So as always the whole pre-Draft and Draft process was great fun and I picked up a bunch of players who will make my team a lot better. Becuase I will be looking at if/when the season starts and then doing a lot more analysis on each individual pick now, but trickle bits in as the preseason progresses.

That being said, here are the picks I made:

Round / Overall Pick / Name / Position / Team Drafted Reality / Position Drafted Reality

1	18	Cesar Ruiz	C	Saints	1.24
1	19	Jeremy Chinn	S/LB	Panthers	2.64
1	22	Isaiah Wilson	T	Titans	1.29
2	39	Adam Trautman	TE	Saints	3.105
2	44	AJ Epenesa	DE	Bills	2.54
2	45	Zack Moss	RB	Bills	3.86
3	65	Antonio Gibson	WR/RB	Redskins	3.66
3	69	Amik Robertson	S	Raiders	4.139
3	71	Matt Peart	T	Giants	3.99
3	76	Antonio Gandy-Golden	WR	Redskins	4.142
3	91	Nick Harris	C	Browns	5.160
4	119	Troy Dye	LB	Vikings	3.132
4	122	Bradlee Anae	DE	Cowboys	5.179
4	132	James Proche	WR	Ravens	6.201
4	133	Harrison Hand	CB	Vikings	5.169
4	134	Derrek Tuszka	DE	Broncos	7.254
4	144	JaMykal Hasty	RB	49ers	UDFA
5	163	Alex Taylor	T	Browns	UDFA
5	169	Madre Harper	CB	Raiders	UDFA
6	201	Adrian Killins	RB	Eagles	UDFA
6	214	Kyle Hinton	G	Vikings	7.253
7	241	Joey Magnifico	TE	???	UDFA

 

A common theme was that I drafted a lot of my players at least a round before they actually went off the board, but overall I have to say that I have no regrets, because when I all of the above and then add the following undrafted free agents…

 

Defense

D Line: Chauncey Rivers [DE / Ravens], Azur Kamara [DE / Cowboys]

Linebackers: Tyshun Render [LB / Dolphins]

Secondary: Javaris Davis  [CB/N / Chiefs], JR Reed [S / Jaguars]

Offense

Quaterback: Anthony Gordon [QB / Seahawks], Mason Fine [QB / Cowboys], Josh Love [QB / Rams]

Runningback: Sewo Olonilua [RB / Cowboys], Reggie Corbin [RB / ???]

Tight End: Thaddeus Moss [TE / Redskins], Cheyenne O’Grady [TE/WR / ???]

Wide Receiver: Kalija Lipscomb [WR / Chiefs], Aaron Fuller [WR / Seahawks]

Special Teams

Kicker: Dominik Eberle [K / Raiders]

 

… I end up with a really exciting squad to head into training camp with. Ofcourse that is not to say that I could have maximised my draft capital. If I had done it in the best possible way I would have looked at the Linebacker position in the first round and maybe gone for Murray [Chargers] or Brooks [Seahawks], both of who I could have got with any of my first round picks.

Altogether I have to admit that my evaluation of Linebackers is something I want to improve for next year. Nonetheless, I will look at how I would rework my draft to maximise its potential. The one limit I am setting for myself is that I cannot include new players like the two Linebackers mentioned above (drafting LB in the first round was not in my draft strategy before so it shouldn’t be now), only the players I had in my assessments.

So, if I rework the draft based on those criteria it would look like this (orange are the picks that remain the same green are new players, blue are trades):

 

1	18	Cesar Ruiz	C	Saints	1.24
1	19	Isaiah Wilson	T	Titans	1.29
1	22	Robert Hunt	T/G	Dolphins	1.39
2	39	Laviska Shenault	WR	Jaguars	2.42
2	44	AJ Epenesa	DE	Bills	2.54
2	45	Jeremy Chinn	S/LB	Panthers	2.64
3	65	Antonio Gibson	WR/RB	Redskins	3.66
3	69	Tanner Muse	S/LB	Raiders	3.100
3	71	Zack Moss	RB	Bills	3.86
3	76	Matt Peart	T	Giants	3.99
3	91	Adam Trautman	TE	Saints	3.105
4	119
4	122
4	132	Troy Dye	LB	Vikings	3.132
4	133	Amik Robertson	S	Raiders	4.139
4	134	Antonio Gandy-Golden	WR	Redskins	4.142
4	144	Nick Harris	C	Browns	5.160
5	163	Harrison Hand	CB	Vikings	5.169
5	169	Bradlee Anae	DE	Cowboys	5.179
6	201	James Proche	WR	Ravens	6.201
6	214	Kyle Hinton	G	Vikings	7.253
7	241	Derrek Tuszka	DE	Broncos	7.254

 

I would trade 4.119 and 4.122 for a 3rd rounder and could probably get somewhere in between 3.99 and 3.101. And with that I would draft:

Dalton Keene [TE] New England Patriots 3.101

And I would pick up JaMykal Hasty [RB], Alex Taylor [T], Madre Harper [CB], Adrian Killins [RB], Joey Magnifico [TE] as UDFAs.

 

What I have learned

One of the main things I have taken away from this draft is: don’t trade down too much to aquire picks. I am best at identifying picks from round 2 to 4 so maximise my picks there and then see which ones of the talents I have a lower grade on fall to free agency.

The other thing that I should probably do is not to trade down too much. That was made very clear to me with the CeeDee Lamb situation, where he fell but I had traded so far down that he was drafted one pick before me.

 

Grade: B-

I struggle to give myself a grade that is too bad here because I really like the players I got and it remains to be seen whether those that got drafted where better than those I drafted and went undrafted in reality. HOWEVER, there was room to improve my draft to maximise the capital that I had and that has to be recognised.

Regarding my process it looks as follows:

88 draft prospects (58 last year)

67 drafted (76%) (86% last year)

18 picked up as UDFAs

3 players currently still without a team

4 players drafted by Seahawks (2 last year) + 2 UDFAs (2 last year)

Only the Raiders picked up more of my 88 players than the Seahawk’s 6, in their 7 players. Hats off to you Mayock and Gruden.