Draft season is one of my favorite times of year. It's the ultimate "football simulator game" - look at a whole bunch of college players, and imagine "what if they played for my team?" In the past few years, my involvement in the process has evolved thanks to the excellent folks at DraftBreakdown.com - their football cut-ups allow any regular Joe to see every play that the top prospects run in a game, both good and bad. And they're compressed into 5-10 minute chunks so that you can watch a whole bunch in an hour.
My analysis has gone from watching Mel Kiper and Todd McShay duel on ESPN to reading online scouting reports on WalterFootball and Mocking the Draft to analyzing combine and pro day performance and following rumors about prospect visits, and now I'm looking at film and combining it with statistical analysis to rate players as if (I imagine) an NFL scout would.
I figured I'd share my prospect rankings with you, so I can get some feedback, explain some choices, and also get some advice heading into the upcoming 7-round mock draft. As the GM for the Bills, I want a large list of possible players for the war room to have access to, and it's through the feedback on posts like this that I discover new players to analyze deeper.
If you have a comment or question about why I have a player ranked somewhere, let me know! I take notes while watching film, so I probably have a bite-sized scouting report that can back up my placement.
(Note: I should mention that in some instances, I ranked players based on how well they would fit into Buffalo's scheme. That means that short and small receivers who weren't clearly the top of their draft class[sorry, Ace Sanders!] weren't going to be rated)
Quarterbacks
- Ryan Nassib
- Matt Barkley
- Geno Smith
- Mike Glennon
- Matt Scott
- Tyler Bray
- Landry Jones
- EJ Manuel
- Zac Dysert
- Tyler Wilson
- Brad Sorenson
- Collin Klein
- Sean Renfree
- Jordan Rodgers
- Dayne Crist
- Jeff Tuel
- Seth Doege
- Peter Lalich
- Matt McGloin
- Ryan Griffin (Tulane)
Running Backs
- Jonathan Franklin
- Eddie Lacy
- Giovani Bernard
- Mike Gillislee
- Montee Ball
- Le'Veon Bell
- Dennis Johnson
- Joseph Randle
- Stepfan Taylor
- Onterio McCalebb
- Kenjon Barner
- Rex Burkhead
- Andre Ellington
- Christine Michael
- Marcus Lattimore
- Knile Davis
- Cierre Wood
- Ray Graham
- Spencer Ware
- Montel Harris
- DJ Harper
- Curtis McNeal
- Michael Ford
- Robbie Rouse
- Miguel Maysonet
Fullbacks
- Lonnie Pryor
- Michael Zordich
- Zach Line
- Kyle Juszczyk
- Zach Boren
- Tommy Bohanon
- Taimi Tutogi
- Marquis Gray
- Devon Ramsay
- Willie Carter
Tight Ends
- Tyler Eifert
- Gavin Escobar
- Zach Ertz
- Travis Kelce
- Jordan Reed
- Dion Sims
- Ryan Otten
- Jake Stoneburner
- Vance McDonald
- Nick Kasa
- Mychal Rivera
- Levine Toilolo
- Joseph Fauria
- Michael Williams
- Chris Gragg
- Justice Cunningham
- Ryan Griffin (UConn)
- Zach Sudfeld
- Phillip Lutzenkirchen
- Ben Cotton
Wide Receivers
- Cordarelle Patterson
- Tavon Austin
- Justin Hunter
- Keenan Allen
- DeAndre Hopkins
- Robert Woods
- Terrance Williams
- Aaron Dobson
- Da'Rick Rogers
- Markus Wheaton
- Ryan Swope
- Quinton Patton
- Stedman Bailey
- Marquise Goodwin
- Kenny Stills
- Darrin Moore
- Cobi Hamilton
- Aaron Mellette
- Chris Harper
- Brandon Kaufman
- Marquess Wilson
- Rodney Smith
- Marlon Brown
- Jasper Collins
- Alec Lemon
- Nicholas Edwards
- Tyrone Goard
- Dan Buckner
- Keenan Davis
- Marcus Sales