Pick 6: Brock Bowers TE: A+
Wow is he fun to use and he was the highest player right away from the draft and he got an upgrade in the preseason. Hopefully superstar dev, but even at star or somehow normal I’ll be happy with this pick. Huge upgrade over slow but solid Mo Allie-Cox and fast but bad Jelani Woods.
Pick 23: Donovan Jackson RG: A
Played good in preseason but it’s hard for an interior offensive lineman to play bad enough to get noticed. He was tied as the third highest ovr offensive lineman with some other rookies after Joe Alt and Amarius Mims, but Jackson played at Ohio State and was an All-American, I’m hoping for superstar but he’s guaranteed star and is already very solid all-around.
Pick 25: Quinn Ewers QB: A+
I meant it when I said I wasn’t picking a Quarterback before the draft. But when your 4th overall prospect (1: Caleb Williams, 2: Brock Bowers, 3: James Williams) falls to pick 25 and it only costs a couple third rounders and a future second you seize that opportunity. At 20 years old he has already gotten an upgrade and is much improved over Will Levis who is 25 and 5 overalls lower including 8 more throw on the run and 9 more throw under pressure which I believe are the most important throwing stats. I’m not expecting a dev trait for him, still an A+ pick.
Pick 92: Ruke Orhorhoro DT: B+
Ruke was a surprise, I was pretty locked in on Mike Hall Jr who was the DT who went to Ohio State, but he ended up as a 69 and Ruke is a 72 with very very solid physicals and attributes. He had 2 sacks in the preseason and as a most likely normal dev he’ll have 20 attribute points and maybe even a training camp put into him before he has to play meaningful stats next year (barring injury) so I am very pleasantly surprised with this pick.
Pick 119: Ben Christman RG: C+
I was genuinely considering him in the second round before I traded away my pick to secure Brock and he fell to the fourth round so I had to jump on him. Very solid physically and he went to Ohio State but he is just a 69 RG (now a 68 C) so a little underwhelmed on that but he also will have 20 points put into him before he takes Ryan Kelly’s spot next year while making roughly 13M less.
Pick 138: Decorian Patterson CB: B-
Patterson is a 72 ovr CB who exceeded all my expectations when I drafted him in terms of overall as a 5th round pick. But, he’s a lock normal dev and the biggest reason it’s a lower grade here is I passed on a different cornerback who went the very next pick that ended up with 3 more speed and is a 74 ovr with better attributes all around. Patterson has an inch on him but that isn’t enough for me to feel better about picking him over a better CB in every way.
Pick 151: Eli Neal MLB: D
65 ovr MLB out of Marshall. He isn’t the worst at anything but with 66 COD he didn’t even get a chance in preseason due to the 75 man roster and me getting other players time. I don’t know if there’s anyone I would have rather picked but regardless a bad pick and a guy that’ll be sent to the practice squad and not protected.
Pick 183: Ajou Ajou WR: C+
I picked him purely for his name (I wanted Kyle Ford but he got taken) and it turned out pretty well as he’s a 69 ovr WR which is pretty good for the 6th round. He’s tall and a good route runner for his low overall despite being just 89 speed. I was planning on putting him on the practice squad but after putting up 165 yards and 2 touchdowns despite me not planning on throwing to him he might just make the roster.
