Goldfish's Way Too Early Draft Rankings 2024 (All Up)

[ET80]

On the plus side, we'll probably never speak of Desmond Ridder again. This move pushed that story arc to Page 6...

[goldfishwars]

31. Cleveland Browns

This Class In One Sentence:

A quiet shop for role-players

Pre-Draft Needs (According to https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/team-needs-2024)

DL, WR, LB, EDGE, RB, OT, TE

Selections

54. Michael Hall Jr | DL | Ohio State

85. Zak Zinter | IOL | Michigan

156. Jamari Thrash | WR | Louisville

206. Nathaniel Watson | LB | Mississippi State

227. Myles Harden | CB | South Dakota

243. Jowon Briggs | DL | Cincinnati

Best Pick

The second round was a sweet spot to get an interior player, and I liked the Michael Hall Jr selection at 54. He flashed elite quickness at Ohio State and has the first step to get quick penetration as a pass-rusher. He's also excellent with his hands, and shows some surprising core strength to knock blockers off balance. His ceiling might be a DPR given his struggles against pure power, but teams pay good money for his core skillset these days.

Worst Pick

I don’t think there’s anything egregious here. I didn’t see Zinter at day two value, but he wasn’t a million miles from pick 83. He’s a limited athlete who is slightly taller than ideal to play guard, but he’s tough, smart and competitive.

Overall

The Browns didn’t give themselves much to do in this year's draft, with little capital available to spend on a roster stacked at most spots. So the 31^st spot is a reflection on this haul having a limited ceiling on excitement, and it was always likely to be that way. Of the four day-three selections, I like the late shot on Myles Harden best who could have Special Teams value and the potential to feature in the rotation at corner. Jamari Thrash and Nathaniel Watson had some admirers, but I’m just not one of them.

Edited April 28 by goldfishwars

[wackywabbit]

The falcons plan reeks of a GM desperate to preserve his job. "We don't plan to pick as high as 8 again" directly translates to "I'm getting fired anyway when we are picking this high again". It's also funny with them picking at exactly 8 3 years in a row. For the GM, selfishly in job preservation mode, the best thing is to have a pro-ready QB who can play as a rookie as a fallback to Cousins not recovering well or getting injured again. Penix has a fair shot to keep the team competitive in the weakest division in football. The 8th overall pick was spent on insurance for the GM's chances of keeping his job another year.

Also: Should have just called Lamar's mom, last year.

Edited April 28 by wackywabbit

[General Tso]

Sure hope Penix takes the starting job so the Vikes don't get a comp pick!

[Soggust]

I'm ngl, I can't decide if I love or hate the Penix pick. 

It's obv bad on paper, but it does seem like the kind of galaxy brain move that could pan out.

And if you're going to be overinvested somewhere on your team, QB is prolly not the worst spot to be, especially with the injury concerns you have in that locker room. If Penix ends up becoming a top 5 QB, this move will become even more standard in hindsight imo. 

[DawgX]

Agree with the Browns. It wasn't terrible... there just wasn't much to work with. I'm generally fine with the selections, although I was hoping we'd target a TE or a developmental LT.

[Chiefer]

I actually don’t hate the Falcons moves and I’m probably the only one. Kirko is just not the guy, not gonna take you to the Super Bowl. He’s good certainly, and good enough to win that division, but beyond that it doesn’t really matter how you stack your deck he’ll inevitably fail in Primetime or the postseason. To me he’s a better version of Alex Smith.

You find your guy, you groom him behind, and start him in a couple years. Idc what QB is considered “NFL-Ready”, they ain’t ready for the NFL. Honestly the only guy I’ve ever seen was Andrew Luck, but that guy was created in a lab to play QB 

I would’ve preferred to do this with a guy like Maye, but I had MPJ as a top 10 pick all season so I like the value at 9. Soak in that knowledge and wait for your time to shine playa

[Daniel]

I actually don’t know who I liked the least after the Falcons. I feel like there’s a substantial gap after 32 and the next one. Browns don’t look great though, so they make sense.

I would probably have the Titans somewhere in the mid 20s, but I think goldfish is way higher on Sweat than I was, so they may be closer to the middle.

[Soko]

Should've been the photo for Atlanta 

[Breesus mode]

I love the Falcons draft. 

[stl4life07]

I dont think the Falcons should be ranked. They dont deserve a ranking. They screwed up badly. And I keep thinking if the draft was before FA would they have drafted Penix Jr. knowing they would go after Cousins hard? Or would they have drafted Penix Jr. and still went after Cousins hard giving him all that money? I know Cousins wouldnt have decided to go to Atlanta if the draft was before FA and the Falcons took Penix Jr. with the 8th overall pick. It just didnt make sense. People can try to make it make sense but it just doesnt. 

Like you can say drafting McCarthy and Nix that high is forced but at least those teams didnt pay a starting QB a ton of money to play for them in the offseason. They had no legit QBs. They are hoping McCarthy and Nix become legit even if the hope is in vain. The Falcons drafting Penix Jr. 8th overall is insane to me. 

[Ray Reed]

Desmond Ridder was so bad they went out and gave Kirk a $100 million dollar deal and drafted a QB top 10 just to get the stink off

@scar988

[scar988]

27 minutes ago, Soko said:

Should've been the photo for Atlanta 

He was talking to Arthur about how much it would cost to trade up. 

[scar988]

6 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

Desmond Ridder was so bad they went out and gave Kirk a $100 million dollar deal and drafted a QB top 10 just to get the stink off

@scar988

I’ve already said I was wrong. Y’all can quit trolling me now. 

[Armbar]

I think Atlanta had a top 10 draft. Penix aside, the DL they acquired are all “my guys” with the exception of Orhorhoro, who I think is worth the gamble. I also like Penix, it was just a surprising pick given the lack of need. I think the booms of those DL will stave off the haters while we play the waiting game for Penix.

 

Browns draft is about right. Hardly any picks, and the ones that were made were just solid, if that. I do love Zinter & had a 1st round grade on him. Mean mauling OG with surprising technical ability. No idea why he wasn’t considered a higher selection minus the injury and meh movement skills for zone blocking (which CLE has moved away from). They desperately needed a TE2 in my opinion.