Things we learned doing the positional previews … Having completed our pre-season positional previews for the 2024 draft (see above), it was kind of interesting to go back and reread them just to see if there were any more general observations to be made about the upcoming draft. The first thing that still kind of jumped out at… Read More »
Caleb Williams, QB, 6-1, 220, Southern California, 3rd … Currently the consensus top prospect overall for the 2024 draft and #2 isn’t all that close. Originally signed at Oklahoma, but followed Lincoln Riley to Southern Cal where he won the 2022 Heisman Trophy after throwing for over 4,500 yards and 42 TDs, while running for another 10 scores.… Read More »
2024 Safety Preview: Still not getting much respect! … Unfortunately, safety is one of those positions, along with the interior offensive line and inside LBs, that just don’t know have a lot of value on draft day, especially in the very early rounds. No safety, for example, was selected in the opening round in three of the past… Read More »
Preliminary 2024 CB preview: Question marks … The cornerback position has been on kind of a nice little role in the past few years. Indeed, in 4 of the past 6 drafts, at least one CB was taken with a top 5 selection. That includes Devon Witherspoon, whom Seattle nabbed with the 5th pick this past April, as… Read More »
Cards reportedly happy with QB Murray off-season work effort … A bit of an interesting headline out of Arizona this past weekend where the Cardinals organization has reportedly at least been impressed with the work being put in by QB Kyler Murray. There has been speculation that if the Cardinals do end up with the #1 pick overall… Read More »
Majority of 2023 picks now signed … According to a report on NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk that with training camps still just over a month from opening, the majority of players chosen at the 2023 draft have signed with their respective teams. Per the report, as of this weekend, just 31 players taken at this past April’s… Read More »
Preliminary 2024 LB preview … LB – and we’re referring here almost exclusively to players that project to middle and ILBs as opposed to OLBs who tend to get included with the edge rushers – has never necessarily been a prime position early in the draft. The last time an inside LB was selected with a top 10… Read More »
Preliminary 2024 DE/ER preview: long on potential … You aren’t going to get much of an argument from anyone in the NFL that QB is not the #1 prime, premium position come draft day. Indeed, QBs were the first player selected in 7 of the past ten drafts, while the position also accounted for 1 out of every… Read More »
2024 draft DT preview; keep bringing it on! … By almost every measure available, 2023was a pretty darn good draft for the defensive tackles. Overall, 4 were selected in the opening round, tied for the second highest total this century behind the half dozen chosen in 2018. As well, the 11 DTs taken within the first three rounds… Read More »
Supp draft back on after 3-year absence … Multiple sources are reporting that after a 3-year absence, the NFL will be holding a supplemental draft this summer on July 11th. Th league last held a supp draft in 2019. The league has also reportedly confirmed that former Purdue WR Milton Wright will be available in this summer’s supplemental… Read More »
2024 Offensive line preview: More of the same on the way … The 2023 draft was pretty typical for the offensive line. a total of 5 OTs, for example, were selected in the opening round (and we are counting Northwestern’s Peter Skoronksi as an OT, although he was technically listed as an OG when he was selected 11th… Read More »
CFL schedule kicks off … The 2023 CFL regular season gets underway later Thursday evening when the B.C. Lions play the Stampeders in Calgary with kick-off set for 9 PM ET. The rest of the Canadian leagues opening week schedule sets up with Hamilton playing at Winnipeg on Friday, Ottawa travels to Montreal on Saturday, with Saskatchewan wrapping… Read More »
Let’s try that again: 2024 TE preview … The draft turned out to be, well interesting for the 2023 TE class. On the one hand, the expected ‘best year ever’ for the position never really materialized. Dalton Kincaid of Utah was selected with the 25th pick overall by Buffalo, but that was as many 10 picks lower than… Read More »
Some thoughts on NFL alignment … Its the first full week of June and there really isn’t much going on around the NFL. However, there was recent article over on the ESPN college football page regarding a fantasy realignment for college football. And that got us thinking about something we have thought a fair amount of late and… Read More »
Time to move on: 2024 WR preview … There is simply no way to sugarcoat it; the 2023 was a pretty big disappointment for this year’s WR class. For starters, as many as 4 different receivers had at least a top 15-20 grade at some point in the build-up to the draft, but in the end none were… Read More »
Almost like old times: 2024 Preliminary RB Preview … For the RBs, the 2023 must have felt a little bit like the good old days when the position was one of the most valued areas on draft day. Indeed, two backs – Bijan Robinson who was selected 8th overall by Atlanta and Jahmyr Gibbs. selected 12th by Detroit… Read More »
ESPN projects teams with top ten at 2024 picks … For those that haven’t seen it yet, ESPN has a piece up today in which they predict that Arizona will have the first two picks at the 2024 draft. Arizona would have their own pick next spring, along with that of Houston which the Cardinals acquired in that… Read More »
Armed and dangerous: an early preview/ranking of the 2024 QB class … It is probably a little early to be calling 2024 ‘the year of the QB’ when it comes to next year’s draft, but it is certainly setting up to be a very interesting class. Of course, it starts with Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams, this year’s Heisman… Read More »
Seahawks claim 8th round title … After posting one of the league’s better drafts this year which included both the top-rated CB (Devon Witherspoon of Illinois) and WR (Jaxon Smith-Njigba of Ohio State), Seattle followed it up with arguably the NFL’s best undrafted free agent classes. Indeed, based on our thoroughly unscientific scoring system of which teams signed… Read More »
1. Seattle 12 (9) 2. Dallas 11(7) 3. Minnesota 10 (5) 4. Buffalo 8 (4) Las Vegas 8 (4) Philadelphia 8 (5) Tampa Bay 8 (3) 8. Tennessee… Read More »
Cowboys first to sign all picks … Dallas became the first team to sign its full 2023 draft class earlier today when the Cowboys announced they had come to terms with all 8 players selected at last month’s draft. That included former Michigan DT Mazi Smith, the Cowboys’ #1 pick who agreed to a 4Y, $13.3M deal with… Read More »
NFL to release schedule … The league that (almost) never sleeps will release its 2023 schedule later this evening beginning at 8 PM ET.
Colts request tampering investigation of Commanders … Indianapolis has reportedly formally asked the NFL to investigate a possible tampering infringement against Washington after media reports circulated this weekend that the Commanders had reached out to retired Colts’ QB Andrew Luck last season. While Luck has been retired for several years, the Colts retain his rights which could put… Read More »
Preliminary Top 40 posted for 2024 … Needless to say there will be many changes before the actual 2024 draft, now 355 days away!, but here is our first stab at a top 40 for next year’s draft. It is interesting as it appears there is already a very solid, consensus top 10 emerging for next April, but… Read More »
Let me start with something of a caveat. One of the dangers of doing this kind of analysis is that one resist the urge to simply interpret events from the context of a preconceived notion of what was going to happen. Over the course of the past 6 weeks or so we were pretty vocal about our impression… Read More »
