Grading our Recent Draft History

[Hoenheim]

Do you agree with this evaluation of the 2024 draft class? 

My personal grades would be 

1) XL (C) 2) Brooks (D-) 3) Trevin Wallace (B) 4) JaTavion Sanders (B) 5) Chau Smith Wade (C+) 6) Jayden Crumedy (INC) 7) Michael Barret (** Technically INC but I say B because he was traded for Mike Jackson who became a solid #2  CB)   UDFA) Jalen Coker (A) 

I think I'd give the whole draft a C+ or B- . Early to judge but we definitely saw some promising things from Coker Sanders, and Legette to a degree. Wallace and Wade were solid enough.  Alot of this draft is gonna take some time to really judge because of brooks' injury and legette having major dropsies issues in s1. Favorite player from this class is Coker. 

Also looking back at some drafts of previous seasons. 

2023: 1) Bryce 2) Mingo 3) DJ Johnson 4) Zavala 5) Jammie Robinson 

With bryces recent resurgence,  this draft moved from a solid F to a C imo. Zavala improved this year as well. Mingo and Robinson are already gone. DJ Johnson has been underwhelming considering we traded up for him in R3. 

 

2022: 1) Ickey 3) Matt Corral 4) Brandon Smith 6) Amare Barno 6) Cade Mays 7) Kalon Barnes 

Ickey definitely rebounded this year but hes still had some questionable lapses in pass pro at times. Only other player here worth a damn was Cade Mays who evolced into a solid center or backup on the oline. Id say C- for this one, definitely not great but at least we got a serviceable LT and depth at OL.

 

2021: 1) Horn 2) TMJ 3) Brady Christensen 3) Tommy Tremble 4)Chubba 5) Davion Nixon 5) Keith Taylor 6) Diontae Brown 6) Shi Smith 6) Thomas Fletcher 7) Phil Hoskins 

This may be the best draft we've had in the past 4 years. Horn is a great corner and finally played a healthy season. We got solid players lime Tremble and BC. And the rock star of this draft is Chubba Hubbard who basically became the soul of our team. If TMJ worked out this class woudlve been a slam dunk. But for now I'll give it B+ . Horn and Chubba really elevate this class to be the best I've seen since the 2017 (Cmac and Moton)  or 2013 (Star and Short) classes 

Edited 13 hours ago by Hoenheim

[Hoenheim]

Something significant I have noticed analyzing recent draft history is, we have drafted offense with the first two picks of the draft for 3 years in a row!!!

Probably a big factor in our defense being so ass lately. We simply have not been investing into the defense high in the draft for multiple years. 

[mav1234]

Reasonable assessments overall. It's interesting how different 2021 looks now compared to last year... One year for some of these players makes such a huge difference.

[mav1234]

3 minutes ago, Hoenheim said:

Something significant I have noticed analyzing recent draft history is, we have drafted offense with the first two picks of the draft for 3 years in a row!!!

Probably a big factor in our defense being so ass lately. We simply have not been investing into the defense high in the draft for multiple years. 

Yup. Even in 2021 when we drafted Horn we then went offense repeatedly. The defense is without starting quality players all over the place, and it's also real poor depth wise. It'll take a long time to get it back to where it was...

[Hoenheim]

Something I've also noticed is we rarely have drafts where we get more than 2 players that are any good. That's why I like the 2021 class so much and possibly this years class if Legette gets his poo together and brooks stays healthy his last 2 years of his contract. But I think you can say Legette, Sanders, Wallace, Smith Wade, and Coker are all at least solid contributors. That's 5 players vs our usual 2 or 2 players from most drafts. Technically 6 because we traded Barret for Mike Jackson.

[kungfoodude]

XL is a C, Brooks is an F, Wallace is a B-, Sanders is a B+, Smith-Wade is an A-, Crumdey is a B-

Sadly it will be XL, Brooks and Wallace that determine future success for this draft class. Even if Sanders is a stud, if those other guys max out at rotational player or worse, it is another terrible Panthers draft.

I was very low on the draft coming into the season so it actually was a little better than expected.

[PNW_PantherMan]

I guess I'm a hater but I think the first 3 picks were pretty bad in retrospect.  XL and Brooks don't need any explanation but I don't see anything special with Wallace.  I wouldn't have taken him in the 3rd.  The later picks are better, but so much of the value is weighted towards that bad first 3 rounds for me.  I'd give it a D.

[mrcompletely11]

7 minutes ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

I guess I'm a hater but I think the first 3 picks were pretty bad in retrospect.  XL and Brooks don't need any explanation but I don't see anything special with Wallace.  I wouldn't have taken him in the 3rd.  The later picks are better, but so much of the value is weighted towards that bad first 3 rounds for me.  I'd give it a D.

trading picks no. 52, 142, and 155 for a hurt RB is just fuging crazy

[kungfoodude]

PFR has the AV ratings out for all the rookies.

Here is how our guys fared:

Xavier Legette(drafted 32): T33rd - 5 AV

Jonathan Brooks(drafted 46): T180th - 0 AV

Trevin Wallace(drafted 72): T64th - 3 AV

Ja'Tavion Sanders(drafted 101): T64th - 3 AV

Chau Smith-Wade(drafted 157): T80th - 2 AV

Jaden Crumedy(drafted 200): T180th - 0 AV

Michael Barrett(drafted 240): T226th - No Score

[WhoKnows]

24 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

PFR has the AV ratings out for all the rookies.

Here is how our guys fared:

Xavier Legette(drafted 32): T33rd - 5 AV

Jonathan Brooks(drafted 46): T180th - 0 AV

Trevin Wallace(drafted 72): T64th - 3 AV

Ja'Tavion Sanders(drafted 101): T64th - 3 AV

Chau Smith-Wade(drafted 157): T80th - 2 AV

Jaden Crumedy(drafted 200): T180th - 0 AV

Michael Barrett(drafted 240): T226th - No Score

This is how I see it. Not a single average starter, just guys we start because the alternatives are David Moore, Ian Thomas and mediocre/injured LBs. There are Mays, Zavala, BC and Tremble guys all over NFL benches.

Sorry to the OP, but his grades were way too generous. Calling the 2024 class as 5 or 6 players is beyond generous because again they are all backups or below/well below average starters.

Bryce’s play turned around the 2023 draft even though we still gave up too much considering we could have had Williams/Daniels/Maye with no trade up, start Corral tank for a QB season.

I also like Chuba, but he’s replaceable. If you have a top rushing OL you can make average guys look like studs. Look at Miles Sanders in Philly as an example. Chuba’s better than Sanders but Barkley plays behind Sanders’ old Philly OL and he’s chasing records. Hubbard was a great pick because we took him in the 4th like we should have done instead of a risky Brooks in the 2nd.

[Shotgun]

When are the panthers going to start drafting highly skilled WRs instead of highly athletic WRs with less skills that need development? I like XL but McConkey was the obvious choice to me with 20 minutes of research. 

[Shotgun]

1 minute ago, WhoKnows said:

 

Bryce’s play turned around the 2023 draft even though we still gave up too much considering we could have had Williams/Daniels/Maye with no trade up, start Corral tank for a QB season.

 

Maybe, depends on how that season would have went down had we made other decisions. We could of traded up for one I guess if we weren't in position to draft one.

[mrcompletely11]

11 minutes ago, WhoKnows said:

This is how I see it. Not a single average starter, just guys we start because the alternatives are David Moore, Ian Thomas and mediocre/injured LBs. There are Mays, Zavala, BC and Tremble guys all over NFL benches.

Sorry to the OP, but his grades were way too generous. Calling the 2024 class as 5 or 6 players is beyond generous because again they are all backups or below/well below average starters.

Bryce’s play turned around the 2023 draft even though we still gave up too much considering we could have had Williams/Daniels/Maye with no trade up, start Corral tank for a QB season.

I also like Chuba, but he’s replaceable. If you have a top rushing OL you can make average guys look like studs. Look at Miles Sanders in Philly as an example. Chuba’s better than Sanders but Barkley plays behind Sanders’ old Philly OL and he’s chasing records. Hubbard was a great pick because we took him in the 4th like we should have done instead of a risky Brooks in the 2nd.

A lot of us were saying just start coral.   We supposedly had a first rd grade on him why not roll him out instead of selling the farm

[chknwing]

grading a draft after 1 season doesnt make much sense.  Lets wait and see what develops.