Grading All 32 First Round Picks After Week 10 Of The 2021 Nfl Season

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 2:01 PM

grading all 32 first round picks after week 10 of the 2021 nfl season

Mac Jones extended his lead over the rest of the rookie passers this week with his best game to date. The Alabama product was outstanding against the Cleveland Browns and produced one of the top overall PFF grades of the week. DeVonta Smith took his game to a new level, beating up on former Crimson Tide teammate Patrick Surtain II for some of his best plays. Micah Parsons ensured the Dallas Cowboys still fielded an elite pass rush without their starting defensive end, as he kicked back down to the line of scrimmage and racked up the pressure. But overall, it was a week full of rookie struggles. Rankings & Projections | WR/CB Matchup Chart | NFL & NCAA Betting Dashboards | NFL Player Props tool | NFL & NCAA Power Rankings

It might not be time to panic over Lawrence’s rookie season, but at the very minimum, it’s tough to see it as anything other than a significant disappointment so far for a prospect who... As usual, Lawrence made good throws against Indianapolis this week, including a nice sideline dime to Jamal Agnew that fell incomplete, but there was also plenty of bad. He fumbled the ball while trying to escape the pocket into multiple defenders and forced a pass into double coverage on the run, netting out to another overall PFF grade in the 50s —... The situation in Jacksonville isn’t great, but even with that context, you would have expected to see more from Lawrence at this point in the year. As the 2023 NFL draft nears, we're looking back on the first-round selections from past drafts, beginning with 2021. How did teams do with their first-round picks that year?

What grades have players earned? Here's an updated breakdown after two seasons. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka keeps getting better. He is a fine interior pass rusher and is becoming a dominant player on the edge. He has 8 sacks and 11 tackles for losses. Overall, 69 tackles.

Plenty of room to grow for the linebacker from Washington. Grade: B- Odafe Oweh was in on 76 tackles overall and had 8 sacks in his first two seasons. The former Penn State star got off to a fast start and the Ravens hope he improves with experience. Grade: C Gregory Rousseau doubled his sack total from 4 to 8 in 2022 while playing in 4 fewer games.

The Bills' defense is stellar and Rousseau is becoming a key piece. Grade: B After an impressive rookie season, Eric Stokes made it through nine games before being lost to injury. There is no guarantee he will be ready for the start of 2023. Such leads to a lower grade. Grade: C

Half a season does not make an NFL player's career, but as a draft analyst it's only natural that I check in on the rookies at the midway point of the regular season, right? Like Justin Jefferson before him, Ja'Marr Chase has future superstar written all over him, and the quarterbacks have been, well, lousy out of the gate. Let's assign grades for the play of the first-round picks from the 2021 NFL Draft halfway through their debut seasons as professionals. And these grades are strictly performance-based. I did not factor in cost of trading up/down. Lawrence has not played like a once-in-a-generation prospect through seven games.

Just hasn't. Sure, the environment in Jacksonville is hardly helping. And it's understandable that a No. 1 overall pick takes his lumps through the first half of his rookie season. We've seen it many times before. However, in September, Lawrence was routinely clanking layup-type throws and playing uncharacteristically panicked inside the pocket.

Toward the end of October, he started to resemble the Clemson version of himself a bit more, yet Lawrence has a ways to go before he's remotely close to meeting his massive expectations. November 6, 2025, 9:49am EST 479 • By Alex Hoegler The 2025 NFL first round was packed with quarterback drama, surprise risers, and blue-chip defenders expected to become instant cornerstones. Now that we’re halfway through the season, the early returns are finally clear. Some rookies have exceeded expectations and become immediate impact players, while others are still struggling to adjust to the league’s speed and physicality. From breakout stars reshaping their franchises to first-round gambles that haven’t paid off yet, we break down how every 2025 first-round pick has performed so far — and what their trajectory looks like heading...

It’s unfair to fully blame Ward for the Tennessee Titans’ struggles. But like, Caleb Williams and Robert Griffin III had excellent rookie years on horrible teams with textbook coaching malpractice. Ward is barely completing over half his pass attempts, is in danger of finishing with more interceptions than passing touchdowns, and, oh yeah, has his Titans in a spot to potentially pick first overall... The first round of the 2021 NFL Draft is in the books and we saw a ton of interesting selections on Thursday night. Who improved the most? Who struggled to make the most out of their picks?

Find out as we put a letter grade on all 32 picks in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Trevor Lawrence was the obvious pick for the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 1 and they did not screw it up. This was an easy decision but they do deserve some credit for not overthinking it. Make no mistake about it, Trevor Lawrence will immediately take this franchise to the next level. Do not be surprised to see this completely turn it around right away.

One pick after the Jags landed Lawrence, the New York Jets found themselves a franchise quarterback of their own. Zach Wilson is an exciting quarterback prospect who improvises extremely well and undoubtedly has massive upside at the next level. He is not quite as clean of a prospect as Lawrence, but Wilson is undoubtedly an extremely talented player who will likely help the Jets get on track. I would have rather seen Justin Fields here, but at least the San Francisco 49ers did not trade away a ton of capital to reach for Mac Jones. Trey Lance was a strong pick for the 49ers at No. 3.

His combination of arm talent and athleticism at the quarterback position is consistently impressive and the 49ers will put him in a great position to shine. Fields may not start over Jimmy Garoppolo right away, but he undoubtedly raises the ceiling of this franchise. In Kyle Pitts, the Atlanta Falcons were able to snag arguably the best prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft class not named Trevor Lawrence. Pitts is a dynamic playmaker at the tight end position who is going to be a consistent matchup nightmare at the next level. Adding Pitts to the offensive attack with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley makes this passing game incredibly dangerous at all times. Many of the NFL’s first-round rookies are contributing to playoff contenders as we head into the latter stretch of the 2025 season.

As always, we’ll continue to track their performance, PFF grades and principal opponents as we barrel toward the end of the regular season. Hunter was inactive this week due to a knee injury. Immediate draft grades provide a foundation for future evaluations. Waiting three years to assess draft classes without accounting for how the decision was viewed at the time usually leads to revisionist history. These 2025 NFL Draft snap grades reflect the value I think each pick (or set of picks) has, given the slot and the prospect's college film/athleticism scores. Trades, and the capital exchanged (both picks and players), are factored into these grades, too, as they also play a significant part in determining the future of a franchise.

Grading All 32 First Round Picks After Week 10 Of The 2021 Nfl Season

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