{"id":22376,"date":"2022-05-06T17:34:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T21:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=22376"},"modified":"2022-05-06T17:34:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T21:34:42","slug":"afc-east-draft-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/afc-east-draft-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC EAST DRAFT GRADES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFirstMan\">BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A little over a week ago the NFL gathered in Las Vegas for its annual amateur player selection meeting, or what we all call the NFL Draft. As can be expected, some teams can do this whole adding college talent to your professional rosters thing a little better than others. Those that can\u2019t, well, they usually get lots of opportunities to try high atop every round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dick Jerardi Shares his Pick to Win The Kentucky Derby 2022 | BetOnline All Access\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1S7IoHuTWZ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s an old saying that you can\u2019t really judge a draft for about three years and that\u2019s undeniably true. That\u2019s not going to stop us from giving it the old amateur player try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a few ground rules before we start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. No one without a first round pick can get an \u201cA.\u201d Sure, you can absolutely ace all your later round picks and, three years from now, we can deliver all the gold stars and smiley face stickers that we want. But today, we\u2019re only going by what we see from the players you\u2019ve added based on what they did in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. A team can get a late round steal and I can recognize that as easily as anybody, but the majority of a team\u2019s grade comes from the first three rounds. Consider those the \u201cEssay questions\u201d of the Draft\u2019s standardized test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NEW<\/strong><strong> YORK<\/strong><strong> JETS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Selections:<\/strong> No. 4: Ahmad Gardner, CB, Cincinnati \u2014 No. 10: Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State \u2014 No. 26: Jermaine Johnson II, Edge, Florida State \u2014 No. 36: Breece Hall, RB, Iowa State \u2014 No. 101: Jeremy Ruckert, TE, Ohio State \u2014 No. 111: Max Mitchell, OT, Louisiana \u2014 No. 117: Michael Clemons, DE, Texas A&amp;M<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GRADE: A+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the Jets giving their fanbase all this hope. Yes, New York has been rightly lauded for a solid draft haul. Not only did they nail all three of their first round selections, they nabbed what was probably the best running back in the draft in Breece Hall in the second round. Jeremy Ruckert looks like a solid future starter to me at tight end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I like most about this draft is that the Jets didn\u2019t outsmart themselves. They took one guy from a smaller school, an offensive tackle in the fourth. Other than that, they stuck with guys who put up film against real, future NFL competition in major conferences, with the exception of Gardner. For his part, he showed up big against the Power 5 when given the shot and made the scrubs he played against the rest of the time completely invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BUFFALO<\/strong><strong> BILLS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Selections:<\/strong> No. 23: Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida \u2014 No. 31: James Cooke, RB, Georgia \u2014 No. 89: Terrel Bernard, LB, Baylor \u2014 No. 148: Khalil Shakir, WR, Boise State \u2014 No. 180: Matt Araia, Punter, San Diego State \u2014 No. 185: Christian Benford, CB, Villanova \u2014 No. 209: Luke Tenuta, OT, Virginia Tech \u2014 No. 231: Baylon Spector, LB, Clemson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bills came into the draft with two needs \u2014 corner and running back. With their first two picks, they took the best corner available and one of the best running backs. While linebacker is not a valued spot in the NFL, Buffalo picked up a future starter in Bernard out of Baylor in the third. The kid had 103 tackles, 12.5 for a loss and 7.5 sacks against Big 12 opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you\u2019d wanted to bet on the Bills taking a guy called the \u201cPunt God\u201d at some point in this draft, no one would have taken you up on it. You would have needed -10,000 odds to even consider looking at that wager. The second I heard a \u201cPunt God\u201d was out there, I knew he\u2019d be crashing through plywood tables in Buffalo come September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NEW<\/strong><strong> ENGLAND<\/strong><strong> PATRIOTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Selections:<\/strong> No. 29: Cole Strange, OG, UT-Chattanooga \u2014 No., 50: Tyqyan Thornton, WR, Baylor \u2014 No. 85: Marcus Jones, CB, Houston \u2014 No. 121: Jack Jones, CB, Arizona State \u2014 No. 127: Pierre Strong, RB, South Dakota State \u2014 No. 137: Bailey Zappe, QB, Western Kentucky \u2014 No. 183: Kevin Harris, RB, South Carolina \u2014 No. 200: Sam Roberts, DT, Northwest Missouri State \u2014 No. 210: Chasen Hines, Center, LSU \u2014 No. 245: Andrew Stueber, OT, Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GRADE: C-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the team that just won the Super Bowl<a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/story\/sean-mcvay-les-snead-cole-strange-bill-belichick-new-england-patriots-nfl-draft\"> marvels at your first round selection because they had him as a potential third rounder<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably already stumbled out of the gate. Not that Strange will be a bad player. Far from it. Any guy taken in Rounds 1-3 should be a potential NFL starter. It\u2019s just taking him at No. 29 that seems ridiculous. I like Thornton fine in Round 2, though if I was a betting man (and I am), I\u2019m guessing George Pickens, grabbed a few spots later, will have a better pro career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, Bailey Zappe is probably going to be a good back up and, who knows, you could always strike gold on a later round QB. The Pats have done so before, much to all our chagrin. But taking a guy like that when you invested a first rounder in a \u201cfranchise quarterback\u201d just a year before seems like a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MIAMI<\/strong><strong> DOLPHINS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Selections:<\/strong> No. 102: Channing Tindall, LB, Georgia \u2014 No. 125: Erik Ezukanma, WR, Texas Tech \u2014 No. 224: Cameron Goode, OLB, California \u2014 No. 247: Skylar Thompson, QB, Kansas State<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GRADE: D<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All we can do with the Dolphins\u2019 meager draft is evaluate the guys they took at those spots. Again, like the Jets, Miami didn\u2019t fool around with smaller school guys. No reason to pretend you\u2019re smarter than every Power 5 coaching and scout staff in the country when you just have a handful of selections. Tindall out of Georgia is a starter, which is good since he was taken in the third round. Cameron Goode might turn into a solid situational pass rusher, but none of these other guys excite me. Skylar Thompson looks like a waste of a pick for a guy you could have signed off the street if you had waited another half hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though, I\u2019m sure his draft status will make a nice note when he suits up for the XFL next season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFirstMan\">@TheFirstMan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Connect with us our socials on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/betonline_ag\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/betonline_ag\/\">Instagram<\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY ADAM GREENE A little over a week ago the NFL gathered in Las Vegas for its annual amateur player&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22384,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22376\/revisions\/22384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}