2024 NFL Draft Guide: Reports, Rankings and More
It is finally here.
The NFL draft can be both a fun and arduous process, but the time and effort is very rewarding for people like me. Watching film, evaluating prospects and ranking them is not an exact science and each and every evaluator's process can differ in many ways that can lead to some big ranking variations. I am going to dive into my process a bit, why I tend to grade the way I do and whether or not I account for position versatility.
I have been into the NFL draft since 2012 and have been doing big boards since 2017. I would not necessarily call myself a light grader, but I tend to lean on the positives aspect more than I would the negative. I recently put in a fringe 1st/2nd round range that would show prospects I do not necessarily think are first-round grades, but I would not object to sticking and picking them.
I have not currently worked out a numbering grading scale as of this moment because of difficulties that involve tiering to certain numbers that do not always work out in my head. For example, on the official NFL site, Lance Zierlein, who does excellent work, has 6.5 as a boom-bust grade score, but then there are players in the 6.4 where the tier name would insinuate a safer outcome. Trying to warp that has been a bit of a process and how I would then apply to my prior drafts to properly tier guys is something that has taken longer than I would have anticipated.
If you see a report that has ??? by the NFL comparison tab, this is because I either could not find a comparison for this player, or lacked the proper time to make an accurate comparison. If you see "None" by the comparison tab, that means there are few players of his potential archetype to truly compare said player to. I do my best to not force comparisons, even if it is merely a stylistic, or archetypal similarity that warrants the potential comparison.
With all that said, there is close to 60 reports in here, with each highly detailed in strengths and weaknesses. This also includes a top 200 big board and a positional ranking of about 230 something players that I have watched. All of this is completely free and I encourage you to share and use it to follow along during the draft. Enjoy reading and give me your feedback so I can improve this for future products.