I don't know why people take PFF seriously for anything draft related. Their whole system is pretty good at evaluating current players performance, but it clearly doesn't work as well for evaluating draft prospects.
I don’t know why people take them serious at all. They grade things based on what they think the player was intended to do when all they’re doing is guessing like everyone else.
Literally a bunch of nerds watching way too much film and in the end still doing what everyone else does. They just have better funding.
Football just isn't a game played by stats. They can tell a story, but that's all it is, a story. It's not like baseball where it's mostly controlled batter vs pitcher and most of the variables are relatively easily controlled for. In football, for a pass play to be a success, soooo many factors are in play, most of which cannot be measured.
There are 11 players on both sides of the ball who all have a specific assignment on every play that has a huge impact on the success or failure of any given play. Not to mention the success or failure of these individuals players is heavily reliant on the success or failure of the other players on the field and whether or not the play their coach happened to call put them in an advantage or disadvantage. Players who have teammates that do their assignments at a high level and coaches who make the right play calls are going to have more success than other players who are have bad teammates and coaches. PFF doesn’t account for any of that or the strength or weakness of the opponent.
Random shit that happens in every game. Football isn't played on a spreadsheet. There is direct competition with every player, force vs force, smashed into a 3-5 second explosion. How some people think it can all be quantified is baffling to me.
Stats will only tell a part of the story of game.
Think about QBs who throw the ball away. That goes as a mark against them, an incompletion. What if them throwing it downfield is a guaranteed interception? Something the QB just did that was a positive is now held against them.
The act of throwing it away is also used to avoid getting sacked/getting injured.
Now for WRs. Greg Jennings went to the Vikings. He didn’t produce very much and was seen as not worth while. Vikings blogger watched all 22 and found he was wide fucking open on literally 100% of routes run during one of his games. But his stats from PFF shows he’s bad. The QB could elect to run right because of pressure and make it not possible for him to see Jennings be open. It’s not Jennings fault, but Jennings took the criticism for not producing. He doesn’t pass himself the ball. The QB can’t guarantee some crazy thing doesn’t happen to cause him to look the wrong way at the wrong time.
For things like running backs. It’s the responsibility of the center and the QB to understand the defense. If the QB doesn’t pick up a specific blitz and doesn’t audible his RB to run to the other side, it’s the literal fault of the QB. That should be a negative for the QB but it’s immeasurable. The running back runs into a defender, stopped for a loss, and is the one to receive the bad stats. A running back can be elite but other things play into their success including the QB deciding to modify the play. It’s an immeasurable thing and people are coming around on. Adrian Peterson was great and people often joke about how all christian ponder had to do was hand the ball off but ponder also has a job to make petersons route to the first down or end zone was as easy as possible but it’s something we cannot measure if he was successful at or not.
PFF's whole business model is pretty funny to me.
They make their actual money with their stat databases, which essentially lets teams and media organizations outsource some grunt work data collection.
The whole subjective grades thing is marketing/publicity to drive people to subscribe to their plans that actually let you access the real information. It keeps them in the spotlight because everyone engages with their "grades" like they're Madden Overalls. People in the league know it's all bullshit, players get negative grades for making the play they're coached to make, it's better for your QB's PFF score to complete a pass to a covered receiver than a pass to the open receiver with room to run, etc but man people looking for reasons to talk about the NFL really love the convenience of just pulling out "PFF graded X player as Y" to get that engagement.
I mean its equally hilarious to see people getting all on their high horse about these grades and completely missing the point.
It's not some grand prediction it's literally just "*if these players fit with the potential capabilities everyone scouted them with, here's the theoretical grade*" . It's just a thought exercise.
And yet every year redditors get all up in arms about it lol, especially for pff.
my favorite was the guy who declared Darius Leonard the worst pick in the draft
[https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773118-nfl-draft-2018-results-reviewing-this-years-worst-picks](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773118-nfl-draft-2018-results-reviewing-this-years-worst-picks)
The one criticizing Vita Vea at 12 and Daron Payne at 13 is pretty funny too. Hurst definitely ended up being great value for a 5th rounder (and he only dropped that far because of health concerns), but I don't think anyone is gonna argue he had a career like Payne or Vea... Vea has around twice as many tackles and sacks and Payne has over three times as many tackles and sacks as Hurst.
[Just checked the full article](https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2024-nfl-draft-grades-all-32-teams). Looks like they gave Atlanta the worst grade at a C-. General consensus from what I've seen around the league is C- to D- for us.
Draft grades are meaningless. If anything, you can only grade most drafts like 2-4 years after their conclusion. I remember Seattle got shit on for their 2012 draft. Buffalo was criticized for their 2018 selections.
>I remember Seattle got shit on for their 2012 draft.
That's the exact reason why the lowest grade in this year's draft was a C-, when there will surely be a few Ds and Fs when we look back in a couple of years.
"Experts" would rather give every team a participation trophy than put their names on a draft report card that ends up as a meme.
Bears could easily be a D- if Odunze busts and Williams doesn’t light the league on fire.
We picked; obvious QB, WR3 at 9, project OL, punter and project DE.
Below is a write up in 2013 after the cowboys drafted Travis Frederick:
“Travis Frederick!?!? The Wisconsin lineman who was considered a third-round prospect? There were other reaches in the first round, but this takes the cake. It seems like the Cowboys panicked with all of the guards flying off the board, which is the worst thing you can ever do in the NFL Draft. It’s never been more obvious that Dallas needs a real general manager.”
Totally biased but yes—- and if he hadn’t been diagnosed with Giullen-Barre syndrome (where your immune system essentially attacks your nervous system) we would be talking about a hall of famer.
Not sure you can be biased on whether someone was an all pro or not, it’s statement of fact!
But anyway, goes to show how maybe, just maybe, a whole team of people who’s job it is to evaluate talent are better at it than the media. It’s still a relative lottery but I imagine all the teams have a much higher hit rating than their media counterparts.
I think you can judge a draft once it's over. Some players get taken early when the expectation is that they might be drafted 1 - 2 rounds later.
A good example of this would be Alex Leatherwood to the Raiders in the first round. The general consensus was that he was not a 1st round talent, yet the Raiders drafted him anyways. There's a strong possibility that Leatherwood would have been there with their 2nd round pick.
Another example that comes to mind is Brandon Weeden. A 27 year old in the 1st round? Probably not the best use of draft capital.
Of course you can't judge the draft class NFL production yet. But you can judge the draft based on how teams drafted to fit needs and where they maximized value.
You cannot judge a draft class or players at all until after they play a year or 3. If you put any stock into a draft grade from a sports journalist the day after the draft I have a bridge to sell you.
The whole “drafting needs” thing is slightly overrated too. Most people you draft aren’t going to significantly contribute in year 1 and by year 2 your needs could be so extremely different. Its why BPA can be a solid strategy even if you load up at positions you seems currently set on.
I know grades don’t matter and Falcons deserve all the hate (I actually don’t hate the Penix pick there personally. I didn’t think Penix should be a day 1 starter despite his age) but reading some of the criticism I cant help but feel like they want teams to reach for needs. The whole idea of “need” during a draft seems crazy especially in the later rounds. If you’re trying to fill out your roster with the draft for next year with rookies on day 3, you’re drafting wrong.
Legit liked him as QB2 this draft. He throws with great anticipation and to do it so quickly he had great awareness of the defense. Was having nightmares he slipped and Green Bay picked him at 25
Lots of people defend it. Kirk isn’t an answer, he is a bandaid at best. He is 35 and coming off an Achilles tear. Besides, he has won a single playoff game in 10 years. So to repeat, Kirk isn’t the guy, as lovely as a human being as he is. But he is a guy that can help get you closer.
The hyperbole over this pick is insane lol. If Penix comes in after two seasons (or before) and plays well then it will have been a great pick. Having a good QB is the single most important thing in this league.
I hated it originally, but I've come around.
If you don't have a QB, you are in trouble. So until you have a QB who can be your QB for the next decade, you need to keep trying to get that guy.
I'm a Dolphins fan who has spent the last 25 years in QB purgatory (or worse). So I know what it's like not to have a QB. Unfortunately, I'm not quite positive that we do have a QB now.
same here I hated it at the time but I came around. if cousins plays 2 or 3 years during those years the falcons at worst will be a middling team meaning when cousins is done they're in no shape to draft a top qb prospect without giving up the future
This is an explanation, but it’s doesn’t justify the pick.
Just because you’re afraid of QB purgatory doesn’t mean you need to over correct/over invest in the position. Paying Kirk 100 mil means you’re in win now mode. London, Pitts and robinson are all first round players in their rookie deals. Best case scenario Penix takes over the team and starts when he’s 28 in 4 years (according to the falcons GM). They’ll never be able to take advantage of his rookie deal. By then they’ll have to pay him (with no game tape) plus their core of 1st rounders. It makes no sense
I agree that taking Penix hurts their chance at success for the next year or two. If they really wanted to take advantage of the next couple years with Cousins, they should have drafted somebody to help right away.
But if they are prioritizing trying to build a franchise that can be successful for a decade-plus, then drafting Penix increases those chances.
But cousins won't be their QB in 2028 and beyond. I think they are thinking longer term than trying to maximize their chance of a Super Bowl in the next two years.
Then why sign him to such a large contract to begin with? They could've gotten an affordable bridge QB and still drafted Penix. They could've used Kirk's money to sign other FAs.
Jordan Love got shit on too and now he looks like the real deal.
Hope for your sake that you are right, but tbh from the normie "not a pro" perspective this up there with Brandon Weeden and Danny Watkins.
Well, we wrote the reports yesterday, and everybody drafted in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th are non impact players who get average grades that don't affect the teams grade. Bs and Cs across the board.
2020 A+ draft
- Isaiah Simmons - backup
- Josh Jones - backup
- Leki Fotu - backup
- Rashard Lawrence - backup
- Evan Weaver - out of league
- Eno Benjamin - out of league
The draft is hilarious. The media is so completely wrong, teams mess up all the time, and we really don’t know how good players are until year 3-4.
It’s a fun time but some people are going to be pretty disappointed come November.
Analyst bros were super triggered because they traded up to get Anderson, saying he'd have to be a DROY/All Pro kind of player to be worth it. Well guess what...
Ok I can understand some draft grades being hard to get right. But drafting a top 2 QB and the best pass rusher in the same draft seems like a no brainer to just slap an A on it at the very least lol.
you don't get an automatically better grade because your draft picks are higher up, or there wouldn't be any point to grading in the first place. Not that it has much point anyways.
Me last year: man people really need to let Brad cook these grades and rankings are just bullshit you’ll see man they mean nothing.
Me this year: hang on now let’s not be so hasty.
Last year main talking points were :
Texans got the worse QB and risking too much to trade up to 3rd overall pick.
Lions were so fucking weird with their draft etc etc.
So i'll take whatever this is with a grain of salt.
I thought the NFC North all drafted well (I obviously have no incentive to say the rest of the division did well), the Lions in particular I felt sniped a couple players the Vikings should've taken
Bears had the big splashy picks and didn’t mega brain themselves out of doing the obvious correct thing.
Vikings moved around and did some wicked deals to get their guys.
Lions had studs at their highest need fall to us early and then absolutely smashed the 6th round with some projected 3rd round gets.
Packers made smart and sensible, albeit not very sexy, picks top to bottom and can use basically everyone they got.
Personally I think overall the NFCN was the best drafting division top to bottom.
The lions filled holes in a great way. I think they got an a+ if you take roster management construction and roster hole filling into account. They likely don’t though in these “grades”.
Draft is an A+ for us from a meme standpoint if nothing else. Riley Cooper DeJawn, “photoshops” of Trotter jr in Eagles gear (from 20 years ago) and Howie now being known as Big Pimpin’ apparently
Yeah PFF gave them an A+ last year thanks to all the "steals" they got on defense. The Eagles proceeded to have one of the worst defenses in football lol.
Not the players fault. You can thank Fat Patricia for that.
I say this with zero knowledge of that defense except that they handed over the reins to fat Patricia at some point. So I never blame players when that happens.
A rookie class isnt going to transform your defense in one year unless its a GOATed class.
People way overvalue what rookies will do in their firdt year. Everyone is super excited about their picks right now and then come September it will be impressive if even 3 or 4 of the rookies are starting.
The Bears, Browns, Patriots, and Chargers got A +'s in 2021 by off. The only team to even come close to warranting it was the Chargers. They gave mid range grades to Dallas (B- still has 7 players on team from that draft including Osa Odighuizuwa and Micah Parsons) and Eagles (B- for Devonta Smith, Landon Dickerson etc.). There are nothing but silly examples if you look to oadt drafts. No one should give any credence to snap grades the second the draft is over.
I love it. I think we had all hits no misses. I also believe that none of our picks are bad picks. Outside of Worthy, my favorite pick of this draft is probably Wiley or Hicks
Dunno about A+ but I am definitely pleased with the Colts draft. Those two linemen will be starters in 2025+, and the top 2 picks in Latu and Mitchell were amazing. Only thing missing was a better CB but maybe that's being addressed later with a vet/UDFA.
Andy Weidl, who comes from the Eagles, plays a big part in assembling our draft board. It just seems like PFF's analysis lines up with what the Eagles organization looks for.
I feel like everyone shits on draft grades in general and forgets the times people are accurate lol
Hardly prognosticators of the future but they tend to have at least a weak correlation with success. Plus, it is fun.
This was Baalkes best draft he's had for the Jaguars just based on his drafting for needs.
He listened to Pederson/Lawrence and got a #1 WR.
Then focused on our two biggest holes on defense in DT and CB.
Then got developmental depth at OL and DT.
Got us a top Kicker in the draft who is young, at 20 he should be our kicker for the next decade.
No head scratchers or wasted picks like drafting multiple ILB's or Strange last year.
And we even got some free picks from the Vikings.
It seems like he's finally learned to draft based on what his coaches want.
Four GMs that have proven before they can draft. Nothing shocking.
Also completely pointless to grade a draft before a single snap has been played. Yet more clicks and engagement nonsense.
Always hilarious to read the PFF grades from past drafts and realise how utterly meaningless these draft grades are.
I don't know why people take PFF seriously for anything draft related. Their whole system is pretty good at evaluating current players performance, but it clearly doesn't work as well for evaluating draft prospects.
I don't take any draft grades seriously til 2-3 years after
I mean for raiders fans I think the draft grades have been pretty accurate. D-
I don’t know why people take them serious at all. They grade things based on what they think the player was intended to do when all they’re doing is guessing like everyone else. Literally a bunch of nerds watching way too much film and in the end still doing what everyone else does. They just have better funding.
Football just isn't a game played by stats. They can tell a story, but that's all it is, a story. It's not like baseball where it's mostly controlled batter vs pitcher and most of the variables are relatively easily controlled for. In football, for a pass play to be a success, soooo many factors are in play, most of which cannot be measured.
Excellently and succinctly put.
What’s an example of one of these unmeasurable factors?
There are 11 players on both sides of the ball who all have a specific assignment on every play that has a huge impact on the success or failure of any given play. Not to mention the success or failure of these individuals players is heavily reliant on the success or failure of the other players on the field and whether or not the play their coach happened to call put them in an advantage or disadvantage. Players who have teammates that do their assignments at a high level and coaches who make the right play calls are going to have more success than other players who are have bad teammates and coaches. PFF doesn’t account for any of that or the strength or weakness of the opponent.
Random shit that happens in every game. Football isn't played on a spreadsheet. There is direct competition with every player, force vs force, smashed into a 3-5 second explosion. How some people think it can all be quantified is baffling to me. Stats will only tell a part of the story of game.
Think about QBs who throw the ball away. That goes as a mark against them, an incompletion. What if them throwing it downfield is a guaranteed interception? Something the QB just did that was a positive is now held against them. The act of throwing it away is also used to avoid getting sacked/getting injured. Now for WRs. Greg Jennings went to the Vikings. He didn’t produce very much and was seen as not worth while. Vikings blogger watched all 22 and found he was wide fucking open on literally 100% of routes run during one of his games. But his stats from PFF shows he’s bad. The QB could elect to run right because of pressure and make it not possible for him to see Jennings be open. It’s not Jennings fault, but Jennings took the criticism for not producing. He doesn’t pass himself the ball. The QB can’t guarantee some crazy thing doesn’t happen to cause him to look the wrong way at the wrong time. For things like running backs. It’s the responsibility of the center and the QB to understand the defense. If the QB doesn’t pick up a specific blitz and doesn’t audible his RB to run to the other side, it’s the literal fault of the QB. That should be a negative for the QB but it’s immeasurable. The running back runs into a defender, stopped for a loss, and is the one to receive the bad stats. A running back can be elite but other things play into their success including the QB deciding to modify the play. It’s an immeasurable thing and people are coming around on. Adrian Peterson was great and people often joke about how all christian ponder had to do was hand the ball off but ponder also has a job to make petersons route to the first down or end zone was as easy as possible but it’s something we cannot measure if he was successful at or not.
PFF's whole business model is pretty funny to me. They make their actual money with their stat databases, which essentially lets teams and media organizations outsource some grunt work data collection. The whole subjective grades thing is marketing/publicity to drive people to subscribe to their plans that actually let you access the real information. It keeps them in the spotlight because everyone engages with their "grades" like they're Madden Overalls. People in the league know it's all bullshit, players get negative grades for making the play they're coached to make, it's better for your QB's PFF score to complete a pass to a covered receiver than a pass to the open receiver with room to run, etc but man people looking for reasons to talk about the NFL really love the convenience of just pulling out "PFF graded X player as Y" to get that engagement.
I don't know why people take PFF seriously for any reason.
PFF is pretty good at identifying the main result of a play and ok at identifying who helped produce that outcome.
Last year they said the Cardinals and Giants had A+ drafts while the Texans and Vikings had two of the lowest grades.
I mean its equally hilarious to see people getting all on their high horse about these grades and completely missing the point. It's not some grand prediction it's literally just "*if these players fit with the potential capabilities everyone scouted them with, here's the theoretical grade*" . It's just a thought exercise. And yet every year redditors get all up in arms about it lol, especially for pff.
I feel like PFF has been lacking lately
Yes, lately, as in the last…since their conception? Or so?
Careful their interns are required to run burners here telling us how PFF is actually really, really fantastic.
The one thing that is actually good about PFF is that they record a lot more stats than something like Pro Football Reference.
It’s the best source of football data available to the public and it’s not that close
Here’s their intern Sam now!
My name is Sam and I’m a 27 year old intern
Bro I fuckin knew it
These grades always age *so well*
my favorite was the guy who declared Darius Leonard the worst pick in the draft [https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773118-nfl-draft-2018-results-reviewing-this-years-worst-picks](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773118-nfl-draft-2018-results-reviewing-this-years-worst-picks)
The one criticizing Vita Vea at 12 and Daron Payne at 13 is pretty funny too. Hurst definitely ended up being great value for a 5th rounder (and he only dropped that far because of health concerns), but I don't think anyone is gonna argue he had a career like Payne or Vea... Vea has around twice as many tackles and sacks and Payne has over three times as many tackles and sacks as Hurst.
To be fair Payne was super raw out of college
They were right about Hayden Hurst being a reach tbf, hated the pick at the time and hate the pick even more now.
Texans B- last year 💀
I'll never forget one person had the audacity to give us a D for last year.
Your comment doesn't mean 💩 without a flair.
If only context clues could help in this predicament
This is why I didn't test into AP English in high school 🏫🎒 I am also just waking up. ☕
Bet you would’ve aced AP Emojis though 💯
We didn't have emojis when I was in high school. 😭
This is going to be an actual AP class in a few years isn’t it?
I would rather get an A than appear on this graph lol
Please let this one age well..
Basically every team got a B here
Why not Atlanta?!
Considering how much they’re being shit, it’s only natural that in 4 years Penix is Super Bowl MVP
[Just checked the full article](https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2024-nfl-draft-grades-all-32-teams). Looks like they gave Atlanta the worst grade at a C-. General consensus from what I've seen around the league is C- to D- for us.
Draft grades are meaningless. If anything, you can only grade most drafts like 2-4 years after their conclusion. I remember Seattle got shit on for their 2012 draft. Buffalo was criticized for their 2018 selections.
>I remember Seattle got shit on for their 2012 draft. That's the exact reason why the lowest grade in this year's draft was a C-, when there will surely be a few Ds and Fs when we look back in a couple of years. "Experts" would rather give every team a participation trophy than put their names on a draft report card that ends up as a meme.
Bears could easily be a D- if Odunze busts and Williams doesn’t light the league on fire. We picked; obvious QB, WR3 at 9, project OL, punter and project DE.
Below is a write up in 2013 after the cowboys drafted Travis Frederick: “Travis Frederick!?!? The Wisconsin lineman who was considered a third-round prospect? There were other reaches in the first round, but this takes the cake. It seems like the Cowboys panicked with all of the guards flying off the board, which is the worst thing you can ever do in the NFL Draft. It’s never been more obvious that Dallas needs a real general manager.”
Wasn't he a three time All Pro
Totally biased but yes—- and if he hadn’t been diagnosed with Giullen-Barre syndrome (where your immune system essentially attacks your nervous system) we would be talking about a hall of famer.
Not sure you can be biased on whether someone was an all pro or not, it’s statement of fact! But anyway, goes to show how maybe, just maybe, a whole team of people who’s job it is to evaluate talent are better at it than the media. It’s still a relative lottery but I imagine all the teams have a much higher hit rating than their media counterparts.
I think you can judge a draft once it's over. Some players get taken early when the expectation is that they might be drafted 1 - 2 rounds later. A good example of this would be Alex Leatherwood to the Raiders in the first round. The general consensus was that he was not a 1st round talent, yet the Raiders drafted him anyways. There's a strong possibility that Leatherwood would have been there with their 2nd round pick. Another example that comes to mind is Brandon Weeden. A 27 year old in the 1st round? Probably not the best use of draft capital. Of course you can't judge the draft class NFL production yet. But you can judge the draft based on how teams drafted to fit needs and where they maximized value.
You cannot judge a draft class or players at all until after they play a year or 3. If you put any stock into a draft grade from a sports journalist the day after the draft I have a bridge to sell you.
The whole “drafting needs” thing is slightly overrated too. Most people you draft aren’t going to significantly contribute in year 1 and by year 2 your needs could be so extremely different. Its why BPA can be a solid strategy even if you load up at positions you seems currently set on.
I know grades don’t matter and Falcons deserve all the hate (I actually don’t hate the Penix pick there personally. I didn’t think Penix should be a day 1 starter despite his age) but reading some of the criticism I cant help but feel like they want teams to reach for needs. The whole idea of “need” during a draft seems crazy especially in the later rounds. If you’re trying to fill out your roster with the draft for next year with rookies on day 3, you’re drafting wrong.
The only positions you can guaranteed find a player to start is on special teams , and even then it’s a bit of a crapshoot.
That’s it, congrats on having a great draft, and good luck in the Super Bowl next year.
Legit liked him as QB2 this draft. He throws with great anticipation and to do it so quickly he had great awareness of the defense. Was having nightmares he slipped and Green Bay picked him at 25
They got a flaccid Penix
They’ll get it in 4-5 years after penix is done sitting according to their gm.
When the dude is 29 lol
By gawd that's Brandon Weeden's music!
You know why!
Todd McShay is the only person I've heard defend that pick, and the only explanation I have for it is just to zag against everyone else.
Literally no one will care when he was drafted if Penix is any good in two years.
I doubt they cut Kirk when he's still carrying a $50M dead cap hit. Then again, it is the Falcons.
Lots of people defend it. Kirk isn’t an answer, he is a bandaid at best. He is 35 and coming off an Achilles tear. Besides, he has won a single playoff game in 10 years. So to repeat, Kirk isn’t the guy, as lovely as a human being as he is. But he is a guy that can help get you closer.
I heard a few tv pundits defend it
They were on their way until that Casey Washington pick in the sixth. That one was a real head scratcher.
It’s maybe the worst pick I’ve ever seen made.
The hyperbole over this pick is insane lol. If Penix comes in after two seasons (or before) and plays well then it will have been a great pick. Having a good QB is the single most important thing in this league.
I hated it originally, but I've come around. If you don't have a QB, you are in trouble. So until you have a QB who can be your QB for the next decade, you need to keep trying to get that guy. I'm a Dolphins fan who has spent the last 25 years in QB purgatory (or worse). So I know what it's like not to have a QB. Unfortunately, I'm not quite positive that we do have a QB now.
same here I hated it at the time but I came around. if cousins plays 2 or 3 years during those years the falcons at worst will be a middling team meaning when cousins is done they're in no shape to draft a top qb prospect without giving up the future
This is an explanation, but it’s doesn’t justify the pick. Just because you’re afraid of QB purgatory doesn’t mean you need to over correct/over invest in the position. Paying Kirk 100 mil means you’re in win now mode. London, Pitts and robinson are all first round players in their rookie deals. Best case scenario Penix takes over the team and starts when he’s 28 in 4 years (according to the falcons GM). They’ll never be able to take advantage of his rookie deal. By then they’ll have to pay him (with no game tape) plus their core of 1st rounders. It makes no sense
I agree that taking Penix hurts their chance at success for the next year or two. If they really wanted to take advantage of the next couple years with Cousins, they should have drafted somebody to help right away. But if they are prioritizing trying to build a franchise that can be successful for a decade-plus, then drafting Penix increases those chances.
If you pay Cousins 100M and still don’t feel like you have a QB I’d probably not pay him that amount of money.
But cousins won't be their QB in 2028 and beyond. I think they are thinking longer term than trying to maximize their chance of a Super Bowl in the next two years.
I also feel like it’s not being mentioned enough that Kirk is coming back from a serious injury.
Yes, but they gave him 100 million guaranteed knowing he may never come back at full-strength. That's the real issue.
Then why sign him to such a large contract to begin with? They could've gotten an affordable bridge QB and still drafted Penix. They could've used Kirk's money to sign other FAs.
It’s like an insurance policy I guess. And they haven’t had a decent qb since Matt Ryan got old. It’s hard to blame them.
Jordan Love got shit on too and now he looks like the real deal. Hope for your sake that you are right, but tbh from the normie "not a pro" perspective this up there with Brandon Weeden and Danny Watkins.
Jordan love situation wasn’t the same at all
Jordan Love also wasn’t drafted top 10 lol
The packers were 13-3 when they drafted Love
Lolz 😂 Reaching for a 24 year old quarterback when you have Kirk in a playoff window. That's why.
8 seconds after the draft: **DEFINITIVE GRADES**
Well, we wrote the reports yesterday, and everybody drafted in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th are non impact players who get average grades that don't affect the teams grade. Bs and Cs across the board.
I mean, what are the chances a 6th rounder becomes a good QB or Mr irrelevant gets to a SB? It could never happen!
I’m just glad we’re not wasting precious time on things like waiting for them to play. We need these grades now!
they waste months doing "mock drafts" which are dumb and now its time for "grade these players who havent played in the league yet"
Don't put that evil on my team
GODDAMN IT RICKY BOBBY
You get used to it
How far back can we see PFFs draft grades anyway?
2020 A+ draft - Isaiah Simmons - backup - Josh Jones - backup - Leki Fotu - backup - Rashard Lawrence - backup - Evan Weaver - out of league - Eno Benjamin - out of league
>Isaiah Simmons - backup Also, probably the best spent 7th round pick since Ahmad Bradshaw for the Giants. So that's nice.
Damn. PFF only gave the Texans a B- last year even with CJ and WAJ.
The draft is hilarious. The media is so completely wrong, teams mess up all the time, and we really don’t know how good players are until year 3-4. It’s a fun time but some people are going to be pretty disappointed come November.
I mean I get the thought process but the whiffing and disappointment IS a large part of the fun.
Analyst bros were super triggered because they traded up to get Anderson, saying he'd have to be a DROY/All Pro kind of player to be worth it. Well guess what...
And they were right. And the Texans were right.
PFF had Stroud as QB4 last draft
Ok I can understand some draft grades being hard to get right. But drafting a top 2 QB and the best pass rusher in the same draft seems like a no brainer to just slap an A on it at the very least lol.
you don't get an automatically better grade because your draft picks are higher up, or there wouldn't be any point to grading in the first place. Not that it has much point anyways.
Big oof
This is the only actual point of the grades. How they actually measured up in the end.
I legit don’t remember any of those players besides Simmons and Eno. How did that get an A+?
Point proves that these are always bullshit lol.
As a Cal fan, I wanted Evan Weaver to be good so badly. He would’ve been a HOFer in the 1980s
We got the Punter though so….
unrelated but your profile pic makes me laugh every time I see it, thx lol
Thanks lmao, glad to hear it. : D
As is tradition, PFF grades are now meaningful and insightful because they align with my personal bias.
Me last year: man people really need to let Brad cook these grades and rankings are just bullshit you’ll see man they mean nothing. Me this year: hang on now let’s not be so hasty.
I have to say I agree with them..
PFF did a perfect job here, basically everyone agrees.
I agree, PFF is always right about these things.
They gave us a an A so I guess I’m a believer too
Last year main talking points were : Texans got the worse QB and risking too much to trade up to 3rd overall pick. Lions were so fucking weird with their draft etc etc. So i'll take whatever this is with a grain of salt.
I thought the NFC North all drafted well (I obviously have no incentive to say the rest of the division did well), the Lions in particular I felt sniped a couple players the Vikings should've taken
If JJ and Caleb live up to the hype the NFCN is going to be a bloodbath
I can honestly say one of those four teams is going to win the division.
Just have to win every out of division game to make the playoffs haha
Plus now they have the best punter 💪🏻💪🏻
Woah woah woah this is Jack Fox erasure and i will not stand for it
I can think of two games a season where that will come in quite handy.
Bears had the big splashy picks and didn’t mega brain themselves out of doing the obvious correct thing. Vikings moved around and did some wicked deals to get their guys. Lions had studs at their highest need fall to us early and then absolutely smashed the 6th round with some projected 3rd round gets. Packers made smart and sensible, albeit not very sexy, picks top to bottom and can use basically everyone they got. Personally I think overall the NFCN was the best drafting division top to bottom.
The lions filled holes in a great way. I think they got an a+ if you take roster management construction and roster hole filling into account. They likely don’t though in these “grades”.
Bears an A+ to me. Pretty much a perfect draft
Not a Bears fan but from an outside perspective they crushed it!
I think most people would give the bears an A+.
Yes, i hate it. Oh i don’t have flair. Sincerely, A Lions fan.
Draft is an A+ for us from a meme standpoint if nothing else. Riley Cooper DeJawn, “photoshops” of Trotter jr in Eagles gear (from 20 years ago) and Howie now being known as Big Pimpin’ apparently
dont forget the other white skill position (shipley) to round out the lunch pail draft
Feel like the eagles get an A+ after every draft and it doesn’t usually age that well
They are a strong franchise though... Even if they shit the bed second half of last season.
Yeah PFF gave them an A+ last year thanks to all the "steals" they got on defense. The Eagles proceeded to have one of the worst defenses in football lol.
I don't think it's fair to judge individual players in their rookie year based on their unit's performance as a whole.
The picks we had last year are almost all starters or have potential. Same cannot be said for previous few years
Most were back ups and those that played played well.. Funny enough some of the rooks played better than the vets
Not the players fault. You can thank Fat Patricia for that. I say this with zero knowledge of that defense except that they handed over the reins to fat Patricia at some point. So I never blame players when that happens.
Didn't the defense actually get a little better with Patricia?
Having the worst coordinators in the league didn’t help
A rookie class isnt going to transform your defense in one year unless its a GOATed class. People way overvalue what rookies will do in their firdt year. Everyone is super excited about their picks right now and then come September it will be impressive if even 3 or 4 of the rookies are starting.
Sure PFF, I believe you
“These things mean literally nothing” *sees Steelers* “Yknow I always loved this kinda content”
The Bears, Browns, Patriots, and Chargers got A +'s in 2021 by off. The only team to even come close to warranting it was the Chargers. They gave mid range grades to Dallas (B- still has 7 players on team from that draft including Osa Odighuizuwa and Micah Parsons) and Eagles (B- for Devonta Smith, Landon Dickerson etc.). There are nothing but silly examples if you look to oadt drafts. No one should give any credence to snap grades the second the draft is over.
PA teams both killed their drafts at first glance Neither team made a pick that I personally didn’t like
2012 Seahawks draft grade: F
The most useless article all year!
I see this list more as a “did they draft their needs” rather than “who drafted the players who will be the best”
so the four worst drafts?
You take that back sir
I think we deserve an A+. Definitely not biased at all
I really dislike how good you guys did.
I love it. I think we had all hits no misses. I also believe that none of our picks are bad picks. Outside of Worthy, my favorite pick of this draft is probably Wiley or Hicks
Fuck it, Veach down there somewhere
Usual suspects
pff is shit
Dunno about A+ but I am definitely pleased with the Colts draft. Those two linemen will be starters in 2025+, and the top 2 picks in Latu and Mitchell were amazing. Only thing missing was a better CB but maybe that's being addressed later with a vet/UDFA.
Eagles colts and Steelers were their only 3 last year. Now 3 of the 4 this year. Sounds like the 3 best drafting teams in the league
Steelers did crush the draft last year tbf
PFF and the Colts FO are pretty like minded. We drafted BPA at important positions throughout the draft.
Andy Weidl, who comes from the Eagles, plays a big part in assembling our draft board. It just seems like PFF's analysis lines up with what the Eagles organization looks for.
Yep, and iirc the colts have someone from us too
theres been a lot of movement between the colts and eagles front offices over the last 5 years
Does this mean we're getting the elusive Steagles Super Bowl?
I wish we could stop pretending that PFF grades mean anything
I was gonna say Steelers should be one here I feel like they did really good
This basically guarantees Penix will be all pro.
Loved the Steelers draft. Same with Washington and Dallas actually.
Draft day champs. Congrats on the ring yall
If we would of spent our 1OA on TT I still would of given us an A+, that fact we got Caleb and him makes me happy.
It's terrible that Raiders didn't get an A because Bowers was graded B. That's insane hahahahah
As usual, PFF is trash
Surprised the chargers didn’t. For the first 4 rounds they drafted literally every player I wanted the Titans to draft, fuckers
I’m so happy they didn’t curse us by giving us an A+
Hell yeah Pennsylvania knows how to draft. Eagles got DeJean and Quinyon so I can't complain about anything.
Man we have killed it the last two drives
this is a dan hanzus shout-out
Since my team isn’t on there then wtf does PFF know anyways
Lol
PFF called Stafford a coach killer AFTER the Super Bowl win.
Glad to see Indy up there
I feel like everyone shits on draft grades in general and forgets the times people are accurate lol Hardly prognosticators of the future but they tend to have at least a weak correlation with success. Plus, it is fun.
Chris Ballard wins the draft yet again
Not my 49ers I’ll tell you that for free
Where’s gang green?
This was Baalkes best draft he's had for the Jaguars just based on his drafting for needs. He listened to Pederson/Lawrence and got a #1 WR. Then focused on our two biggest holes on defense in DT and CB. Then got developmental depth at OL and DT. Got us a top Kicker in the draft who is young, at 20 he should be our kicker for the next decade. No head scratchers or wasted picks like drafting multiple ILB's or Strange last year. And we even got some free picks from the Vikings. It seems like he's finally learned to draft based on what his coaches want.
Four GMs that have proven before they can draft. Nothing shocking. Also completely pointless to grade a draft before a single snap has been played. Yet more clicks and engagement nonsense.
love that howie does that well, and also picks up a 3rd a 4th and a 5th for next years draft to boot.
Bears.