Eagles Soar, 49ers Faceplant in 2023 Draft Grades

Consensus opinion tells us that the San Francisco 49ers had the worst draft class of 2023, while the Denver Broncos had the most perplexing. And then there are the Philadelphia Eagles, whose incoming rookie pool looks more promising than anything we have seen perhaps in decades.

Welcome to Football Outsiders' 2023 Draft Report Card Report. Everyone and their buddy is writing draft report cards these days, but one person's opinion is just one person's opinion, no matter how knowledgeable that person may be. By collecting a wide variety of grades, however, we can hopefully use the wisdom of the crowds to get a more accurate measurement of which teams drafted well and which have set themselves up for failure.

This year we collected 21 sets of draft grades from NFL experts around the Internet. Those experts:

• Nate Davis, USA Today
• DraftKings Staff, DraftKings
• Ryan Dunleavy, New York Post
• Kyle Dvorchak (NFC) and Eric Frotan (AFC), NBC Sports Edge
• Luke Easterling, Athlon Sports
• Doug Farrar, TouchdownWire
• Fox Sports NFL Staff, Fox Sports
• Ryan Gosling, Pro Football Network
• Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News
• Danny Kelly, The Ringer
• Mel Kiper, ESPN
• Kristopher Knox, Bleacher Report
• Gilberto Manzano and Matt Verderame, Sports Illustrated
• Mark Maske, Washington Post
• Thor Nystrom, Fantasy Pros (AFC, NFC)
• PFF Staff, Pro Football Focus
• Mike Phillips, Fansided
• Pete Prisco, CBS Sports
• Chad Reuter, NFL.com
• Evan Silva, Establish the Run (AFC, NFC)
• And last but not least, Mike Tanier, Football Outsiders

Each year, we take these evaluations and convert each letter grade to a numeric scale, from 0.0 for an F to 4.3 for an A+, then calculate the grade point average for each team.

If you're interested in the past, previous NFL Draft Report Card Reports can be found here: (2022), (2021), (2020), (2019), (2018), (2017), (2016), (2015), (2014), (2013), (2012), (2011), (2010), (2009), (2008), (2007), (2006), (2005), (2004).

If you're interested in the present, then you're probably very interested in what the Eagles did last week.

Highest Draft Grades

1. Philadelphia Eagles

GPA: 4.17 (Highest GPA on record)
Highest Grade: A+ (13 total)
Lowest Grade: B+ (Reuter)

Nearly 20 years of doing this, and we have never seen a team get a higher GPA after the draft. Part of this is grade inflation, as we will get to later, but most of it is because people really liked the Eagles' draft—the next four highest GPAs are right in line with what we saw last year. Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman may have found four starters on defense in lineman Jalen Carter, edge rusher Nolan Smith, safety Sydney Brown, and cornerback Kelee Ringo, plus one on offense in tackle Tyler Steen.

Over 60% of our graders gave Philadelphia an A+. That includes Tanier—we're counting his official grade of "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" as a perfect score—who said "the Eagles did exactly what a Super Bowl contender should do in the draft: they aggressively pursued maximum-upside talent, because the 'safe' picks likely to fall to them in most spots are unlikely to be talented enough to make a difference." It also includes our old friend Farrar ("Once again, we have to stand back in wonderment at how Howie Roseman is getting away with all of this"), Kelly ("What I wrote about the Nolan Smith pick on Thursday night—'They can't keep getting away with this'—now applies to the Eagles' entire draft"), Davis ("Another year, another Howie Roseman masterclass"), Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports ("Is there a grade higher than A-plus?"), Phillips ("another home run class for the reigning NFC champs"), and Knox ("Roseman nailed this draft from start to finish").

Five others limited the Eagles to an A only because they refused to give out A+ scores. That includes Prisco ("Howie Roseman killed it with his haul this year") and Silva ("Firmly the best GM in the game, Roseman knocked this draft out of the park").

That leaves us with three graders out of 21 who gave at least one team a higher grade than the Eagles. Reuter (A- for Philadelphia, A grades for six teams) had concerns about Ringo's shoulder and work ethic. DraftKings gave Philly an A but Houston an A+ as Teddy Ricketson questioned how many of Roseman's new toys would be able to start right away. Easterling gave the Colts an A+ while the Eagles were a notch down at A, but it's not clear why; "They didn't reach for anyone, stole most of their picks later than they should have gone, and made arguably the league's most talented roster even better," he wrote. And these are the harshest criticisms of Philadelphia we could find.

NFL executives are reportedly "annoyed" with the media's growing adoration for all things Eagles, but they have nobody to blame but themselves for passing on all the players who end up playing so well in midnight green.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers

GPA: 3.91
Highest Grade: A+ (four total)
Lowest Grade: B+ (four total)

So, uh, quite a weekend for the Keystone State. The Steelers found potential starters on both offense (tackle Broderick Jones, tight end Darnell Washington) and defense (corner Joey Porter Jr., lineman Keeanu Benton). Pittsburgh received A+ grades from four evaluators. One, Iyer, gave both Pennsylvania teams an A+ but specifically ranked Pittsburgh over Philadelphia. "The Steelers crushed the first draft with GM Omar Khan," he wrote. "They filled their two biggest needs, a pass protector for Kenny Pickett and a big cover man to help Patrick Peterson." He also liked Pittsburgh's defenders from Wisconsin, Benton and linebacker Nick Herbig.

"I loved this team's haul in Omar Khan's first draft as general manager," Kelly wrote, "starting off with first-round tackle Broderick Jones and continuing through [Day 3]." Nystrom praised Pittsburgh's trade up for Jones and called Porter "a highway-robbery steal at a position of acute need," saying "This is how well-run organizations draft." Kelly and Nystrom both gave Pittsburgh an A+, as did the crew at Pro Football Focus.

3. Indianapolis Colts

GPA: 3.74
Highest Grade: A+ (five total)
Lowest Grade: B (Dunleavy, Kiper, Prisco)

The Colts resisted the urge to trade up, staying put at fourth overall, and still landed a franchise quarterback prospect in Florida's Anthony Richardson. His success or failure in the NFL will ultimately determine the quality of this draft class, but many observers are confident he'll be a star.

Easterling only gave out one A+ grade, and it went to Indianapolis. "[Richardson] is the perfect quarterback for this offense, and has the most upside of any player in the entire draft, regardless of position," he wrote. Iyer, who also gave Indy an A+, called Richardson "the highest-ceiling [quarterback] in the class." Pro Football Focus was also sufficiently impressed with Richardson—"arguably the most incredible athlete at the quarterback position we have ever seen"—to give the Colts an A+.

Richardson is just one of 12 players the Colts drafted this year, and the other 11 prospects hold promise too. Kelly also gave Indianapolis an A+, writing that the Colts "also added a pair of long-levered, athletic corners in Julius Brents (Kansas State) and Darius Rush (South Carolina), a shifty and explosive slot receiver in Josh Downs (North Carolina), and one of my favorite interior defensive lineman in this draft in Adetomiwa Adebawore (Northwestern)." Nystrom's A+ grade was based mostly on Richardson and Brents, but also on Adebawore, Downs, and BYU offensive tackle Blake Freeland, saying the three "were all bonanza values."

4. Seattle Seahawks

GPA: 3.65
Highest Grade: A+ (Farrar, Phillips)
Lowest Grade: C+ (Nystrom)

With the fifth overall pick, the Seahawks grabbed Illinois' Devon Witherspoon, the first corner off the board; later in the first round, they added Ohio State's Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the first wide receiver off the board. In the second round they took Auburn edge rusher Derick Hall and UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet; in later rounds they found a number of potential starters on both the offensive and defensive lines.

Farrar called Weatherspoon "perhaps the best defensive player" available, saying that he "has every attribute you want in a cornerback, and his combination of aggressiveness and match footwork should make him an instant star." His summary of Smith-Njigba was succinct: "He's Cooper Kupp, the sequel." Phillips called Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba the draft's best players at their positions, saying the Seahawks "hit a grand slam in this draft and remain in excellent position to challenge the 49ers in the NFC West." Tanier, who gave Seattle an A-, went even further, saying that right now, "the Seahawks have the best roster in their division."

5. New York Giants

GPA: 3.43
Highest Grade: A+ (PFF)
Lowest Grade: C- (Davis)

The Pro Football Focus staff were the only graders to give the Giants an A+. They called Maryland defensive back Deonte Banks, the 24th overall pick, "an elite athlete" and the third-best corner on their board. They said Minnesota center John Michael Schmitz, the 57th overall selection, could have been a first-round pick, calling him "one of the best run blockers at the position to enter the draft in recent years." In Round 3, the Giants drafted Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt, whom PFF called "a burner on the outside that needs some refinement but has all the athletic ability necessary to excel at the next level."

Four other writers gave the Giants an A. "The first four picks of this draft alone should have fans of Big Blue doing handsprings and huzzahs," Farrar wrote, referring to Banks, Schmitz, Hyatt, and Oklahoma running back Eric Gray. Dunleavy said that Joe Schoen "taught a master's class on how to use draft capital to target specific players," praising the general manager's trades up for Banks and Hyatt. Iyer and Phillips were the other two writers on New York's A train.

Lowest Draft Grades

32. San Francisco 49ers

GPA: 1.79
Highest Grade: B+ (Gosling)
Lowest Grade: F (Dunleavy, Dvorchak, Nystrom)

Our evaluators only gave out five F grades, and the 49ers got three of them. San Francisco's paucity of draft capital (they gave up their original first-, second-, third-, fourth-, and sixth-round picks in trades for Trey Lance, Christian McCaffrey, and Charles Omenihu) complicated things, though they gained back a bundle of compensatory picks. But the issue is not the picks the 49ers lost; it's what they did with those picks that remained.

"The 49ers failed this draft because they did poorly in the nine non-premium slots they were selecting in," Nystrom wrote. "We saw a procession of reaches. … This felt like a myopic process, where every pick is a luxury pick and nothing is at stake. Perhaps the 49ers have entered the pre-Rams-Super-Bowl 'f*** them picks' phase of their evolution."

Dvorchak criticized the decision to trade up for Penn State defensive back Ji'Ayir Brown, a questionable move for a team that had little draft capital to begin with. But the (ahem) kicker was San Francisco's second selection: Michigan placekicker Jake Moody at 99th overall. "Moody is the best kicker in the draft, but the 49ers opted for a low-impact position far too early," he wrote. "The NFL has placed an extremely low value on kickers in the draft and San Francisco doesn't have a roster so pristine that they can afford to take a luxury pick." Dunleavy pointed out that Moody was the highest-drafted kicker since Roberto Aguayo … who was cut after just one season in Tampa Bay and never played in the NFL again.

Dunleavy gave the 49ers a D, saying that "Kyle Shanahan himself admitted he got made fun of by his friends in the coaching ranks, and would have returned the favor to anyone else who had [drafted a kicker in the third round]. He gets the same treatment from us."

"Jake Moody should have been depth at receiver or on the interior offensive line, two units the 49ers didn't bother addressing, even with all of their Day 3 picks," wrote Tanier, who gave San Francisco a D+. Even some of the kinder graders questioned the 49ers' game plan; Phillips gave them a C-, but noted that "spending the first few picks on a safety and a kicker isn't great roster building, particularly after the 49ers failed to draft a single offensive lineman in a year they could use help at the position."

31. Washington Commanders

GPA: 2.20
Highest Grade: B+ (Prisco)
Lowest Grade: D- (Nystrom)

Nystrom felt that the Commanders overdrafted each of their first two picks, Mississippi State cornerback Emmanuel Forbes at 16th overall and Illinois safety Jartavius Martin at 47. Forbes was the second corner off the board, but Nystrom noted the draft's deep pool of talented cornerbacks (which includes Christian Gonzalez, who went to New England one pick later, and Deonte Banks, who went to the Giants at 24). He also pointed out that Detroit traded up ahead of Washington to take Brian Branch, the top safety in the draft, leaving Washington reaching for Martin.

Iyer and Phillips each gave Washington a D. Iyer agreed that Forbes and Martin were reaches, and also pointed out that the Commanders failed to address needs at linebacker, tight end, and "developmental quarterback." Phillips said this was "certainly a strange class for the Commanders," joining the chorus of voices calling Forbes a reach and saying that Washington's Day 2 choices (Martin and Arkansas offensive lineman Ricky Stromberg) were "mismatched" and "they could have gotten better value at other areas of need."

30. Denver Broncos

GPA: 2.28
Highest Grade: A- (Tanier)
Lowest Grade: F (Silva)

Well, that's quite a gap between high and low grade. We'll address the polarizing reactions to this draft and Denver's higher grades later. For now, let's discuss the low grades that put the Broncos in this section to begin with.

Silva was the only writer to give Denver a failing grade; he admitted that was largely due to the picks lost in the Russell Wilson trade and how badly that deal has worked out, but he also questioned the trade up for Oklahoma receiver Marvin Mims by a team that already has Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and Tim Patrick. Knox and Phillips each gave Denver a D. Knox acknowledged that the draft will ultimately hinge on what Wilson and Sean Payton (who also cost the Broncos a draft pick) can do this year, but added that Mims was a major reach, going nearly 40 slots earlier than his spot on the Bleacher Report big board. Phillips was a fan of Arkansas linebacker Drew Sanders at 67 (Silva and Knox also conceded the value Sanders offered at that spot) but said "Denver needed to find more impactful pieces with its few early selections."

29. Miami Dolphins

GPA: 2.30
Highest Grade: B+ (Fox Sports)
Lowest Grade: D (Dunleavy, Phillips)

The Dolphins were also missing some draft capital, having one first-round pick taken away for attempted tampering with Sean Payton and Tom Brady and trading away another (originally acquired in the Trey Lance deal with San Francisco) to acquire Bradley Chubb from Denver, while losing other picks in trades for Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey. Phillips didn't like Miami's first selection—South Carolina corner Cam Smith, taken 51st overall—because it wasn't a position of need for a team that already had Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard. Dunleavy had similar thoughts about Miami's third-round pick, Texas A&M running back Devon Achane, calling him "a strange choice after Miami re-signed free-agent running backs Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson and Myles Gaskin."

Matt Verderame gave the Dolphins a D+ for Sports Illustrated based entirely on their lack of draft capital; he had nothing but nice things to say about all four of Miami's draft picks, including sixth-round receiver Elijah Higgins out of Stanford and seventh-round tackle Ryan Hayes out of Michigan. All those trades make this a tough class to grade; Tanier gave the Dolphins a B- but said he would have gone with an A if including the Ramsey acquisition.

28. Dallas Cowboys

GPA: 2.30
Highest Grade: A (Prisco)
Lowest Grade: F (Nystrom)

Yes, the Cowboys are 28th and the Dolphins are 29th; tack on another couple of decimal points and they beat Miami 2.3048 to 2.3000. That's no thanks to Nystrom, though—he said he "didn't understand what the Cowboys were doing" with their first two picks: first-round defensive tackle Mazi Smith and second-round tight end Luke Schoonmaker, both out of Michigan. As Nystrom points out, if the Cowboys had started with a tight end first and then taken a lineman, they could have had Sam LaPorta or Michal Mayer in the first round and Zacch Pickens, Byron Young, or Siaki Ika in the second.

"The rest of the picks were more of the same, reaching for prospects in slots that didn't fit," Nystrom writes. "It felt like Dallas went into each day with a plan to take specific positions in specific slots, and were unable to move off the plan to take advantage of the values dropping to them."

Nystrom was by far Dallas' harshest critic. Davis, Dvorchack, and Kelly each gave the Cowboys a C-. Davis knocked Dallas for not finding a better, bigger running back than "diminutive sixth-rounder Deuce Vaughn" to split time with Tony Pollard. Dvorchak thought that the Smith and Schoonmaker selections both put too much weight on roster needs and not enough on available talent. Kelly agreed, saying that the Cowboys used too much capital on non-premium positions—their third pick was off-ball linebacker DeMarvion Overshown out of Texas.

Not everyone was so down on Dallas, however. Prisco even gave them an A, tied for his highest grade. He said Smith "will be a force on their front, especially in the run game" and called Schoonmaker "a nice pick." He was also impressed with fourth-round edge rusher Viliami Fehoko out of San Jose State: "He is a power player who plays with violence. He isn't twitchy, but he has the ability to get six or seven sacks a season. He will be in the rotation as a rookie."

Most Polarizing Grades

1. Denver Broncos

SD: 1.01
Highest Grade: A- (Tanier)
Lowest Grade: F (Silva)

As noted earlier, there was a lot of disagreement on the Broncos draft. Indeed, their standard deviation was more than a full letter grade—you could have them anywhere between a D+ and a B+ and honestly say you were agreeing with the majority.

Since we already addressed their critics, let's give this space to the Broncos' supporters. That starts with Tanier, who said that players such as Marvin Mims and Drew Sanders actually were need fits since Broncos receivers are always injured and the defense needs pass-rush help. He was especially impressed with Sanders: "Drew Sanders is my uberbinkie: he's an upgraded version of Baron Browning who can get after the quarterback, defend the run, and effectively drop into coverage a dozen times per game." He adds that these players will be a big help in 2024, which is likely the season the Broncos are actually drafting for.

Iyer, Gosling, and the PFF staff each gave Denver a B+. Iyer really liked what Denver did on defense, saying that Sanders, third-round corner Riley Moss (Iowa), and sixth-round safety JL Skinner (Boise State) would all be good fits in Vance Joseph's scheme. Gosling said that Mims and Sanders would both make an impact this year and suggested the Mims selection would let the Broncos trade one of their veteran receivers down the line.

2. San Francisco 49ers

SD: 0.93
Highest Grade: B+ (Gosling)
Lowest Grade: F (Dunleavy, Dvorchak, Nystrom)

Again, we have already covered the negatives here, so let's focus on the positives. Gosling was San Francisco's biggest fan—he said their draft had "plenty of value" and heralded the selections of South Alabama cornerback Darrell Luter Jr., Michigan wide receiver Ronnie Bell, and TCU linebacker Dee Winters on Day 3.

Four other evaluators gave San Francisco a B-. Iyer said that Ji'Ayir Brown could start at safety over Tashaun Gipson and that Jake Moody "is a bigger leg and needed young upgrade over Robbie Gould." Farrar mostly liked the selection of Brown, "who projects well as that kind of versatile safety the 49ers have loved through recent years," comparing him to Jimmie Ward. Kiper conceded this was "a strange class to try to grade," but said "I like a bunch of these picks, except for [Moody]. I get that it's a need, but that's incredibly early, and I didn't even have him as the best kicker in the class." He did have praise for Brown, Dee Winters, and third-round tight end Cameron Latu (Alabama). Reuter was most impressed with San Francisco's Day 3 picks: "[Darrell Luter] is a fierce cornerback who will step in for the Niners as a rookie, while [Robert Beal] will likely back up veterans on the edge. I love [Dee Winters] and [Jalen Graham] at linebacker, while [Ronnie Bell] plays receiver with linebacker-type toughness."

3. Detroit Lions

SD: 0.90
Highest Grade: A (Iyer, Knox, Prisco)
Lowest Grade: D (Dvorchak)

The most heavily criticized team of Night 1 actually finished in the middle of our rankings (2.71 GPA, 18th), but the Lions definitely had their detractors. Dvorchak liked Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell as players, and is also high on Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta, Alabama safety Brian Branch, and Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker. "However," he writes, "they egregiously missed on the concept of positional value by opting for a running back and an inside linebacker with their premium picks. They also likely misgauged the market as Gibbs went 13 picks ahead of his big board ranking and Campbell went 26 picks early."

Silva gave Detroit a D+, saying that GM Brad Holmes "completely bombed the first round" and calling Campbell a "coverage liability." "It was a sickening waste of precious draft capital at low-impact positions," he added, but he also said he "loved" the selections of Branch and Hooker. Davis and Phillips each gave the Lions a C-, with Davis calling their draft "a real mixed bag" and Phillips calling it "a wasted opportunity for the Lions to fully capitalize on their prime draft picks.

And yet three evaluators gave the Lions an A! Iyer said that Detroit is in "'win big' now mode" and that Gibbs and Campbell "will have massive immediate impact." Knox was a fan of the first-round trade-down, turning the sixth overall pick and a third-rounder into Gibbs, LaPorta, and a fifth-round pick. He expects each of Detroit's first four picks to make impacts this season while Hooker spends a year on the bench before taking over from Jared Goff in 2024. Prisco, even conceding that the 12th pick is too early for a player like Gibbs (who he called "more of an air back"), was very high on LaPorta, Hooker, and third-round defensive tackle Brodric Martin (Western Kentucky).

4. Cleveland Browns

SD: 0.84
Highest Grade: A- (Nystrom, PFF)
Lowest Grade: D (Davis)

Nystrom was a huge fan of Cleveland's draft—though they didn't have a pick in the top 70, they still got four of his top 70 prospects in Tennessee wide receiver Cedric Tillman, Baylor lineman Siaki Ika, Ohio State tackle Dawand Jones, and Missouri edge rusher Isaiah McGuire. He noted that Tillman and Ika would have been considered bargains at their draft slots a year ago, but were injured and/or ineffective in 2022. Jones fell after refusing to participate in the Senior Bowl and Ohio State's pro day. And McGuire brings rare athletic gifts the rest of the league somehow overlooked. The PFF staff agreed, specifically citing each player's size (a 215-pound wideout in a class full of Smurfs, two 350-plus-pound linemen, and a 274-pound edge rusher) as an asset.

Davis, however, dings this draft class because it includes picks used to acquire Deshaun Watson (no further comment necessary) and "underachieving Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore." And he does not see where Jones fits into Cleveland's plans. Nick Simon gave Cleveland a D+ at DraftKings, knocking the Watson and Moore acquisitions and saying that "Tillman and Ika are the only players that could carve out a decent number of snaps for themselves as rookies while the rest will be fighting to simply stick as members of the 53-man roster." The PFF staff said that Ika was "exactly what the doctor ordered" but also said "the oft-injured Tillman is a risk" and questioned the point of using a fifth-round pick on UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

5. Arizona Cardinals

SD: 0.82
Highest Grade: A+ (PFF)
Lowest Grade: D (Iyer)

There was some very, very close competition for the fifth spot here, with Arizona (0.8250 standard deviation) finishing a few decimal points ahead of Kansas City (0.8248) and Dallas (0.8243). Houston was the next team after that, which is fitting, since the Will Anderson trade has such a huge effect on the grades for both the Cardinals and the Texans. The Pro Football Focus crew loved the trade, and the ensuing selection of Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson at 12, saying he "ticks all the boxes physically." They were also fans of second-round edge rusher BJ Ojulari out of LSU ("he wins with a deep collection of pass-rush moves and a high motor off the edge"), third-round corner Garrett Williams out of Syracuse ("He boasts really good footwork as a smooth mover on the outside and was a three-year starter at Syracuse"), and third-round wideout Michael Wilson out of Stanford ("he has the frame to be a more-than-solid player in the NFL"). Finally, they said Houston's Clayton Tune was an accurate passer and underrated rusher who could fill in while Kyler Murray continues to rehab his torn ACL.

Arizona also got six A- grades. The common thread among those observers: the Cardinals get credit for the draft capital they added in 2024 (Houston's first- and third-rounders, plus picks from Tennessee and Philadelphia) since they're not going to contend in 2023 anyway.

Not everyone was so impressed. Iyer called the class "very underwhelming" and said Johnson was "a bit of a forced luxury pick." Nystrom gave Arizona a D+, specifically saying that the gap between Johnson and Broderick Jones wasn't significant enough to justify Arizona's trade up for the former. Gilberto Manzano at Sports Illustrated agreed, adding that Wilson's injury history made him a gamble, but still gave Arizona a B-. Indeed, consensus reaction to Arizona's draft was definitely positive—their GPA of 3.35 ranked seventh overall.

Grading the Graders

The long-term trend of graders being kinder to teams continued in 2023. We used to see about three A+ grade for every F, but this year there were 27 of the former but only five of the latter. And those A+ grades were spread far and wide, too—nearly half went to Philadelphia, but the Steelers, Colts, Seahawks, Giants, Texans, and Cardinals each got at least one A+ too. That's nearly one-quarter of the league that convinced somebody they had earned a perfect grade. Even the worst teams had their fans; all 32 NFL franchises had at least one grade of a B+ or higher. The average GPA this year was 2.93, as high as we have seen in recent years, with a standard deviation of 0.78, as low as we have seen in recent years. There are apparently no bad teams in the NFL, just various levels of good ones.

For the fifth straight season, Reuter was the kindest grader, delivering a GPA of 3.43; his lowest grade was a C+ for Detroit while he had six teams at A and 11 more at A-. Yes, that's literally half the league at an exceptional level. Perhaps it's worth pointing out that Reuter writes for NFL.com, and if the NFL owners were writing your paychecks, you'd probably say lots of good things about their teams too. This does make it ironic that he was responsible for Philadelphia's worst grade, an A- … but if other clubs truly are tired of hearing how great the Eagles are, then that relatively low score may have won Reuter some friends in high places. Reuter was followed here by the PFF staff (3.37 GPA) and Farrar (3.28).

Nystrom and Silva routinely battle for the title of harshest grader, and this year it was Nystrom (2.38) taking the gold for cruelty while Silva (2.49) took silver and Dunleavy (2.53) settled for bronze. Though Nystrom gave out seven grades of A- or better (about average), he also led our sample with eight grades of D+ or worse, including two of our five F grades.

Easterling's grades had a correlation of 0.859 with the overall averages; his opinions most closely matched the consensus, followed by Dunleavy (0.848) and Kelly (0.829). Prisco (0.441) had the weirdest picks; while there was no team he was unusually low on, he gave A grades to Dallas and Detroit, and B+ grades to Cleveland and Washington, ranking those teams much higher than most. Iyer (0.499) had Detroit and Kansas City at an A, Denver and Minnesota at a B+, and San Francisco at a B-, but deemed Arizona worthy of only a D. Gosling (0.604) was another outlier—he gave B- grades to San Francisco and Denver, and an A- to New Orleans.

We're about 5,000 words in now, and it's fair to ask: does any of this really mean anything? And the answer is "probably not." After recapping the 2017 draft a few weeks ago, we broke out the Draft Report Card Report from that year and compared select evaluator's grades to the actual Approximate Value produced by each team's draft class. The good news is that every evaluator finished with a positive correlation—nobody was so wrong that you could make money betting against them. The bad news is that the strongest correlation was just 0.088, which is effectively random noise.

Draft grades are great for discussion and debate, and hopefully good for a lot of clicks, but they remain highly inaccurate at telling us which players from this year's class are destined for success.