2108 NFL Draft: My Draft Team

Before we get into a crazy week of writing let’s have a little bit more fun and talk about a project introduced to me by @JoeGoodberry. Goodberry is a writer working for The Atlantic who covers the Bengals and the draft. A few years back he mentioned a fun little thing he had been doing where he drafted his own team during the NFL Draft. You spend the first few drafts picking at both 16 & 17 in each round to build up a roster, after year four you have to figure who you’d keep and who you wouldn’t and upkeep the roster. These are the first two drafts I’ve done. There’s some good (Jack & Thomas), some bad (like the entire second half of my 2016 draft), and the uncertain (half of last year, and the half dozen guys from 2016 who have been injured either of the last two seasons).

2016		G/GS	Stats	AV
Round 1 Pick 16	Myles Jack OBLB, UCLA	32/26	97 Tkls, 2.5 Sks, 5 PDs	14
Round 1 Pick 17	William Jackson III CB, Houston	15/5	22 Tkls, 1 Int, 13 PDs	3
Round 2 Pick 16	Andrew Billings Int, Baylor	15/7	11 Tkls	3
Round 2 Pick 17	Michael Thomas WR, Ohio State	31/26	270 Tgts, 196 Rec, 2382 yds, 14 TDs	23
Round 3 Pick 16	Nick Vigil OBLB, Utah State	27/11	72.5 Tkls, 1 Sk, 1 Int, 6 PDs	6
Round 3 Pick 17	Kalan Reed CB, Southern Miss	1/0	1 Tkl, 1 PD	0
Round 4 Pick 16	Jeremy Cash SS, Duke	9/0	-	0
Round 4 Pick 17	Kenneth Dixon RB, Louisiana Tech	12/0	88 Car, 382 Ru. Yds, 2 TDs 30 Rec, 162 Yds, 1TD	3
Round 5 Pick 16	Donovan Clark OG, Michigan State	INJ	-	-
Round 5 Pick 17	Vernon Adams Jr QB, Oregon	-	-	-
Round 6 Pick 16	Matt Skura OG, Duke	12/12	-	6
Round 6 Pick 17	Mike Thomas WR, Southern Miss	23/1	16 Tgt, 8 Rec, 130 Yds	1
Round 7 Pick 16	Jason Fainaka Edge, Utah	-	-	-
Round 7 Pick 17	Connor Wujiack Int, Boston College	-	-	-
2017		G/GS	Stats
Round 1 Pick 16	Jonathan Allen Int, Alabama	5/5	6.5 Tkls, 1 Sk	2
Round 1 Pick 17	Garrett Bolles OT, Utah	16/16	-	6
Round 2 Pick 48	Derek Rivers Edge, Youngstown State	INJ	-	-
Round 2 Pick 49	Taylor Moton OT, Western Michigan	16/0	-	1
Round 3 Pick 80	Carl Lawson Edge, Auburn	16/1	13 Tkls, 8.5 Sks	2
Round 3 Pick 81	Carlos Henderson WR, Louisiana Tech	-	-	-
Round 4 Pick 124	Blair Brown OBLB, Ohio	13/2	8.5 Tkls, .5 Sk	2
Round 4 Pick 125	Bucky Hodges TE, Virginia Tech	-	-	-
Round 5 Pick 160	Jeremiah Ledbetter Int, Arkansas	16/0	10 Tkls, .5 Sk	1
Round 5 Pick 161	Jalen Myrick CB, Minnesota	5/0	-	0
Round 6 Pick 200	Corey DeAndre FS, New Hampshire	-	-	-
Round 6 Pick 201	Kyle Fuller C, Baylor	9/2	-	1
Round 7 Pick 234	Sojourn Shelton CB, Wisconsin	-	-	-
Round 7 Pick 235	Ejaun Price Edge, Pittsburgh	1/0	-	0

As we look ahead to the 2018 draft there are holes to fill. QB is the biggest and at 16 it’s a crapshoot of who’s going to be there. Donovan Clark hasn’t played in the league yet on my line, and nether has Bucky Hodges at TE. On defense Rivers and Billings have been hurt, Myrick was a return guy only, DeAndre I don’t believe made a roster in 2017 and Reed/Shelton/Cash have played sparingly. I’ll check back in after the draft on this, but if you’ve got thoughts let me know.