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Welcome to our annual NFL Draft Report Card, in which we grade both the teams and ourselves on how well they fared in this NFL Draft.

First off, we grade ourselves on how many players were drafted that we had featured on our NFL Draft website. After having 69% (174 of 254) of drafted players in the book in 2019, 78% (199 of 255) in 2020, 84% (218 of 259) in 2021, 86% (226 of 262) in 2022 (Year 1 online), and 92% (238 of 259) in 2023, we finished the 2024 draft cycle with 94% (241 of 257).

When taking out specialists and international players, which we currently don’t write up, there were only 10 players drafted who weren’t on the site and only 2 of which we didn’t formally watch. That’s over 99% of the NFL Draft covered! Plus, many players we had on the site who didn’t get drafted have already signed free agent deals with teams.

Using our grades, we attempted to rank each team’s draft class. Just like in our article from last season, we assigned all players who were drafted but not on the site a 5.4, which is the equivalent to a training camp body. We took those grades for each player and divided that by the number of selections the team had.

These rankings do not account for positional value, the value of where players were drafted, or trades teams made; it is literally based on the grades we gave the players who were drafted and how much talent we feel teams got from their selections compared to the number of picks they made.

And with that, the 2024 Best Draft Class, with an average grade of 6.46, goes to the Chicago Bears. They may have only had five draft picks, but they made the most of them. Even with drafting a punter in the 4th Round, they still managed to obtain good talent with their selections.

The Bears draft class is in the table below.

After trading away the No. 1 pick in 2023 to give the Panthers Bryce Young and our top Draft Class, the Bears took their quarterback of the future in USC’s Caleb Williams. Williams was our top-ranked QB and our No. 2 player overall.

With their second selection of Round 1, Chicago grabbed wide receiver Rome Odunze out of Washington. Odunze was our No. 3 WR, but No. 5 player overall. In almost any other draft, he’s likely the top WR on the board, but he’s behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers in this class. However, that shouldn’t impact his play at the next level. He’ll partner up with DJ Moore and recently-acquired Keenan Allen to form a legit three-headed monster at receiver.

With no picks in the 2nd Round, the Bears next selection came at No. 75 when they selected tackle Kiran Amegadjie (SIS No. 10 OT, No. 56 Overall) out of Yale. Unfortunately, Amegadjie missed all but four games in 2023 due to injury. With that injury, he hasn’t played a ton of football and is very raw, but the measurables and what he’s shown while he has been on the field suggests he has a lot of upside.

Their final two picks were Tory Taylor, punter out of Iowa, and edge rusher Austin Booker (SIS No. 6 ED, No. 50 Overall), out of Kansas. Taylor may be turning 27-years-old soon, but he’s one of the better punter prospects to come out in recent years. Booker was a great value in the 5th Round, as the Bears traded back in to take him since he was still on the board.

Since we grade players based on what they will be at the beginning of Year 2, let’s widen the table of our recent Draft Class winners.

After winning as top class in 2019, the Titans made consecutive playoff appearances. While the Browns made the playoffs the next year, the turmoil in that locker room in 2021 forced a fall to 8-9. The Lions did take a dip in 2021 in the first year of a new regime, but they took a huge step forward in 2022, nearly making the playoffs, and then going all the way to the NFC Championship this past season.

As for the Jets, they improved their record in 2022 and had both the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year (Garret Wilson and Sauce Gardner), but expectations fell in 2023 when Aaron Rodgers went down in Week 1. The Panthers were tough to watch last season, and Bryce Young really struggled, but he wasn’t helped much with a coaching change midseason and a rough roster around him.

What does that mean for the Bears? They decided to move on from Justin Fields and will now have this year’s No. 1 overall pick lining up at quarterback to go with a ton of weapons on the offensive side. The team likely isn’t in a position to compete for a Super Bowl just yet, but they have a lot of the core pieces to make a run sooner rather than later. Don’t be shocked if the NFC North is one of the toughest divisions in football in 2024.

Now, let’s check out how the rest of the teams fared in our rankings. Here are the draft classes ranked in order of their grade:

Some thought the Giants could draft a quarterback, but they decided not to, taking our No. 4 overall player, Malik Nabers, instead. The Lions, Titans, and Steelers rounded out the top 5. Detroit was able to grab four players from our top 100 in their six selections. They’ve had Top-8 classes all four years of the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell era. Additionally, the Panthers put together the No. 9 class after last year’s No. 1, as they look to get back on track.

The bottom three teams for 2023, listed 30 to 32, were the Eagles, Browns, and Jaguars. 

We’ll preface this by saying the Eagles knocked their first two picks out of the park, grabbing two of our top 6 cornerbacks in Quinyon Mitchell (SIS No. 3 CB, No. 18 Overall) and Cooper DeJean (SIS No. 6 CB, No. 34 Overall). They also added running back Will Shipley (SIS No. 5 RB) in the 4th Round, who we feel could be a difference maker on 3rd downs. However, the rest of their picks, while most have a lot of upside with high ceilings, we feel they are backups early on in their careers. Their Top-2 draft classes from the past two years have set them up in a good spot moving forward regardless how most of this year’s class shakes out.

The Browns only had six picks this year with their first one not coming until Round 2 and only three in the top 200 picks, but they only took one player we felt was going to be a starter by his second season: guard Zak Zinter (SIS No. 8 OG). Understandably, we were a bit lower on defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. (SIS DT No. 12) than consensus, as we feel he’s a top backup early in his career. The rest of their picks should prove as strong depth, but it may be a few years until they become solid starters.

This year’s worst class goes to the Jaguars. This comes a year after they ranked No. 31. They traded back and selected Brian Thomas Jr. (SIS No. 5 WR, No. 23 Overall), who should become a strong target and deep threat for Trevor Lawrence, but aside from him, only Javon Foster (SIS No. 15 OT) graded out as better than a top backup. While Maason Smith (SIS No. 13 DT) has the measurables and a high ceiling, we thought a mid-2nd Round pick was a bit of a reach.

The 49ers took home our worst class in 2023 and still made the Super Bowl, so there is still hope for Jacksonville moving forward.

Key Facts

* With only 16 players drafted this year who weren’t featured on the site, many teams added a lot of talent in this year’s draft. Only two teams drafted more than one player who wasn’t featured on the site: the Colts and Vikings, though one of Minnesota’s picks was a kicker.

* All four teams in the AFC West ranked in our top 12 this year, further suggesting that the division could get back on track as being one of the toughest in the NFL.

* Typically teams with a lot of picks rank near the bottom just due to sheer volume and only a limited number of quality players, but the Cardinals need a shoutout this year. Even with drafting 12 players, they came in with the No. 10 ranking for us. Getting Marvin Harrison Jr., our No. 1 overall player, at No. 4 helped set them up for success throughout, but they also drafted four other players who we graded a 6.5 as starting-level players.

* The Panthers have the best average SIS Draft Class rank over our six seasons doing this. However, the Panthers and Lions are tied with the best grade average based on our player grades over that same span. The Titans, Raiders, and Ravens round out the top 5 draft class ranks. Compared to last year, Baltimore dropped a spot to fifth, Tennessee and Las Vegas entered the top 5, and Philadelphia dropped out. The Colts continue to bring up the rear. Last year’s No. 11 ranking is the only time they’ve ever ranked in our top 25, so it may be a while before they climb up the rankings.

* Only four players from our top 100 went undrafted this year, but each quickly signed UDFA deals with teams soon after the draft concluded. Leonard Taylor III (SIS No. 5 DT, No. 46 Overall) has signed with the Jets. Gabriel Murphy (SIS No. 9 ED, No. 61 Overall) has signed with the Vikings. Jalen Sundell (SIS No. 6 OG, No. 72 Overall) has signed with the Browns. Tight end Dallin Holker (SIS No. 6 TE, No. 75 Overall) has signed with the Saints.

Ivan Pace Jr. went undrafted last year after being labeled our No. 51 overall player, and he played his way into Minnesota’s starting lineup and onto our All-Rookie Team.

How the NFL Draft Site Compared to the Draft

Let’s take a look at how the website stacks up to the NFL’s thinking of where players were selected. 

On offense, the first player drafted at every position except RB was the No. 1 player on our board. Jonathon Brooks was the first running back off the board, but was our No. 2 ranked RB.

On defense, the top player at each position matched the first player drafted for nose tackle, middle linebacker, and safety. At defensive tackle, edge rusher, Will linebacker, and cornerback, the top player drafted at the position was either our No. 2 or No. 3 player.

The top 5 quarterbacks that went off the board matched our top 5, but in a slightly different order. The positions that had four of the top 5 going off the board that matched our rankings were wide receiver, tackle (matched the top 4), center, nose tackle, edge, and cornerback. The only two players we graded within the top 5 of their position group who were not drafted were DT Leonard Taylor III (previously mentioned) and Nathan Pickering (SIS No. 5 NT), though Pickering was ranked No. 376 on our board.

Overdrafted?

Bo Nix (SIS No. 6 QB) was our only player graded as a 6.3 or lower to be drafted in Round 1 and was actually ranked outside our top 100. Denver looks to be a perfect fit for him, but he’s got some things to prove before showing he can potentially be a win-with quarterback, which is why we graded him as a circumstantial starter/quality backup.

The only offensive player we graded a 5.9 who went off the board before Round 3 was Ben Sinnott (SIS No. 7 TE) who was drafted at No. 53. His athletic testing numbers suggest he’s got high upside, but the athleticism didn’t translate to the field enough to warrant a starting grade early in his career.

As mentioned before, Maason Smith and Michael Hall Jr. were both off the board in Round 2, but we had a 5.9 top backup grade on both of them. Both are young and have high ceilings, but we feel it may take a couple years of development before they can become impact starters.

Staying on the defensive side of the ball, Edgerrin Cooper (SIS No. 3 WLB) was taken with pick No. 45. He may have been our No. 3 WLB, but we also only had a 5.9 grade on him. He’s a ridiculous athlete with a ton of upside, but it’ll be a couple years before he reaches a starting level. Additionally, Marshawn Kneeland (SIS No. 14 ED) was taken No. 56 overall. He has some potential versatility, but we also graded him as a 5.9 top backup.

Some other players we believe were taken too early for the roles we project them to are Tip Reiman, Marist Liufau, and Jalyx Hunt, three players who were Top-100 selections and received grades a notch below a top backup.

The first eligible player (non-specialist or international player) taken who we did not give a strong enough grade to reach the threshold we set for the website was Falcons WR Casey Washington, taken in the 6th round, No. 187 overall. Additionally, the first player who went off the board that we didn’t get a formal look or report on was Texans LB Jamal Hill who went one pick later at No. 188. The only other player we didn’t get a look at was Michael Jurgens who was selected by the Vikings in the 7th Round at No. 230.

Underdrafted?

Tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders (SIS No. 2 TE, No. 25 Overall) was the only 6.7 not selected inside the top 100, and he went to the Panthers with the first pick of Round 4 at No. 101.

The Lions scooped up Mekhi Wingo (SIS No. 3 DT, No. 39 Overall) and Christian Mahogany (SIS No. 5 OG, No. 51 Overall) in the 6th Round, which we feel is great value.

The only other 6.5 or above players selected in the final two rounds was Walter Rouse (SIS No. 12 OT, No. 70 Overall) by the Vikings at pick No. 177 and Beaux Limmer (SIS No. 3 OC, No. 49 Overall) who went to the Rams at pick No. 217. We like all of these players’ chances to come in and outperform their draft positions.

Conclusion

Every year the SIS scouting department looks to make improvements, and this year was no different. With the SIS Football Operation growing the way it is, our time is somewhat limited when it comes to scouting. However, we got a huge help from some of our Live Data scouts in January and February to knock out many of the final first looks we needed to get on players.

Our six-man scouting team, consisting of Nathan Cooper, Jordan Edwards, Jeff Dean, Ben Hrkach, Chad Tedder, and Jeremy Percy, put in the hard work to finalize over 670 reports, of which 388 were featured on our NFL Draft site. This is the first time in three years we put less than 400 players on the site, but that’s due to a limited number of draftable players because of the COVID year and us tightening up our grading.

Even with having less players on the site, the number of drafted non-specialist/fullback/international players not featured on our site went down again, as did the number of players drafted on whom we didn’t have eyes on at all (only 2 out of 257!). As we noted, our Top-100 evaluations were a big success with 72 of our top 100 drafted in the first 100 picks and only four not selected at all.

That the first player not featured on the website, outside of the specialists/international players, was drafted in the 6th round is also a huge success. With Qwan’tez Stiggers and Travis Clayton being drafted out of the CFL and as an English rugby player, respectively, we may just have to start expanding our reach moving forward.

We want to thank The 33rd Team for allowing us to house our draft content on their site this year, as we really feel like it helped expand the reach of our scouting reports and showed everyone the type of quality reports and data we produce.

Please continue to check out our NFL Draft website as the offseason continues. If you’d like to be involved in our scouting and charting processes next year, consider applying to our Football Data Scout position. We’re taking applications and interviewing for next year’s class now.