This is the last I’ll post of the 2018 NFL Draft, which is one of my favorite sporting events of the year and it never ceases to disappoint. With all 256 picks made, I’ve gotten a chance to scour them all and decide what I think of each team’s class, which players got screwed, which players god overdrafted, etc., etc. So let’s get to the recap.
Best Draft Class: Green Bay Packers

The Packers had the most picks (12) going into this Draft and they made very good use of them. This class is getting bonus points for the wheeling and dealing they did. First, they acquired the Saints’ 2019 first round pick to move down, then they gave up one of their third rounders to move back up and get a cornerback in Louisville’s Jaire Alexander. Then they doubled down on corner in round 2 and got a first round talent Iowa’s Josh Jackson, who led the nation in picks last season. The secondary was such a huge need for the Packers that I don’t mind that they hit the same position multiple times, especially considering both players they got were first round-caliber prospects. Aside from Haha Clinton-Dix, that unit is garbage. I would have liked to have seen them get another safety, but if I’m a Packers fan, I’m more than happy with the corners they got. The Packers also got great value for their wide receivers in an effort to find a replacement for Jordy Nelson as they landed Missouri’s J’Mon Moore in the 4th and Notre Dame’s Equanimeous St. Brown in the 6th. Here’s every pick the Packers made.
18. Jaire Alexander-CB-Louisville
45. Josh Jackson-CB-Iowa
88. Oren Burks-LB-Vanderbilt
133. J’Mon Moore-WR-Missouri
138. Cole Madison-OG-Washington State
172. JK Scott-P-Alabama
174. Marques Valdes-Scantling-WR-South Florida
207. Equanimeous St. Brown-WR-Notre Dame
232. James Looney-EDGE-California
239. Hunter Bradley-LS-Mississippi State
248. Kendall Donnerson-EDGE-Southeast Missouri State
Honorable Mentions: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Washington Redskins
Worst Draft Class: Oakland Raiders

Jon Gruden’s first Draft in 10 years didn’t go great in my opinion. First, he traded down to take Kolton Miller. I liked the trade down and I like Miller, but there were far more pressing needs for the Raiders than offensive line and there were some damn good players available. There were a ton of needs on the defensive side of the ball, pretty much every position could have used a pick dedicated to it. When the Raiders took Miller, the following defenders were available: Tremaine Edmunds, Derwin James, Jaire Alexander, Leighton Vander Esch, and Rashaan Evans, all of whom would have started immediately on that defense. Then in the second round they took a defensive tackle named PJ Hall. At first I thought it was a typo and they meant NC State’s BJ Hill and I thought to myself “it’s good they addressed DT, and I like Hill, though I think this is a little rich for him.” Turns out it wasn’t a typo and they drafted some guy named PJ Hall from Sam Houston State, a player I had never heard of. They traded up for another tackle in the third, this time North Carolina A&T’s Brandon Parker, a guy I think I heard of in passing but never paid much attention to. I don’t know why they needed to trade up for a tackle from NC A&T of all places, but what do I know, I’m a blogger who lives in his parents’ basement. They took Arden Key in the third round, which I thought was a good value, but he’s a guy that has struggled with drug abuse and has failed to maximize his potential and I’m not so sure the Raiders would be the best place for him, especially with the eventual move to Las Vegas. They get bonus points for landing Maurice Hurst in the 5th round, though, so that keeps this Draft from being an utter shit show. There’s talent in this class, don’t get me wrong, and I think some of the guys taken later in this class could wind up being steals, but I thought the value of a lot of these picks, especially given who else at their positions were available, was pretty poor. I can’t in good faith give this class a good grade out of the gates. Here’s the rest of the class.
15. Kolton Miller-OT-UCLA
57. PJ Hall-DL-Sam Houston State
65. Brandon Parker-OT-North Carolina A&T
87. Arden Key-EDGE-LSU
110. Nick Nelson-CB-Wisconsin
140. Maurice Hurst-DL-Michigan
173. Johnny Townsend-P-Florida
216. Azeem Victor-LB-Washington
228. Marcell Ateman-WR-Oklahoma State
Honorable Mention: San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets
Best Bargain: Maurice Hurst-DL-Michigan-Oakland Raiders (140th Overall)

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times during this draft process, but Hurst fell in this draft due to being diagnosed with a heart condition at the Combine. I expected him to fall out of the first round, but I didn’t expect him to fall all the way to the 5th. Oakland got a tremendous value with this pick. I at one point had Hurst as the 12th best player on my Big Board. His reaction to the snap is basically perfect. As soon as the center even flinches his wrist, Hurst is off. The only knocks against Hurst for me was that he was a bit undersized (which didn’t bother me so much because Aaron Donald is considered undersized) and I felt that he would often be so consumed with the guy who is trying to block him that he’s not looking in the backfield to see where the play is going. But that’s something that’s easily coachable. The Raiders got a goddamn steal with this kid, which significantly helps what was otherwise a weak class.
Honorable Mentions: Bo Scarbrough-RB-Alabama-Dallas Cowboys (236th Overall), Shaquem Griffin-LB-Central Florida-Seattle Seahawks (141st Overall), Deshon Elliott-S-Texas-Baltimore Ravens (190th Overall), Josh Sweat-EDGE-Florida State-Philadelphia Eagles (130th Overall), Tyrell Crosby-OT-Oregon-Detroit Lions (153rd Overall)
Biggest Reach: Terrell Edmunds-S-Virginia Tech-Pittsburgh Steelers (28th Overall)

I had 8 safeties rated ahead of Terrell Edmunds, including one that went undrafted (Quin Blanding). Yet the Steelers still made him their first round pick, 28th overall. In fact, Edmunds was so surprised he was taken by the Steelers, he was in the bathroom when they called him. He had been sitting in the green room with his brother Tremaine, who was taken 12 picks earlier by the Bills and despite not technically having been invited to the green room, he still got to hold his jersey with the commissioner and Ryan Shazier because they had the Edmunds Steelers jersey lying around for his brother. It made for a nice story, but the Steelers could’ve gotten this guy in the third, maybe even the fourth round.
Honorable Mention: PJ Hall-DL-Sam Houston State-Oakland Raiders (57th Overall), Brandon Parker-OT-North Carolina A&T-Oakland Raiders (65th Overall), Joseph Noteboom-OT-TCU-Los Angeles Rams (89th Overall)
Notable Undrafted Free Agents and Where They’ve Signed

Every year there are extremely talented players that get overlooked. Here are just a few.
Simmie Cobbs Jr-WR-Indiana-Washington Redskins
JT Barrett-QB-Ohio State-Indianapolis Colts
Josh Adams-RB-Notre Dame-Philadelphia Eagles
Tegray Scales-LB-Indiana-Los Angeles Rams
Akrum Wadley-RB-Iowa-Tennessee Titans
Allen Lazard-WR-Iowa State-Jacksonville Jaguars
Chase Litton-QB-Marshall-Kansas City Chiefs
Nic Shimonek-QB-Texas Tech-Los Angeles Chargers
Kurt Benkert-QB-Virginia-Atlanta Falcons
Kyle Allen-QB-Houston-Carolina Panthers
Kevin Toliver-CB-LSU-Chicago Bears
Jeff Holland-LB-Auburn-Denver Broncos
Davin Bellamy-EDGE-Georgia-Houston Texans
Riley Ferguson-QB-Memphis-Miami Dolphins
Hercules Mata’afa-DL-Washington State-Minnesota Vikings
Tarvarus McFadden-CB-Florida State-San Francisco 49ers
Holton Hill-CB-Texas-Minnesota Vikings
And those are just the big names that didn’t hear their name called. There were hundreds of others. But as I said in yesterday’s blog, just because you weren’t drafted doesn’t mean your NFL dream is dead. Not by a long shot.
The Quarterbacks That Were Taken

Football’s most important position is definitely quarterback and there was no shortage of signal callers in this year’s class. Here’s every QB that was selected.
1. Baker Mayfield-Oklahoma-Cleveland Browns
3. Sam Darnold-USC-New York Jets
7. Josh Allen-Wyoming-Buffalo Bills
10. Josh Rosen-UCLA-Arizona Cardinals
32. Lamar Jackson-Louisville-Baltimore Ravens
76. Mason Rudolph-Oklahoma State-Pittsburgh Steelers
108. Kyle Lauletta-Richmond-New York Giants
171. Mike White-Western Kentucky-Dallas Cowboys
199. Luke Falk-Washington State-Tennessee Titans
203. Tanner Lee-Nebraska-Jacksonville Jaguars
219. Danny Etling-LSU-New England Patriots
220. Alex McGough-FIU-Seattle Seahawks
249. Logan Woodside-Toledo-Cincinnati Bengals
Of the 13 quarterbacks, all 10 from my rankings ended up getting drafted, a first for me (last year I had 9 out of 10, UPenn’s Alek Torgersen being the lone undrafted quarterback). Of the 3 that weren’t ranked, Lee, Etling, and McGough, none of them probably would’ve cracked my “first 5 out.” Lee is the most talented of the three but his play at Nebraska was far below his talent. I’ve seen Alex McGough (pronounced “Mah-GOO”) play a couple times, since Indiana and FIU have a home-and-home series and I’ve gotta say, I don’t know what Seattle sees in him. He just looked lost every time I watched him play (which, to be fair, was only against IU, which has a pretty solid defense). The Patriots and Saints were two teams I figured would be going after a quarterback in the middle rounds as hard as anybody, but the Saints didn’t take any and the Patriots took a guy that had defenders stacking the box to stop the run because they knew he wasn’t a threat. Perhaps both teams weren’t high on this year’s class and elected to try and find their Hall of Fame quarterbacks’ successors in next year’s Draft.
Most Confusing Draft Day Decision

The Draft Day decision that confused me more than any other was the Cowboys not electing to take a wide receiver until the third round, and even then they took a pretty raw Michael Gallup out of Colorado State. They did trade a 6th rounder to the Rams for Tavon Austin, but Austin hasn’t lived up to his 8th Overall pick billing and has been a guy that you just get creative with rather than a real threat to the defense. They also didn’t address pass rusher until the 4th round with another raw player in Kansas’ Dorance Armstrong Jr. I know they took Taco Charlton in the first round last year but pass rusher is still a big need, especially if they can’t sign DeMarcus Lawrence long-term. Overall I thought the talent the Cowboys got in the Draft was good, I just think they had their positional priorities out of whack a bit.
Secretly Genius Draft Day Decision

A move that didn’t make sense to me at first but has really grown on me is Bill Belichick’s decision to take Georgia runningback Sony Michel with the 31st pick. I was a little taken aback by the decision at first since the Patriots had a very crowded runningback room, but then I thought some more about it. Only one of Jeremy Hill and Mike Gillislee is going to remain on the roster as the goalline power back. James White is just the pass catcher who never gets carries. Rex Burkhead is a wildcard who is only back on a 2-year deal. The Patriots were at their best last season when Dion Lewis was torching defenses in the second half with his all-around style of play. Michel is a very similar style of player and he was the most explosive player on Georgia’s offense that was a quarter away from a National Championship. There are people who are going to complain that the Patriots should’ve addressed the defense that got torched in the Super Bowl to which I say this: they kind of already did. The Patriots’ defense was riddled with injuries last year, particularly to Dont’a Hightower and 2017’s top Draft choice Derek Rivers (who was having a nice training camp before tearing his ACL). They’ll be getting those guys back and healthy They also signed Adrian Clayborn and traded for Jason McCourty to fill the holes for the meantime while also stockpiling on picks for next year’s Draft. The defense looks to be fine and in a win-now mode while the plethora of picks for next year’s class will likely be used to re-stock as this group gets older. So no surprise, but to me, the most genius Draft Day decision comes from the mind of Bill Belichick.
Some Prospects to Keep an Eye Out For in 2019
For scouting departments, when Mr. Irrelevant is announced, they get to work on next year’s class. Here are some guys that I think will go high next year.
Ed Oliver-DL-Houston
Nick Bosa-EDGE-Ohio State
Rashan Gary-DL-Michigan
Drew Lock-QB-Missouri
Justin Herbert-QB-Oregon
AJ Brown-WR-Ole Miss
Dexter Lawrence-DL-Clemson
Christian Wilkins-DL-Clemson
Clellin Ferrell-EDGE-Clemson
Austin Bryant-EDGE-Clemson
Just a few guys to look out for next college football season (you’ll notice a lot of defensive linemen. Next year’s class might be the best ever class for that position group).
And that’s a wrap on the 2018 NFL Draft. Let me know what you thought of it in the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter @jimwyman10.