Grade Your Team’s Draft Picks—2021 Edition

[Kiwibrown]

Greg newsome B+ very good player at 26

JOK, A. Excellent player and an excellent fit.

Austin schwartz, B. Awesome speed, boom or bust type prospect, he will either be good or nothing imo, probably doesnt have a lot to offer if his speed wears out due to injury. 

James Hudson, B. High upside tackle in the 4th with a lot of work to do. 

Tommy t. B, berry called him a nose, seems like a high effort, low ceiling type. 

Tony fileds, B, Sinclair to JOK, just not as strong. 

Richard Levounte, B+, another high upside player. 

Demeteic felton, B, will fight for a roster spot. 

 

Overall I love the draft, there will be some hits and misses. Betting on athletic upside and our coaching.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

On 5/8/2021 at 1:52 PM, MagicMT said:

Every late round pick is a steal this year don't you know?

But seriously you've seen the Seahawks draft? I love Eskridge and Forsythe but man, making just 3 picks in total automatically makes it a C graded draft

I think the Seahawks did the absolute best they could with the limited amount of picks they had. The only team I absolutely disagreed with their philosophy was the Bengals in taking another WR instead of focusing on their offensive line. What's worse are the fans who are saying that's an A+ pick. It doesn't matter who your WR's are when you've got a 2nd or 3rd string QB throwing them passes. You'd have thought they'd have realized that after last year.

[Daniel]

In defense of the highly graded late round picks:

Sixth and seventh rounders rarely net you much of anything.  If they make the roster, they're an average pick already.  If they contribute at all, they're better than average, and if they ever see starting time, even if they aren't great, they're an excellent value.  I'd argue that it's tough for a late rounder to ever be an F, because it's hard to be that far below average. 

[roysmyboy31]

I personally am more lenient on "grading" late round picks as they are really dart throws that late since the top guys are obviously gone by then and if you get anything significant from Day 3 picks, you did well for yourself.

Round 1: Micah Parsons, LB- B+

I was really bummed that we missed out on Surtain and Horn as I had been thinking for months they would be our pick and would have been a great talent at a position of serious need.  Once we missed on them, I like trading back and still nabbing Parsons.  Absent another trade back, the only other guy that would have made sense here IMO is Slater.  I understand why we went with the best available defensive talent and Parsons is a great talent that can make a big impact.  LVE has been constantly hurt in his tenure and has not been able to impact our D significantly since his rookie year.  And while I still have some hope for Jaylon, last year was a real setback for him.  While LB was not our biggest need, fact is we need an infusion of talent at every level of our defense and we made the best of this situation IMO.

Round 2: Kelvin Joseph, CB- B-

Joseph is a good talent at CB, albeit I thought it was a slight reach (nothing too terrible).  I am a little concerned about the fact that he got kicked out of the LSU program (that takes a lot to do) and that his focus may not be completely on football.  There were other DBs I had rated higher than him as well.  Still, a good talent that can be very good if he hits his upside, so can't hate too much.  Bossman Fat is an interesting nickname to say the least.

Round 3: Osa Odighizuwa, DT- B-

Value wise, it is not too bad.  I personally am not the biggest fan though.  There were a number of other defenders I would have preferred myself.  Like that he has a wrestling background, but is a bit of a tweener in that he is not quite big enough to be a 1T, but not really quick enough for the 3T (we have Gallimore for that anyway).  Maybe we have him bulk up a bit and man the 1T.

Round 3: Chauncey Golston, DE- D/F

This one was a serious headscratcher.  I can only hope the staff knows what they are doing with him.  Most scouting services had him rated as a late Day 3/UDFA talent.

Round 3: Nahshon Wright, CB- D/F

This one was apparently Dan Quinn's personal pick which makes me feel slightly better about this.  Another pick that came completely out of leftfield.  Again, I hope our staff knows what they are doing with him.

Round 4: Jabril Cox, LB- A

About as good a pick as you can get this late.  I had him going in Day 2, so this is a great value IMO.  Like with Parsons, this puts LVE and Smith on notice.  Excellent back in coverage.  I hope we can get him to improve in run defense.

Round 4: Josh Ball, OT- D

From a talent standpoint, not a terrible choice for a developmental OT this late.  Find it super hard to root for him given his character concerns.  Yuck.

Round 5: Simi Fehoko, WR- B+

Really nice talent at WR at this point of the draft.  His measureables jump off the page, though he does not always play as fast as he times.  Will serve as strong competition in the bottom of the WR depth chart at the very least, at best, he can justify us letting Michael Gallup go when his contract is up.

Round 6: Quinton Bohanna, DT- A-

He is the type of big bodied DT I have hoped the Cowboys to get for years.  And he is also a guy I had mocked to us several times in mock draft simulations beforehand.  Think he can fulfill an important role on the team if he can get on the field.

Round 6: Israel Mukuamu, CB- A-

Another one of my favorite late round mock picks for the Cowboys.  Not as gifted athletically as his teammate Jaycee Horn, but still had a productive college career.  Can see him playing at either CB or safety depending on how Quinn sees his fit.  See him also contributing on ST early on.  Nice value in the late sixth round.

Round 7: Matt Farniok, OG- C

Not very informed on this guy, but it is a 7th round pick, so whatever.  Could use some OL depth on the interior, so there is that.

 

Overall, I would give the draft at first glance a C+/B- type grade.  Obviously, it all remains to be seen, but I think we got some productive players in the draft.  That said, there were some areas I feel we could have done better, particularly the 3rd round, which was really perplexing (moreso the last two picks).

[Forge]

49ers draft. 

Just keep in mind that some of these, admittedly, contain some fairly arbitrary grading decisions. I may hit one prospect for something but not another...that's because i view each of these individually and I could like something for one pick but hate that very same thing for another. 

Trey Lance: B. It's a better selection than Mac Jones, but it's also the most risky in my opinion. I had Fields rated higher, so I obviously would have went that route, but I get the feeling that hindsight is going to make that look bad. I'm really scared for Fields, tbh.  I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it...most QBs are their situation. Lance has a good one, Fields does not...and I'm concerned about the latter in that regard. 

Aaron Banks: B-. I actually really like the player, I like the decision to draft him. He's legitimately a day 1 starter and should immediately help what has been a massive issue the last two years - pass protection from RG. That's an under discussed issue that came up in the super bowl; Chris Jones eating Mike Person's lunch in the 4th quarter. Plus, we face this dude named Aaron Donald. That's the point of this selection... I know that a lot of people questioned the fit given his size, but I think that the priority with Banks is the pass pro he offers.  However, this was roughly about a round early for me. I do like that they moved down and got a 4th to compensate for the slight reach value wise, however. 

So basically, + for fit, + for additional asset acquired, - for a reach in my opinion. 

Trey Sermon: C+. Like the player and the value is about right. However I'm not a fan of trading up in the middle rounds, and even less into the idea of trading up for a running back. I have no doubt that he's going to be an effective running back and probably well worth the selection. I didn't think RB was that dire of a need for the team at this spot, so I'm just assuming that they really like him. Given I don't view him as a reach, don't view him as a "value" based on my own evaluation, my normal grading would likely be a B, but the trade up kills my eval of this. This grade is basically a philosophical issue with how to conduct a draft in my opinion and has less to do with the actual player. 

So basically, net 0 for player value with regards to selection, net 0 for positional fit (RB wasn't really a huge need, but he's very good, so I understand it), but big negative for me for trading up which is exacerbated by trading up for the position. 

Ambry Thomas: B+. Not much to say here. I was a Thomas fan going into the draft, so this is a very slight value for me after the top 100 picks. Dire position of need. He's going to be able to play inside and out.

So + for need, + slight value over where I thought he should go. 

Jaylon Moore: C. So my biggest issue here is probably the positional fit. I think I would have liked this selection more if they were going to try and keep him a tackle (or going to make him a center). He's a little on the short side for tackle, but his arm length isn't a major issue, so I Feel like I would have preferred that. But apparently, we are converting him to a guard, and while I like throwing darts at interior offensive line at this area of the draft, and I especially like converting tackles to guards, I don't love double dipping the position specific to guard in this draft. He's also a former tight end and tackle, and while he's super athletic, I don't care about athleticism for guards as much as whether or not you can hold at the point of attack, and I have major concerns over whether he's going to be strong enough to do that. In our scheme, with his athleticism and experience, I would love to try him at center if they wanted to go that route. But guard is probably my least favorite option here. I know that he had a number of fans, and I like the experience the talent, and the scheme for him...I just don't love the plan right now. 

So net 0 for pick value (this is about where he should have gone), - for positional projection / fit. 

Deommodore Lenoir: C+. This is fine. Nothing wrong with it, nothing great about it. We definitely still needed another corner even after the selection of Thomas, though he's likely a slot exclusive at the next level. Everything about this pick makes sense, though it's no great steal or anything like that.

Talanoa Hufanga: B+. This is probably the best "steal" with regards to where the pick was made and where I think a lot of people felt he should go. Guy is a football player. The only question is, where is he going to play and can his body hold up? He's high IQ and can make plays, but he's not a burner to be back there in the secondary, and converting him to a linebacker isn't going to make life easier on his body. Still, this is a guy that knows what he's doing and if you're looking for one of these fifth round picks to succeed, I'd bank on him first, but positional tweeners are hard to project. 

Elijah Mitchell: A-. This is how I want the 49ers to tackle the running back position. Mitchell is a sub 4.4 guy who will likely miss some cut backs now and again, but would anyone be super surprised if he was an 1100 / season rusher at 5 yards per carry? I wouldn't. I'm not saying that he's going to be a success, but nobody should be shocked that even if taken in the sixth round, the 49ers found a way to make him a stud in this scheme.

[Sugashane]

R1:  QB Justin Fields:  A+

He was my QB2 by a mile. Loved the pick. I'd give the whole draft an A overall just based on this. 

 

R2:  OT Teven Jenkins: A+

Love the aggression and would have been happy taking him at 20. To me he seems like Quenton Nelson's little brother, like he knows he's not as talented and is angry about it. Made the draft an A+ regardless of the other picks. 

 

R5:  OL Larry Borom:  B-  

Graded purely from what I read on him AFTER he was drafted. 

 

R6:  RB Khalil Hebert:  B-

Needed a kick returner after Patterson walked, happy to spend a 6th on a niche player any day of they are decent there. 

 

R6:  WR Dazz Newsome B+

I don't see as much speed on some clips as I heard about but seems fluid and should get YAC, which the Bears sorely lacked the last few years. 

 

R6:  CB Thomas Graham: B-

Again liked what I read on him after he was drafted but that's all I can go on. 

 

R7:  DT Khyris Tonga: B+

Like the toughness, love his story, if he was 6'4" with long arms he'd probably ly have been a 3rd rounder. Hopefully he can rotate in and let Goldman and Hicks get some rest.