Skip to main content

the 2011 draft rankings

Overall this draft was one of the more entertaining drafts since I started doing my simple draft rankings five seasons ago when Mario Williams was taken number one overall by my Houston Texans. A choice that I said was a great decision at the time, and seems to have worked well for Houston. The four quarterbacks that were taken early all have question marks, and I still feel that the Minnesota Vikings got the best of the four. We'll find out soon enough though, as that NFC North now has four teams that could all win ten or more games if they don't beat each other up too badly. I say all four teams because not only did Minnesota improve itself by getting a solid quarterback in Christian Ponder, they also got the draft's best Tight End, and improvement on their offensive line. If they can sign a free agent to help shore up a defense than under achieved last season, they could easily compete for a NFC North Title. Detroit without a doubt had a phenomenal draft as well, and could challenge as a playoff team if they can keep Matthew Stafford, my number one player that I've ever ranked, upright. Adding Nick Fairley to Ndamukong Suh makes them the best two defensive tackles in the NFL and will wreak havoc on opposing running games. Adding Mikel Leshoure and Titus Young gives Stafford a formidable offensive team with Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, and Jahvid Best. However, despite a very solid draft grade, they did not win the draft. They forgot to address their huge issues at offensive tackle and cornerback and despite their embarrassment of riches at the skill position and on the defensive line, unless they can add pieces at tackle and in the defensive backfield they might fall a little short this season one more time.

Another team that is very intriguing was the Cincinnati Bengals, who many said won this draft. I disagree with them for a couple of reasons. Number one, I'm not as high on Andy Dalton as other people are. I feel he will be adequate but not spectacular, steady but not wonderful. That division is one in which you have to have stellar quarterback play to win, especially with Baltimore and Pittsburg having their biggest question marks in the defensive backfield, and Dalton just can't stretch the field vertically well enough to push this team over the edge. Moch, Boling, and Green are all great picks, but their still a qb short and will remain in that position behind Ben Raplisberger err Roethlisberger, and Joe Flacco. Cleveland isn't far behind either, but I feel that McCoy, while solid remains in the same situation as Cincinnati.

I also really enjoyed what Tampa Bay and Green Bay did. Tampa added a couple of pieces to get after the quarterback in a division where pressure wins games. With Brees, Ryan, and now Cam Newton, pressure is imperative and adding Bowers and Clayborn are two good piecies. I'm not huge on Clayborn, but he is still an upgrade over what they had. Ahmad Black was good value in the fifth, and Luke Stocker was my number two rated tight end and was a steal where they got him.
Green Bay cemented themselves in my mind as the best team in the NFC with a great draft. Adding Sherrod, Cobb, and Green gives this offense even more weapons. Sherrod isn't spectacular, but he'll provide a solid bookend, who will be much like a Matt Light. Cobb is another weapon to add some stability in the wideout corps. Alex Green fits that offense perfectly as both a pass catcher and a spread runner. Davon House and Rick Elmore are both very good players who fell in the draft, but could provide good depth and solid value.

New Orleans and Houston also had very good drafts, addressing needs and finding value. New Orleans getting Cameron Jordan where they did was a gift, and moving up to get a solid running back in Mark Ingram was a good move. Ingram was the best back in this draft by quite a ways, he's not spectacular, but he's going to be a good piece. Martez Wilson might be a starter right away for this team as well, and Greg Dareus might be a project, but he could find himself as a starter eventually.

St. Louis and Chicago also had drafts that I really liked, and added impact players. St. Louis made themselves much better.

Seattle had by far the worst draft, they added two players who will probably both end up being starters in the league but reached for both. Oakland's draft was another average decision making process, and Jacksonville and Tennesee both reached for qb's that were not that good in terms of value picks. The draft that will haunt a team though, will without a doubt be Carolina. Cameron Newton just isn't a good enough player to get that team to the playoffs and he might not be a bust, but he's not good enough to win an NFC south title, probably ever.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2024 NFL DRAFT PROSPECT BIOS

  2024 NFL DRAFT PROSPECT BIOS  Extra notes I put in italics. Some of these are from Senior Bowl or Combine notes that may have caused an update, and some are from watching extra tape later on in the Pre-Draft Process and I didn’t want to type everything up again.  Blue are guys I’m higher on by at least one round and usually 2 or 3 rds than consensus. Marvin Harrison Jr, WR Ohio State 99 I’m not trying to be contrarian here by putting Harrison Jr first ahead of Williams and Maye. The thing is my ratings are not positioned based when I do Bios and Harrison is the 2nd best prospect I’ve ever scouted (behind only Andrew Luck) so he has to get this rating. Harrison Jr is going to walk into the NFL and be a top 10 WR immediately. He has perfect size at 6’4 and 215 pounds and yet is a truly elite route runner. He creates separation and can get in and out of breaks like someone 6 inches shorter. His acceleration and ability to leave defenders looking lost is a rare trait. On to...

TOTAL VALUE ADDED 2024 NFL DRAFT

 This isn't an article saying what team did the best based on their draft slot or anything like that. This is simply a points chart. I listed 200 players on my overall player rating board and put them up on a list and used the Spielberger draft chart to assign a point value to every slot. Based on my chart mixed with his value chart I came up with a points value chart for every single team in the NFL for the 2024 draft. We'll look back at this every year after 3 seasons to see how bad I was.

2024 PROSPECT RANKINGS NUMBERED

 2024 PROSPECT RANKINGS 1 Marvin Harrison Jr 99 WR Ohio State 2 Caleb Williams 99 QB USC 3 Drake Maye 98 QB UNC 4 Brock Bowers 97 TE Georgia 5 Joe Alt 96 OT Notre Dame 6 Rome Odunze 93 WR Washingotn 7 Malik Nabers 93 WR LSU 8 Jayden Daniels 93 QB LSU 9 Quinyon Mitchell 92 CB Toledo 10 Laiatu Latu 92 EDGE UCLA 11 Taliese Fuaga 91 OT Oregon State 12 Olu Fashanu 90 OT Penn State 13 Troy Fautanu 90 G Washington 14 Byron Murphy 90 DT Texas 15 Cooper DeJean 88 CB Iowa 16 Jer'Zhan Newton 88 DT Illinois 17 Jared Verse 88 EDGE Florida State 18 Graham Barton 88 OL Duke 19 Kool Aid-McKinstry 88 CB Alabama 20 Dallas Turner 88 EDGE Alabama 21 Nate Wiggins 88 CB Clemson 22 Brian Thomas Jr 88 WR LSU 23 JJ McCarthy 87 QB Michigan 24 Jackson Powers-Johnson 86 C Oregon 25 Terrion Arnold 86 CB Alabama 26 JC Latham 86 OT Alabama 27 Xavier Legette 86 WR South Carolina 28 Payton Wilson 85 LB NC State 29 Ladd McConkey 85 WR Georgia 30 Ricky Pearsall 85 WR Florida 31 Christian Haynes 85 G UCONN 32 Ennis R...