The 2024 NFL Draft class is one year into their NFL careers and this isn’t every year we say this – but this class was absolutely loaded. And I think you’ll see that in today’s video as we go back and grade picks one year later. In todays’ video we will be grading picks 17-32 in reverse order – meaning we still start with the Panthers selection of Xavier Legette – and finish with the Vikings selection of pass rusher Dallas Turner. Picks 1-16 will be out next week and we’ve been doing draft grade videos for a few years – and I know people absolutely love the draft grade videos and this is a series we will be doing once a week for the next few months. And we all know why we’re here so without further ado – let’s begin
32 – The Carolina Panthers traded up one spot from pick 33 with the Buffalo Bills to draft South Carolina’s Xavier Legette. Legette was the 7th wide receiver drafted in the first round and finished his rookie season with 49 receptions for 497 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. It was a very up and down year for Legette and the Panthers and especially Xavier as he was credited with 8 drops alone in 2024. He of course had the big drop against the Eagles in week 14, but I thought the flashes with Xavier were there. Because the first half of the Panthers season was so hectic – I wouldn’t have expected all that much from Legette when you factor everything in. I mean he had 18 receptions in his first 7 games and 6 came in one game alone. He started to pick it up a bit down the stretch as he had at least 3 receptions in 7 of his final 9 games in his rookie year and I do think he is a breakout candidate entering 2025. He has an electric personality, his work ethic has been noted countless times, and he had surgery on his wrist for an injury that dated back to 2021 and obviously that plays a big part in his job – which of course is catching the football. Right now I would give this a C+ with the grade expected to rise pretty significantly in 2025.
31 – Ricky Pearsall was the 49ers first round pick and this is not a normal pick to grade by any means. Ricky was shot right before the season started and we are all obviously glad he is okay and that he still with first and foremost – but because of this event – and this life changing moment – Ricky understandably didn’t play for the first several weeks of the season. He was shot on August 31st, and made his debut less than two months later on October 20th against the Chiefs. Pearsall had 132 receiving yards in his first 3 games, then only recorded 2 receptions over his next 5 games despite playing 165 snaps during this span. I don’t think it was a matter of Ricky not being good enough or a potential first round disappointment by any means – because he finished his rookie year by having 247 yards and 2 touchdowns during the final 3 games – including a 141 yard game against the Lions on Monday night. He finished his rookie year with 400 receiving yards on the dot and I have to be honest – this is one of the most difficult picks to grade because there’s a lot to factor in. I think he has the talent to be a really good player in this league, and if you wanted to go with incomplete – I would be fine with that. But for the sake of this video – Ricky Pearsall gets a B-
30 – Nate Wiggins the talented corner from Clemson is up and we’ll say this about another player shortly – but I thought this was a very Baltimore Ravens pick and I mean that in the absolute best way. There was a lot of conversation about Nate Wiggins heading into the draft about him not being heavy enough as a player and that there were injury concerns. But in typical Ravens fashion – they drafted a good player and he’s already proving them right. I honestly think Nate had a pretty underrated year and isn’t being talked about probably the way he should be. And it makes sense with some of the other defensive players in this class – but outside of a few penalties here and there – which is going to happen for every corner at times – let alone a rookie 21 year old corner in the first few games of his career – the year he had was pretty positive all things considered. He didn’t miss as many tackles as I thought he would with the size concerns – at least it wasn’t noticeably high compared to other players and I think the Ravens have a starting corner for the next couple of seasons. Not an elite rookie season, but a very good one and we give this an A-
29 – Tyler Guyton was the 8th tackle selected in the 2024 draft and was also making the transition from right tackle – which he played at Oklahoma to left tackle and at times he played like it. He was welcomed into the NFL by the one and only Myles Garrett and was attributed with allowing a sack in each of his first 4 games. However after getting through the first 4 games – he allowed only 2 sacks for the rest of the year and I do think he got better as the season went on. He was only 22 years old during his rookie season and also battled injury and like you would expect from the 8th tackle selected in a draft class – there was a lot of growing pains. He had 8 penalties as a rookie which is obviously not good, but I would also argue he was set up to fail in some ways as he was a right tackle in college, then switched to an incredibly difficult position to play and was basically told “go make it happen”. I think that needs to be noted because there were flashes from Guyton – but I don’t like the way the front office handled this in a myriad of ways. One year later this is a C+
28 – The Kansas City Chiefs traded up in the draft to go get the speedster Xavier Worthy and in his rookie year – Worthy would go on to have 742 total yards and 9 total touchdowns. His usage was always going to be interesting to me because I didn’t know how Kansas City would get the ball in his hands. He opens the year against Baltimore with a 2 touchdown game, then was quiet for a few weeks before having a 73 yard game against the Chargers. KC really started using him around week 10 and he became a more prominent player in the offense down the stretch of the season. If you took the final 7 games he played in the 2024 regular season – and translated it to a full 17 game season – he would have been on pace for 95 receptions, 952 yards, and 7 receiving touchdowns along with an additional 163 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. Obviously with who his quarterback is – the sky is the limit for Xavier especially in this offense. He is only 21 years old and I can’t wait to see what he does in 2025 because I think he will progressively get better. This was an all time receiving class and one year later this is a B+
27 – Darius Robinson was the Cardinals 2nd first round selection of the night as their first was of course used on wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr and unfortunately Darius didn’t make his debut until week 13 against the Vikings. In those 6 games he had 10 total tackles, and a sack. He missed most of the year due to a calf injury and a lot of the time you see rookie defensive lineman gradually get better as the season goes on because they get more and more accustomed to the NFL and what it requires each and every week – especially in the trenches. But because Darius missed most of the year – this was effectively a red shirt year for him and he only played 184 total snaps. He was adjusting to the physicality of the NFL and also had a personal tragedy mixed in with this. I bring this up because there was a lot going on here with Darius Robinson in his rookie season and he didn’t start a game during his rookie season while recovering from injury. It was good to see him get his feet wet in 2024, but one year later this is incomplete.
26 – Graham Barton was a prospect I liked a lot coming out of Duke and I thought for sure that Green Bay was going to snatch him up one pick earlier than Tampa Bay did. Obviously Baker Mayfield had a tremendous season as he threw for over 40 touchdowns. Tampa fans know this – and this is a common them with the Bucs – but I don’t think that was discussed enough. Some of Baker’s success can absolutely be attributed to the center of the pocket consistently being clean and Graham Barton played a big part within that. I am a firm believer that if an offensive lineman is having success – and consistent success – at 21 or 22 years old – then I think they will continue to be a good player because of how difficult it is to play offensive line in the NFL – let alone at such a young age. I think he’ll rebound from an early snap against the Commanders in the playoffs, and I also don’t think that should impact his grade at all. I like Graham Barton. A lot. He had a good rookie season and this is an A-
25 – Jordan Morgan the versatile offensive lineman from Arizona was the Packers first round pick and he played sparingly at right guard during his rookie season. He only started one game which was against the Lions in week 9 and actually started at left guard – before being placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. He was fine when he played, but only logged 186 snaps during his rookie season and only recorded one start. He only played 30 snaps or more in a game twice – and if I had to give a grade here it would probably be a B+, but I’m not going to force a grade on a player with a pretty limited sample size. I liked him a lot as a prospect, and I think he will be fine in 2025 and beyond – assuming he stays healthy of course. For now, an incomplete grade
24 – Terrion Arnold was the Lions first round pick and I liked this pick a lot when it was made because I thought corner was one of the Lions biggest needs entering the 2024 draft – and I also liked that they traded directly in front of the division rival Packers to go get who they thought was their guy. Terrion played most of his rookie season and like you would expect from a 21 year old rookie corner – there were a lot of ups and downs. He had several penalties early on and there were some people that saw those penalties early on and assumed that’s how the rest of his rookie season went – but that wasn’t the case. He had 8 penalties called on him in the first 4 games of the year – but only had 2 the rest of the year. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows from week 4 on – but I think there is something to build on as he enters year 2 at just 22 years old. Admittedly I probably would have liked to have seen a little more from him – but to say he’s a bust or a disappointing player after one year would be ridiculous. I’ll be eager to see how Terrion and the defense play in 2025 with a new defensive coordinator, and for now this is a B
23 – Brian Thomas Jr was the 4th receiver taken in the 2024 draft but one year in he has the most receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He is 3rd in receptions behind only Brock Bowers and Malik Nabers – each of whom had over 105 receptions in 2024. This certainly also applies to Bowers and Nabers as well – but BTJ accomplished everything he did with not great quarterback play for a lot of the year. In the final 5 games of 2024 – Brian Thomas had 41 receptions for 517 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns with Mac Jones as his quarterback. He finished the year 87 receptions for nearly 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns and somehow someway – missed the pro bowl. He is already an elite receiver and I can’t wait to see what a healthy Trevor Lawrence and BTJ can do for the next several years because Trevor Lawrence is just 25 years old, and Brian Thomas is just 22. The future of the Jags is bright with these two and I loved Thomas Jr coming out of LSU and thought he was a tremendous pick up for the Jags when the pick was made – but I’d be lying if I said I thought he would be this good this early. He had 10 games with 80 or more yards in 2024 including 4 100 yard games and this is an A+
22- Quinyon Mitchell was the first corner taken off the board and when this pick was made I thought this was a classic Howie Roseman selection in every sense. He sat back, let the chips fall as they may – and took the best player available – which of course in typical Howie Roseman fashion – conveniently aligned with what the Eagles needed. And I said that because Howie Roseman is one of the best in the business. And so is Quinyon Mitchell just one year later. This pick is so good that there’s really not a lot to say that you either don’t know – or already don’t think yourself. It got to to the point where during his rookie season teams just looked the other way and I don’t blame them. Having a corner you can stick out there and just say take away a side of the field is huge and Quinyon looks to be a multiple time pro bowler. Per PFF – he was targeted 6 times in the wild card win against Green Bay – and allowed 2 receptions for 10 yards – and had an opposing passer rating of just 2.8 when targeted. For anyone who may remember the mid season grade video – we made a joke about calling this an A grade rather than A+ and there were several comments about how people thought it was serious for a second – but this grade is the same as it was during the middle of the year. An easy A+
21 – Chop Robinson was a pick I liked a lot for the Dolphins because even in the worst case scenario I thought he could be a rotational rusher for Miami and that he could be a guy to bring in on obvious pass rushing downs. But Chop must have missed that memo because he had 56 pressures in his rookie year and finished 2nd in the 2024 class in sacks with 6. I am a firm believer that you can never have enough pass rushing or corner depth and from a situation standpoint – I really liked the idea of Chop getting to learn behind Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips – even if both players were hurt. Chop played most of his rookie season at 21 years old as he turned 22 on January 2nd and I also think that’s a positive because in theory – he should only get stronger as he gets older while retaining his technique and ability to rush the passer. I also think with the success that Rams pass rusher Jared Verse had in 2024 – that Chop’s rookie season wasn’t talked about enough relative to the year he had. For reference – Chop had 56 pressures on 344 pass rushing snaps this year and Will Anderson – the 2023 defensive rookie of the year – had 59 pressures on 408 pass rushing snaps in 2023. I don’t bring that up to diminish Will Anderson, as much as it is to show the year Chop had. And this may surprise some people – but I really believe this pick deserves an A+ grade.
20 – Troy Fautanu was a prospect I liked a lot and despite drafting him at number 20 overall – I thought the Steelers got a bit of a draft steal when they made the pick. Unfortunately he only played in one game in his entire rookie season which was against Denver in week 2. I thought he looked solid in his only NFL game – but I’m not grading a players rookie season on just 55 snaps. However I like what we saw from him at right tackle, and I think he will be a good player for the Steelers for the next few years. For now – this is incomplete.
19 – Jared Verse was the third edge rusher taken in this class as the Colts selected Laiatu Latu from UCLA at pick 15, and the Vikings selected Dallas Turner from Alabama at pick 17. And despite being the third edge rusher taken – Verse made a significant impact in year 1 and even that’s an understatement. He finished the year with 77 pressures which was good for 4th in the NFL, only behind Trey Hendrickson, Myles Garret, and Jonathan Greenard. Verse and fellow Florida State teammate Braden Fiske played a big part in restoring the Rams defensive line in 2024 and over the last two drafts – GM Les Snead has done a tremendous job in rebuilding the trenches and we’ve seen that with the success the Rams have had. Verse had 12 pressures in the two playoff games he played against Minnesota in Philly on just 62 pass rushing snaps and had 2 sacks in the divisional round against the Eagles. He also had a defensive touchdown against Minnesota in the wild card round – the team that passed over him just two picks prior. Verse only had 4.5 sacks during the regular season, but his presence was felt every single Sunday. I’d be shocked if he’s not a multiple time pro bowler. This is easy. An A+ grade
18 – Amarius Mims was a prospect I liked a lot coming out of Georgia. Every prospect – even the quote on quote – generational ones – has questions or some sort of weakness somewhere. And with Amarius – it was the fact he only started a handful of games at Georgia – but looked like a very good prospect during his time there. Now he was not a generational tackle prospect to be clear – but with Mims only playing a total of 638 snaps in college – there was always going to be a transition period in the NFL. Always. And for reference – he played over 830 snaps during his rookie year and he is only 22 years old. He improved significantly as the season went on which is what I was hoping for with Mims after some rocky times early on. He pitched a shutout against the Titans as he allowed 0 pressures in that game and even entered week 18 against the Steelers late in the game with a broken hand. Mims is a player I like a lot and I think he is a legitimate solution to Joe Burrow not taking as many hits as he did early on his in his career. I would be very surprised if this grade is not significantly higher one year from now – but for Amarius Mims we are going with a B+
17 – Dallas Turner was the Vikings second first round pick of the night as they of course selected quarterback JJ McCarthy earlier in the night. With Dallas specifically – there needs to be context because it’s not every year where you are a first round pick at edge rusher – and have two teammates both finish in the top 10 sacks in Jonathan Greener and Andrew Van Ginkel – both of which made the pro bowl. That is brought up of course because when you have not one – but two pro bowlers in front of you – especially at just 21 years old – that’s going to limit your playing time. I also think this was pick made for the future and that Dallas was always supposed to contribute in a big way in 2025 and beyond. However I do think he was underwhelming when he played outside of a few splash plays here and there – and the Seattle game was a big one for him. I think he is in a great situation to thrive long term – and ultimately I think he will – but his rookie year wasn’t great and one year later this gets a C. I hope you enjoyed the first draft grading article! Thank you for reading and have a great day!
