DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk NFL Draft 2026 Draft Grades

So, the draft is over. What do you guys think?

I didn't like the first round as much since I wanted Freeling and Boston. The second round and the rest of the draft was damn near perfect. We got my guy Boston that I just love and was the WR I wanted most to get outside of Tate. To me Boston is a more athletic Joe Jurevicius. I love Boston so much as a WR. Getting Boston and KC ... that is freaking FIRE! I don't hate Fano. I can live with him since Warhop wanted him and knows what he is doing.

I give this draft a perfect grade of A+

This is just as good as last years draft. Actually, I think it's even better.

A+ We Got four first Round picks in 2 rounds !!!

Nice
To me this draft is considerably down from last year
Signings
Mcduffie defensive backs matched part with 24th
Linderbaum
Draft
Styles best linebacking core in the nfl plus 3 all pros across front 7
2nd Boston wr
2b Trade up using 4 th ,5th,and6th
Bell wr Louisville
3 felling tight end
Round 5 Lorenzo styles db Osu
5b Micah morris guard
7th Isaiah World injured right goes straight to it
This will let him have a redshirt year plus build him
Into a world class bull dozer
If this takes place we would have been a threat to make playoffs as a wildcard
The point here is that we are only 1 draft away from
Going to the playoffs
Next year we can rinse repeat plus have 60 million
In cap money.

Sorry, I can't understand anything you are trying to say in that post. Are you leaving clues to what you would have done different?

Right!? I thought one of us was having a stroke

I don’t do grades per se but it seems like it was a good draft. 4 likely starters in positions of desperate need with the first 4 picks is nothing to sneeze at. Several more intriguing players. I feel like we have a chance to have an at least average offensive line, which would be a major improvement. Maybe they can sniff top 10. Still feels like some of them are misfits or like not quite optimal. Like Fano’s moving from RT to left, the center is light in the a$$, some of the FA’s have question marks so I’m not convinced we’ve solved it yet. We’ll see of course. The WR room should be the most interesting watch after QBs in camp. We have a plethora of big, athletic, good hands TEs now. I just don’t have any expectations beyond the 5th round so if any one of those guys develops into more than a bottom of the roster guy, it’s gravy.

Grades are obviously premature and based on what we hope/think/believe players will do once they are playing on Sundays. But a haul of (hopefully) a starting OT, 2 starting WR who are projected to be light years better than what we have had on the roster for years, and what I believe will be a day one starting safety. . . . You would have to say was pretty good. Added depth along the OL, TE positions maybe LB. We're all going to be super interested in how Fano does as LT and how the two WR perform. Can KC catch? Will Boston still win the contested catch if he can't get separation. But ... very happy as of today.

This seemed appropriate for this thread!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Rzd5qzPxmjU

I think the only draft grade you can give at this point is what they call "on paper".

There are no tangible results on the field in the NFL to base any grade on so if you had to give it an actual grade it would be "Incomplete" for all 32 teams. For those who have been on this message board for several years know the general general consensus on this board has been that you really can't grade a draft for three years. Until you see how the players transfer their talents and production to the NFL. How they develop moving forward. Any grade you give prior to that is based purely, as mgh888 phrased it, "on what we hope/think/believe players will do once they are playing on Sundays."

On paper this looks like a good draft. Time will tell us how it actually grades out. I remember last years draft wasn't deemed as a good one by many people until they saw the results on the field. Many were underwhelmed with the results right after the draft. That's because NFL drafts are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Let's hope this draft is as productive as last years draft.

That's what some of us expected. Address the weakest side of the ball with the positions of most need addressed in the FA market and the top of the draft. As was debated before the draft, evidence seems to dictate yet again that need is a valuable ingredient in how teams determine BPA.

Yeah, we needed to upgrade at WR and OT, hit appears we’ve done that. To be honest, there are guys on Dawgtalkers whose football opinions I take very seriously; don’t ask me to name names because I wouldn’t, even if could pinpoint a specific poster or two.

So when I see posters who loved what we did this weekend, that’s good enough for me.

From all appearances, it seems our FO placed value on not only talent, but intelligence, their love of football and being basic, solid people.

It also seems they steered away from the age factor on certain picks. It seemed as though younger picks placed a much larger factor in previous draft picks.

I don't disagree that to a great extent this draft looks good on paper. But even NFL GM's miss in many cases on how their draft picks potential and talent will play out in the NFL.

That isn't an attempt to undermine anyone's opinion concerning this draft by any means. Just pointing out that even those who are qualified as GM's in the NFL miss on a lot of picks. And as to every person on this board, so has every poster here. Some have certainly been more accurate than others.

Oh for sure, drafts are often crapshoots and not just the NFL.

A few blurbs from The Athletic...

Winners & Losers

Winners:

Cleveland Browns

General manager Andrew Berry and his staff took an aggressive approach to wheeling, dealing and stockpiling picks while filling multiple needs. They got a Day 1 starter in Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano (No. 9 pick) and two potential difference-making wide receivers in KC Concepcion (24th) and Denzel Boston (39th), who should complement each other nicely. From there, they added pieces that can help in their secondary, additional offensive line reinforcements, a tight end and an intriguing quarterback prospect in Arkansas’ Taylen Green.


-------

Best Scheme Fits

4. KC Concepcion, WR, Browns

Play style: Big play slot/Z

Scheme: Multiple

The Browns have completely rebuilt their offensive line with smart acquisitions such as trading for Tytus Howard and drafting Spencer Fano. At the end of the first round, they drafted Concepcion, one of my favorite players in the draft.

Concepcion is the best separator in the class and can flat-out outrun angles after the catch. Concepcion has been compared to Zay Flowers, who had the best season of his career in Todd Monken’s system. Monken is very good at designing ways to get the ball to his playmakers in space and on the run. He’ll do the same for Concepcion, and he’ll get handoffs on fly sweeps, so defenses will have to respect the threat of him getting the ball whenever he goes into fly motion.

Concepcion had the highest rate in this draft class of off-target throws of 15-plus air yards to him as quarterback play severely limited his production at Texas A&M. He can get open on all levels of the field and was in the 92nd percentile in success rate against man coverage, according to Matt Harmon’s reception perception charting. He mostly played in the slot, but with this ability to get off press coverage, he’ll give the Browns a much-needed deep threat and help their offense feel less congested. If he lives up to his potential, his presence will make it hard to load up the box to stop running back Quinshon Judkins.

Lolz.

Browns landed (4) players in the top 26 overall of Dane Brugler's Top 100 Big Board.

#8 - Spencer Fano
#21 - KC Concepcion
#23 - Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
#26 - Denzel Boston

Impressive.

I’m not so sure about next years SB but you gotta feel pretty good about the team that may open the new barn in a couple of years!

My bad problems with spell check

This Anti-Depodesta stuff is so stupid.

First, I give Berry credit for clearly understanding the assignment for this off-season. Our biggest issues were Oline and WR (not necessarily in that order) and he's hit both of those pretty hard. I like how we got our guy with our first pick while still picking up a couple extra picks. It was a gamble (especially in hindsight given the run on OT's that we seemed to kick off)... and I like it because it tells me that we weren't (over)drafting guys based on need, but still stuck to value and addressed needs by moving draft slots around.

I like how we doubled up on WRs by drafting 2 very different talents. Those 2 will definitely change the makeup of our WR room.

I like that we drafted a QB project late.

I like that we drafted a safety.


I didn't like that (outside the first pick) that the additional Olinemen we drafted were generally lighter, mobile guys. I got the feeling we are moving to more of a power-based blocking scheme.

I didn't like that we ended up making 10 picks. I would've like less 5th+ rounders (we had 5, I believe) and more moving up into rounds 2-4. I believe that was where the value was at in this draft and I think our roster would benefit more from less quantity and more quality.

Actually lighter more athletic OL players have been used a lot in the zone blocking scheme. Denver has made a habit of it. I remember in the 90's when they could basically "insert RB here" and have great production in their running game it seemed by using different RB's at will. They have gone back to that MO since drafting Bo Nix as well. They have a very good OL.

Straight ahead, man blocking, mauling type OL's require larger, heavier players on the OL. When your players are needed to do more shifting, more lateral movement and speed to the second level, lighter more athletic OL players are ideal.

It has been reported that the Browns are adjusting the OL with a scheme that favors these lighter, more athletic OL players and if the draft is any indication those reports are true.

In Baltimore Monken used this ZBS which even further brings legitimacy to the reason for why these lighter, more athletic OL players will be best suited for his OL scheme.

Here’s your look into the Browns draft room.


The web page if you don’t click the X post

Go home, Cleveland. You're drunk.

Excellent read. Thanks guys....

Dane Brugler is one of the better paid analysts - at least I find it so. Here's his take on the draft.

Favorite pick: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah

The Browns found outstanding value with each pick while also attacking key needs. Landing Emmanuel McNeil-Warren outside the top 50 was tremendous value, and both wide receivers will have opportunities. But I’ll go back to their first pick (acquired in a trade back that also netted Cleveland an extra Day 2 pick). Fano has rare movement ability for his size, top-tier football IQ and competitive toughness, plus he can play multiple spots on the line.

Day 3 pick who could surprise: Joe Royer, TE, Cincinnati

Justin Jefferson is an ascending player with big-time speed; tight end Carsen Ryan has “make it” traits; center Parker Brailsford is undersized but has tremendous movement skills. However, Royer has an opportunity to make an immediate impact, with a skill set that favorably complements Harold Fannin Jr.

Of course - as one of the commentators on an article I read said, the draft grades are meaningless. Essentially if a pundit rated the players a team took highly, the draft grade is high. If the team liked and picked players the pundit did not rank as highly, the draft grade was bad. As with many/most - I like this draft class. Like all 4 of our first picks. Love the letter and attitude of KC... and really excited to see McNeil-Warren step into this defense and see what he can do to make an impact.

Very good read - thanks for sharing. It's encouraging but also kind of what you would hope and expect out of essentially a $6 Billion business machine. I've been harsh on Berry - and he'll continue to be on a short leash in my view - but I'm encouraged. . . . the comments at the bottom of the article are quite funny to read.

While I am encouraged - I feel "masterful" seems a little bit of a stretch. We're all fans and passionate - but many on this board run businesses or have been successful in life. I do not see or hear anything that I wouldn't expect an intelligent manager of people and procedures to have also done with the resources available. Kudos for doing the job well - but as I mentioned, the Browns are a $6 Billion business. That level of execution should be expected.

I also highly question the idea that Berry is so vested in character so soon after giving up the farm for Watson; a predatory sexual abuser who committed sexual assault on multiple women (so determined by Sue Robinson who is the only person to have heard all the evidence of his multiple accusations.). If you start a fire in your own home, then put the fire out after it got out of control, it does not make you a fireman.