony Zettel, DL Penn State
A’Shawn Robinson, DL Alabama
Joe Dahl, OL Washington St
Jake Rudock, Qb Michigan
Dwayne Washington, RB Washington
Antwione Williams, LB Ga. Southern
Jimmy Landes, LS Baylor
Solid but boring draft for the Lions. They appears to take a blunderbuss approach to filling holes by drafting multiple players to cram into the same areas of the team in the hopes of finding depths and contributors. I really liked Decker and Killebrew and they should contribute quickly.
Grade: 6.88/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? A’Shawn Robinson over his former teammate Reed.
17. Washington Redskins
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Josh Doctson, WR TCU
Keith Marshall, RB UGA
Kendall Fuller, DB Va Tech
Sua Cravens, DB/LB Southern Cal
Matthew Ioannidis, DL Temple
Steven Daniels, LB BC
Nate Sudfeld, Qb Indiana
This draft looks like a “grade it in 2018” draft. They took a lot of developmental guys, dealt away picks for 2017 ones and they guys they did take either don’t fit the current schemes or need time for various reasons. They did get a lot of sheer talent, that’s for sure. But it’s hard to see this draft class contributing like the 2015 one did at least anytime soon. Doctson is stuck behind Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon for now. The hybrid S/LB role is one that Joe Barry hasn’t used and Kendall Fuller needs time to heal. The biggest question I have about this draft is that the Redskins come out of it without many of their needs filled.
Grade: 6.8/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Trading out of the 4th round, leaving players like Andrew Billings, Evan Boehm, Antonio Morrison, Willie Henry and Dean Lowry on the board.
18. Baltimore Ravens
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Willie Henry, DL Michigan
Kamalei Correa, EDGE/DE Boise State
Kenneth Dixon, RB Louisiana Tech
Maurice Canady, DB UVA
Ronnie Stanley, OL Notre Dame
Bronson Kaufusi, DL BYU
Alex Lewis, OL Nebraska
Tavon Young, DB Temple
Keenan Reynolds, RB Navy
Matt Judon, DE Grand Valley State
Chris Moore, WR Cincinnati
I’m just not a fan of Stanley, he has too many issues for me to think he was worth a top 10 pick. And he clearly was Option C for the Ravens. They tried to deal up for Jalen Ramsey and then took Tunsil off their board after his infamous video. Intentionally, the Ravens collected a number of picks hoping to start the cycling of an old roster, especially on defense.
Grade: 6.7/10 Kipers.
The biggest regret? Taking Tunsil off their board and taking Stanley.
19. Arizona Cardinals
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Evan Boehm, OL Missouri.
Robert Nkemdiche, DL Ole Miss
Harlan Miller, DB SE Louisiana
Marqui Christian, DB Midwestern State
Brandon Williams, DB TAMU
Cole Toner, OL Harvard
The Cards think that if they can stay healthy, they could be a title contender this season and make one last run with their vets. Boehm probably replaces Cooper quickly and if the Cards’ franchise can help the Honey Badger get right off the field they should be able to handle Nkemdiche. They took a lot of defensive backs for a team already flush with talent there.
Grade: 6.5/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Trading away Jon Cooper for a low 2nd in a draft where there was a lot of talent who went from the mid-2nd to the early 4th.
20. Los Angeles Rams
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Jared Goff, QB California
Pharoh Cooper, WR South Carolina
Mike Thomas. WR Southern Miss
Josh Forrest, LB Kentucky
Tyler Higbee, TE Western Kentucky
Temarrick Hemingway, TE South Carolina St
This draft is all about the Goff, about the Goff, about the Goff for the Rams. If he isn’t seen as worth the #1 overall pick and the price to move up to the slot to take him, then nothing else matters when it comes to their draft class. That said, I’m not sold that he ever will be worth that pick.
Grade: 6.47/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Giving up all those picks to trade up for Goff.
21. Miami Dolphins
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Laremy Tunsil, OL Ole Miss
Leonte Carroo, WR Rutgers
Xavien Howard, DB Baylor
Jakeem Grant, WR Texas Tech
Kenyan Drake, RB Alabama
Brandon Doughty, QB Western Kentucky
Jordan Lucas, DB Penn State
Thomas Duarte, TE UCLA
The Dolphins certainly had a different plan in mind up to the second when Tunsil’s drop began. That scrambled everything and let them to come up with a plan B. If you believe the rumors, their plan A was Myles Jack. That’s possible but that would mean that they were in “best player available” mode throughout the draft. And it shows with their non-need based picks.
Grade: 6.2/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Carroo over BJ Goodson. Carroo is a good prospect but they need defensive help and Goodson would have been a great pick.