Hams Post Combines Big Board 1.0

[Green Jets & Ham]

First lets make a few things clear for the uninitiated

1. A Big Board is not a mock draft so it does not take positional value or needs into account, therefore it is not necessarily a projection of who will go where in the draft. Its simply ranking the prospects (by tier) regardless of position or any other peripheral considerations. So, for example, I know the top two QB's will most likely be drafted with or above some of the TIER 1 prospects, but that IMO is partly due to positional value, so that doesn't mean I will have them in TIER 1 which is reserved only for the elite prospects in my view.

2. Some people rank their Big Boards in precise order, 1 thru 50 or what have you, but I prefer to use Gil Brandt's method of breaking it down by tiers. Frankly I don't feel like we outsiders have enough information to rank players in precise order. I feel a little more equipped to break it down by tiers in no particular order.

Tier 1 = Elite Blue Chippers
Tier 2 = Borderline Tier 1 BC's
Tier 3 = Middle 1st RD Value
Tier 4 = Late 1's and Early 2's
Tier 5 = Middle 2 Value
Tier 6 = Late 2's and Early 3's
Tier 7 = 3rd RD Value

TIER 1

• WR Kevin White
• WR Amari Cooper
• DL Leonard Williams
• DE/OLB Dante Fowler

TIER 2

• QB Jameis Winston (Red flags, but stock seems unaffected)
• QB Marcus Mariota
• WR DeVante Parker
• DT Danny Shelton
• DE/OLB Shane Ray
• DE/OLB Randy Gregory
• DE/OLB Vic Beasley
• DE/OLB Bud Dupree
• CB Trae Waynes

TIER 3

• RB Todd Gurley (Torn ACL in 2014)
• RB Melvin Gordon
• WR Dorial Green-Beckham (Severe drug and violence red flags)
• WR Jaelen Strong
• OT D.J. Humphries
• OT Andrus Peat
• OT Ereck Flowers
• OT T.J. Clemmings
• OG Brandon Scherff
• OG La'el Collins
• DT Malcom Brown
• DT Eddie Goldman
• DL Arik Armstead
• CB Marcus Peters (Serious behavioral red flags)

TIER 4

• WR Breshad Perriman
• WR Devin Smith
• DT Jordan Phillips
• DT Carl Davis
• DE/OLB Eli Harold
• DE/OLB Danielle Hunter
• CB Kevin Johnson
• CB Jalen Collins
• CB P.J. Williams
• CB Byron Jones
• S Landon Collins

TIER 5

• QB Bryce Petty
• QB Brett Hundley
• RB Jay Ajayi
• WR Phillip Dorsett
• TE Devin Funchess
• TE Maxx Williams
• OT Cedric Ogbuehi
• C/G Cameron Irving
• DT Michael Bennett
• LB Benardrick McKinney
• CB Quinten Rollins
• CB Ronald Darby
• CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu

TIER 6

• RB Ameer Abdullah
• RB Duke Johnson
• RB Tevin Coleman
• WR Sammie Coates
• WR Tyler Lockett
• OT Tyler Sambrailo
• OT Daryl Williams
• DE Owamagbe Odighizuwa
• DE Nate Orchard
• ILB Denzel Perryman
• ILB Eric Kendricks
• CB Alex Carter
• CB DJoun Smith

TIER 7

• QB Garrett Grayson
• WR Nelson Agholor
• WR Rashad Greene
• WR Ty Montgomery
• WR Chris Conoly
• WR Stefon Diggs
• WR Justin Hardy
• TE Clive Walford
• TE Wes Saxton
• TE MyCole Pruitt
• OT Donovan Smith
• OT Jake Fisher
• OT Jeremiah Poutasi
• OG Laken Tomlinson
• OG A.J. Cann
• OG Tre Jackson
• OG Ali Marpet
• DE Preston Smith
• DE/OLB Lorenzo Mauldin
• DE/OLB Hauoli Kikaha
• OLB Shaq Thompson
• ILB Stephone Anthony
• LB Paul Dawson
• CB Craig Mager
• CB Eric Rowe
• S Jaquiski Tartt

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

I listed 88 players in total. I'm sure I missed some guys who belong. Its easy to overlook people, especially with the first big board, so try not to be too harsh.

 

[Copernicus]

Great read Ham and thanks for the effort as always.

Would love to see K White or Cooper round one and Garrett Grayson or Bryce Petty round 2. Not sure if these two Qbs are projected to go this high in the draft. Just think we can't afford to not draft a QB to compete with Geno at this moment.

 

[NickSINYC]

Great read Ham and thanks for the effort as always.

Would love to see K White or Cooper round one and Garrett Grayson or Bryce Petty round 2. Not sure if these two Qbs are projected to go this high in the draft. Just think we can't afford to not draft a QB to compete with Geno at this moment.

Just my uneducated opinion but I am not high on Grayson and to a lesser extent Petty. If we do not draft a Mariota early because I think Winston is gone already I wait longer and draft someone like Bennett

 

[Elias]

Ham -- thanks for your great efforts on this. I am happy with anyone in Tier #1 . I agree with your assesment of Beasley, he impressed at the combine and is probably climbing up the boards.

 

[hobson54]

great work. thanks for the effort.

 

[cysporsche]

IMO Trae Waynes just climbed into tier #1 being the best CB in the draft, and like Phil Savage said yesterday, if a team is looking for a great OLB, he would not consider Shane Ray DE / Missouri because he has only been a DE his whole career. Behind Gregory he really likes Bud Dupree to transition to OLB.

Go Jets...Cyborg

 

[Copernicus]

Just my uneducated opinion but I am not high on Grayson and to a lesser extent Petty. If we do not draft a Mariota early because I think Winston is gone already I wait longer and draft someone like Bennett

Just curious, why are you not in favor of Grayson? From my understanding he is one of the few second tier Qbs who played in a pro style offense......

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

IMO Trae Waynes just climbed into tier #1 being the best CB in the draft, and like Phil Savage said yesterday, if a team is looking for a great OLB, he would not consider Shane Ray DE / Missouri because he has only been a DE his whole career. Behind Gregory he really likes Bud Dupree to transition to OLB.

Interesting note on Ray. He could have answered a lot of these questions at the combines had he not been a medical exemption, now it has to wait till his pro day, so I probably should but him in Tier 2 for now, then if he aces his pro day and people feel comfortable he can make the transition to 3-4 edge rusher, I'll consider moving him into Tier 1.

 

[Green Jets & Ham]

I added a chart at the top of page one to loosely define the tiers from a value POV, lest there is any confusion.

 

[eaglenj]

I added a chart at the top of page one to loosely define the tiers from a value POV, lest there is any confusion.

Ham - great to see you posting here, we need a sever infusion of draft talk.

One of my favorite players in the whole draft happens to be erik kendricks. He can really run and cover and has excellent instincts along with being a leader of that defense as far as getting guys in position. I think he is a plug and play starter and would be ecstatic to grab him in the second round and pair him next to demario.

I would also would move up cameron ewing. He has longs arms at 34+ and did 30 reps which just adds to his excellent versatility. I think he is a second round pick and a 10+ year NFL starter.

White definitely has a high ceiling, but he also has some issues with route running and is just a lot more raw then cooper. I really love the sick upside of someone like white, but he is also a big risk. I think the 2014 draft showed how important great route running is as OBJ clearly outplayed sammy watkins, and watkins showed a lot of the issues in buffalo that he did at clemson. Not that he isn't a good player, but the ability to really separate is much more important then speed.

Great list - going to be an interesting 7 weeks until the draft