The 2020 NFL draft class is 5 years into their careers and in today’s video we’re going to be going back and grading the back half of the first round of the 2020 draft which is picks 17-32. This draft took place during COVID and commissioner Roger Goodell was announcing the selections from his house. There were some incredibly talented players from this class as you’ll see in today’s video and unfortunately some all times busts too. The first half of the 2020 first round was released last week if you’re interested and that will be linked at the end. We will be going in reverse order so we will be starting with the Chiefs selection of running back Clyde Edwards – Helaire and finishing with the Cowboys selection of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. And we have 16 picks to grade so let’s dive right in.
32 – Clyde Edwards – Helaire was the final pick of the first round back in 2020 and was the first running back off the board. CEH had a productive first year back in 2020 as he had 1,100 yards from scrimmage. Unfortunately his production decreased year over year and he peaked in his rookie season. He also missed some time due to injury during the 2022 season and ultimately a 7th round pick took his job named Isiah Pacheco. CEH had moments throughout his Chiefs tenure but even when he was relied on – he was never the best player and the moments he had occurred less and less as time went on. He played two games for the Saints in 2024 and averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and unfortunately it is fair to say Clyde’s best days are behind him. There’s a reason running backs want to get paid when they have the opportunity and it’s because if they miss the opportunity – it’s gone before they know it. Clyde has less than 2,000 career rushing yards and has just 19 career touchdowns and this grade is a D
31 – Jeff Gladney was the Minnesota Vikings second first round pick of the night after a trade back with the 49ers so they could draft receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Unfortunately, Jeff is no longer with us as he passed away in May of 2022 at the age of 25. From a football standpoint he was picked on as a rookie back in 2020 quite a bit – which was to be expected for any rookie corner – especially in a year where there was no pre season games to learn from any sort of game experience. Jeff was released by the Vikings in August of 2021 due to an indictment for domestic violence – but and I want this to be clear – he was found not guilty in March of 2022. He was picked up by the Cardinals shortly after before passing away in a car crash in May of 2022. Gladney was 25 years old at the time of his death. And may Jeff Gladley continue to rest in peace
30 – The Dolphins selected Auburn corner Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th pick in the first round as he was their third first round pick of the night. The other two were Tua of course and offensive tackle Austin Jackson. Igbinoghene was a very young first round pick back in 2020 as he was 20 years old for most of his rookie season and didn’t turn 21 until late November. And because of this – I thought a lot of patience was going to be required with this selection and that he would have not just one – but several welcome to the NFL moments early in his career. And he did, but he never panned out for the Dolphins the way they hoped. He was traded prior to the 2023 season to the Cowboys in a rare player for player exchange as he was traded for Cowboys corner Kelvin Joseph. He played one season for Dallas before becoming a free agent prior to the 2024 season and ultimately signing with Washington – which is where he is today. He didn’t play bad for the Commanders in 2024 relative to what was expected – but this is grading how he played for Miami. And he played in 32 of 50 possible games for Miami during his 3 years there and wasn’t good when he played. And 5 years later this is an F.
29 – Isaiah Wilson was a pick Titans fans would like to forget and there is almost zero footage of me to show from Wilson’s career as he played 4 snaps for his entire career. 4. They were all against the Colts in week 12 of 2020 and Wilson was traded less than a year later to the Miami Dolphins for a 7th round pick. He was waived by the Dolphins three days later for missing a physical and missing two workouts. The Giants signed him to their practice squad in September and he was released a few months later. Some NFL stories are long and some are short. He played 4 snaps for the team that drafted him in the first round and I honestly don’t think it’s unfair to say this is the biggest draft bust in NFL history. At least Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell started – and won NFL games for their teams. Isaiah Wilson played 4 career snaps. An F grade
28 – Patrick Queen was the Ravens first round pick and I really liked this selection at the time because I thought for sure the Seahawks were going to take Patrick Queen at pick 27 – but they ended up taking Jordyn Brooks instead. And because of that – I absolutely loved this selection when it was made and it reminded me of the Ravens drafting Kyle Hamilton and Tyler Linderbaum a couple of years later – just good players falling into their laps. Queen had 3 100 total tackle seasons during his time in Baltimore and the only season he didn’t have 100 tackles was back in 2021 when he had you guessed it – 98 total tackles. Now tackles aren’t everything and we’ve discussed that before on the channel – but I think I personally have under appreciated what Patrick Queen has accomplished through the years. During his final year in Baltimore he was a pro bowler and a second team all pro and he was also a pro bowler in 2024 with the Steelers too. Now what he does in Pittsburgh does not factor in to this grade – and that applies to every draft pick – but Patrick Queen has never missed a game in his career and he plays at a pretty high level. He misses a tackle or two more than you’d like – but he’s a really solid player and the Ravens got a lot of production out of a player drafted late in the first round. And 5 years later this is a B+.
27 – Jordyn Brooks was the Seahawks first round pick back in 2020 and while I was surprised when this pick was made – he played a lot better than I initially thought he would. He started 55 games for the Seahawks in his 4 years with the team and had near perfect attendance as he played in 63 of 67 possible games for Seattle and only missed two total games in his final 3 seasons with the team. And due to how violent the sport is – that’s a bigger battle than you may initially think – is staying healthy. Brooks is now a Dolphin as he signed a 3 year deal with Miami last offseason and he had a really good year for Miami in 2024 as he had over 140 tackles, had 11 tackles for a loss, and even had 3 sacks as an off ball linebacker. The one big knack with Jordan is he gets picked on in coverage quite a bit and that happened during his time in Seattle and even happened during his time in Miami in 2024 too. Overall his time in Seattle was ok for a first round pick. You can certainly say that Seattle could have hoped for a little more from a first round pick – but like we’ve seen throughout the draft grade videos – they could have done a lot worse. A B- grade
26 – Jordan Love was the 4th quarterback taken in the first round of the 2020 draft and this is a complicated pick to grade. On one hand – there’s a lot of teams that would love to have Jordan Love be their franchise quarterback – and I get it. But on the other hand – he didn’t play for 3 years and had just 3 touchdowns to 3 interceptions during the first 3 years of his career. And during his rookie season Green Bay lost in the NFC championship game – and the divisional round of the playoffs. Do things change if they draft Tee Higgins instead? I don’t know. But why this pick is also complicated is Jordan Love played really well during the 2023 season – but I don’t think he played at the same level in 2024 and I also don’t think he was fully healthy throughout the year despite playing in 15 of 17 games after a nasty injury in week 1 against the Eagles. He has back to back 25+ passing touchdown seasons and honestly I do think he is a tad underrated at the moment due to how he played in 2024 – that again – wasn’t his best year for several reasons. I think there are several grades you can go with here that can be justified – but ultimately – 5 years later we give this an A-
25 – Brandon Aiyuk was the 6th receiver taken in the first round of the 2020 draft and Aiyuk has been a solid player for the 49ers since being drafted back in 2020. He had a near 748 yard rookie season back in 2020 before having 800 yards in 2021, then clearing the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his career in 2022, then exploded onto the scene with a 1,300 yard season in 2023 – in which he was named a second team all pro. There was a lot of drama around Aiyuk during the 2024 summer and I think this soured some people on Brandon Aiyuk – relative to the player he is when healthy – causing them to diminish what he has accomplished in the league. I am a firm believer that he was not 100% in 2024 before he unfortunately tore his ACL and MCL and that he was slowly working his way back to being the player he was in 2023. He is a really good player when healthy – but is also overshadowed by two guys in this class in CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson which is unfortunate for Aiyuk. I also think there are a lot of teams that would love to have a Brandon Aiyuk on their roster – most notably a team like the Patriots – but he is kind of difficult pick to grade. He has just shy of 300 career receptions and has 25 career receiving touchdowns and 5 years later we give this an A-
24 – Cesar Ruiz was the Saints first round pick back in 2020 and he has mostly played right guard for them through the first 5 years of his career. Ruiz has his ups and downs as a player and I know he’s not a household name by any means – but this is a trickier pick to grade than you may think. On on hand – he’s not a great player and he’s not a guy that will make 4 or 5 pro bowls by the end of his career and a player that will be inducted into the Saints ring of honor. But on the other hand – he’s probably going to start 85 or 90 or even 100 games for the Saints over the course of his career – if not more. He was a 21 year old rookie so he is just 26 years old and he could realistically play for another 6 or 7 years and nobody would bat an eye. But he’s also not great and I think he is in the grand scheme of things – an average player. I don’t think there’s any particular phase in his game where he’s elite, nor do I think there’s any area in his game where he’s weak either. He’s just a guy along the offensive line. And the Saints could have made a much worse selection than Cesar Ruiz 5 years later and I do give a slight bonus for playing 13 games or more in every season of his career. And ultimately 5 years later this is a C+
23 – Kenneth Murray for the Chargers is up and it was a long 4 years in LA for Murray. He racked up a lot of tackles during his time in LA, but that’s not everything and it especially showed on tape that unfortunately carried over to his tenure in Tennessee and based on the first five years of his career – will probably carry over to Dallas too. He reminds me a lot of Jamin Davis – a 2021 first round pick who like Murray – doesn’t have the instincts a good linebacker in the NFL Neds to have and there was a reason that despite playing in 59 of 67 possible games for the Chargers over the first few years of his career – that they were more than willing to let him go in free agency after the 2023 season. Unfortunately he missed more tackled than you would have liked as an inside linebacker as his career missed tackle percentage is over 10% and it peaked in 2021 at over 19%. He is only 26 years old and I wish him the best in Dallas and wherever else he may go throughout the rest of his NFL career – but even he completely turns it around – this is based on his time in Los Angeles. And 5 years later this pick gets a C-.
22- Justin Jefferson was the 5th receiver taken in the 2020 draft and in 5 years Jefferson hasn’t been just a good first round pick for Minnesota – but he’s been an all time draft pick for Minnesota. Jefferson has the most career receiving yards of any player through their first 5 seasons as he has over 7,400 yards in 77 career games played. He is a 4 time all pro and a 2 time first team all pro and has 3 seasons with 1,500 or more receiving yards. He has 5 1,000 yard seasons in 5 years and he actually had more yards per game in 2023 – than he did in 2022 – which was the year he won the offensive player of the year award. Unfortunately Jefferson got hurt and missed some time – but he still had a 1,000 yard year in 2023. I don’t think Jefferson received as much media attention in 2024 as he has in other years – whether it was due to Ja’Marr Chase having a great year, or Saquon, or whoever- but he still had 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns and finished top 10 in offensive player of the year voting. He isn’t a player you factor into the gameplay – he is the game plan for opposing defenses and they still can’t stop Jefferson. He has the most receiving yards per game in NFL history and this is an easy A+.
21 – The Eagles stunned everyone when they selected TCU receiver Jalen Reagor with the 21st overall pick. It was a consensus to pretty much everyone that Justin Jefferson was a better prospect than Jalen Reagor – but they still made the pick. Now one thing that gets misconstrued over time is that Justin Jefferson was not a can’t miss prospect at the time – and Jalen Reagor was not a horrible prospect either. Reagor was an early to mid second round prospect while Jefferson was a mid to late first round prospect. It was a gamble that unfortunately didn’t pay off. In his first year with the birds – Reagor had 31 receptions for 396 yards and a touchdown and in his second season he had 33 receptions for 299 yards and 2 touchdowns. Everyone drafts busts at some point – but it’s unfortunate the Eagles drafted a bust directly in front of a player who is on pace to be an all time great. If there is any consolation with this – it’s that the Eagles drafted a future Super Bowl MVP with their second round pick in Jalen Hurts. And the Eagles are an extremely successful franchise year in and year out that made a significant draft blunder – but have done a lot of great things since. The Jalen Reagor pick receives an F grade.
20 – K’Lavon Chaisson was a really good pass rushing prospect from LSU but unfortunately he didn’t workout with the Jags. Chaisson played 57 games in 4 years with the Jags and played 15 or more games in 3 of his 4 seasons with the teams so he was a pretty durable player – but he wasn’t effective when on the field. He had a then career high two sacks with the Jags in 2023 and unfortunately he only started 11 games with the Jags over 4 years. He signed the Panthers in the 2023 offseason but they released him prior to the season starting. A week later he was signed by the Raiders where he would go on to play 15 games for them in 2024 in which he had 5 sacks and looked like a better player. Chaisson will be just 26 years old at the start of the 2025 season and there is a chance he can build off of what he did in 2024 – which was being a serviceable player and more or less a pas rush specialist. Players like that have a role in the league and I think there is a chance Chaisson sticks around longer than people may think due to this as he is now a member of the Patriots. But ultimately this grade is based on what he did during his time in Jacksonville. And Jacksonville had two first round picks back in 2020 – in Chaisson and corner CJ Henderson and both were huge whiffs. And ultimately this grade is an F
19 – The Raiders surprised everyone when they took Ohio state corner Damon Arnette with the 19th pick in the first round back in 2020 and I know the Raiders received a lot of criticism during this time period for first round picks – and rightfully so – but I truly think this was the worst first round pick of them all. Clean Ferrell was a player who had a high floor and was projected in the low to mid 20’s of the 2019 draft that was selected at number 4 overall. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but he was supposed to be a high floor lower ceiling guy. Henry Ruggs was to me – a talented player on his way to becoming a really good receiver that made a horrible life decision. But Damon Arnette was clearly a day 2 – borderline day 3 guy and he played like it. He only played in 13 career NFL games and in 13 games he was targeted 40 times and allowed 31 receptions for 499 yards while allowing a single touchdown to no interceptions. There were so many better players on the board and to make matters worse – he was released in 2021 after a video of him was released that was not a good look – which is a tremendous understatement and I’ll leave it at that. And 5 years later this is an F.
18 – Austin Jackson of the Dolphins is up and he was their second of three first round picks on the night. Jackson has been an ok or average player for Miami – really at best and I think that’s a good word to describe him. There’s games where he plays really well where he’ll pitch a shutout as a pass protector or maybe allow a single pressure on 35 or 40 pass rushing snaps – which is incredible – then the following week will allow 5 pressures or 6 pressures or 30 pass blocking snaps and give up a sack in the process too. There’s an old saying that a third of first round picks are starts, a third are average, and a third are busts and I think Jackson is pretty close to the epitome of average. He’s played in 56 of 84 possible games which I do think is a hair disappointing because he’s not great when he plays – and then you throw in that he’s missed a third of his career games and that’s not a great first round pick by any stretch of the imagination. Having a player who is a gamble as to whether or not he’ll play well on any given Sunday is not ideal for the franchise that selected them – but he’s also played north of 50 games which is a lot more than other players can say. He’s not a bust, but he’s not a hit either. And throw in the fact he’s missed a third of his career games and this is a C-.
17 – CeeDee Lamb was the third receiver taken in the 2020 draft and through 5 years he has 4 1,000 yard seasons – and technically 4 1,100 yard seasons and has been a terrific player for the Cowboys. Unfortunately Dak Prescott was injured in October of CeeDee’s rookie season – and we bring this up because I think it’s fair to say that CeeDee would rather easily be a 1,000 yard receiver if that injury never happened. He is quietly working on 3 straight 100 reception 1,100 yard seasons and is already a 4 time pro bowler at 26 years old. His best year by far was in 2023 when he had an outstanding 135 receptions for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns and was named a fist team all pro. Naturally there’s a lot of pressure playing for the Cowboys because of how much media attention they get – and how often they play in primetime. But there’s a lot more pressure when you are a receiver wearing the number 88 because you have the legacy to continue. It started back with Drew Pearson, then continued with Michael Irvin, and eventually continued with Dez Bryant too. And in 5 years – CeeDee has over 6,300 receiving yards and is just 4 receptions shy of 500 career receptions. I know Justin Jefferson is in the same class as him and has over 1,000 career more receiving yards – but the grade for Lamb is simple. It’s an A+.
