Revised 2018 Draft Board: Front Seven

Things have changed again, well sort of. The original way I looked at the stats and adjusted my draft board really only favored the factors I used to remove players from my boards. Those factors are still the same and if you want to view who those players are, I will include the links to the original articles at the bottom. The reason why I’ve updated my draft boards once again is because of how I was ranking the players who remained on it before.

See, prior to me going back through I was ranking them by comparing their stats and combine performances to every player (between 08 and 2017) that had been invited to the combine. I’d take all of their stats and break it down by players selected in the 1^st-3^rd rounds and those who weren’t. That was all well and good, but it was really only determining whose athleticism and production matched other players who had been chosen early.

With the new method I still use each player’s college stats and their combine results, but I compare the players from 08-17 that were considered successful to those who weren’t. By this I can give each player coming in a score and rank them based off that score.

There were a few other factors I considered with the round grade they were given:

-If a player played at the FCS level or lower, they were dropped two round ranges, unless there was already significant hype surrounding them heading into the pre-draft process. (i.e. Dallas Goedert)

-If a player played in the MAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, or are one of the “lower end” independent teams they were moved down one round range, unless again they were someone with significant hype surrounding them heading into the pre-draft process. (i.e. Will Hernandez)

-If a player had a factor that led to a 100% success rate, they were not bumped down in round range regardless of what conference they played for. Those factors only exist for Quarterbacks, Offensive Tackles, Edge Rushers, Defensive Tackles, and Linebackers.

You’ll notice that the MWC and AAC, both excluded from the “Power 5 conferences”, are not listed. That’s because I believe both conferences are on the same level as the PAC 12 and most of the ACC.

I did not take into consideration injuries. If it did not impact their stats or combine performances on its own, then it didn’t impact their score. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t have dropped them down my draft board if I was a GM for a team, but I didn’t want to lower one player’s ranking while forgetting about someone else. A prime example of this you’ll see on the CB board. Jaire Alexander dealt with injuries throughout his final season at Louisville, but his score had him at #6 on the CB board, so he stayed put. It’s a little different for Offensive Lineman, but I’ll cover that in their article. Here are the boards, with the scores included.

My Edge Rusher Draft Board

Below you will see a significant difference in Score between players. For instance Dexter Lawrence's score is 45.6 and Harrison Phillips' score is 24.4, but both ended up with the same round range. That is because I split up Defensive Tackles by weight. Those who weighed 319 pounds or less were grouped together and those who weighed 320 or more were grouped together. Thus creating very different scales for the scoring.

My DT Draft Board

My LB Draft Board

Click here to view the previous Edge, DT and LB Draft Board