Who won the NFL Draft? Dan Mennella and I took a stab at answering that question Saturday, but if you’re looking for an industry-wide consensus, it appears the Bears and Browns were the weekend’s big winners.
Twitter user René Bugner compiled consensus grades from 29 industry experts including ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., Pete Prisco of CBS Sports and Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, distributing grade point averages for all 32 NFL franchises. Eighteen of those teams achieved honor-roll status (3.0 or higher) with Chicago getting the nod as class valedictorian on the strength of a sparkling 3.84 GPA. The Browns finished a close second (3.82) with the Chargers (3.67), Dolphins (3.59) and Jets (3.56) rounding out the top five. The Patriots also aced their draft report card (3.41) with many citing their Mac Jones selection at No. 15 as a stroke of genius.
The Bears were widely praised for landing Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Oklahoma State’s Teven Jenkins, a first-round talent who surprisingly slipped to the second round. Meanwhile the Browns got tremendous value when Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah fell in their lap with the 52nd overall pick. Before he plummeted to 52, ESPN’s Draft Day Predictor had pegged JOK’s odds of making it past the first 32 picks at a slim three percent.
Industry experts didn’t look as favorably upon the Texans who, thanks to some highly suspect trades (Miami absolutely fleeced them in the infamous Laremy Tunsil swap), only had five picks at their disposal. The Texans received two Fs (ruthless Fansided writer Matt Lombardo hit them with an F-) with no grade higher than a B-, resulting in a combined GPA of 1.62, well below the Seahawks and Raiders, who tied for the second-worst mark at 1.90. The Saints were similarly panned for their performance in Cleveland (2.01) with many calling attention to their puzzling first-round choice of Payton Turner, who the majority of scouts didn’t anticipate coming off the board until Day 2.
Winning over a panel of experts in May isn’t exactly a cause for celebration, but the Bears and Browns should still be thrilled with their recent draft hauls. As for the embattled Texans, well it’s back to the drawing board in Houston.
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