2018 Draft Board: Front Seven

If you didn’t read the 2018 Offensive Backfield, or 2018 Pass Catchers articles then you can go back to one of them and read the first paragraph to get the full scoop. Shorter version, I used the exact same factors and table that I used for the 2020 draft class to determine which players would have been off my draft board in 2018, and the round grades I would’ve given the rest of the players. The results you’ll see below are for the Edge Rushers, Defensive Tackles and Linebackers. At the end of this season I will take their 3 years of statistics and determine who has currently found success as a pro and who hasn’t. I’ll reassess 5 years from now to get a relatively final verdict. This article is my way of being transparent, before the first three years end.

2018 Edge Rushers removed from my board:

I was able to eliminate ten players. Players eliminated from my draft board were split into two categories: Empty and Depleted. “Empty” are players who had factors that led to a 0% success rate for pros drafted at their position from 2008-2017. “Depleted” are players who had factors that significantly decreased the success rate of pros drafted at their position from 2008-2017. Below you will see an 'E' or a 'D' next to each name, the 'E' signifies “empty”, the 'D' signifies “depleted.” They are:

Bunmi Rotimi (E)

Chad Thomas (E)

Jeff Holland (E)

Ade Aruna (D)

Davin Bellamy (D)

Garret Dooley (D)

Hercules Mata’afa (D)

Jalyn Holmes (D)

Kentavius Street (D)

Matt Dickerson (D)

*Has a factor that led to 100% success rate from Edge Rushers taken between 2008 and 2017 that also had that factor.

My Edge Rusher Draft Board

2018 DTs removed from my board:

I was able to eliminate 11 players. Below you will see an 'E' or a 'D' next to each name, the 'E' signifies “empty”, the 'D' signifies “depleted.” They are:

Derrick Nnadi (E)

Eddy Wilson (E)

John Atkins (E)

Jojo Wicker (E)

Joshua Frazier (E)

Kahlil McKenzie (E)

Taylor Stallworth (E)

Tim Settle (E)

Dashawn Hand (D)

Kendrick Norton (D)

Zaycoven Henderson (D)

*Has a factor that led to 100% success rate from Defensive Tackles taken between 2008 and 2017 that also had that factor.

My DT Draft Board

2018 LBs removed from my board:

I was able to eliminate two players. Below you will see an 'E' or a 'D' next to each name, the 'E' signifies “empty”, the 'D' signifies “depleted.” They are:

Jacob Pugh (E)

Chris Worley (D)

*Has a factor that led to 100% success rate from Linebackers taken between 2008 and 2017 that also had that factor.

My LB Draft Board