We’re live grading Day 3 of the draft over here, if you’re so inclined.
Grades and analysis from the NFL Draft’s 2nd and 3rd rounds on Friday
Let’s size up how the league’s 32 teams did.
Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Here, picks in the NFL Draft’s second and third rounds received immediate grades of good, fine, or bad. It’s true that no one knows how a pick will work out when it’s made, of course. If you’re looking for grades from Saturday’s rounds as they unfold, go here.
The most recent draft picks appear at the top of this page. Round 4 begins at noon ET Saturday, and the seven-round draft concludes in the evening. Here’s the full picks list.
Third round
Pick No. 100: The Chiefs select Dorian O’Daniel, Clemson OLB.
Grade: Good. A tackling machine who took part in 12 run stuffs and defensed seven passes. Versatile dude.
Pick No. 99: The Broncos select Isaac Yiadom, Boston College CB.
Grade: Fine. He’s nice and physical. Not insanely fast, but could be fine in the right scheme.
Pick No. 98: The Texans select Jordan Akins, UCF TE.
Grade: Good. Hey, any time you can nab a member of the national champ, you do so. Especially if he combined 260-plus pounds with 16 yards per catch.
Pick No. 97: The Cardinals select Mason Cole, Michigan C.
Grade: Fine? He was versatile enough to play center and tackle in Ann Arbor. We’ll see if he does either particularly well.
Pick No. 96: The Bills select Harrison Phillips, Stanford DT.
Grade: Good! Forgot he was still on the board. Thought he had borderline first-round potential at one point.
Pick No. 95: The 49ers select Tarvarius Moore, Southern Miss S.
Grade: Fine. He’s skinny, but he was a ball-hawk with run-supporting capabilities in Hattiesburg.
Pick No. 94: The Bucs select Alex Cappa, Humboldt State OT.
Grade: Fine? Or great? Maybe bad?
Yeah, grade: A+++++++++++.
Pick No. 93: The Jaguars select Ronnie Harrison, Alabama S.
Grade: Good. Overshadowed by Minkah Fitzpatrick, Harrison is big and well-rounded. He’s also Bama.
Pick No. 92: The Steelers select Chukwuma Okorafor, WMU OT.
Grade: Fine. He’s big, athletic, and played a key role on WMU’s best team ever. All-American, too.
Pick No. 91: The Saints select Tre’Quan Smith, UCF WR.
Grade: Fine. Lots of solid WRs in this draft, and Smith is one of them. He wasn’t incredibly efficient, though, and we’ll see if he can compensate with big-play ability.
Pick No. 90: The Falcons select Deadrin Senat, USF DT.
Grade: Fine. Senat is an angry bowling ball. He’s also not Maurice Hurst.
Pick No. 89: The Rams select Joe Noteboom, TCU OT.
Pick No. 88: The Packers select Oren Burks, Vanderbilt OLB.
Grade: Okay. Burks is above average physically and was above average at Vandy. Figure you’d want more with a third-round pick.
Pick No. 87: The Raiders select Arden Key, LSU DE.
Grade: Good. Man, basically every interesting LSU prospect went 10 to 25 spots lower than we would have guessed.
Pick No. 86: The Ravens select Mark Andrews, Oklahoma TE.
Grade: Good. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg got one of the most unique QBs in the land with first-round pick Lamar Jackson, and now he gets one of the most unique pass catchers. Andrews is either a fast tight end or a bulky wideout. Either way, he’s a weapon for a creative OC. Or, you know, just a tweener without a place in the world.
Pick No. 85: The Panthers select Rashaan Gaulden, Tennessee CB.
Grade: Fine. Weird player. Gaulden was almost better against the run than the pass. Solid upside, of course, but still. Weird.
Pick No. 84: The Chargers select Justin Jones, NC State DT.
Grade: Fine. This has to be bittersweet for NC State fans. Three defensive linemen picked in the first three rounds, but three tight losses ruined what could have been a huge season.
Pick No. 83: The Ravens select Orlando Brown, Oklahoma OT.
Grade: Good. Guess we get to find out just how much those Combine stats matter, huh? Brown was a dominant college player who flunked pretty much every physical test. We’ll see what means more.
Pick No. 82: The Lions select Tracy Walker, UL Lafayette S.
Grade: What now? Wow, okay, sure. Walker’s a solid athlete with solid size and solid stats. Didn’t really expect to hear his name until midway through tomorrow.
Pick No. 81: The Cowboys select Michael Gallup, Colorado State WR.
Grade: Good! Dallas needs receiver help, and Gallup was insanely productive at CSU. If he runs a 4.46 40 instead of a 4.51, he’s probably a second-rounder.
Pick No. 80: The Texans select Martinas Rankin, Mississippi State OT.
Grade: Kind of a reach. Rankin was a tackle in college but might have to move inside. He’s beefy enough, but this is another “feels like a fourth-rounder” situation.
Pick No. 79: The Seahawks select Rasheem Green, USC DE.
Grade: Fine? Green will play DE in the pros, which makes sense since he was basically a pass-rush specialist ... as a 3-4 DE last year. Unique.
Picks No. 77 and 78: The Bengals select Sam Hubbard, Ohio State DE, and Malik Jefferson, Texas OLB.
Grade: Good and good. Hubbard probably needs a little more weight but is nicely well-rounded, and Jefferson is much better against the run than you think a 240-pounder should be.
Pick No. 76: The Steelers select Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State QB.
Grade: GREAT! First of all, Rudolph’s a lovely talent to land in the third round, and he could be an excellent Big Ben understudy. Second of all, the band is getting back together!!
Pick No. 75: The Chiefs selects Derrick Nnadi, Florida State DT.
Grade: Iffy to fine. Nnadi’s hard to move. He’s also not Maurice Hurst.
Pick No. 74: Washington selects Geron Christian, Louisville OT.
Grade: Fine. It’s almost impossible to come up with a strong opinion here. He’s got a solid frame, good feet ... basically a third-round prospect in every way.
Pick No. 73: The Dolphins select Jerome Baker, Ohio State OLB.
Grade: Good. By this point in the draft, good grades basically come when you react to a pick with “Oh right, that guy was still on the board! He should have gone 15 picks ago!”
Pick No. 72: The Jets select Nathan Shepherd, Fort Hays State DT.
Grade: Fine. Love it when the small-school guys get picked, and Shepherd’s big and quick, but ... isn’t it about time someone picks up Maurice Hurst?
Pick No. 71: The Broncos select Royce Freeman, Oregon RB.
Grade: GREAT. In terms of efficiency potential, Freeman and Derrius Guice might have been the safest bets on the board. And the Broncos got one of them in the third round.
Pick No. 70: The 49ers select Fred Warner, BYU ILB.
Grade: Kind of a reach? You probably can’t go too wrong picking a BYU linebacker at any point, and he was a super-steady performer over the last three years. Just feels more like a fourth-rounder, is all.
Pick No. 69: The Giants select B.J. Hill, NC State DT.
Grade: Good. Hill was a nice space eater next to Bradley Chubb, and he appears capable of lining up in either a 1-gap or 2-gap system up front.
Pick No. 68: The Texans select Justin Reid, Stanford S.
Grade: Fine. Reid was a jack of all trades for Stanford last year: first in tackles, first in passes defensed, fourth in TFLs, fourth in run stuffs.
Pick No. 67: The Browns select Chad Thomas, Miami DE.
Grade: Fine. Thomas did some solid things under the tutelage of defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski. He carries 281 pounds without looking all that bulky.
Pick No. 66: The Giants select Lorenzo Carter, Georgia OLB.
Grade: Fine. The former blue-chipper has all the athleticism you’re looking for, if in a relatively lean package, though he never had more than 7.5 TFLs in a season.
Pick No. 65: The Raiders select Brandon Parker, North Carolina A&T OT.
Grade: Good. An enormous (6’8, 305) four-year starter for maybe the most consistently strong HBCU squad. Quite a transition to make, of course, but massive ceiling.
Second round
Pick No. 64: The Colts select Tyquan Lewis, Ohio State DE.
Grade: Fine. Like Davis, his size is fine (6’3, 269), and he was productive for three season: 34 tackles for loss, 23 sacks. And he’s been playing in a pro-style Greg Schiano defense.
Pick No. 63: The Buccaneers select Carlton Davis, Auburn CB.
Grade: Fine. He’s got good size (6’1, 203) and defensed 33 passes in three active seasons for the Tigers.
Pick No. 62: The Vikings select Brian O’Neill, Pitt OL.
Grade: Good. Nay, great. The Vikings had a chance to take not only an athletic lineman, but a Piesman-winning athletic lineman. How are you going to pass that up?
Pick No. 61: The Jaguars select D.J. Chark, LSU WR.
Grade: Good. Granted, he’s leaps and bounds slower than his teammate Donte Jackson, as he only runs a 4.34 40. But while he’s not the most efficient guy in the draft, he’s crazy-fast.
Pick No. 60: The Steelers select James Washington, Oklahoma State WR.
Grade: Good. He was kind of the best receiver in college football over the last two years. Sounds like a pretty good reason to take him. He’s also super unique.
Pick No. 59: Washington selects Derrius Guice, LSU RB.
Grade: Good, as long as whatever off-field stuff reportedly caused him to fall in the draft doesn’t manifest into problems during his career. He’s a great running back.
Pick No. 58: The Falcons select Isaiah Oliver, Colorado CB.
Grade: Good. He comes from a great athletic family. Also, he’s just good.
Pick No. 57: The Raiders select P.J. Hall, Sam Houston State DT.
Grade: Good. He’s got some Aaron Donald-ish qualities.
Pick No. 56: The Patriots select Duke Dawson, Florida CB.
Grade: Good. Bill Belichick drafted him. I’m sold.
Pick No. 55: The Panthers select Donte Jackson, LSU CB.
Grade: Good. His 4.32 40 time was the best at the NFL Combine.
Pick No. 54: The Bengals select Jessie Bates, Wake Forest S.
Grade: Good. He’s a fluid DB who closes on the ball well and draws rave reviews for playing a smart brand of safety. Sounds good.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Pick No. 53: The Buccaneers select M.J. Stewart, North Carolina CB.
Grade: Bad. Stewart has created an array of off-field problems, and have you seen North Carolina’s defense over the last few years? Not exciting.
Pick No. 52: The Colts select Kemoko Turay, Rutgers DE/LB.
Grade: Bad. This is just me being mean to Rutgers. He might well do fine.
Pick No. 51: The Bears select Anthony Miller, Memphis WR.
Grade: Good. Miller put up huge numbers at Memphis, and he’s a good enough athlete to contribute in the NFL as a regular starter.
Pick No. 50. The Cowboys select Connor Williams, Texas OL.
Grade: Good. He’s a Cowboys fan. That’s pretty good for draft day!
Pick No. 49: The Eagles select Dallas Goedert, South Dakota State TE.
Grade: Good. I respect so much that the Eagles just traded up to pick a tight end one spot ahead of the Cowboys, hours after Jason Witten’s retirement broke in the news. And to do it while you’re reigning Super Bowl champions and the draft is in the Cowboys’ stadium? Damn.
Pick No. 48: The Chargers select Uchenna Nwosu, USC LB.
Grade: Fine. USC blog Conquest Chronicles explains:
One of Nwosu’s strengths is his speed and explosiveness coming off the edge. In a lot of USC’s games, Nwosu’s ability to quickly get into the backfield disrupted a lot of opposing offenses. It’s almost unfair on how fast he can get to the quarterback. Not only does he benefit off of the speed off the edge but his athletic ability and length gives him an advantage too
Pick No. 47: The Cardinals select Christian Kirk, Texas A&M WR.
Grade: Good. Kirk is a talent, and he already acts like a pro:
Kirk’s work ethic came in handy upon arriving in College Station. He played a lot of running back in high school, and needed to work on becoming a true receiver. It’s something that then-Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin raved about in a phone call with SB Nation.
“As a really young player, he put in the extra time and the extra work with his body to not only get stronger, but everything with nutrition, flexibility, you name it,” Sumlin said. “What usually takes a lot of college players time, he embraced his physical maintenance early in his career, and approached it really like a pro does.”
Pick No. 46: The Chiefs select Breeland Speaks, Ole Miss DL.
Grade: Good. Mainly because Speaks once did this in-game:
Pick No. 45: The Packers select Josh Jackson, Iowa CB.
Grade: Good. Jackson’s developed into a great corner. He gets lots of picks. He’ll pair well with Jaire Alexander, the Louisville corner the Packers took in the first round.
Pick No. 44: The 49ers select Dante Pettis, Washington WR.
Grade: Fine. They traded up to get him, but he’s a great return man and can provide value there in addition to as an inside or outside receiver.
Pick No. 43: The Lions select Kerryon Johnson, Auburn RB.
Grade: Fine. Johnson didn’t really turn it on until the end of his career at Auburn, and I don’t know if he’s a special talent. But he could start in the NFL for a while if things go right.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Pick No. 42: The Dolphins select Mike Gesicki, Penn State TE.
Grade: Good. This dude is wildly athletic.
Pick No. 41: The Titans select Harold Landry, Boston College DE.
Grade: Good. Landry has the upside to be the best pass-rusher in this draft, even better than Bradley Chubb. He led FBS with 16.5 sacks in 2016, before injuries hobbled him last year. Here’s a detailed scouting report that will make you like him even more.
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
Pick No. 40: The Broncos select Courtland Sutton, SMU WR.
Grade: Good. Sutton is a baller. Scouting report:
I don’t know that Sutton showed that he can be spectacular, but I do think from his tape it’s safe to say the he can at least be really good. With his size and athleticism, that translates in to the late first round/early second round area. If he is drafted in that area or later, Courtland Suttonhas enough potential and a high enough ceiling that he will have a legit chance to be one of the steals of this draft.
He joins another SMU receiver, Emmanuel Sanders, in Denver.
Pick No. 39: The Bears select James Daniels, Iowa C.
Grade: Good. Take it away, former NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz:
Plus, Daniels gets to stay in the Big Ten. (That’s a Big Ten joke. Ha!)
Pick No. 38: The Buccaneers select Ronald Jones II, USC RB.
Grade: Fine. Running back value is questionable in general, but Jones is a whale of an athlete and has a great blend of power and speed.
Picks No. 36-37: The Colts select Darius Leonard, South Carolina State OLB, and Braden Smith, Auburn OL.
Grades: Fine and Good. Let’s focus on Smith, a great lineman for Auburn who also happens to be one of the most menacing weight-room warriors in this draft.
Pick No. 35: The Browns select Nick Chubb, Georgia RB.
Grade: Fine. Chubb is a workhorse back. He wasn’t all that explosive at Georgia, but he tested well at the NFL Combine and runs incredibly hard. He’ll be a nice part of the toolbox for Baker Mayfield, Tyrod Taylor, or whoever’s taking the Browns’ snaps.
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Pick No. 34: The Giants select Will Hernandez, UTEP OG.
Grade: Good. I remain skeptical of offensive linemen from mid-major schools, but the tape on Hernandez is so convincing that I’m cool with this. He was really good in a game against the Big 12’s Oklahoma last year, and he’ll play immediate at left guard. He’s an absolute unit.
Pick No. 33: The Browns select Austin Corbett, Nevada OL.
Grade: Not Great. I’m inherently skeptical of offensive linemen from mid-major schools.
The first round of the 2018 NFL Draft is in the books. Here’s a detailed collection of winners and losers (to the best extent we can figure them out) from Thursday night’s opener. And here are grades for all 32 teams, highlighted by the Cardinals and Ravens getting high marks for landing QBs Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson at No. 10 and 32, respectively.
Every year, the first round is the draft’s most dramatic night, for obvious reasons. But the second and third rounds present great value opportunities. The players who come off the board in those rounds on Friday aren’t really part of a hunt for diamonds in the rough. Just about all of them were college stars, and many of them will play immediately for their new teams — some in sub packages, but plenty as starting-caliber players.
The second round starts at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPN. You can stream at here. As the rounds go on, SB Nation’s staff will update this post with grades and analysis on every pick (or pretty close to every pick). If an up-to-the-minute tracker is more your thing, we’ve got that, too. You can also watch on the NFL Network and Fox.
Rounds 4 through 7 are on Saturday, starting at noon ET.
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