THE 2018 NFL DRAFT POSITION RANKINGS WATCHLIST
Here is a preseason position rankings watch list for the 2018 NFL Draft with the season yet to be played, the All Star games played, the Combine, Pro Days and individual workouts to be conducted. The intent is for this to be a database of position players and guide as it contains a lot of background information on each player.
It should be noted that these are players who are eligible for the draft but that not all of the underclassmen will declare and since they have until January 18 to decide whether to go to the NFL or stay in school, they are included, which makes this more of a watch list. There are usually a hundred or so players with college eligibility remaining who declare for the draft.
The Codes or abbreviations in the position rankings are as follows:
AC-C (All Conference-Coaches)
AC-M (All Conference-Media - usually the AP)
AC2 or ACHM (All Conference Second Team or All Conference Honorable Mention)
AC-C&M would be All Conference by both the Coaches and Media, with the media being the AP, except for the ACC, which has its own media group. C/M such as the Mountain West and Sun Belt have is the Coaches and Media jointly selecting the teams.
I didn't deal with the All-American teams as there are too many; with the exception of some DII AA mentions or FCS AA mentions.
After each year that the player played such as: 2016 there might be 7/13 which means he started in 7 games and played in 13. The number of starts and games played gives more relevance to the stats, with an exception being that some teams rotate players more than others.
ST after the 7/13 means the player also contributed on Special Teams.
OPOY would be Offensive Player of the Year;
RS is for Redshirt; JRr would be Junior Redshirt.
ACA-AC if for Academic All Conference or ACA-AC2 or ACA-ACHM; in addition to the SEC which I have SEC-HR for SEC Honor Roll.
(P) is an indication that there was some type of behavioral problem, which could have been a violation of team rules, drinking or arrest or something even more serious.
The forty times under the players names such as: 4.52 - 4.72 (4.62) are the best, worst and average times of the player and were found on CBS Draftscout; which is a huge database for draft-able players; while the forty times in brackets [4.82] were found on Scout.com or HUDL and then the players High School rating were from Rivals where they have a 2*, 3*, 4* or 5* star rating with 5 being the best. Rivals also gives a number rating within each grouping: 5.0 - 5.4 (2*); 5.5-5.7 (3*); and 5.8 -6.0 (4*). All 5 star players have a 6.1 rating. So you might see 3*/5.5 which is pretty good and sometimes 3*/5.5/4.9@280Lbs. with the 4.9 being his forty time in H.S. and the weight at which he ran the forty time. NR would be No Rating by Rivals.
Defensive statistics - all colleges give a Sack figure and than a Tackle for Loss figure which includes the Sacks. I think that it is easier to follow by giving the Sack figure and then just the actual TFL figure, thus 8.0-4.0, as opposed to 8.0-12.0 that the colleges would reflect in their stats. Dotted lines - - - - - - means there weren't sufficient stats worth reporting. It seems that Georgia, Auburn and Virginia Tech have a different method of tabulating Quarterback Hurries than other teams as their players always have a significantly higher amount.
As for the Quarterbacks, I have a number of statistics but have one change from the norm in that I believe that Yards per Completion (YPC) is a better metric than Yards per Attempt which is normally shown with the reasoning that YPA includes dropped passes and balls thrown away, which is unfair to the QB. ESPN in their QB ratings, adds in RAW QBR and ADJ RAT which are also good metrics but for which I didn't have the space and didn't want to be too heavy with statistics.
S is for Sleepers, that is those players who are not highly ranked, but have exhibited certain traits which could land them spots on NFL rosters or Practice Squads and even become starters.
Ben Benzschawel is used for a sample for an offensive lineman. The two sets of forty times were at CBS Draftscout with the 5.17 - 5.40 (5.28) being the most recent time and the [4.9] shown on either Scout.com or HUDL. The 3*/5.5 is from Rivals and the 2014 RS means that he was Redshirted for that year. The 2016 14/14/AC2-C/AC3-M means that he started 14 games and played in 14 games and was All Conference 2nd Team by the Coaches and 3rd Team by the Media.
6. BEN BENZSCHAWEL 6052 317 JRr WISC. 5.17 - 5.40 (5.28) Down from 321 in 2016 5.04 - 5.29 (5.17) 3*/5.5 (TE) @252 lbs. [4.9] | 2017 2016 14/14/AC2-C/AC3-M 2015 (Inj.) 1st 5 Gm./6RT-2RG/8 2014 RS |
