Welp, it’s about that time … when I reluctantly break out the red pencil – not pen – to assign reactionary grades to the just-completed NFL draft.
Of course, as we know, it’s an annual exercise in futility, any draft needing roughly three years to be fairly evaluated. Heck, it was only 2018 when the Cardinals seemed to be sitting pretty with their new Josh Rosen-to-Christian Kirk connection … or the Jets lucked into Sam Darnold as their latest savior.
Alas.
But first impressions are what they are – we’ll call them grades if we must – and who am I to not give the people what they want? (However, let’s strive to pull back for a big-picture look at each club’s draft rather than judging them in a vacuum that doesn’t include trades and other considerations that more accurately frame each haul.)
So, with that, here are your ridiculously premature 2021 NFL draft grades, with team classes ranked from best to worst:
Jacksonville Jaguars
Hard not to roll the eyes when you hear new coach Urban Meyer bloviate about all the research they invested in No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence … but sure, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, coach. End of the day, even if the only prerequisite to obtain Lawrence was going 1-15, getting a generational prospect like the Clemson star pretty much makes this a near-perfect draft with the subsequent picks serving as gravy – even if the gravy here is scrumptious. As for Lawrence? He seems uniquely suited to elevate this franchise in the win…
