2024 NFL Draft - Day 2 Grades & Reactions (Rounds 2 & 3)

 

Day 2 is the day where rosters are built, 68 players will find new teams and create the cores that help build up or muck up a roster.

Round 2

1)     Buffalo Bills from Carolina – Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State – Grade: B+

 

Trade: Los Angeles (A) gets 34 & 137, New England gets 37 & 110– Grade: LAC (B)|NE (C)

Los Angeles gave up 5% to move up 3 spots

 

2)     Los Angeles Chargers from New England – Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia – Grade: B+

3)     Atlanta Falcons from Arizona – Ruke Orhorhoro, INT, Clemson – Grade: C

Not the receiver I or most expected the Bills to take but I liked Coleman a lot more than his testing would have suggested. McConkey gives the Chargers a big slot option for Herbert with speed. Ruke wasn’t my favorite interior player in the draft and there were at least 4 other interior linemen I would have preferred here.

 

Trade: Atlanta gets 35 & 186, Arizona gets 43 & 79– Grade: ATL (F)|ARI (A)

Atlanta gave up 27% to move up 8 spots

4)     Washington Commanders – Jer’Zhan Newton, INT, Illinois – Grade: A+

5)     New England Patriots from Los Angeles (A) – Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, Washington – Grade: A

6)     Tennessee Titans – T’Vondre Sweat, INT, Texas – Grade: C-

Speaking of players that I would have preferred over Orhorhoro, Newton fell significantly farther in the draft than expecting. Washington is rebuilding and brough in an incredibly talented player. Polk got overshadowed by Rome at times but he’s a very good in his own right, and a much-needed addition to a Patriots offense devoid of skill player talent. Sweat is one of the few pure 0/1-tech interior players so the reach is a bit more understandable but not a pick I’m a huge fan of.

Trade: Los Angeles (N) gets 39, Carolina gets 52, 155 & ’25 2nd– Grade: LAR (F-)|CAR (A+)

Los Angeles gave up 68% to move up 13 spots

7)     Los Angeles Rams from CAR from NYG – Braden Fiske, INT, Florida State – Grade: A-

Trade: Philadelphia gets 40, 78 & 152, Washington gets 50, 53 & 161– Grade: PHI (A)|WAS (C)

Philadelphia gave up 4% to move up 3 spots

8)     Philadelphia Eagles from Washington from Chicago – Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa – Grade: A+

Trade: New Orleans gets 41, Green Bay gets 45, 168 & 190– Grade: NO (F-)|GB (A+)

New Orleans gave up 32% to move up 4 spots

 

9)     New Orleans Saints from GB from NYJ – Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama – Grade: A+

10)  Houston Texans from Minnesota – Kamari Lassiter, CB, Georgia – Grade: D

11)  Arizona Cardinals from Atlanta – Max Melton, CB, Rutgers – Grade: A

12)  Las Vegas Raiders – Jackson Powers-Johnson, C, Oregon – Grade: C

13)  Green Bay Packers from NO from DEN – Edgerrin Cooper, OBLB, Texas A&M – Grade: A

Fiske is an explosive interior player with a high motor, he’s not Aaron Donald, because no one is, but he’s a very good addition to help fill the void by committee. DeJean was a top-10 player for me, and a top-5 CB by consensus. Similar situation for Kool-Aid, and while this was a bit more in line with what was projected the Saints got a very good player at 41 as well. Lassiter was my least favorite of the corner run and the biggest reach of the draft up to this point. Melton is an smooth athlete and a very good pick at this spot as well.

 

Trade: Carolina gets 46, Indianapolis gets 52, 142 & 155– Grade: CAR (F-)|IND (A+)

Carolina gave up 51% to move up 6 spots

14)  Carolian Panthers from Indianapolis – Jonathon Brooks, RB, Texas – Grade: C

15)  New York Giants from Seattle – Tyler Nubin, S, Minnesota – Grade: D-

16)  Jacksonville Jaguars – Maason Smith, INT, LSU – Grade: B+

17)  Cincinnati Bengals – Kris Jenkins, INT, Michigan – Grade: A+

18)  Washington Commanders from PHI from NO – Mike Sainristil, CB, Michigan – Grade: A+

19)  Pittsburgh Steelers – Zach Frazier, C, West Virginia – Grade: A

20)  Indianapolis Colts from Carolina from Los Angeles (N) – Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas – Grade: A+

A great run of picks with my 36^th (Jenkins), 32^nd (Sainristil), and 41^st (Frazier) best players going in the early 50s.

21)  Washington Commanders from Philadelphia – Ben Sinnott, TE, Kansas State – Grade: C

22)  Cleveland Browns – Michael Hall Jr, INT, Ohio State – Grade: A-

23)  Miami Dolphins – Patrick Paul, OT, Houston – Grade: B-

24)  Dallas Cowboys – Marshawn Kneeland, Edge, Western Michigan – Grade: A+

25)  Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Chris Braswell, Edge, Alabama – Grade: A-

26)  Green Bay Packers – Javon Bullard, S, Alabama – Grade: A

27)  Houston Texans – Blake Fisher, OT, Notre Dame – Grade: C+

28)  Buffalo Bills – Cole Bishop, S, Utah – Grade: B+

29)  Detroit Lions – Ennis Rakestraw Jr, CB, Missouri – Grade: A

30)  Baltimore Ravens – Roger Rosengarten, OT, Washington – Grade: A

Trade: Kansas City gets 63 & 211, San Francisco gets 64 & 173– Grade: KC (C)|SF (C)

Kansas City gave up 10% to move up 1 spot

31)  Kansas City Chiefs from San Francisco – Kingsley Suamataia, OT, BYU – Grade: A-

32)  San Francisco 49ers from Kansas City – Renardo Green, CB, Florida State – Grade: D-

The round finished with a top 30 player (Kneeland) going to Dallas at 56 giving them an experienced, smart, and athletic edge rusher.

 

Round 3

Heading into the last round of Friday two top-32 rated players available in Troy Franklin (19) and Junior Colson (21), as well as 13 top-64 players.

Pick	Team	Ovr Rank	Player	Pos	Team	Role	Grade	Pick Grade
Trade: New York (A) gets 65, Carolina gets 72 & 157 Grade: NYJ (F)|CAR (A) New York gave up 25% to move up 7 spots
65	NYJ	101	Malachi Corley	WR	WKU	PS	5.7	C+
66	ARI	138	Trey Benson	RB	FSU	ES	6.4	C
67	WAS	53	Brandon Coleman	OT	TCU	ES	6.5	A+
68	NE	104	Caeden Wallace	OT	PSU	PS	5.9	C+
69	LAC	21	Junior Colson	OBLB	MICH	S	7.2	A+
70	NYG	42	Andru Phillips	CB	UK	ES	6.5	A+
71	ARI	99	Isaiah Adams	G	ILL	PS	5.9	B
72	CAR	91	Trevin Wallace	OBLB	UK	ES	6.1	B
73	DAL	37	Cooper Beebe	G	KSU	ES	6.8	A+
74	ATL	77	Bralen Trice	Edge	WASH	ES	6.1	A
75	CHI	93	Kiran Amegadjie	OT	YALE	PS	6.0	B+
76	DEN	85	Jonah Elliss	Edge	UTAH	PS	6.0	A-
77	LVR	233	Delmar Glaze	G	MARY	PS	5.1	D-
Trade: Houston gets 78, Philadelphia gets 86 & 123 Grade: HOU (F-)|PHI (A+) Houston gave up 47% to move up 8 spots
78	HOU	126	Calen Bullock	S	USC	PS	6.0	C+
Trade: Indianapolis gets 79, Arizona gets 82 & 191 Grade: IND (D)|ARI (B) Indianapolis gave up 19% to move up 4 spots
79	IND	182	Matt Goncalves	G	PITT	PS	5.3	C-
80	CIN	56	Jermaine Burton	WR	ALA	ES	6.2	A+
81	SEA	83	Christian Haynes	G	CONN	ES	6.1	A
82	ARI	125	Tip Reiman	TE	ILL	ES	6.1	C+
83	LAR	111	Blake Corum	RB	MICH	ES	6.6	B-
84	PIT	59	Roman Wilson	WR	MICH	ES	6.1	A+
85	CLE	90	Zak Zinter	G	MICH	PS	6.0	A-
Trade: San Francisco gets 86, Philadelphia gets 50, 53 & 161 Grade: SF (F-)|PHI (A+) San Francisco gave up 46% to move up 8 spots
86	GB	51	Dominick Puni	G	KAN	ES	6.5	A+
87	DAL	155	Marist Liufau	OBLB	ND	PS	5.6	C-
88	GB	136	MarShawn Lloyd	RB	USC	ES	6.4	C-
89	TB	184	Tykee Smith	S	UGA	PS	5.6	D+
90	ARI	146	Elijah Jones	CB	BC	PS	5.4	C-
91	GB	168	Ty'Ron Hopper	OBLB	MIZZ	PS	5.5	C-
92	TB	69	Jalen McMillan	WR	WASH	PS	6.0	A+
93	BAL	63	Adisa Isaac	Edge	PSU	ES	6.2	A+
94	PHI	117	Jalyx Hunt	Edge	HoCh	PS	5.7	B
95	BUF	96	DeWayne Carter	INT	DUKE	PS	6.0	A
96	JAX	223	Jarrian Jones	CB	FSU	PS	5.0	D-
97	CIN	375	McKinnley Jackson	INT	aTm	PS	4.7	F
98	LAR	38	Payton Wilson	OBLB	NCSU	ES	6.9	A+
100	WAS	194	Luke McCaffrey	WR	RICE	PS	5.1	D+

 

As we turn towards today’s picks, I came into the day with Franklin (19) being the only top-32 player not picked, Bortolini (43), Hicks (45), Walker (46), Wingo (54), Brownlee Jr (60) being the last of my top 64 left, as well as 18 more top 100 players still on the board.