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Nfl Draft Rewind Grading The First Round Picks From 2021

Bonisiwe Shabane
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nfl draft rewind grading the first round picks from 2021

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 While NFL teams do their best to forecast which prospects will translate best to the next level, the reality is that franchises rarely get a pick exactly right. But what would a draft look like if teams had the benefit of hindsight? PFF has world-class data for every player on every play in every NFL game, dating back to the 2006 season. Knowing what we know now, here is how the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft could have looked.

Any trades made during the original draft were reversed, while trades made before the draft were kept in place. Original Pick: QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson The 2021 NFL Draft produced some superstars, including Micah Parsons, Ja'Marr Chase, Penei Sewell and Patrick Surtain II. While Trevor Lawrence hasn’t quite lived up to the hype just yet, the Jacksonville Jaguars still stick with him as the No. 1 pick. 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.

You are reading Danny Kelly’s draft grades. Kelly dished out grades and analysis for every pick made in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft. How did your team fare? The 2021 NFL Draft class is 4 years into their careers and in today’s video we’re going to be going back and grading the first half of the first round of the 2021 draft... We have now graded the 2022 – 2024 draft classes for anyone interested and those videos will be linked at the end. The 2021 class was a very interesting class as there were 5 quarterbacks selected in the top 15 picks and there were – dare we say it – not just one – but multiple...

I know that’s a strong word, but I think it’s applicable to the 2021 draft. We will be going in reverse order so we will be starting with the Cardinals selection of Zaven Collins, and finishing with the Jags selection of Trevor Lawrence. And we all know why we’re here so without further ado – let’s begin 16 – Zaven Collins was the Cardinals first round pick back in 2021 and we often talk about quarterbacks being victims of franchises failing as them as players – or having a GM take... Not with the last gasp effort to the GM’s job part – but the not having a plan with this player long term part. Zaven Collins has been used in several different ways since being drafted back in 2021 – including the first two years of his career at middle linebacker – before eventually settling in at edge...

Collins is a really good run defending edge and there’s a purpose for players like that in the NFL. But drafting a run setting edge at number 16 overall after he failed at inside linebacker in the first few years of his career is not a good draft process. I credit Jonathan Gannon for getting more out of Zaven Collins – than the previous regime did – but that doesn’t make this pick a good one due to a slight improvement over the... I think Zaven Collins has a role in the NFL – and will for quite some time – but I also think it’s fair to say he was underwhelming as a first round pick. It’s fair to say he’s a solid player you’d like to have on your roster – at least where he is now in his career – but it’s also fair to say he wasn’t... And 4 years later this gets a C

15 – Mac Jones was the 5th quarterback selected in the first round and believe it or not – there was a point in time where he looked like the was going to be... He finished second in offensive rookie of the year voting back in 2021 behind the Bengals Ja’Marr Chase and led the Patriots to a postseason appearance. Sure they got beat – and even killed by Buffalo in the 2021 wild card round of the playoffs – but the future looked bright for Mac and the Patriots. There was a very real thought at a time that they were going to transition from Tom Brady to Mac Jones – and yes there was a year in between the two – but... But unfortunately that unraveled pretty quick and over the next two years- Mac was just 8-17 as a starter and in those 25 games – threw 24 touchdowns to 23 interceptions. The Patriots knew they had to do something at the quarterback position entering the 2024 offseason and they eventually drafted Drake Maye.

We obviously know the Mac Jones era ended on a sour note – but I don’t think this grade is as simple as he’s not good now and this is an F. This will also apply to another player later in the video. Mac looked really good in his rookie year at times and while that obviously didn’t last – that does count for something and he played a big part in the Patriots most recent postseason... 4 years later this is a D. 14 – The Jets traded up with the Vikings from pick 23 for their second first round pick of the night which was USC offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker. I liked AVT a lot as a prospect as I thought he was a really good player and a guy who could start at any guard or tackle position – regardless of side –...

And through 4 years – he’s played at every position along the offensive line outside of Center. Unfortunately Vera-Tucker has yet to play in a full 17 game season though he played in at least 15 games twice. He suffered a torn triceps injury back in 2022, and had an achilles in 2023 which prematurely ended his second and third seasons in the NFL. 2024 was a now or never year for Vera-Tucker and he played really good for the Jets this past year. Now as we often discuss on the channel – availability is the best ability and unfortunately AVT has only played in 43 of 68 possible career games – meaning he’s missed 37% of all... Injuries are unfortunately apart of the game and I think this has to be factored into the grade.

AVT was a bright spot for the Jets this past year and I do think he is a pro bowl level talent when healthy – or an A level talent from a grade perspective... 13 – Rashawn Slater was the second tackle off the board in the 2021 class and I really liked this pick at the time for a few reasons. I thought Slater was an elite left tackle prospect and that both his tape and his pre draft measurements backed it up. Benching 33 reps while having a 94th percentile 10 yard split as well as a 94th percentile short shuttle alleviated any concerns I had about his arm length. Not only that, but I really liked the idea of drafting your franchise quarterback and your franchise left tackle in back to back drafts. Both players are young and can grow together and more often than not – both Slater and Justin Herbert play well and as we saw in 2024 – it resulted in a lot more...

Unfortunately Rahsawn tore his biceps just a few games into the 2022 season and missed most of the year, but he bounced back in a big way in 2023 and especially 2024 as he... Rashawn Slater has not signed his contract extension yet, but when we discuss teams bringing in offensive lineman through free agency or trade – and discuss how great offensive lineman usually don’t leave their... As long as he stays healthy – he should be the Chargers starting left tackle for the next 4 or 5 years and that’s not an exaggeration to say. He does a good job both in the pass and run game and this is an A+ With the 2022 NFL Draft rapidly approaching, we pause to look back to the 2021 class and offer up a grade for all 32 picks from Round 1 a year ago The 2022 NFL Draft is nearly here and there will be a lot of hope gained during that process.

It’s really the theme of the draft every season as teams that have the lower picks are trying to rebuild their franchise while the ones selecting later are trying to stay on top. As exciting as it all is, it’s hard to really tell how good a draft is until we see the players on the field. In the end, we need several years to accurately judge a draft but here, we go ahead and take a look back to 2021 and hand out a grade for the last NFL rookie... Trevor Lawrence was going to be the No. 1 pick in this draft and everyone knew it for years. The Clemson star was head and shoulders above every other passer for years, and he was thought to be the most pro-ready prospect since Andrew Luck back in 2012.

How well did your team fare in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft? Sporting News has you covered in tracking all the picks and issuing grades beginning in real time Thursday night. Going on the clock in Cleveland, the spotlight again is on the quarterbacks, starting with the first three picks. But there's plenty of franchise-changing talent at other positions both in terms of immediate impact and long-term shine. MORE 2021 NFL DRAFT:Full results | Winners & losers | Team-by-team grades The key questions to ask right away: Did the team get the right player at a position of need?

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