Leonardfan
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Here are 86 players w/ my projection on where they will be drafted based on the Caste System. My projections are actually higher just as everyone else on this forum’s would be. The total number of picks in this draft is 254. IF these 86 players were selected it would comprise 33% of the total draft class. Trends over the past few years have been about 25% of players being drafted. A rough estimate of the number of players drafted (non-punter/kickers) is between 55-65. If 65 of players on this list were drafted that would put the percentage of players at roughly 25%. Leaving 21 of the players listed below as UDFAs. I will revisit this list post draft and compare to the actual results. I am betting that at LEAST 20 of these players do not get drafted.
This QB class is interesting. 5 years ago Barkley, Jones, Bray (if he did not have off-field concerns), Glennon would all be viewed as very good and compelling prospects and their wouldn’t be a debate as to whether or not they are first rounders. I believe this is a very good QB class. With the NFL having time to prepare for the spread option and eventually figure it out I believe that these QBs will have the ability to succeed since they have the tried and true abilities of playing within the pocket that have been the cornerstone of the position since the forward pass became a staple of NFL offenses.
QB - 10
1. Matt Barkley USC – 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Round
2. Ryan Nassib Syracuse Mid 1[SUP]st[/SUP]-Early 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Round
3. Mike Glennon NC St. 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Round
4. Landry Jones Oklahoma 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Round
5. Tyler Wilson Arkansas 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Round
6. Tyler Bray Tenn 3[SUP]RD[/SUP]-4[SUP]TH[/SUP] Round
7. Zac Dysert Miami OH 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
8.Collin Klein KSU 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
9. Colby Cameron LA Tech 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
10. Ryan Griffin Tulane 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
The running back position was greeted with some optimism at the beginning of the college season. Unfortunately Burkhead hurt his knee the first week of the season and did not have that great season where he put up great numbers. Zach Line was quietly consistent and one of the best RBs in college the past 3-4 seasons. Both these guys put up good numbers – ran 4.6s at their prodays yet for obvious reasons will not be considered as full time running backs. Kyle Juszcyk seems to be gaining some late round momentum as an H-BACK type.
RB/FB - 4
1. Rex Burkhead Nebraska 4[SUP]th[/SUP]-5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
2. Zach Line SMU 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
3. Kyle Juszcyk Harvard 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
4. Tommy Bohannon WF 7[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
Every year their seems to be 6 or 7 guys that should get drafted yet every year only 2-3 do get drafted and not until the later rounds. These rankings are admittedly dashed with some wishful thinking. Swope really surprised a lot of people with his 4.3 40. Vernon has the best hands I have seen since Mike Hass. McGuffie has to be the most ignored elite athlete after running a 4.28 40 – not a word has been spoken of that. Hopefully all these guys do get drafted as it would be a nice addition to the static numbers currently in the NFL.
WR - 8
1. Ryan Swope Texas A&M 2[SUP]ND[/SUP]
2. Conner Vernon Duke 4th
3. TJ Moe Missouri 5th
4.Ryan Spadola Lehigh 6th
5. Brandon Kaufman E. Wash 6th
6. Sam McGuffie Rice 6th
7. Zach Rogers Tenn 7th
8. Josh Lenz ISU 7th
TE has been a bright spot. I think these guys have a very good chance of getting drafted and making an impact as this position has been blossoming (I use that term loosely) over the past few seasons.
TE - 9
1.Tyler Eifert ND 1st
2. Zach Ertz Stanford 2nd
3. Vance McDonald Rice 2nd
4. Travis Kelce Cincinatti 3rd
5.Nick Kasa Colorado 4th
6. Ryan Otten SJSU 5th
7. Jake Stoneburner OSU 5th
8. Lucas Reed New Mexico 6th
9. Matt Furstenberg Maryland 7th
Three guys are projected to go top 10 which is always good. It seems like a mini-rebirth at the Tackle position. Pretty good depth as well. Some of these guys such as Pugh and Kyle Long may be destined to move inside at the next level. Quessenberry is probably a top 3 fav prospect of mine in this draft.
OT - 10
1. Luke Joeckel OT Texas A&M 1st
2. Eric Fischer OT Central Michigan 1st
3. Lane Johnson OT Oklahoma 1st
4. Justin Pugh OT Syracuse 2nd
5. Kyle Long OG/OT Oregon 2nd
6. Reid Fragel OT Ohio St. 3rd
7. David Quessenberry OC/OG/OT SJSU 4th
8. Ricky Wagner OT Wisconsin 5th
9. Luke Marquart OT Azusa Pacific 6th
10.John Wetzel OT BC 7th
This is a somewhat weak position but considering some players I have listed at tackle might be moving inside makes it somewhat more bearable. Barrett Jones is being criminally underrated. He can play any position along the line. Brian Winters is a nasty player with a mean streak.
OG - 10
1. Brian Winters Kent St. 2nd
2. Barret Jones OG/OC/OT Alabama 3rd
3. J.C. Tretter OG Cornell 4th
4. Jeff Baca UCLA 4th
5. Garret Gilkey OG Chadron St. 4th
6.Eric Herman Ohio 5th
7. Chris Jacobson OG Pitt 6th
8. Blaize Foltz OG TCU 7th
9. Carson York OG Oregon 7th
10. Chris McDonald OG Michigan St 7th.
Center is a position that is somewhat underappreciated. Schwenke has been a riser and should be a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round pick. Frederick is a mauling type and will hopefully get picked early as well.
OC - 5
1. Brian Schwenke OC Cal 2nd
2.Travis Frederick OC Wisconsin 3rd
3.Braxston Cave OC ND 5th
4.TJ Johnson South Carolina 6th
5. Dalton Freeman OC Clemson 7th
Defensive end is getting a little harder to project with more teams going to hybrid systems where these guys would play standing up as OLBs. Werner and Hunt should both go fairly early. Again, it looks like the number of players with the possibility of getting draft is fairly low as it has been for awhile.
DE - 7
1. Bjoern Werner DE Florida St. 1st
2. Margus Hunt DE SMU 2nd
3. John Simon DE Ohio St. 3rd
4. Joe Kruger DE Utah 3rd
5. Mike Catapano DE Princeton 4th
6. Craig Roh DE Michigan 7th
7. Brad Madison DE Missouri 7th
DT is probably one of the most obvious CS positions. None of these guys have been rated very high by the media, scouts or “expertsâ€. I would recommend to compare Rob Lohr (who played in the SEC), Joe Vellano and Scott Vallone’s career stats and workout numbers to those of Shariff Floyd and Sheldon Richardson and see the disparity between them. It’s pretty eye opening – yet Lohr, Vellano and Vallone were not invited to the combine and are more than likely going to be afterthoughts.
DT - 6
1. Chris Jones DT BGSU
2. Brent Russell DT Georgia Southern 5th
3. Jared Smith DT New Hampshire 5th
4. Baker Steinhulker DT Nebraska 6th
5. Joe Vellano DT Maryland 6th
6. Scott Vallone DT Rutgers 6th
7. Rob Lohr DT Vanderbilt 7th
Down year for Inside backers. Klein is very good and will probably be the first ILB drafted. Mauti might surprise though if his knees check out ok.
ILB - 5
1. A.J. Klein ILB Iowa St 4th
2. Mike Mauti ILB Penn St. 5th
3. Jake Johnson ILB Southern Alabama 6th
4. Tom Wort ILB OK 6th
5. Will Compton ILB Nebraska 7[SUP]th[/SUP]
OLB has decent depth. Alonso is an athletic LB that excels at playing in space. Chase Thomas is not being talked about enough due to the 4.8 he ran at the combine yet Jarvis Jones who proved to be less athletic is still getting a first round grade – just some food for thought there.
OLB - 7
1. Kiko Alonso OLB Oregon
2. Chase Thomas OLB Stanford 4th
3. Travis Johnson DE/OLB SJSU 5th
4. Jake Knott OLB Iowa St. 6th
5. Travis Long OLB Washington St. 7th
6. Nathan Williams OLB Ohio St. 7th
7. Mike Taylor OLB Wisconsin 7th
Pretty standard year for the safety class. Cooper Taylor is being talked about by no one and should be a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round pick yet will probably drop for obvious reasons. Motta did not have a great pre draft season due to running slow but should still get drafted. Cody Davis seems to be a late riser and created a lot of buzz with his proday workout. Boyett is a wildcard due to his knee injuries – he is a guy I had pegged as a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round before missing the whole season.
S - 5
1. Cooper Taylor S Richmond – 4[SUP]TH[/SUP] round
2. Zeke Motta S Notre Dame – 4[SUP]th[/SUP] round
3. Cody Davis S Texas Tech – 5[SUP]th[/SUP] round
4. John Boyett S Oregon *** - 5[SUP]th[/SUP] round
5. Jordan Kovacs S Michigan – 7[SUP]TH[/SUP] round
This QB class is interesting. 5 years ago Barkley, Jones, Bray (if he did not have off-field concerns), Glennon would all be viewed as very good and compelling prospects and their wouldn’t be a debate as to whether or not they are first rounders. I believe this is a very good QB class. With the NFL having time to prepare for the spread option and eventually figure it out I believe that these QBs will have the ability to succeed since they have the tried and true abilities of playing within the pocket that have been the cornerstone of the position since the forward pass became a staple of NFL offenses.
QB - 10
1. Matt Barkley USC – 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Round
2. Ryan Nassib Syracuse Mid 1[SUP]st[/SUP]-Early 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Round
3. Mike Glennon NC St. 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Round
4. Landry Jones Oklahoma 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Round
5. Tyler Wilson Arkansas 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Round
6. Tyler Bray Tenn 3[SUP]RD[/SUP]-4[SUP]TH[/SUP] Round
7. Zac Dysert Miami OH 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
8.Collin Klein KSU 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
9. Colby Cameron LA Tech 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
10. Ryan Griffin Tulane 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
The running back position was greeted with some optimism at the beginning of the college season. Unfortunately Burkhead hurt his knee the first week of the season and did not have that great season where he put up great numbers. Zach Line was quietly consistent and one of the best RBs in college the past 3-4 seasons. Both these guys put up good numbers – ran 4.6s at their prodays yet for obvious reasons will not be considered as full time running backs. Kyle Juszcyk seems to be gaining some late round momentum as an H-BACK type.
RB/FB - 4
1. Rex Burkhead Nebraska 4[SUP]th[/SUP]-5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
2. Zach Line SMU 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
3. Kyle Juszcyk Harvard 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
4. Tommy Bohannon WF 7[SUP]th[/SUP] Round
Every year their seems to be 6 or 7 guys that should get drafted yet every year only 2-3 do get drafted and not until the later rounds. These rankings are admittedly dashed with some wishful thinking. Swope really surprised a lot of people with his 4.3 40. Vernon has the best hands I have seen since Mike Hass. McGuffie has to be the most ignored elite athlete after running a 4.28 40 – not a word has been spoken of that. Hopefully all these guys do get drafted as it would be a nice addition to the static numbers currently in the NFL.
WR - 8
1. Ryan Swope Texas A&M 2[SUP]ND[/SUP]
2. Conner Vernon Duke 4th
3. TJ Moe Missouri 5th
4.Ryan Spadola Lehigh 6th
5. Brandon Kaufman E. Wash 6th
6. Sam McGuffie Rice 6th
7. Zach Rogers Tenn 7th
8. Josh Lenz ISU 7th
TE has been a bright spot. I think these guys have a very good chance of getting drafted and making an impact as this position has been blossoming (I use that term loosely) over the past few seasons.
TE - 9
1.Tyler Eifert ND 1st
2. Zach Ertz Stanford 2nd
3. Vance McDonald Rice 2nd
4. Travis Kelce Cincinatti 3rd
5.Nick Kasa Colorado 4th
6. Ryan Otten SJSU 5th
7. Jake Stoneburner OSU 5th
8. Lucas Reed New Mexico 6th
9. Matt Furstenberg Maryland 7th
Three guys are projected to go top 10 which is always good. It seems like a mini-rebirth at the Tackle position. Pretty good depth as well. Some of these guys such as Pugh and Kyle Long may be destined to move inside at the next level. Quessenberry is probably a top 3 fav prospect of mine in this draft.
OT - 10
1. Luke Joeckel OT Texas A&M 1st
2. Eric Fischer OT Central Michigan 1st
3. Lane Johnson OT Oklahoma 1st
4. Justin Pugh OT Syracuse 2nd
5. Kyle Long OG/OT Oregon 2nd
6. Reid Fragel OT Ohio St. 3rd
7. David Quessenberry OC/OG/OT SJSU 4th
8. Ricky Wagner OT Wisconsin 5th
9. Luke Marquart OT Azusa Pacific 6th
10.John Wetzel OT BC 7th
This is a somewhat weak position but considering some players I have listed at tackle might be moving inside makes it somewhat more bearable. Barrett Jones is being criminally underrated. He can play any position along the line. Brian Winters is a nasty player with a mean streak.
OG - 10
1. Brian Winters Kent St. 2nd
2. Barret Jones OG/OC/OT Alabama 3rd
3. J.C. Tretter OG Cornell 4th
4. Jeff Baca UCLA 4th
5. Garret Gilkey OG Chadron St. 4th
6.Eric Herman Ohio 5th
7. Chris Jacobson OG Pitt 6th
8. Blaize Foltz OG TCU 7th
9. Carson York OG Oregon 7th
10. Chris McDonald OG Michigan St 7th.
Center is a position that is somewhat underappreciated. Schwenke has been a riser and should be a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round pick. Frederick is a mauling type and will hopefully get picked early as well.
OC - 5
1. Brian Schwenke OC Cal 2nd
2.Travis Frederick OC Wisconsin 3rd
3.Braxston Cave OC ND 5th
4.TJ Johnson South Carolina 6th
5. Dalton Freeman OC Clemson 7th
Defensive end is getting a little harder to project with more teams going to hybrid systems where these guys would play standing up as OLBs. Werner and Hunt should both go fairly early. Again, it looks like the number of players with the possibility of getting draft is fairly low as it has been for awhile.
DE - 7
1. Bjoern Werner DE Florida St. 1st
2. Margus Hunt DE SMU 2nd
3. John Simon DE Ohio St. 3rd
4. Joe Kruger DE Utah 3rd
5. Mike Catapano DE Princeton 4th
6. Craig Roh DE Michigan 7th
7. Brad Madison DE Missouri 7th
DT is probably one of the most obvious CS positions. None of these guys have been rated very high by the media, scouts or “expertsâ€. I would recommend to compare Rob Lohr (who played in the SEC), Joe Vellano and Scott Vallone’s career stats and workout numbers to those of Shariff Floyd and Sheldon Richardson and see the disparity between them. It’s pretty eye opening – yet Lohr, Vellano and Vallone were not invited to the combine and are more than likely going to be afterthoughts.
DT - 6
1. Chris Jones DT BGSU
2. Brent Russell DT Georgia Southern 5th
3. Jared Smith DT New Hampshire 5th
4. Baker Steinhulker DT Nebraska 6th
5. Joe Vellano DT Maryland 6th
6. Scott Vallone DT Rutgers 6th
7. Rob Lohr DT Vanderbilt 7th
Down year for Inside backers. Klein is very good and will probably be the first ILB drafted. Mauti might surprise though if his knees check out ok.
ILB - 5
1. A.J. Klein ILB Iowa St 4th
2. Mike Mauti ILB Penn St. 5th
3. Jake Johnson ILB Southern Alabama 6th
4. Tom Wort ILB OK 6th
5. Will Compton ILB Nebraska 7[SUP]th[/SUP]
OLB has decent depth. Alonso is an athletic LB that excels at playing in space. Chase Thomas is not being talked about enough due to the 4.8 he ran at the combine yet Jarvis Jones who proved to be less athletic is still getting a first round grade – just some food for thought there.
OLB - 7
1. Kiko Alonso OLB Oregon
2. Chase Thomas OLB Stanford 4th
3. Travis Johnson DE/OLB SJSU 5th
4. Jake Knott OLB Iowa St. 6th
5. Travis Long OLB Washington St. 7th
6. Nathan Williams OLB Ohio St. 7th
7. Mike Taylor OLB Wisconsin 7th
Pretty standard year for the safety class. Cooper Taylor is being talked about by no one and should be a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round pick yet will probably drop for obvious reasons. Motta did not have a great pre draft season due to running slow but should still get drafted. Cody Davis seems to be a late riser and created a lot of buzz with his proday workout. Boyett is a wildcard due to his knee injuries – he is a guy I had pegged as a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round before missing the whole season.
S - 5
1. Cooper Taylor S Richmond – 4[SUP]TH[/SUP] round
2. Zeke Motta S Notre Dame – 4[SUP]th[/SUP] round
3. Cody Davis S Texas Tech – 5[SUP]th[/SUP] round
4. John Boyett S Oregon *** - 5[SUP]th[/SUP] round
5. Jordan Kovacs S Michigan – 7[SUP]TH[/SUP] round
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