THE 2018 NFL DRAFT POSITION RANKINGS WATCHLIST
With the 2017 college football season completed, along with the All-Star Games, this Guide is based upon the players’ performance on the field or potential as exhibited by their play. The NFL Scouting Combine, Pro Days and individual workouts will further influence the teams final grades on the players which some have questioned the value of. For instance, at the Combine last year, Alvin Kamara had an official forty time of 4.56 and Kareem Hunt had an official forty time of 4.62, which resulted in their being drafted in the 3rd Round. Yet they performed in their rookie years as well or better than any of the RBs drafted. On the other hand, Defensive Safety Jamal Adams had an official forty time of 4.56 and was also below average in the Vertical Jump, yet was the 6th overall pick by the Jets and played well in his rookie season, so his performance at the Combine did not reflect negatively on his final draft grade.
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: 2017 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.
The heights and weights were found from the weigh in results at the Senior Bowl, East West Shrine Game and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl with some being from the Draftscout site.
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.
SB is for Senior Bowl, the most coveted of the all-star invitations; EW is for the East/West Shrine Game, the next most coveted all-star game and CB is for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl which has only been around a few years (founded 2012).
D is for an underclassman who Declared for the draft and, while eligible for the Combine, was not eligible for the Senior Bowl, East/West Shrine Game or other All-Star games.
* Next to their names indicated that they have been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, which is to take place March 2 thru March 5, 2018.
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.
PPF-AA - PPF-AA2 or PFF-AA - PFF-AA2 stands for Pro Football Focus All American or All American Second Team. The red was in 2016 and the purple in 2017.
Below is a sample chart for a player. The 2017 13/14 stands for starting 13 games & playing in 14 games. The 2017 ACHM-C/M means that he received All Conference Honorable Mention as selected by a combination of the Coaches and Media. Many times it will read AC2-C or AC2-C&M, which means he was All Conference Second Team by both the Coaches and the Media (usually AP). The 2*/5.2 was his Rivals rating from Junior College, usually it is the Rivals from high school. SB shows he was at the Senior Bowl and * shows that he will be at the Combine.
5.*CEDRIC WILSON 6017 194 SR. BOISE ST. SB 4.40 - 4.59 (4.49) (KR) 2016 ACHM-C/M 2*/5.2 - JC 2016 post season ankle surgery 2016 15 catches of 30+ yards many on bad ankle. 188 lbs. is up from 183 in 2016 & after surgery.
| 2017 13/14 83-1511-18.2- 7TD-65L 2016 5/13 (ankle) 56-1129-20.2-11TD-75L 2015 JC 2017 AC-C/M PFF-AA2 Hand 9 3/4 Arm 32 1/2 |
