2014 NFL Draft: “Consensus” Top 200 Big Board From 34 Experts—”Forecasters” vs. “Evaluators”

With the NFL Draft finally approaching, getting a consensus on the talents of the prospects may give us the best possible understanding of who a team selects or whether or not they did a good job (as far as we can tell). Unfortunately, not every board is constructed with the same goals in mind or with the same amount of information available to them.

NFL Draft Tracker, a great website for getting detailed reports on prospects as well as a general understanding of the theories driving the draft, made a good point not too long ago: consensus boards don’t make a lot of sense if we don’t discriminate between those who are purely evaluating player talent and those who are attempting to reflect the consensus of the league.

That’s fine—these draft resources generally answer two questions: 1) “Who’s Good?” and 2) “Who Are We Going to Pick?”

The good news is that we can easily do that. For the most part, while insiders like Rob Rang and Daniel Jeremiah do an excellent job pointing out how they differ from mainstream views, the major networks reflect often the consensus of the league, and their draft rankings do not change much from each other. At the very least, their low variance suggest that their rankings are influenced by what they hear around the league, if not driven by it.

 

I was initially skeptical of this approach, but when I found unusual clusters of rankings by the mainstream draft services (especially those at the same networks) but not among the third-party services, I was fairly convinced they were either stealing evaluations or working from the same inside information—it should be extremely rare to find clusters when you’re ranking around 70 or 100 (flat talent distribution means small differences of opinion cause wide ranking divergence), but among the more established services, it was not.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think they’re stealing draft evaluations from each other, I just think that when they start hearing the same things from the same people over and over again, it affects the process. The fact that many of the NFL-influenced draft boards showed much more week-to-week volatility than the film-dependent draft boards further solidifies this approach.

As a result, we can construct two consensus boards. I ended up including 34 total boards (listed at the bottom of this post), with 22 of the boards categorized as coming from “evaluators” and the other 12 coming from people categorized as “projectors.”

Some of folks (notably Bob McGinn of the Milawaukee Journal-Sentinel) have not released a Top 100 yet, but we’ll do our best regardless.

The distinction wasn’t necessarily arbitrary, but I did make some calls. A simple divergence test on the boards actually produced stark differences between the two groups—with all of the boards with similar ranks coming from those who have insider access and the others coming from a mix of those with high-level access who haven’t incorporated outside input and somewhat amateur evaluation boards (here, “amateur” is used not as a reference to evaluation talent, but recognition).

There are drawbacks and benefits to either approach. Getting information from NFL generally means getting information from a source that has more access to knowledge of injuries (they get to inspect all the top prospects at the combine and request medical information from teams, as well as do their own medical work with top doctors), off-field concerns (as Daniel Jeremiah points out, he left scouting because it has become 70 percent character background work), coaches film (invaluable for scouting safeties and quarterbacks) and years of high-pressure evaluation experience.

On the other hand, relying on information from those who have an enormous incentive to lie and those who are often stuck too far into tradition may cause serious issues in terms of accuracy and evaluation.

For these boards, I’ve used different positional names to get a clearer picture of a player’s most often projected role, so that we can compare like to like. For example, I think a rush linebacker and an edge-setting defensive end are more alike than different, and that to categorize one as an “LB” and the other as a “DE” causes too much confusion—Anthony Barr is not similar to C.J. Mosley, even though both are considered “LBs,” while Jadeveon Clowney and Stephon Tuitt hardly play the same position, despite both being “DEs.”

I’m hardly the first to come up with this concept; it’s been discussed on Twitter for quite some time, and the first time I saw it implemented in a ranking was from Josh Norris at Rotoworld. Positions below:

Positions
QB OT IL TE RB SB SE FL SL
Quarterback Offensive Tackle Interior Offensive Line Tight End Running Back Scatback or Offensive Weapon Split End WR Flanker WR Slot WR
ER 5T 3T NT CB OB MB SS FS
Edge Rusher Two-Gap DT Interior Pass-Rusher Nose Tackle, 0- or 1-technique Cornerback Off-Ball Outside Linebacker Middle or Inside Linebacker Strong Safety Free Safety

 

First, let’s look at how the Top 200 shakes out if we only look at what the mainstream sources forecast, using their access to NFL teams and what the NFL tells them (as well as their own evaluations).

Forecaster Consensus Board
Rank Name Position Pos Rk School
1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina
2 Greg Robinson OT 1 Auburn
3 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson
4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo
5 Jake Matthews OT 2 Texas A&M
6 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan
7 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M
8 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA
9 Justin Gilbert CB 1 Oklahoma State
10 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina
11 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh
12 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU
13 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama
14 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama
15 Blake Bortles QB 1 UCF
16 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State
17 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville
18 Teddy Bridgewater QB 2 Louisville
19 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame
20 Darqueze Dennard CB 2 Michigan State
21 Johnny Manziel QB 3 Texas A&M
22 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State
23 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California
24 Kyle Fuller CB 3 Virginia Tech
25 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota
26 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri
27 Timmy Jernigan NT 1 Florida State
28 Louis Nix NT 2 Notre Dame
29 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame
30 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama
31 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State
32 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State
33 Bradley Roby CB 4 Ohio State
34 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State
35 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA
36 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn
37 Jason Verrett CB 5 TCU
38 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia
39 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 2 Washington
40 Jace Amaro TE 3 Texas Tech
41 Davante Adams FL 1 Fresno State
42 Joel Bitonio OT 6 Nevada
43 Allen Robinson FL 2 Penn State
44 Tre Mason RB 2 Auburn
45 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt
46 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young
47 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois
48 Bishop Sankey RB 3 Washington
49 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois
50 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame
51 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida
52 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech
53 Ja’Wuan James OT 7 Tennessee
54 Jeremy Hill RB 4 LSU
55 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State
56 Demarcus Lawrence ER 7 Boise State
57 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State
58 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford
59 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU
60 Antonio Richardson OT 8 Tennessee
61 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State
62 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss
63 Weston Richburg IL 4 Colorado State
64 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State
65 Keith McGill CB 6 Utah
66 David Yankey IL 5 Stanford
67 Ego Ferguson 3T 3 LSU
68 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado
69 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State
70 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU
71 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska
72 Cyril Richardson IL 6 Baylor
73 Marcus Roberson CB 8 Florida
74 Cody Latimer SE 9 Indiana
75 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin
76 Marcus Martin IL 7 Southern California
77 Ka’Deem Carey RB 5 Arizona
78 Bashaud Breeland CB 9 Clemson
79 Anthony Johnson 3T 4 LSU
80 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State
81 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa
82 Charles Sims RB 6 West Virginia
83 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville
84 Jack Mewhort OT 9 Ohio State
85 Will Sutton 3T 5 Arizona State
86 Brandon Coleman SE 10 Rutgers
87 Dri Archer SB 1 Kent State
88 Martavis Bryant SE 11 Clemson
89 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee
90 Kareem Martin ER 10 North Carolina
91 Brandon Thomas IL 8 Clemson
92 Terrance West RB 7 Towson
93 Phillip Gaines CB 10 Rice
94 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama
95 Carl Bradford ER 11 Arizona State
96 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas
97 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin
98 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College
99 Jaylen Watkins CB 11 Florida
100 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina
101 Josh Huff SL 2 Oregon
102 Lache Seastrunk RB 9 Baylor
103 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech
104 Cameron Fleming OT 10 Stanford
105 Travis Swanson IL 9 Arkansas
106 Chris Smith ER 13 Arkansas
107 Bruce Ellington SL 3 South Carolina
108 Pierre Desir CB 12 Lindenwood
109 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon
110 Caraun Reid 3T 7 Princeton
111 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 13 Florida
112 Tom Savage QB 8 Pittsburgh
113 Devonta Freeman SB 2 Florida State
114 Billy Turner OT 11 North Dakota State
115 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State
116 Ed Stinson 5T 4 Alabama
117 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming
118 Ed Reynolds FS 4 Stanford
119 Adrian Hubbard ER 14 Alabama
120 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon
121 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California
122 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU
123 Aaron Murray QB 9 Georgia
124 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama
125 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia
126 Terrence Brooks FS 5 Florida State
127 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama
128 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford
129 Logan Thomas QB 10 Virginia Tech
130 Deandre Coleman 5T 6 California
131 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF
132 Jordan Tripp ER 15 Montana
133 Seantrel Henderson OT 12 Miami (Fla.)
134 Trevor Reilly ER 16 Utah
135 James Hurst OT 13 North Carolina
136 Craig Loston SS 4 LSU
137 Aaron Colvin CB 14 Oklahoma
138 E.J. Gaines CB 15 Missouri
139 Lamin Barrow MB 5 LSU
140 James Gayle ER 17 Virginia Tech
141 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA
142 Brandon Linder IL 12 Miami (Fla.)
143 Dezmen Southward SS 5 Wisconsin
144 Cassius Marsh ER 18 UCLA
145 Preston Brown MB 7 Louisville
146 Ross Cockrell CB 16 Duke
147 Rashaad Reynolds CB 17 Oregon State
148 Will Clarke 5T 7 West Virginia
149 Ahmad Dixon SS 6 Baylor
150 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming
151 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma
152 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa
153 Shamar Stephen 3T 8 Connecticut
154 Walt Aikens CB 18 Liberty
155 David Fales QB 11 San Jose State
156 Chris Watt IL 13 Notre Dame
157 Tajh Boyd QB 12 Clemson
158 Vic Hampton CB 19 South Carolina
159 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame
160 Colt Lyerla TE 6 Oregon
161 Jeoffrey Pagan 5T 8 Alabama
162 Richard Rodgers TE 7 California
163 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida
164 Wesley Johnson IL 14 Vanderbilt
165 Max Bullough MB 8 Michigan State
166 Gabe Ikard IL 15 Oklahoma
167 Mike Davis SE 12 Texas
168 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif OT 14 McGill (Canada)
169 Antone Exum CB 20 Virginia Tech
170 Brock Vereen SS 7 Minnesota
171 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame
172 Kendall James CB 21 Maine
173 Zach Fulton IL 16 Tennessee
174 Yawin Smallwood MB 9 Connecticut
175 Andre Hal CB 22 Vanderbilt
176 John Urschel IL 17 Penn State
177 Russell Bodine IL 18 North Carolina
178 Arthur Lynch TE 8 Georgia
179 Dontae Johnson CB 23 North Carolina State
180 Larry Webster ER 20 Bloomsburg
181 Justin Britt OT 15 Missouri
182 Morgan Breslin ER 21 Southern California
183 Shaquelle Evans SE 13 UCLA
184 Bryan Stork IL 19 Florida State
185 A.C. Leonard TE 9 Tennessee State
186 Jon Halapio IL 20 Florida
187 Jeff Janis SE 14 Saginaw Valley
188 Michael Sam ER 22 Missouri
189 Devin Street SE 15 Pittsburgh
190 John Brown SL 7 Pittsburg State
191 Corey Linsley IL 21 Ohio State
192 Chris Davis CB 24 Auburn
193 Jerick McKinnon SB 4 Georgia Southern
194 Jonathan Dowling FS 7 Western Kentucky
195 Howard Jones ER 23 Shepherd
196 Brett Smith QB 13 Wyoming
197 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State
198 Ethan Westbrooks ER 24 West Texas A&M
199 Aaron Lynch ER 25 South Florida
200 Lorenzo Taliaferro RB 11 Coastal Carolina

 

After that, you can take a look at how the evaluators graded the talent of the players they saw, and there are some pretty stark differences from the table above.

Evaluator Consensus Board
Rank Name Position Pos Rk School
1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina
2 Jake Matthews OT 1 Texas A&M
3 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville
4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo
5 Greg Robinson OT 2 Auburn
6 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson
7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama
8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina
9 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA
10 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh
11 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State
12 Derek Carr QB 2 Fresno State
13 Johnny Manziel QB 3 Texas A&M
14 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota
15 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame
16 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M
17 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan
18 Jason Verrett CB 2 TCU
19 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame
20 Blake Bortles QB 4 UCF
21 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU
22 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama
23 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California
24 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri
25 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State
26 Justin Gilbert CB 3 Oklahoma State
27 Bradley Roby CB 4 Ohio State
28 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State
29 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech
30 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA
31 Kyle Fuller CB 5 Virginia Tech
32 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville
33 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida
34 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State
35 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn
36 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young
37 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech
38 Jordan Matthews SE 5 Vanderbilt
39 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State
40 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State
41 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama
42 Kelvin Benjamin SE 6 Florida State
43 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford
44 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State
45 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois
46 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame
47 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State
48 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State
49 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State
50 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington
51 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State
52 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU
53 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame
54 Pierre Desir CB 6 Lindenwood
55 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington
56 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin
57 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State
58 Marcus Smith ER 7 Louisville
59 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia
60 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor
61 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford
62 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State
63 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee
64 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State
65 Demarcus Lawrence ER 9 Boise State
66 Billy Turner OT 7 North Dakota State
67 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford
68 Jack Mewhort OT 8 Ohio State
69 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn
70 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois
71 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU
72 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State
73 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska
74 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas
75 Charles Sims RB 4 West Virginia
76 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State
77 Lache Seastrunk RB 5 Baylor
78 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State
79 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas
80 Yawin Smallwood MB 5 Connecticut
81 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California
82 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin
83 Ka’Deem Carey RB 6 Arizona
84 Joel Bitonio OT 9 Nevada
85 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss
86 Ja’Wuan James OT 10 Tennessee
87 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa
88 David Fales QB 7 San Jose State
89 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU
90 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas
91 Aaron Lynch ER 13 South Florida
92 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.)
93 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina
94 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado
95 Marcus Roberson CB 8 Florida
96 Jeremy Hill RB 7 LSU
97 E.J. Gaines CB 9 Missouri
98 Logan Thomas QB 8 Virginia Tech
99 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor
100 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson
101 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida
102 A.J. McCarron QB 9 Alabama
103 Brandon Thomas IL 8 Clemson
104 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton
105 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State
106 Kareem Martin ER 14 North Carolina
107 Keith McGill CB 11 Utah
108 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon
109 Aaron Murray QB 10 Georgia
110 Terrance Mitchell CB 12 Oregon
111 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah
112 Brett Smith QB 11 Wyoming
113 Brandon Coleman SE 10 Rutgers
114 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina
115 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State
116 Marcus Martin IL 9 Southern California
117 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA
118 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford
119 Vic Hampton CB 13 South Carolina
120 James Hurst OT 12 North Carolina
121 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College
122 Antone Exum CB 14 Virginia Tech
123 Cody Latimer SE 11 Indiana
124 Jordan Tripp ER 16 Montana
125 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon
126 Isaiah Crowell RB 9 Alabama State
127 Phillip Gaines CB 15 Rice
128 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee
129 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 16 Florida
130 Anthony Steen IL 10 Alabama
131 Trai Turner IL 11 LSU
132 Will Clarke 5T 4 West Virginia
133 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU
134 Cody Hoffman SE 12 Brigham Young
135 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech
136 Adrian Hubbard ER 17 Alabama
137 Richard Rodgers TE 6 California
138 Andre Hal CB 17 Vanderbilt
139 Aaron Colvin CB 18 Oklahoma
140 Marion Grice RB 10 Arizona State
141 Arthur Lynch TE 7 Georgia
142 Terrance West RB 11 Towson
143 Tyler Larsen IL 12 Utah State
144 James Gayle ER 18 Virginia Tech
145 Sean Parker SS 6 Washington
146 Colt Lyerla TE 8 Oregon
147 Walt Aikens CB 19 Liberty
148 Michael Campanaro SL 4 Wake Forest
149 Bashaud Breeland CB 20 Clemson
150 Michael Sam ER 19 Missouri
151 Bryan Stork IL 13 Florida State
152 Robert Herron SL 5 Wyoming
153 Jon Halapio IL 14 Florida
154 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa
155 Jalen Saunders SL 6 Oklahoma
156 Ronald Powell ER 20 Florida
157 Dakota Dozier IL 15 Furman
158 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia
159 Storm Johnson RB 12 UCF
160 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 21 Boston College
161 Avery Williamson MB 7 Kentucky
162 Cameron Fleming OT 13 Stanford
163 Rashaad Reynolds CB 21 Oregon State
164 De’Anthony Thomas SB 2 Oregon
165 George Uko 3T 7 Southern California
166 James White RB 13 Wisconsin
167 Dri Archer SB 3 Kent State
168 Anthony Johnson 3T 8 LSU
169 Tajh Boyd QB 12 Clemson
170 Deandre Coleman 5T 6 California
171 Crockett Gillmore TE 9 Colorado State
172 Charles Leno IL 16 Boise State
173 Michael Schofield OT 14 Michigan
174 Ed Stinson 5T 7 Alabama
175 Ross Cockrell CB 22 Duke
176 Gabe Ikard IL 17 Oklahoma
177 Jeff Janis SE 13 Saginaw Valley
178 Xavier Grimble TE 10 Southern California
179 Vinnie Sunseri SS 7 Alabama
180 Jay Bromley 3T 9 Syracuse
181 Zach Kerr NT 6 Delaware
182 Wesley Johnson IL 18 Vanderbilt
183 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State
184 Devin Street SE 14 Pittsburgh
185 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama
186 Cassius Marsh ER 22 UCLA
187 Chris Watt IL 19 Notre Dame
188 Andrew Jackson MB 8 Western Kentucky
189 T.J. Jones SL 7 Notre Dame
190 Ryan Carrethers NT 7 Arkansas State
191 Max Bullough MB 9 Michigan State
192 Stephen Morris QB 13 Miami (Fla.)
193 Jeremy Gallon SL 8 Michigan
194 Tom Savage QB 14 Pittsburgh
195 Tre Boston FS 6 North Carolina
196 Devon Kennard ER 23 Southern California
197 Spencer Long IL 20 Nebraska
198 Calvin Barnett 3T 10 Oklahoma State
199 Brandon Linder IL 21 Miami (Fla.)
200 Keith Wenning QB 15 Ball State

 

In a 200-person big board, it’s difficult to really get the differences broken down at a glance, although some stand out: Teddy Bridgewater fares better with the evaluators than the projectionists. Tom Savage barely cracks the top 200 for the evaluators, while the projectionists were more optimistic. It should be noted that the forecasters had a clear split with Savage, with nearly half of them projecting a top 64 (but not top 40) appearance, and some others ranking him well outside the top 100.

At first, it might seem intuitive to simply look at the differences in rankings to see who disagrees with who the most, but it’s not particularly interesting if a player ranked 500th by one set of people gets ranked 400th by the other. The disagreements are magnified at the top—seeing a Top Five player in one board going in the second round of the other is more dramatic than 300 to 400. Talent distribution at the bottom is a little flatter, so smaller things can sway decisions than at the top, where it takes a generally big difference of opinion to matter.

So, I’ve largely corrected for that phenomenon with some dirty math and found the 42 biggest sticking points in the Top 300 of both boards, ranked in order of largest disagreement relative to their draft position:

Biggest Disagreements
Difference Rank Name Position School Evaluators Forecasters Overall Rank
1 Michael Campanaro SL Wake Forest 148 342 199
2 Teddy Bridgewater QB Louisville 3 18 6
3 Sean Parker SS Washington 145 315 197
4 Aaron Lynch ER South Florida 91 199 112
5 Cody Hoffman SE Brigham Young 134 274 174
6 Yawin Smallwood MB Connecticut 80 174 100
7 Terrance Mitchell CB Oregon 110 226 140
8 Anthony Johnson 3T LSU 168 78 133
9 Jeoffrey Pagan 5T Alabama 306 161 241
10 Tyler Larsen IL Utah State 143 269 170
11 Dezmen Southward SS Wisconsin 268 143 214
12 Justin Gilbert CB Oklahoma State 26 9 22
13 Dri Archer SB Kent State 167 87 132
14 Kendall James CB Maine 304 172 274
15 Derek Carr QB Fresno State 12 31 21
16 Bashaud Breeland CB Clemson 149 78 117
17 Isaiah Crowell RB Alabama State 126 227 164
18 Pierre Desir CB Lindenwood 54 108 65
19 Shayne Skov MB Stanford 67 128 81
20 Taylor Lewan OT Michigan 17 6 13
21 Joel Bitonio OT Nevada 84 42 67
22 Zach Kerr NT Delaware 181 303 215
23 Brett Smith QB Wyoming 112 196 138
24 Tom Savage QB Pittsburgh 194 112 145
25 David Fales QB San Jose State 88 155 108
26 Telvin Smith MB Florida State 64 115 75
27 Shamar Stephen 3T Connecticut 247 153 211
28 Jason Verrett CB TCU 18 37 23
29 John Urschel IL Penn State 279 176 239
30 Lamin Barrow MB LSU 225 139 171
31 Jeremy Hill RB LSU 96 54 82
32 Avery Williamson MB Kentucky 161 256 182
33 Billy Turner OT North Dakota State 66 114 73
34 Justin Britt OT Missouri 281 181 240
35 Mike Evans SE Texas A&M 16 7 11
36 Cody Latimer SE Indiana 123 74 99
37 Will Sutton 3T Arizona State 49 85 57
38 Louis Nix NT Notre Dame 14 28 20
39 Marion Grice RB Arizona State 140 216 165
40 Keith McGill CB Utah 107 65 90
41 Calvin Pryor SS Louisville 32 17 28
42 Cameron Fleming OT Stanford 162 104 134

 

The top disagreements by the forecasting crowd of the evaluators are all of players that are technicians with athletic or size-related deficiencies. Campanaro is an excellent and profoundly intelligent receiver with a good combine, but came in at 5’9″. Yawin Smallwood is instinctive and quick, but weighs less than 240 pounds. We all have had enough of the Teddy Bridgewater talk to be hardly surprised at the differences here, and Cody Hoffman’s prototypical size seems to impress the NFL (by proxy) but not the third-party draft services.

Just barely missing the cut were Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson, surprisingly enough, but that is largely because the differences between #2 and #5 are fairly big in this formula, and each group had one of the two tackles ranked at those spots (Matthews at #2 for the evaluators with Robinson at #5, and the reverse for the forecasters).

The other general category of differences include small-schoolers, where the evaluators were far more willing to bet on players from lesser-known foobtall factories than the forecasters.

The two groups are not constantly warring in their evals, though. They agreed far more often than disagreed (if that wasn’t the case, this would all be useless and no one knows anything. Even though we like to say that, the clear pick-by-pick performance curve tells us we know a few things), and the biggest agreements happened all over the board.

The most impressive even evaluations are usually through chance—you’re always going to end up with a number of players that happen to be in similar spots on the boards, just because over 1120 players were evaluated, and the amount of skill that the players possess is not random. Still, the amount of times they agreed by just a few positions is impressive. The biggest 44 agreements (again, through the quick math formula mentioned above) are below:

Biggest Agreements
Similarity Rank Name Position School Evaluators Forecastors Overall Rank
1 Christian Kirksey OB Iowa 154 152 150
2 Zach Mettenberger QB LSU 71 70 72
3 Aaron Colvin CB Oklahoma 139 137 139
4 Ryan Grant SL Tulane 208 205 196
5 Jaylen Watkins CB Florida 101 99 98
6 Christian Jones OB Florida State 78 80 79
7 Anthony Steen IL Alabama 130 127 130
8 Marqise Lee SE Southern California 23 23 24
9 Joe Don Duncan TE Dixie St 246 251 251
10 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB Nebraska 73 71 71
11 Dee Ford ER Auburn 35 36 34
12 Jalen Saunders SL Oklahoma 155 151 148
13 Devin Street SE Pittsburgh 184 189 178
14 Jimmie Ward FS Northern Illinois 45 47 46
15 Matt Hazel SE Coastal Carolina 209 203 195
16 Tevin Reese SL Baylor 232 225 238
17 Antonio Richardson OT Tennessee 63 60 60
18 Trent Murphy ER Stanford 61 58 58
19 Troy Niklas TE Notre Dame 53 50 50
20 Ronald Powell ER Florida 156 163 153
21 Davante Adams FL Fresno State 44 41 42
22 Caraun Reid 3T Princeton 104 110 101
23 Deone Bucannon SS Washington State 57 61 56
24 Scott Crichton ER Oregon State 51 55 52
25 Josh Huff SB Oregon 108 101 105
26 Ka’Deem Carey RB Arizona 83 77 81
27 Jordan Tripp ER Montana 124 132 122
28 Tre Boston FS North Carolina 195 206 192
29 Aaron Donald 3T Pittsburgh 10 11 9
30 Devonta Freeman SB Florida State 105 113 104
31 A.J. McCarron QB Alabama 102 94 96
32 Josh Mauro 5T Stanford 201 215 208
33 Tajh Boyd QB Clemson 169 157 164
34 Terrence Brooks FS Florida State 115 126 113
35 Brandon Thomas IL Clemson 103 91 100
36 Ben Gardner ER Stanford 233 207 232
37 Bruce Ellington SL South Carolina 93 107 94
38 Loucheiz Purifoy CB Florida 129 111 121
39 Trey Millard FB Oklahoma 274 239 267
40 Jadeveon Clowney ER South Carolina 1 1 1

 

It’s hardly surprising that Jadeveon Clowney is the consensus #1 on every group of boards, and that Aaron Donald is a top ten pick to both groups, but it is sort of interesting that Dee Ford is just barely in the top 40, while Jimmie Ward and Davante Adams are just out. There’s a cluster around pick 100, as a bunch of players that are supposed to be “top 100” talents could potentially get shoehorned in by both groups, and the players at the top seem to be barely draftable.

Here, the patterns aren’t clear. There’s a decent mix of small-school and big-school players, as well as a good mix of positions. Certainly, none of the top qurterbacks made the list, but McCarron and Mettenberger solidified their 96th and 72nd overall rankings.

Some players are easy to evaluate, and it just so happens that you’ll find a lot of agreements among the different Boards—no need to incoprorate an overriding reason or pattern.

That said, there were definitely a lot of players who caused a lot of consternation among the 34 different boards. By comparing the squared difference in their rankings to the overall likelihood of disagreement for a generalized pick spot, you can see which players are the most polarizing. It was important not to take the worst ranking and the best ranking and get the difference (though displayed here), simply because one off grade will throw the whole thing out of whack when really there is general consensus on a player.

Some are obvious, but some may catch you by surprise (again, the list below looked at all 34 boards, not just an average of the two consensus boards, so it’s not the same as above):

Most Polarizing Players
Polarity Rank Name Worst Rank Best Rank Overall Rank
1 Michael Campanaro 744 58 199
2 Lamarcus Joyner 176 17 53
3 Aaron Murray 325 29 111
4 Dominique Easley 111 4 36
5 Teddy Bridgewater 35 1 6
6 Will Sutton 187.5 15 57
7 Dion Bailey 227 42 91
8 Ed Reynolds 290 64 118
9 Jon Halapio 379 48 160
10 Nevin Lawson 429 75 185
11 Arthur Lynch 336 52 150
12 Jackson Jeffcoat 249 37 89
13 Sean Parker 472.5 58 197
14 Kyle Van Noy 95 8 37
15 Aaron Lynch 344 29 112
16 Brett Smith 312 59 138
17 Cody Hoffman 453 63 174
18 David Fales 260 27 108
19 James Hurst 252 58 128
20 Kelcy Quarles 249 43 107
21 Lache Seastrunk 172 35 86
22 Bryan Stork 300 61 159
23 Jordan Tripp 298.5 61 131
24 Ahmad Dixon 259 40 114
25 Michael Sam 299 58 162
26 Marion Grice 304 64 165
27 Jace Amaro 151.5 15 33
28 Yawin Smallwood 453 39 100
29 George Uko 453 40 195
30 Xavier Grimble 338 75 188
31 Josh Mauro 390 72 194
32 Carl Bradford 210 19 78
33 Walt Aikens 390 70 148
34 Will Clarke 298.5 68 136
35 Darqueze Dennard 67 6 12
36 Weston Richburg 151.5 32 68
37 Robert Herron 231 75 135
38 Billy Turner 210 13 73
39 Paul Richardson 229 38 87
40 Jimmie Ward 150 12 46
41 E.J. Gaines 225 64 110
42 Chris Borland 210 25 59
43 Khalil Mack 10 2 2
44 Johnny Manziel 62 1 14
45 James White 322 58 193

 

Players well known for causing controversy didn’t necessarily score high on the list. As you’ll see in a moment, one of the most controversial players in the draft is Jadeveon Clowney, but he is the least polarizing player in the rankings. Johnny Manziel barely made the cutoff, and was about as polarizing as “safe” pick Khalil Mack—who got every rank between 10 and 2 from the 34 boards (again, because of the difference of value between #2 and #10, volatility in the rankings mean more here than they do for a player ranked 14th overall bouncing between first and sixty-second).

There are a few basic things that get a player on this list: excellent play, but poor measureables (Lamarcus Joyner), injury (Dominique Easley), an uneven career (Will Sutton), and insane bullshit (Teddy Bridgewater).

For me, a big surprise was not seeing Telvin Smith, whose on-field play has been electric, but is well outside the size demands traditionally fit for his position. He just missed the cut off here, but the general thought on him seems more settled than I thought (which is still not very settled).

While the most polarizing players list doesn’t look much like the “biggest disagreements” list, the least polarizing players list does look like the “biggest agreements” list, which makes a lot of sense. The difference between “worst” and “best” rank doesn’t mean much here, largely because they were outliers instead of a good demonstration of the volatility.

Least Polarizing Players
Amity Rank Name Worst Rank Best Rank Overall Rank
1 Jadeveon Clowney 2 1 1
2 Greg Robinson 18 1 3
3 Calvin Pryor 180 11 28
4 Justin Gilbert 139 7 22
5 Sammy Watkins 24 2 5
6 Demarcus Lawrence 187.5 16 60
7 Ryan Shazier 94 5 26
8 Deandre Coleman 298.5 68 157
9 A.J. McCarron 257 44 97
10 Donte Moncrief 151.5 33 71
11 Carlos Hyde 92 21 43
12 Ed Stinson 390 67 147
13 Andre Williams 249 52 109
14 Anthony Johnson 390 49 133
15 Stephon Tuitt 219 12 42
16 Daniel McCullers 298.5 57 116
17 Anthony Barr 93 3 9
18 Rashaad Reynolds 298.5 37 152
19 Dri Archer 232 59 132
20 Shaquelle Evans 298.5 75 187
21 Trai Turner 390 34 122
22 Bradley Roby 53 11 30
23 Brock Vereen 453 75 190
24 Marqise Lee 90 9 24
25 Kareem Martin 210 16 95
26 Marcus Martin 210 21 96
27 Joel Bitonio 171 12 67
28 Mike Evans 123 3 11
29 Chris Watt 298.5 75 168
30 Tre Mason 225 15 58
31 Kelvin Benjamin 145 12 39
32 Lamin Barrow 390 73 171
33 Ja’Wuan James 150 17 70
34 Jimmy Garoppolo 154 18 63

 

Don’t worry about the “.5” rankings—they were part of a system to assign players a rank to be averaged when a particular big board in question was too small to include them (I did not take any boards with fewer than 50 players, and even then only one). All that means is that at least one big board chose not to include them, and they therefore were penalized (the size of the penalty was directly proportional to the size of the big board).

Despite the fact that Greg Robinson was a point of contention between the two different sets of boards, there was still significant agreement that he was a top pick, and he generally floated in between two and six—unlike Khalil Mack, who was all over the top ten.

I didn’t expect to see Kelvin Benjamin, who’s movement in the first round halfway through the offseason was criticized by a number of people, given the fact that he has inconsistent hands, is a mediocre route-runner and has shown limited versatility despite incredible production at Florida State. It seems that even in a rich receiver class, people of all flavors were willing to forgive his spotty development for his size and speed.

Finally, you can look at the full consensus of picks. There are two separate Top 200 charts that are consensus, because we can either treat each category separately (the average of the “forecasters” and “evaluators”) or treat each board separately (averaging all 34 draft boards). Below is that first board, the average of the two consensus boards:

Evaluator and Forecaster Consensus Board
Rank Name Position Pos Rk School
1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina
2 Greg Robinson OT 1 Auburn
3 Jake Matthews OT 2 Texas A&M
4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo
5 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson
6 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA
7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama
8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina
9 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh
10 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville
11 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan
12 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M
13 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State
14 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama
15 Justin Gilbert CB 2 Oklahoma State
16 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame
17 Johnny Manziel QB 2 Texas A&M
18 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU
19 Blake Bortles QB 3 UCF
20 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota
21 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame
22 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State
23 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State
24 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California
25 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State
26 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville
27 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri
28 Jason Verrett CB 3 TCU
29 Kyle Fuller CB 4 Virginia Tech
30 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State
31 Bradley Roby CB 5 Ohio State
32 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA
33 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech
34 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn
35 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama
36 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame
37 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State
38 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State
39 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State
40 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt
41 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young
42 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State
43 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida
44 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech
45 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington
46 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois
47 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State
48 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia
49 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington
50 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame
51 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford
52 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State
53 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State
54 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU
55 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn
56 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State
57 Demarcus Lawrence ER 7 Boise State
58 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford
59 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois
60 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee
61 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin
62 Joel Bitonio OT 7 Nevada
63 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State
64 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor
65 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State
66 Ja’Wuan James OT 8 Tennessee
67 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State
68 Jack Mewhort OT 9 Ohio State
69 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss
70 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville
71 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 6 Nebraska
72 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU
73 Pierre Desir CB 7 Lindenwood
74 Jeremy Hill RB 4 LSU
75 Charles Sims RB 5 West Virginia
76 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU
77 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado
78 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State
79 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State
80 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa
81 Ka’Deem Carey RB 6 Arizona
82 Keith McGill CB 8 Utah
83 Billy Turner OT 10 North Dakota State
84 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas
85 Marcus Roberson CB 9 Florida
86 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State
87 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson
88 Kareem Martin ER 12 North Carolina
89 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas
90 Lache Seastrunk RB 7 Baylor
91 Cody Latimer SE 10 Indiana
92 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 13 Texas
93 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin
94 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina
95 Marcus Martin IL 8 Southern California
96 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama
97 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford
98 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida
99 Brandon Coleman SE 11 Rutgers
100 Brandon Thomas IL 9 Clemson
101 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton
102 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College
103 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California
104 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State
105 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon
106 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee
107 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina
108 Phillip Gaines CB 11 Rice
109 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.)
110 Bashaud Breeland CB 12 Clemson
111 Aaron Murray QB 8 Georgia
112 Logan Thomas QB 9 Virginia Tech
113 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State
114 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford
115 Terrance West RB 9 Towson
116 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon
117 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor
118 E.J. Gaines CB 13 Missouri
119 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU
120 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech
121 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 14 Florida
122 Jordan Tripp ER 14 Montana
123 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah
124 Anthony Johnson 3T 7 LSU
125 Dri Archer SB 2 Kent State
126 Jordan Zumwalt MB 5 UCLA
127 Cameron Fleming OT 12 Stanford
128 David Fales QB 10 San Jose State
129 Adrian Hubbard ER 16 Alabama
130 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama
131 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming
132 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU
133 James Hurst OT 13 North Carolina
134 Brent Urban 5T 4 Virginia
135 Vic Hampton CB 15 South Carolina
136 Will Clarke 5T 5 West Virginia
137 Yawin Smallwood MB 6 Connecticut
138 James Gayle ER 17 Virginia Tech
139 Aaron Colvin CB 16 Oklahoma
140 Aaron Lynch ER 18 South Florida
141 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon
142 Ed Stinson 5T 6 Alabama
143 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF
144 Walt Aikens CB 17 Liberty
145 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama
146 Antone Exum CB 18 Virginia Tech
147 Tom Savage QB 11 Pittsburgh
148 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma
149 Brett Smith QB 12 Wyoming
150 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa
151 Rashaad Reynolds CB 19 Oregon State
152 Deandre Coleman 5T 7 California
153 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida
154 Arthur Lynch TE 6 Georgia
155 Richard Rodgers TE 7 California
156 Colt Lyerla TE 8 Oregon
157 Ross Cockrell CB 20 Duke
158 Andre Hal CB 21 Vanderbilt
159 Terrance Mitchell CB 22 Oregon
160 Brandon Linder IL 12 Miami (Fla.)
161 Gabe Ikard IL 13 Oklahoma
162 Cassius Marsh ER 20 UCLA
163 Chris Watt IL 14 Notre Dame
164 Tajh Boyd QB 13 Clemson
165 Jeff Janis SE 12 Saginaw Valley
166 Bryan Stork IL 15 Florida State
167 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame
168 Max Bullough MB 7 Michigan State
169 Isaiah Crowell RB 11 Alabama State
170 Michael Sam ER 21 Missouri
171 Lamin Barrow MB 8 LSU
172 Marion Grice RB 12 Arizona State
173 Wesley Johnson IL 16 Vanderbilt
174 Jon Halapio IL 17 Florida
175 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming
176 Preston Brown MB 9 Louisville
177 Dakota Dozier IL 18 Furman
178 Devin Street SE 13 Pittsburgh
179 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif OT 14 McGill (Canada)
180 Shaquelle Evans SE 14 UCLA
181 Crockett Gillmore TE 9 Colorado State
182 Mike Davis SE 15 Texas
183 Brock Vereen SS 6 Minnesota
184 Vinnie Sunseri SS 7 Alabama
185 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State
186 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame
187 James White RB 13 Wisconsin
188 Michael Schofield OT 15 Michigan
189 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 22 Boston College
190 Charles Leno IL 19 Boise State
191 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State
192 Tre Boston FS 7 North Carolina
193 Larry Webster ER 23 Bloomsburg
194 Shamar Stephen 3T 8 Connecticut
195 Matt Hazel SE 16 Coastal Carolina
196 Ryan Grant SL 7 Tulane
197 Xavier Grimble TE 11 Southern California
198 Dezmen Southward SS 8 Wisconsin
199 Russell Bodine IL 20 North Carolina
200 Jonathan Dowling FS 8 Western Kentucky

 

That board corrects for the fact that there were almost twice as many “evaluator” boards as “forecaster” boards, by weighting the two groups equally. On the other hand, you could avoid that and simply average out every board (functionally weighting the evaluators 67% and the forecasters 33%):

Full Consensus Board
Rank Name Position Pos Rk School
1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina
2 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo
3 Jake Matthews OT 1 Texas A&M
4 Greg Robinson OT 2 Auburn
5 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson
6 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville
7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama
8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina
9 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA
10 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh
11 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M
12 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State
13 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan
14 Johnny Manziel QB 2 Texas A&M
15 Blake Bortles QB 3 UCF
16 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame
17 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota
18 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU
19 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama
20 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame
21 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State
22 Justin Gilbert CB 2 Oklahoma State
23 Jason Verrett CB 3 TCU
24 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California
25 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State
26 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State
27 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri
28 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville
29 Kyle Fuller CB 4 Virginia Tech
30 Bradley Roby CB 5 Ohio State
31 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State
32 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA
33 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech
34 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn
35 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama
36 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida
37 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young
38 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech
39 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State
40 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State
41 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt
42 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame
43 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State
44 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State
45 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State
46 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois
47 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington
48 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford
49 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia
50 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State
51 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame
52 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington
53 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State
54 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU
55 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State
56 Trent Murphy ER 7 Stanford
57 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State
58 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn
59 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin
60 Demarcus Lawrence ER 8 Boise State
61 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee
62 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State
63 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois
64 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor
65 Pierre Desir CB 6 Lindenwood
66 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville
67 Joel Bitonio OT 7 Nevada
68 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State
69 Jack Mewhort OT 8 Ohio State
70 Ja’Wuan James OT 9 Tennessee
71 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss
72 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU
73 Billy Turner OT 10 North Dakota State
74 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska
75 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State
76 Charles Sims RB 4 West Virginia
77 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State
78 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State
79 Ka’Deem Carey RB 5 Arizona
80 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU
81 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford
82 Jeremy Hill RB 6 LSU
83 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas
84 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas
85 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa
86 Lache Seastrunk RB 7 Baylor
87 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado
88 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin
89 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas
90 Keith McGill CB 8 Utah
91 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California
92 Marcus Roberson CB 9 Florida
93 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson
94 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina
95 Kareem Martin ER 13 North Carolina
96 Marcus Martin IL 8 Southern California
97 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama
98 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida
99 Cody Latimer SE 10 Indiana
100 Yawin Smallwood MB 5 Connecticut
101 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.)
102 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton
103 Brandon Thomas IL 9 Clemson
104 Brandon Coleman SE 11 Rutgers
105 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon
106 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State
107 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina
108 David Fales QB 8 San Jose State
109 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College
110 E.J. Gaines CB 11 Missouri
111 Aaron Murray QB 9 Georgia
112 Aaron Lynch ER 14 South Florida
113 Logan Thomas QB 10 Virginia Tech
114 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor
115 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State
116 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee
117 Bashaud Breeland CB 12 Clemson
118 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford
119 Phillip Gaines CB 13 Rice
120 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon
121 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah
122 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU
123 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech
124 Terrance West RB 9 Towson
125 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 14 Florida
126 Adrian Hubbard ER 16 Alabama
127 Vic Hampton CB 15 South Carolina
128 James Hurst OT 12 North Carolina
129 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA
130 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama
131 Jordan Tripp ER 17 Montana
132 Dri Archer SB 2 Kent State
133 Anthony Johnson 3T 7 LSU
134 Cameron Fleming OT 13 Stanford
135 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming
136 Will Clarke 5T 4 West Virginia
137 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU
138 Brett Smith QB 11 Wyoming
139 James Gayle ER 18 Virginia Tech
140 Terrance Mitchell CB 16 Oregon
141 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia
142 Antone Exum CB 17 Virginia Tech
143 Aaron Colvin CB 18 Oklahoma
144 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon
145 Tom Savage QB 12 Pittsburgh
146 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa
147 Ed Stinson 5T 6 Alabama
148 Walt Aikens CB 19 Liberty
149 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma
150 Arthur Lynch TE 6 Georgia
151 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida
152 Rashaad Reynolds CB 20 Oregon State
153 Colt Lyerla TE 7 Oregon
154 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama
155 Richard Rodgers TE 8 California
156 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF
157 Deandre Coleman 5T 7 California
158 Andre Hal CB 21 Vanderbilt
159 Bryan Stork IL 12 Florida State
160 Jon Halapio IL 13 Florida
161 Ross Cockrell CB 22 Duke
162 Michael Sam ER 20 Missouri
163 Dakota Dozier IL 14 Furman
164 Isaiah Crowell RB 11 Alabama State
165 Marion Grice RB 12 Arizona State
166 Gabe Ikard IL 15 Oklahoma
167 Cassius Marsh ER 21 UCLA
168 Chris Watt IL 16 Notre Dame
169 Tajh Boyd QB 13 Clemson
170 Tyler Larsen IL 17 Utah State
171 Lamin Barrow MB 7 LSU
172 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming
173 Max Bullough MB 8 Michigan State
174 Cody Hoffman SE 12 Brigham Young
175 Devin Street SE 13 Pittsburgh
176 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame
177 Jeff Janis SE 14 Saginaw Valley
178 Brandon Linder IL 18 Miami (Fla.)
179 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 22 Boston College
180 Preston Brown MB 9 Louisville
181 Michael Schofield OT 14 Michigan
182 Avery Williamson MB 10 Kentucky
183 Wesley Johnson IL 19 Vanderbilt
184 Vinnie Sunseri SS 6 Alabama
185 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State
186 Mike Davis SE 15 Texas
187 Shaquelle Evans SE 16 UCLA
188 Xavier Grimble TE 9 Southern California
189 Charles Leno IL 20 Boise State
190 Brock Vereen SS 7 Minnesota
191 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame
192 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State
193 James White RB 13 Wisconsin
194 Josh Mauro 5T 8 Stanford
195 George Uko 3T 8 Southern California
196 Crockett Gillmore TE 11 Colorado State
197 Sean Parker SS 8 Washington
198 Jonathan Dowling FS 7 Western Kentucky
199 Michael Campanaro SL 7 Wake Forest
200 Ryan Carrethers NT 6 Arkansas State

 

I used a lot of Big Boards for this work, naturally. The online resources used were Eric Galko’s Optimum Scouting, Dan Kadar and Matthew Fairburn’s SB Nation Mocking the Draft site, the National Football Post, Rob Rang’s Big Board at CBS, the eDraft family of boards (Vincent Frank, Luke Inman, Josh Collacchi, Matt Johnson, Derrik Klassen, Blake Meek, Vance Meek, Blake Arnold, Ryan Ratty, Patrick Conn and Richard Gatenby), Ben Natan’s board at With the First Pick, Andrew Parson’s board at Draft Mecca, Drafttek’s Big Board, James Christensen’s board at NEPatriotsDraft, Mel Kiper’s Big Board at ESPN Insider, Todd McShay’s Big Board with Scouts, Inc. at ESPN Insider, Jon Dove’s Big Board at Draft Breakdown, Tony Pauline’s board at Draft Insider, Ryan McCrystal’s Big Board at Draft Ace, Josh Norris’ Big Board at Rotoworld, Charlie Campbell’s Big Board at Walter Football, Path to the Draft’s Daniel Jeremiah’s Big Board at NFL.com, Gil Brandt’s Big Board at NFL.com, and the NFL.com official rankings (run by Nolan Nawrocki—they match his published big boards 1-for-1).

I also purchased draft guides from Bryan Perez at First Round Grade (purchase here for $4.99),  Dan Shonka at Ourlads (purchase here for $32.00), Mike Loyko at NEPatriotsDraft (purchase here for $16.00), Kyle Crabbs at NDT Scouting (purchase here for $10.00) and Dane Brugler at SportsXchange and CBS (purchase here for $4.99 – but you can find his top 100 here with a short blurb for each of the 100 here).

I also purchased two draft guides (Rookie Scouting Portfolio from Matt Waldman and Chris Trapasso’s Guide—email him for it at [email protected]), but they do not have an overall Big Board I could include (Waldman only sells work done for offensive skill players because it has a dynasty fantasy football focus).

If you’re interested in going against the grain, the most divergent ratings were from NDT Scouting’s report, the National Football Post and Ben Natan in that order. If you’d rather find a few people who better reflect the consensus of peers, Daniel Jeremiah ranks first, followed by Mike Loyko and Tony Pauline.

My advice: just print off the last table as a quick cheat sheet when you head into whatever draft party you’re hanging out at. Printable copy here.

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