Fox’s 2016 NFL Draft Grades: Teams #22-32
By jonfox
Looking at each NFL team’s draft by handing out 2016 NFL Draft Grades.
With the draft over, it’s now time to pontificate on the just finished up NFL draft. 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.
22. Cleveland Browns
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Emmanuel Ogbah, DE/EDGE Oklahoma State
Shon Coleman, OL Auburn
Rashard Higgins, WR Colorado State
Corey Coleman, WR Baylor
Spencer Drango, OL Baylor
Joe Schobert, LB Wisconsin
Scooby Wright III, LB Arizona
Derrick Kindred, DB TCU
Carl Nassib, DL Penn State
Cody Kessler, QB Southern Cal
Seth Devalve, TE Princeton
Jordan Payton, WR UCLA
Trey Caldwell, DB Louisiana-Monroe
Ricardo Louis, WR/DB Auburn
Have no illusions Browns fans: your team is tanking to rebuild. The Browns are looking to 2018 more than anything, which is why they dealt down over and over to get 2017 draft picks. As for their 2016 picks, they took a combination of projects and prospect who don’t seem to fit in their schemes. So, it’s going to be some time before the team will net from much these picks.
Grade: 6.1/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Not staying at 2 and taking Bosa or Ramsey
23. New England Patriots
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Malcolm Mitchell, WR UGA
Cyrus Jones, CB Alabama
Joe Thuney, OL NC State
Elandon Roberts, LB Houston
Vincent Valentine, DL Nebraska
Kamu Grugier-Hill, EDGE Eastern Illinois
Jacoby Brissett, QB NC State
Devin Lucien, WR Arizona State
Ted Karras, OL Illinois
The usual collection of names that half the draft world never scouted and big school hard workers for Belichick. Mitchell and Jones look like the only one who could contribute early but the dearth of depth on the Pats’ offensive line means that Thuney might get some snaps.
Grade: 6/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Cyrus Jones over Kendell Fuller.
24. Philadelphia Eagles
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Jalen Mills, DB LSU
Wendell Smallwood, RB WVU
Isaac Seumalo, OL Oregon St
Halapoulivaati Vaitai, OL TCU
Alex McCalister, DE Florida
Carson Wentz, QB North Dakota St
Blake Countess, DB Auburn
Joe Walker, LB Oregon
The Eagles had a Jekyll and Hyde draft. They vastly overpaid for a prospect with major red flags in Wentz. On the other hand, they made some very smart picks with their remaining picks. They’ll need them to contribute early or they’ll be handing the Browns some high draft picks in 2017.
Grade: 6/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Dealing all those picks for Wentz when they had Daniel and Bradford under contract.
25. Atlanta Falcons
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Austin Hooper, TE Stanford
Deion Jones, LB LSU
Keanu Neal, DB/LB Florida
Wes Schweitzer, OL SJSU
De’Vondre Campbell, LB Minnesota
Devin Fuller, WR UCLA
The Falcons clearly had a plan of improving the speed and toughness on the defense. In this, they accomplished it. I’m a fan of Jones and Hooper, but Keanu Neal? They still have a big glaring hole at WR next to Julio Jones and that was a big problem with their offense.
Grade: 5.89/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Keanu Neal over…well take your pick. Sua Cravens, Treadwell, Doctson, Darron Lee, etc etc
26. Minnesota Vikings
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Mackensie Alexander, DB Clemson
Laquon Treadwell, WR Ole Miss
Kentrell Brothers, LB Missouri
Stephen Weatherly, LB Vanderbilt
Moritz Boehringer, WR Germany
Willie Beavers, OL Western Michigan
David Morgan, TE UTSA
Jayron Kearse, DB Clemson
They got themselves two potential starters in Treadwell and Alexander. The rest of the draft is full of projects. I guess that they think that they’ve addressed their needs via free agency and players on the roster, but they’re gambling a lot on Treadwell fixing their wideout issues. But they did well in fleecing the Dolphins for 2017 picks in one deal.
Grade: 5.8/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Willie Beavers over Jerald Hawkins
27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Noah Spence, DL Eastern kentucky
Vernon Hargreaves III, DB Florida
Dan Vitale, FB Northwestern
Caleb Benenoch, OL UCLA
Ryan Smith, DB NC Central
Devante Bond, LB Oklahoma
Roberto Aguayo, K FSu
They traded a 3rd and a 4th for a kicker. Awesome. The rest of this draft is pretty solid, but it’s hard to get around that deal that they made. Spence, Hargreaves and Smith could start by year 2. But yeah. A kicker. In the 2nd round.
Grade: 5.4/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Do I even have to write it out?
28. Carolina Panthers
Picks ordered from best to worst:
James Bradberry, DB Samford
Beau Sandland, TE Montana State
Zack Sanchez, DB Oklahoma
Daryl Worley, DB WVU
Vernon Butler, DL Louisiana Tech
It’s bad when I grade an UDFA signing(Jeremy Cash) higher than any of their draft picks. The Panthers draft how they draft and three straight division titles, a super bowl appearances and 30+ wins in the last three seasons speaks for itself. That said, this draft basically screams “maybe we should have resigned Josh Norman.”
Grade: 5.2/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Butler over A’shawn Robinson or Chris Jones.
29. New York Jets
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Jordan Jenkins, LB UGA
Darron Lee, LB Ohio State
Charone Peake, WR Clemson
Juston Burris, DB NC State
Brandon Shell, OL South Carolina
Lac Edwards, P Sam Houston State
Christian Hackenberg, QB Penn State
Jenkins and Lee could start for the Jets at outside linebacker tomorrow. And Shell and Peake are interesting developmental picks. Outside of that, the Jets would have been better off passing on their draft picks. Hackenberg is a developmental quarterback prospect going to a team desperate for a starting quarterback and an impatience fanbase. So, that’ll work out well I’m sure.
Grade: 5/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Hackenberg.
30. Tennessee Titans
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Austin Johnson. DL Penn State
Derrick Henry, RB Alabama
Tajae Sharpe, WR U-Mass
Kevin Dodd, DE Clemson
LeShaun Sims, CB Southern Utah
Jack Conklin, OL Michigan State
Kevin Byard, DB Middle Tennessee St
Sebastian Tretola, OL Arkansas
Aaron Wallace, LB UCLA
Kalan Reed, DB Southern Miss
With all those picks the Titans punted their draft. I would have gotten dealing up for a dropping Tunsil, but it seems like the Titans didn’t want to anger Taylor Lewan(who angrily declared that he was a left tackle only after the Conklin pick). And I like some of these others guy they took, but all these picks smell like bad value to me. Henry is stuck behind Murray. Johnson and Al Woods will fight it out. Dodd..what’s his position? They come out of this draft will as many question marks as when they began this process.
Grade: 4.8/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Dealing up for Conklin instead of just sucking it up and taking who they wanted a month ago: Tunsil.
31. Kansas City Chiefs
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Chris Jones, DL Miss State
Parker Ehinger, OL Cincinnati
Eric Murray, DB Minnesota
Kevin Hogan, QB Stanford
Demarcus Robinson, WR Florida
KeiVarae Russell, DB Notre Dame
Dadi Nicolas, EDGE Va Tech
D.J. White, DB GA tech
Tyreek Hill, WR West Alabama
I’m a big fan of Chris Jones and Kevin Hogan and that’s about it with this draft. The Chiefs didn’t really address any needs but dealt down a lot to pick up extra picks. So many of these prospects are one dimensional but with major red flags so this will be heavily boom/bust.
Grade: 4.7/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? I don’t see the argument for K. Russell over Kendall Fuller or any number of prospects that could have been better plays.
32. Houston Texans
Picks ordered from best to worst:
Nick Martin, OL Notre Dame
DJ Reader, DL Clemson
Braxton Miller, WR Ohio State
KJ Dillon, DB WVU
Will Fuller, WR Notre Dame
Tyler Ervin, RB SJSU
The nicest thing I can say for this draft is that they took a lot of high upside projects. Martin is a good center prospect and Braxton Miller has an universe of potential. That’s about it. I’m not a fan of Reader, Fuller or Dillon. Too much risk for not enough reward.
Grade: 4.5/10 Kipers
The biggest regret? Where to begin….Fuller over Doctson? Tyler Ervin over Billings, Hawkins and Willie Henry? I could go on so I’ll stop.