2024 NFL Draft in Review

[Voice_of_Reason]

I did a little review of the 2025 draft after 1/4 of a season, and then skinsinparadise did a little 2024 recap in that thread. I thought it might not be a bad idea to have a thread for the 2024 draft class in review now that we have a year + of pay time on them to see how they are doing.

Here's my 2024 draft review:

• Round 1 Pick 2 - Jayden Daniels, QB: Total bust of a pick. He sucks. Never going to amount to anything. Oh, wait. (I am not going to expand on Daniels because there is a thread on him and he's been everything we could have hoped for.) VOR Grade: A+
• Round 2 Pick 36 - Johnny Newton, DT: I think so far this pick is underwhelming, but he is absolutely in the rotation, and plays a role. He is essentially the third DT in the DT rotation behind Payne and Kinlaw. He might be the best pass rusher of that group. He's not a bonified starter, and that's what you want from a high second round pick in year 2. But he is basically the primary backup. In the Chargers game, he played on 26 snaps (39%) vs. Payne/Kinlaw who played on ~38 snaps (56%). So he's seeing the field and making an impact. Is it enough? ehhhhhhhhh? VOR Grade C+
• Round 2 Pick 50 - Mikey Sainristil, CB: Had a REALLY good rookie season, even moved outside because we had nobody to play outside, and this year is back in the slot, which is where they see him. Somewhat of an uneven start to the season, but seems to be getting more comfortable inside. Definitely a starter, he plays on ~80% of defensive plays. I'd say this one was a hit. VOR Grade: A-
• Round 2 Pick 53 - Ben Sinnott, TE: Based on what the expectations of what a late second round TE pick should be, he's probably somewhere exactly there. He plays about 1/3 of the snaps, has developed into a really good, athletic blocker, but we haven't seen his pass catching ability yet, because the TE targets are still going to Ertz. I'd say he's on pace to be an average 2nd round pick. Kindof what you expect, not a lot more, not a lot less. VOR Grade: C
• Round 3 Pick 67 - Brandon Coleman, OT/OG: This is the one pick in the draft at the moment which looks like it could go in any direction. Coleman started at LT last year, and didn't look lost. He was fine for a rookie 3rd round pick starting at LT. Probably better than fine. However, they moved him to guard, and all indications are he's found his way into the doghouse due to lack of effort or something in practice. Tough look for my guy. Now he's inactive. He's the toughest player to grade because he was trending to at least a B/B+ grade, but now is a healthy inactive. I want to grade this "incomplete" because we really have no idea what's going on. But if you put a gun to my head: VOR Grade: C. Because he gets credit for last year, even if this year has been a disaster.
• Round 3 Pick 100 - Luke McCaffery, WR: There has been so much angst about McCaffery. People wanted to write him off early last season. My guy has just kept on putting in the work. I've been more supportive of giving McCaffery time than just about anybody, and I think we're seeing that he is a real contributor at this point. He's really good on special teams, and he's starting to get targets and make plays on offense. 2 TDs and a big reception in the last 3 weeks. When we revisit these grades at the end of the year or next year, he could have moved up into B+/A- range. VOR Grade: B-
• Round 5 Pick 139 - Jordan Magee, LB: He is a 5th round pick, so the expectation is he plays on special teams and is a backup. Which is what he is. He has battled injury his entire time here. The coach's love him, but he can't get on the field. For a 5th round pick, disappointing. VOR Grade: C-
• Round 5 pick 161 - Dominique Hampton, S: He was released on August 11th. This pick never materialized. You want your 5th round picks to at least contribute on special teams. He's gone after 1 year. Ooops. VOR Grade: F
• Round 7 pick 222 - Javontae Jean-Baptiste, DE: He was coming along nicely as a rotational DE, and then this season he got hurt and is now on IR. He played in 12 games last year, 1 start. He played in 3 games this year. Had a sack. For a 7th round pick, he's been good. VOR Grade: B

Overall, the grade of the draft is an A because of Daniels by himself.

However, if you take him out, the rest of the draft is probably a C+. Sainristil is the only other starter since Coleman got benched. Newton, Sinnott and McCaffery are coming along, but not there yet. They only have one definitive bust so far, and that's good.

If Sinnott and McCaffery continue their trajectory this season, and one breaks into more of a full time playing role, the overall grade in my mind jumps up quite a bit.

I've said in a normal 7 player draft, if you get 2 starters and 2 role players/special teams players out of it, you're doing pretty well. So many players bomb out.

Right now, we have:

Starter:
Jayden Daniels
Mikey Sainristil

Primary Backup/Rotational Starters:
Johnny Newton
Ben Sinnott
Luke McCaffery

Special Teams/Other Backup
Javontae Jean-Baptist
Jordan Magee
Coleman (I'm not really even sure how to classify him at the moment)

Already gone:
Dominique Hampton

After a year and a quarter, not bad. Not the best draft in the history of the NFL, but that's quite a bit of contribution from one draft class.

Another thing, if you take the primary contributors from this class + primary contributors from the 2025 draft class, you have 5 from 2024 and 4 from this year's class, you're starting to see the young core of the team, 9 players from the 2 drafts, start to come together.

Trying to build a core of a roster when there is almost nothing to build on is going to take some time.

 

[method man]

I probably agree with you on much of this. I think you have Mikey too high. He is a B or B- for me. He’s an average starting nickel corner at best right now.

Given how easy they are to find, if you take a nickel CB round 2, you need at least a Roger Mcreary caliber player. If he plays as he has the past couple games the rest of the season, then he may end up more A-/B+

I also think JJB is an A-. Getting a good rotational DE in the 7th is a coup. He’s a good run defender who PFF gave above average grades to so far this year and last year

 

[bowhunter]

• I've said in a normal 7 player draft, if you get 2 starters and 2 role players/special teams players out of it, you're doing pretty well. So many players bomb out.

I think JD certainly has all of us grading on a curve, but...a normal 7 round draft doesn't usually have SIX picks in the top 100 while we still have the oldest roster in the league. Don't get me wrong, I'll take AP in this FO every day of the week, but I'm not (yet) convinced that he is a draft savant. I know we're only 1.25 seasons into this draft class, so grades are early and certainly subject to change. But actually the 2026 draft has already added more starters (Conerly, Amos, and Bill) even with much less draft capital

 

[SkinsLife]

your grades are a bit optimistic for my taste.. but i already made my thoughts known..
Coleman is a D... (and that being generous) he was benched for bad performance at Guard which should have been easier than LT
Sinnot hasnt done much of anything and his blocking is nothing special. He was only on the field due to Bates injury
Mccafrey is getting some play time, but only due to injuries at WR. He is no better that 4-5WR on this team... still getting less playing time than no name veterans off the street. While he is good on sp teams.. i am still underwhelmed by his overall performance (aside from one nice grab last week) beyond what some lunatics on this forum claim, he definitely has not arrived

 

[method man]

your grades are a bit optimistic for my taste.. but i already made my thoughts known..
Coleman is a D... (and that being generous) he was benched for bad performance at Guard which should have been easier than LT
Sinnot hasnt done much of anything and his blocking is nothing special. He was only on the field due to Bates injury
Mccafrey is getting some play time, but only due to injuries at WR. He is no better that 4-5WR on this team... still getting less playing time than no name veterans off the street. While he is good on sp teams.. i am still underwhelmed by his overall performance (aside from one nice grab last week) beyond what some lunatics on this forum claim, he definitely has not arrived

I had McCaffrey on my shitlist too but he currently has the highest kickoff return average in the league after Deebo. A WR4 with high end kick return skills is ok value at the end of the third. Given his return skills and the QB background, he is a guy they should involve in some gadget plays

 

[DWinzit]

Your grades are fair VOR.
Frustrating is the word that comes to mind for me with some of these players for various reasons.

• Newton - I was frustrated with his selection over a couple players I had higher grades on in more of need positions. Also knowing he would not be able to work with the team through his first preseason. He is now playing at more the caliber I expected and I think he will continue to mature.
• Sinnott - I had high expectations for this guy and it so far hasn't panned out well. Like Newton, we are now hearing and seeing positives from him and believe he showed up more moving forward and strips playtime from Ertz like I'd hoped last year. I placed too much hope on him in his rookie year and Ertz played like he hit the fountain of youth last season.
• Coleman - I have no idea how to grade him right now. Who would have thought after the way he showed up at the end of last season that he couldn't even crack the active roster on game days?
• Magee - He is on this list because of the amount of accolades he has been given since draft day by all of the coaches. They definitely targeted him. So far we have seen little from him. Hope he can stay healthy and start to earn play time. It was exciting to thin we hade a young guy that could learn from Wagner and Luvu. I hope he doesn't wait until the end of his 4th season to start playing like the staff believe he should or worse, never be able to reach a decent level of contributions on the field.
• McCaffrey - I have removed my frustration tag from him as he is contributing more offensively to the point I am hoping Jayden will gain trust and look more towards him. He is killing it on Teams

 

[burgold]

The Coleman problem seems to me one of people outsmarting themselves. Everyone believed he'd be a better guard than tackle (sort of like everyone believes Sainristil should be a better slot corner than outside) so despite Coleman getting some of the highest grades for a rookie left tackle in the league last year, they made the switch. Unfortunately, this required Coleman to learn his third position in three years. It may work out. It may be that Coleman is just a better tackle and may be suited for right tackle/swing tackle, but I really think if we had moved him to right tackle and drafted a DE instead of Connerly we would have been a little better off in the short run.

 

[DWinzit]

The Coleman problem seems to me one of people outsmarting themselves. Everyone believed he'd be a better guard than tackle (sort of like everyone believes Sainristil should be a better slot corner than outside) so despite Coleman getting some of the highest grades for a rookie left tackle in the league last year, they made the switch. Unfortunately, this required Coleman to learn his third position in three years. It may work out. It may be that Coleman is just a better tackle and may be suited for right tackle/swing tackle, but I really think if we had moved him to right tackle and drafted a DE instead of Connerly we would have been a little better off in the short run.

I feel similarly regarding Colemans usage and the Conerly selection. Once the Tunsil trade was announced I was certain Coleman would be moved to the RT and we would draft an IOL later in the 2nd or 3rd round. I was a big fan of Tate Ratledge and his mullet to solidify the line. There were a number of good Edge/DE /LB options as well as some RB's and WR's. There were ust so many talented players from the end of round 1 through round 3.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

your grades are a bit optimistic for my taste.. but i already made my thoughts known..
Coleman is a D... (and that being generous) he was benched for bad performance at Guard which should have been easier than LT
Sinnot hasnt done much of anything and his blocking is nothing special. He was only on the field due to Bates injury
Mccafrey is getting some play time, but only due to injuries at WR. He is no better that 4-5WR on this team... still getting less playing time than no name veterans off the street. While he is good on sp teams.. i am still underwhelmed by his overall performance (aside from one nice grab last week) beyond what some lunatics on this forum claim, he definitely has not arrived

I don't know if transitioning from LT to LG is actually easy. I don't know that it's not. I really don't know. But it is transitioning to a different position I don't believe he's played before. And as I've said in the OL thread, I think there might be something more going on there between the ears.

I think at least for this year, you are in the minority in Sinnott's blocking. Just about everybody, including the coaching staff and all the different film study people say that it's getting close to elite level. And elite in a different way than Bates.

McCaffery is one of the best kickoff returners in the league, and is making the most of his opportunity in his second year. Also, he flipped positions from QB to WR, so this is like his 4th year playing WR. I think think he's going to be the 3rd WR on this team this year, behind McLaurin (when he comes back) and Deebo. I think Brown is going to be #4, and replace Moore and Tee Martin.

He hasn't arrived for sure, but he's improving. That's what you want to see from young players. He was a late 3rd round pick. He wasn't going to be Ed McCaffery from game 1.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I had McCaffrey on my shitlist too but he currently has the highest kickoff return average in the league after Deebo. A WR4 with high end kick return skills is ok value at the end of the third. Given his return skills and the QB background, he is a guy they should involve in some gadget plays

And he is catching balls when thrown to him now. He has had 3 good games in a row, 2 TDs, a deep catch. It's progress.

Not saying he's Ja'Marr Chase. But he has earned playing time on offense. And as you said, for a comp-pick 3rd rounder, which is either the latest possible 3rd or earliest 4th, eh, I think he's doing "just fine."

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

The Coleman problem seems to me one of people outsmarting themselves. Everyone believed he'd be a better guard than tackle (sort of like everyone believes Sainristil should be a better slot corner than outside) so despite Coleman getting some of the highest grades for a rookie left tackle in the league last year, they made the switch. Unfortunately, this required Coleman to learn his third position in three years. It may work out. It may be that Coleman is just a better tackle and may be suited for right tackle/swing tackle, but I really think if we had moved him to right tackle and drafted a DE instead of Connerly we would have been a little better off in the short run.

I really think it's more of a "between the ears" thing. If you read between the lines, I think he's somewhat pouty that he was removed from the "glamorous" position to a guard position. Especially since he did at the very least "fine" at LT last year. But when they traded for Tunsil, now you've got a problem.

Let's be real: the trade and position move probably will cost Coleman money in the long run, and he could be salty about it. This isn't an excuse, but it's an explanation. Because what the coaches have been clear about is they want to see more effort and him practice better. Neither were issues last year.

Coleman is a sneaky option to trade at the deadline. If there is a team which needs a stand-in LT, it might be better for everybody to move him.

FWIW, while I don't follow the "best player available" in the draft 100%, you can't allow your current roster to effect your draft picks. If Conerly was the best player on their board, you pick him. Especially in the first round. That's seemingly what happened.

 

[method man]

Your grades are fair VOR.
Frustrating is the word that comes to mind for me with some of these players for various reasons.

• Newton - I was frustrated with his selection over a couple players I had higher grades on in more of need positions. Also knowing he would not be able to work with the team through his first preseason. He is now playing at more the caliber I expected and I think he will continue to mature.
• Sinnott - I had high expectations for this guy and it so far hasn't panned out well. Like Newton, we are now hearing and seeing positives from him and believe he showed up more moving forward and strips playtime from Ertz like I'd hoped last year. I placed too much hope on him in his rookie year and Ertz played like he hit the fountain of youth last season.
• Coleman - I have no idea how to grade him right now. Who would have thought after the way he showed up at the end of last season that he couldn't even crack the active roster on game days?
• Magee - He is on this list because of the amount of accolades he has been given since draft day by all of the coaches. They definitely targeted him. So far we have seen little from him. Hope he can stay healthy and start to earn play time. It was exciting to thin we hade a young guy that could learn from Wagner and Luvu. I hope he doesn't wait until the end of his 4th season to start playing like the staff believe he should or worse, never be able to reach a decent level of contributions on the field.
• McCaffrey - I have removed my frustration tag from him as he is contributing more offensively to the point I am hoping Jayden will gain trust and look more towards him. He is killing it on Teams

Frustrated is how I feel too. It seemed to me that they were overly fixated on trying to draft as many guys with the “Commanders Tag” as they could.

The most frustrating aspect of that draft for me was not loading up on more linemen. That was by far the strongest draft for OTs I had ever seen in my 25 years following the draft. I really wanted us to trade up for Mims (which we tried to do and may not have been the right move in retrospect) or double dip on OTs day 2 and take guys in both rd 2 and 3 to solve both tackle needs optimally but to give ourselves a base case of at least 1 of the 2 hitting.

As I said in another thread, Tunsil has been awesome but we also gave up 4 picks for him and are paying him $20M+ a year. Patrick Paul and Rosengarten have both been hits and, while not superstars, would have given us league average play at LT this year.

 

[method man]

I really think it's more of a "between the ears" thing. If you read between the lines, I think he's somewhat pouty that he was removed from the "glamorous" position to a guard position. Especially since he did at the very least "fine" at LT last year. But when they traded for Tunsil, now you've got a problem.

Let's be real: the trade and position move probably will cost Coleman money in the long run, and he could be salty about it. This isn't an excuse, but it's an explanation. Because what the coaches have been clear about is they want to see more effort and him practice better. Neither were issues last year.

Coleman is a sneaky option to trade at the deadline. If there is a team which needs a stand-in LT, it might be better for everybody to move him.

FWIW, while I don't follow the "best player available" in the draft 100%, you can't allow your current roster to effect your draft picks. If Conerly was the best player on their board, you pick him. Especially in the first round. That's seemingly what happened.

I may be off on this but I seem to recall Coleman’s play fell off in 23 vs 22 when TCU had him play a lot of guard. Could be that he may have a guard body but is just a better tackle

 

[SkinsLife]

The Coleman problem seems to me one of people outsmarting themselves. Everyone believed he'd be a better guard than tackle (sort of like everyone believes Sainristil should be a better slot corner than outside) so despite Coleman getting some of the highest grades for a rookie left tackle in the league last year, they made the switch. Unfortunately, this required Coleman to learn his third position in three years. It may work out. It may be that Coleman is just a better tackle and may be suited for right tackle/swing tackle, but I really think if we had moved him to right tackle and drafted a DE instead of Connerly we would have been a little better off in the short run.

Coleman was never good at Tackle... i dont care what the grades say. He was constantly out of position or getting run over. JDs legs made Coleman look better then he really was. Thats the reason the team couldnt wait to move him to another spot and paid a hefty price to bring in Tunsil. You really think they would go to that length if they sought Coleman could develop in to a decent tackle?

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Frustrated is how I feel too. It seemed to me that they were overly fixated on trying to draft as many guys with the “Commanders Tag” as they could.

The most frustrating aspect of that draft for me was not loading up on more linemen. That was by far the strongest draft for OTs I had ever seen in my 25 years following the draft. I really wanted us to trade up for Mims (which we tried to do and may not have been the right move in retrospect) or double dip on OTs day 2 and take guys in both rd 2 and 3 to solve both tackle needs optimally but to give ourselves a base case of at least 1 of the 2 hitting.

As I said in another thread, Tunsil has been awesome but we also gave up 4 picks for him and are paying him $20M+ a year. Patrick Paul and Rosengarten have both been hits and, while not superstars, would have given us league average play at LT this year.

I personally don't have any problem trading picks for an "in their prime" player at a premium position.

And I like the idea of following your board and not reaching for players. There is nuance there, but generally speaking, you pick the best players you can based on your evaluation.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Coleman was never good at Tackle... i dont care what the grades say. He was constantly out of position or getting run over. JDs legs made Coleman look better then he really was. Thats the reason the team couldnt wait to move him to another spot and paid a hefty price to bring in Tunsil. You really think they would go to that length if they sought Coleman could develop in to a decent tackle?

I'm not entirely sure that's true. I can't prove it, but I think he was ok. Not great, but certainly NFL starter level.

Shrug. It doesn't matter now.

The other thing, it was Peter's first draft in control. He probably learned some things along the way as well, which he used for draft 2. Just like we need to be patient with players, we need to be patient with anybody who's in a new job as they learn things also.