{"id":22540,"date":"2022-05-20T16:29:22","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T20:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=22540"},"modified":"2022-05-20T16:29:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T20:29:25","slug":"nfc-south-draft-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/nfc-south-draft-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"NFC SOUTH DRAFT GRADES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re in the home stretch with our NFL Draft Grades, focusing the stink eye on the NFC South and man, did they deserve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the exact opposite of the NFC East<\/a>, which saw every team pass with flying colors. The South is no danger of rising again, with only one team in this group avoiding academic probation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ground rules remain the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. For a team to receive an \u201cA\u201d rating, they must have at least one first round selection. That doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t nail the other rounds of the draft or steal players on Day Three. Super Bowl teams are built on rosters like that. I can only judge a draft based on the perceived impact this draft will have on these teams sooner rather than later. But none of these teams got a grade that high anyway, so that\u2019s nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. I am basing my Draft Grade on the players selected and how each player performed in college. I do not care how well they exercised at the NFL Combine. If they couldn\u2019t put up serious numbers against college opponents, especially in smaller conferences, how in the hell are they going to do it in the NFL?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selections:<\/strong> No. 11: Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State \u2014 No. 19: Trevor Penning, OT, Northern Iowa \u2014 No. 49: Alontae Taylor, CB, Tennessee \u2014 No. 161: D\u2019Marco Jackson, LB, Appalachian State \u2014 No. 194: Jordan Jackson, DT, Air Force<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRADE:<\/strong> B+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I say in the preamble, the draft grades are primarily delivered on a team\u2019s picks in the first three rounds. Since New Orleans didn\u2019t have a third, they just had three qualifying guys and all look like hits to me. The Saints will place Olave outside with fellow Buckeye Michael Thomas and then slide Jarvis Landry into the slot. That sounds pretty deadly to me. Penning, coming from the FCS, might need to develop for a while and, frankly, the bust potential is high, but against FCS competition, Pro Football Focus gave him a 99.9 grade as a run blocker, the highest anyone\u2019s ever received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor survived the Jeremy Pruitt Tennessee nightmare to flourish on a more national stage under Josh Heupel. He continues a recent tradition of New Orleans stealing players later in the draft that were buried on bad Volunteers teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ATLANTA FALCONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selections:<\/strong> No. 8: Drake London, WR, USC \u2014 No. 38: Arnold Ebiketie, Edge, Penn State \u2014 No. 58: Troy Andersen, LB, Montana State \u2014 No. 74: Desmond Ridder, QB, Cincinnati \u2014 No. 82: DeAngelo Malone, Edge, Western Kentucky \u2014 No. 151: Tyler Allgeier, RB, BYU \u2014 No. 190: Justin Shaffer, OG, Georgia \u2014 No. 213: John FitsPatrick, TE, Georgia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRADE:<\/strong> C+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of \u201cwe\u2019re smarter than everyone else\u201d in this draft. London was a first rounder, but should he have been the first wide receiver off the board with Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jameson Williams (even hurt) still there? We\u2019ll have to see, but I don\u2019t think anyone outside of the Falcons\u2019 war room had London ranked as the top WR. Ebiketie is a good second round pick and will likely be a day one starter. After that is where we go off the rails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andersen from Montana State seems like a huge reach, especially with so many quality linebackers taken after him.  Ridder is fine there in the third and one of only two QBs I actually think might have a real future in the league (none of them are named Kenny Pickett or Malik Willis). Malone out of Western Kentucky managed a lot of tackles for a loss, 17.5, with Western Kentucky but just had eight sacks in 14 games against that schedule. There\u2019s nothing here past London and Ebiketie to be excited about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAROLINA PANTHERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selections:<\/strong> No. 6: Ikem Ekwonu, OT, NC State \u2014 No. 94: Matt Corral, QB, Mississippi \u2014 No. 120: Brandon Smith, LB, Penn State \u2014 No. 189: Amare Barno, Edge, Virginia Tech \u2014 No. 199: Cade Mays, OG, Tennessee \u2014 No. 242: Kalon Barnes, CB, Baylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRADE:<\/strong> C-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ekwonu is another outsmart yourself pick, just like Travon Walker taken at No. 1. Evan Neal was sitting right there and you took a guy that exercised really well at the NFL Combine over a guy that faced every elite pass rusher in the NCAA. No second rounder hurts and I like the Corral pick in the third. He and Ridder are the only QBs in this draft I feel have any real pro potential past lifelong back ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a lot of chances taken later in the draft, which I can appreciate. Mays might turn into a starter in a couple of years so there\u2019s some value there. For a team with a lot of holes and maybe the worst overall roster in the league, they did nothing to really help themselves in the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selections:<\/strong> No. 33: Logan Hall, DE, Houston \u2014 No. 57: Luke Goedeke, OG, Central Michigan \u2014 No. 91: Rachaad White, RB, Arizona State \u2014 No. 106: Cade Otton, TE, Washington \u2014 No. 133: Jake Camarda, Punter, Georgia \u2014 No. 157: Zyon McCollum, CB, Sam Houston State \u2014 No. 218: Ko Kieft, TE, Minnesota \u2014 No. 248: Andre Anthony, LB, LSU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRADE:<\/strong> C-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a good thing the Buccaneers didn\u2019t have a lot of roster holes, because they did absolutely nothing to upgrade their team in this draft. Hall looks like a rotational player at best. He did have 13 tackles for a loss for the Cougars last season, but only six sacks. And against an AAC schedule? That doesn\u2019t look like a second round pick to me, especially the first pick of the second round. Goedeke will be a good player for a long time and even though Tampa already has its offensive line, I have no issue adding a player of that caliber when they fall into your lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White is just another guy at running back and it wouldn\u2019t shock me if most of these guys taken from the fourth round on weren\u2019t on the team in three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE We\u2019re in the home stretch with our NFL Draft Grades, focusing the stink eye on the NFC…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22540","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\/22540","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=22540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22541,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22540\/revisions\/22541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}