The 2023 NFL draft class is two years into their careers and some players are off to very promising starts. Some teams like the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions for example – had a tremendous 2023 draft and have won back to back division titles since the 2023 draft and it’s because of drafting guys like CJ Stroud, Will Anderson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta, and Jack Campbell. Both of these teams had phenomenal draft classes and so did the Los Angeles Rams as they drafted guys like Puka Nacua, Byron Young, Steve Avila, and Kobie Turner. But not every team had a draft class like this. Not even close. And in today’s video we’re going to go back and discuss 4 of the worst draft classes from the 2023 class two years later. And I want add a little preface with this – the Browns did not have a first round pick due to the Deshaun Watson trade and they swapped their second round pick with the Jets for the Jets third round pick – so they could bring in receiver Elijah Moore. While it would be easy to talk about the Browns 2023 draft class and include them – and even the 49ers in today’s video as they didn’t have a first round pick due to the Trey Lance trade – we’re not going to include either team in today’s video. Instead we are going to focus on teams that selected in the first round and discuss what went wrong, what the thought process was, and everything in between. And there is a lot to break down in today’s video and without further ado – let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by discussing the New York Giants. The Giants had the 24th pick in the first round of the 2023 draft and this was coming off of a year in which they went 9-7-1 and made the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season. This was in their first year under head coach Brian Daboll and the future genuinely looked bright. While Daniel Jones has never been a truly elite quarterback during his career – he played the best football of his career during the 2022 season as threw for over 3,200 yards and 15 touchdowns and added an additional 700 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns on the ground. The passing numbers obviously weren’t great from DJ in the 2022 season – but the receivers he was throwing to during the 2022 season were receivers like Darius Slayton, Richie James, and Isaiah Hodgins. We bring up the 2022 season with the Giants because everyone knew they needed a receiver heading into the 2023 draft. But what was unfortunate for the Giants – was – not one, or even two receivers were taken directly in front of them in the 2023 draft – but 4. Jaxon Smith Njigba went to Seattle, Quentin Johnston went to the Chargers, Zay Flowers went to the Ravens, and Jordan Addison went to the Vikings and the Giants were the last one standing in a game of musical chairs.
They ended up taking Corner Deonte Banks from Maryland who has been a draft disappointment through two years with their first round pick – and then took Minnesota Center John Michael Schmitz with their second round pick – who has also been a draft disappointment through two years. Deonte Banks didn’t play terrible during his rookie year and there were flashes there – but the wheels came off in 2024 and he was pulled from the Eagles game – largely due to effort. Not only is getting pulled from a game due to a lack of effort bad – but for some statistics to show how disappointing Deonte Banks was in 2024 – he allowed 6 touchdowns when targeted this past year and also committed 6 penalties and had an opposing passer rating of 124.7 allowed when targeted. For reference as to how bad that is – Lamar Jackson just had a season where he threw 41 touchdowns to 4 interceptions and had a passer rating of 119.6. Obviously it doesn’t help when the offense finishes 31st in points per game and can’t sustain possessions to help the defense out – but even when Banks was targeted – more often than not – it wasn’t good.
John Michael Schmitz has started for the Giants for most of the last two years as he has 28 starts out of 34 possible games since being drafted and the results have been mostly underwhelming. It is definitely worth noting he improved in the run game in 2024 and improved overall from his rookie year to his second year – but unfortunately it would have been hard to have been worse than what he was in 2023. For reference – he allowed the 5th most pressures out of any center as a rookie despite playing over 120 less snaps than each of the 4 guys in front of him – and in 2024 – he allowed the 3rd most pressures out of any center – only behind Garrett Bradbury – who was recently released by the Vikings – and Josh Myers – who was not retained by the Packers during free agency. JMS was a 24 year old rookie so you were hoping for a high floor as a rookie and unfortunately that never happened. They traded up for their only other top 100 pick which was Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt and in two years – Hyatt has 31 career receptions despite playing in 33 career games for a little over 430 receiving yards. They had 4 other selections past the 170 mark which is in in the late 5th round or later and at that point there shouldn’t be any serious expectations for mid to late day 3 picks. If they work out and become role players – great – but to expect the 209th selection in the 2023 draft in Tre Hawkins to become a star player and make up for the rest of the class is unrealistic. The Giants are not in the situation they’re currently in by accident – and it’s largely due to poor drafting in both – 2022 and 2023.
Next up is the Washington Commanders and the Commanders are in today’s video for a couple of reasons. Their draft started with the selection of corner Emmanuel Forbes which was not a great selection to start their draft when a better corner in Christian Gonzalez was on the board. This pick specifically – and this decision specifically has been talked about countless times over the past few years so I’m not going to spend too much time on the Forbes pick other than to say he was their first round pick in 2023 – and that he is no longer on the roster. He is currently a member of the Los Angeles Rams and this was after Washington released him prior to his second season ending – meaning they couldn’t even get a 7th round pick for him. He was flat out released. But first round busts happen and hell look at the 2020 Eagles for reference who drafted Jalen Reagor in the first round – only to draft a Super Bowl MVP in the second round in Jalen Hurts. And I credit Washington for their second round pick as they selected Quan Martin from Illinois who played well in 2024. He started 16 games for Washington, had 87 total tackles, and even had an interception too. And Commanders fans would absolutely want me to mention that he had a pick 6 during the divisional round of the playoffs against the Lions. But outside of Quan Martin – this class is brutal. They selected Arkansas Offensive lineman Ricky Stromberg in the 3rd round at pick 97 and Stromberg suffered a knee injury during his rookie season in 2023 which prematurely ended his season. He was waived in August of 2024 and was released with an injury settlement a few days later. Stromberg was signed to the Bears practice squad in November of 2024 and is still there today. However I do think it is worth noting the Commanders were trying to Stromberg prior to releasing him just a little over a year after selecting him in the top 100. And given that he is currently on the Bears practice squad / futures contract – it’s clear Ricky wasn’t forced to medically retire because if he was – no NFL team would employ him hoping he could eventually contribute for the football team he is playing for. Bradeon Daniels was selected with the 118th pick and unfortunately tore his rotator cuff in August of 2023 which ended his rookie season. And he was released in August of 2024. Since then, he has bounced around several practice squads and for a former fourth round pick to not – not be a contributor for the team that selected them is one thing – but to not even play a game is another. They had 3 other selections which were used on Clemson pass rusher KJ Henry, Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez, and Louisiana pass rusher Andre Jones.
Chris Rodriguez has 420 rushing yards in 2 years along with 4 rushing touchdowns – which isn’t bad for the 193rd pick in the 2023 draft – but to have negative production from your first round pick, a total of 26 snaps played from your 3rd round pick, and a player who didn’t play a game in your 4th round pick is not good drafting. At all. And I know this video has nothing to do with him – but I think with where this franchise was prior to the 2024 season – only adds to how good of a rookie season Jayden Daniels had – and why he is constantly praised for leading this team to the NFC championship game for the first time in over 30 years. I do like Quan Martin for who he is as a player and I think he will be starting for this team for the next couple of years – and hopefully get signed to a contract extension when the time comes – but the rest of this class is awful really aside from minor contribution from Chris Rodriguez late in the 6th round. I was hopeful for Stromberg and KJ Henry as developmental players but unfortunately they – and the majority of this class didn’t work out. And two years later – there’s more players from this class that are no longer on the Commanders roster – then there are players from this class – still with the team.
Linked below is a video discussing the 4 worst drafts from the 2023 NFL draft! It covers each team in depth and I hope you enjoy!
