Back in late March, yours truly compiled off-season grades for each team in the NFL. At that time, the analysis consisted of any pertinent coaching changes or non-changes, player losses, and player acquisitions during the months of January, February, and March. Since that time, there has been a little more free agency movement, along with a few trades, but, most importantly, the NFL draft.
The biggest parts of the off-season are complete as far as ‘team changes’. There will be some free agent signings but most of the impact players are already gone. There may be some big-name player cuts and there may be a few more trades. Time will tell.
Since almost all of the player movement, coaching changes, and now the NFL draft is complete, it is time to assess each team’s ‘post-draft’ off-season success or failure.
Since I am self-admittedly not a college football expert, what I have decided to do in order to ‘grade’ each team’s draft is to take a sampling from the ‘NFL experts’ in the media in order to include it in my post-draft ‘grade’. Therefore, the POST-DRAFT grade will include:
1) My grade prior to April for the team
2) Any additional player movement (losses, gains, trades) for the team in April
3) The team’s draft grade based on the consensus
Within each team’s analysis, I will give you my comments about the team’s activities prior to April, and then another comment regarding the April moves or non-moves for the team. Without further ado, I give you the off-season grades for the AFC ………….
AFC Highlights:
3 AFC Teams had grades of ‘F’ in the AFC prior to April
Only 1 team has an ‘F’ after April
Biggest Improvement in Grade from late March to Early May: Oakland Raiders
Biggest Drop in Grade from late March to Early May: Kansas City Chiefs
Baltimore Ravens
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: Gone are Jamaal Lewis, Tony Pashos, and Adalius Thomas. The Ravens gave two 3rd round picks and a 7 round pick to get Willis McGahee, who is an upgrade over Lewis. Ozzie Newsome has indicated that Adam Terry will probably step in at Right Tackle to replace Pashos.
No major changes on the coaching staff and Neuheisel started to get some things going last year in the passing game. If they can get a running game going with McGahee, watch out.
APRIL: April was a good month for the Ravens. Ogden decided to stay for 1 more year. They got Kelly Gregg re-signed to an extension, and their draft, overall, has received good marks.
OVERALL: McGahee will be an upgrade at RB and hopefully their draft picks will help upgrade their O-line and replace Thomas.
GRADE prior to April: C –
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.6
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C +
Buffalo Bills
JANUARY, FEBURARY, AND MARCH: Obviously, major changes going on here. On defense, Takeo Spikes, London Fletcher, and Nate Clements are gone. These 3 have been the ‘heart’ of this defense for a LONG time so it is obvious Marv Levy and his team are looking to ‘start over’ on the defensive side of the ball.
I like the foundation that is set. Spikes was VERY expendable since Angelo Crowell is more than ready to step into his position. Their cornerback position was weakened with the departure of Clements but they can work on that. Other than that, they look pretty solid. As it stands today, there is not a single starter on the Bills defense older than 29 years old (Schobel and Thomas both turn 30 later this year though).
Obviously, the Big loss on offense is Willis McGahee. There is MAJOR revamping of the O-line going on and something needed to be done. The O-line in Buffalo has struggled for a while.
Fairchild remains for his 2nd year as O-coordinator and I thought he was really starting to get some things going with the Bills as last year moved along. Personally, I’m not impressed with Fewell’s results last year with the amount of talent he had to work with. Maybe he will get better.
APRIL: They re-signed Anderson and Hargrove and, overall, the consensus is that the Bills had one of the best drafts in the NFL.
OVERALL: Obviously, the huge losses cannot be overlooked this off-season but I see that the Bills organization has a plan for the future and that’s good. They are hoping that Marshawn Lynch will be an upgrade for their running attack and that Posluszny will help fill out the LB position but there is still a gaping hole at CB in my opinion that was never addressed.
GRADE prior to April: D
Consensus Draft GPA: 3.2
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C
Cincinnati Bengals
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The only significant acquisition the Bengals have made this off-season is signing Alex Stepanovich, which is a head-scratcher considering Step couldn’t even hold his starting job on one of the worst O-lines in football and the Bengals already have Wilkerson backing up Ghiaciuc.
The rest of the activity for the Bengals this off-season has been a mass exodus of their roster. Steinbach was expendable with Whitworth waiting in the wings and apparently they feel Brooks or someone in the draft is ready to take over the defense by letting Simmons go. Kaesviharn, Stewart, Washington, and Wilkins all were role players with the Bengals but those losses can add up.
Marvin Lewis keeps his top assistants by his side for the 2007 season and they are one of the better coaching staffs in the league.
APRIL: The Bengals finally started re-signing some of their own players and even signed a DT from another team. Overall, the consensus was pretty good on their draft. The bad news was obviously losing Chris Henry for 8 games.
OVERALL: The mass exodus of players and suspension of Henry can’t be a good thing. At least they didn’t lose any top coaches and seem to have had a decent draft. Hopefully Hall can help improve their secondary. If they can get Hartwell signed, it will help but would not raise their grade.
GRADE prior to April: D
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.5
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C -
Cleveland Browns
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: Lots of activity here. At least Lerner and Savage are trying. You’ve got to give them that much, right?
Well, anyway, here are the changes. Droughns is out. Lewis is in. Slight upgrade. The additions of Smith, Peek, and Wright to the defense will help but none of them are earth-shattering. Russell leaving is not a big deal because Pool is solid or they can pick someone up in the draft. The additions of McKinney and Steinbach can only help an O-line that desperately needed a makeover. We probably won’t see marked improvement until 2008, though, after they have some time to gel.
Grantham has done an admirable job with what he has been given and was kept on as D-coordinator. I don’t like the Chudzinski hiring as O-coordinator though. His claim to fame is that Antonio Gates made the pro-bowl both years Chud was the TE coach in San Diego but Gates had ALREADY established himself prior to Chud’s arrival so why is he getting credit for it. And, in fact, Gates seemed to regress a bit this year under his tutelage. The guy really hasn’t done anything special in this league, in my opinion.
APRIL: The flurry of activity did not end for the Browns in April. They signed and re-signed several players and were extremely aggressive in the draft. The consensus is that the Browns obtained the most talent out of this draft out of all the teams in the NFL.
OVERALL: The free agent moves were positive (at least slightly) but I don’t like the Chudzinski hiring. Their draft has received high marks from the experts.
GRADE prior to April: B –
Consensus Draft GPA: 4.0
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: A -
Denver Broncos
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: As usual, the Broncos are once again one of the most active teams in free agency. Most off-season reviews I have seen have highlighted the Broncos once again as ‘big’ winners. I’m taking a different look at the Broncos annual activity in the free agent market. Looking back, I’m not sure the Broncos are ‘missing’ on more FA’s than they’re hitting. I think we all need to look long and hard at the recent free agent acquisitions of the Broncos and determine if they aren’t overpaying for the talent level they’re getting.
The first example is the deal given to Daniel Graham, their new Tight End, which is $6 million per year. Graham is often injured and is only good for a couple of catches a game when he IS playing. He is a ‘good’ blocking tight end but even if he is the ‘best’, you don’t pay $6 million a year for a ‘blocking’ tight end. This is a ridiculous contract.
2 more examples: Why pay Patrick Ramsey $2.5 million per year if Cutler is your guy? The chances of Ramsey playing are slim and they’re now tying up valuable cap space overpaying someone who will likely never touch the ball. In addition, Travis Henry ‘may’ be worth $2.5 million per year on one of his good days, but why lock yourself up with another expensive acquisition when you’ve got Mike Bell and a couple of other young running backs already on the roster and your ‘claim to fame’ is being known as Running Back University.
I like some of the additions from just a purely ‘on the field’ analysis but the Broncos, in my mind, are becoming the Washington Redskins ‘West’ with the overpayment of a lot of these players and it’s starting to catch up with them.
APRIL: Naturally, the Broncos continued to bring in more free agents. They did not sit on their hands. But the Al Wilson saga is finally over. He is no longer a Bronco. In the draft, the Broncos didn’t have very many picks, but seemed to make the most of them, beefing up their D-line considerably.
OVERALL: For now, on the field, the additions will be helpful and Bates and Slowik should do a good job with the defense but their front office is doing a very poor job of valuing players in relation to the salary cap.
GRADE prior to April: C
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.4
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C
Houston Texans
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The Texans are coming out shooting this off-season. I like the acquisitions of Ahman Green along with the re-sigining of Dayne. The additions of Black, Barber, and Clark will help in positions they needed help in. However, it was just a matter of time before the Texans screwed something up and, sure enough, they did it with the Matt Schaub trade and signing. TWO second round picks in addition to falling 2 places in the first round PLUS a $48 million contract for a guy that has never won an NFL game as a starter and has barely completed 50% of his passes in limited action? Wow, this will go down as one of the worst trades in history if Schaub plays similar to Carr, which is my feeling.
Smith comes back for another season leading the defense and Sherman is now in total control of the offense. The O-line in my mind still has some serious question marks and Jordan Black is not their savior.
APRIL: The Texans re-signed a lot of their own players and also brought in a couple of free agents. Nothing major, though. Their draft, overall, did not receive high marks. I think the consensus seems to be that they should have addressed the O-line prior to the 5th round and the Texans did not.
OVERALL: The Schaub trade and sign and their draft keep this grade down. Other than that, it could have been a good off-season for them.
GRADE prior to April: C
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.1
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C
Indianapolis Colts
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH:
Harper, Reagor, Rhodes, and Stokley are gone. None of them individually is a huge loss, but collectively, the Colts will feel it. Cato June is their single biggest departure and it is a big one. In addition, the Colts lost a lot of their coaching staff, the biggest one in my mind being Leslie Frazier.
APRIL: Another big loss with David going to the Saints. The Colts were able to re-sign several of their own players this month and had a good draft, according to the consensus, but then again, the Colts always draft well.
OVERALL: Maybe the Colts can hold it together like the Patriots have always done after losing players and coaches. We will see. Lots of player losses but another good draft.
GRADE prior to April: F
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.9
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: D +
Jacksonville Jaguars
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: Heading into the off-season, the Jaguars had more free agents than any other team. They re-signed all of the important ones except for Deon Grant, which normally I would say is a big loss, but Del Rio consistently puts together a top-notch defense year after year with a lot of ‘no-name’ players, so maybe he prefers it that way.
From there, they’ve got me scratching my head.
The Pashos signing was a little bizarre to me since the Jaguars have one of the best O-lines in the business and they weren’t losing anyone. Del Rio is saying that Williams will now compete with Barnes for the left tackle position. Not sure why this move was made.
The Northcutt signing was unnecessary because he’s not an upgrade over Wilford, Williams, or Jones so now they have 4 ‘just average’ receivers. They needed an impact receiver. Wiggins is a great receiving tight end but is this an admission that they ‘missed’ on the #1 draft pick Lewis?
And then the new coaching addition of Dirk Koetter also had me scratching my head a bit. He’s intriguing because he’s known as a genius when it comes to generating passing offense, which is obviously the Jags biggest need, but all of his experience is in the college game. Will he be able to succeed in the NFL? They probably should have started him out as a QB coach or something to see how he does.
And regarding the QB position: I’m actually going to give the Jags high marks for not doing anything stupid with the QB position. DelRio has stated publically that Leftwich is his guy and I firmly believe Leftwich is the QB that gives them the best chance of winning.
APRIL: A very quiet month for the Jags. The draft received good marks and I, personally, applaud them for not using their top picks on offense, especially QB. The Jags have talent on the offensive side of the ball. They just need to build some chemistry and get it to gel.
OVERALL: A lot of things to soak in. Positive marks for re-signing key guys and sticking with Leftwich and the offense ‘as is’ but then some negatives for some of the free agent pick-ups that seemed unnecessary.
GRADE prior to April: C –
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.8
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C
Kansas City Chiefs
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The coaching staff stays intact for the 2nd year under Herman Edwards. The team continues to move more towards ‘defense first’ and that is obvious with their off-season moves, signing Donnie Edwards and Napoleon Harris.
On offense, McIntosh is basically just a replacement for the loss of Black. The big change is that it looks like the Chiefs are going to give the starting QB job to Damon Huard in 2007. Probably not a bad move at this point but not a major upgrade.
Their needs at WR and O-line (especially if Shields and/or Weigmann retire) have not been addressed and this will hold this team back until they address these spots.
APRIL: Horrible month for the Chiefs. Trent Green is still not traded and is not happy to be on the team. Rumor is that Larry Johnson wants a long-term deal and may sit out until he gets it or is traded. Will Shields retired. And the Chiefs draft received low marks. Ouch. They had one of the worst April’s in the league.
OVERALL: The defense is looking better but the offense is looking uglier and uglier and now there is player unrest.
GRADE prior to April: C
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.1
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: D +
Miami Dolphins
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: This is the biggest mass exodus in the league this year. Fortunately for them, Jason Taylor said he’s coming back. He’s probably going to need to play about 15 positions on the team (including QB).
Here are the guys that have already gone to other teams: McMichael, Bowens, Welker, Carter, Minor, Morris, Barnes, Anderson, McIntosh, and McKinney. Apparently, the Dolphins feel comfort with a 28-man roster for the upcoming season. I understand they need to make changes, especially in the O-line, but who is now going to play those positions? They simply don’t have anyone at a lot of the spots on the the depth chart and there are only so many players available in free agency and the draft.
Seriously, there are a lot of changes going on in South Florida. I believe in Cam Cameron and his new regime but this is a makeover of the likes we haven’t seen for a long time.
APRIL: The Dolphins actually gained more players than they lost, which is a good sign. They made the biggest news in the draft, passing on Brady Quinn. Their draft grades have varied from ‘F’ all the way up to ‘A+’. Overall, though, the consensus does not like the new regime’s first draft in south Florida.
OVERALL: They added Joey Porter and Jay Feely and re-signed some of their old guys but mainly this winter has been showing everyone the exit door from South Florida with no one there to replace them. And then they make some unusual picks in the draft that have a lot of people scratching their heads. I like Cam Cameron as a coach and this is the only thing that has salvaged this off-season, in my mind.
GRADE prior to April: D +
Consensus Draft GPA: 1.9
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: D +
New England Patriots
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The Lions now have 12 running backs on their roster, the Bucs have 10 Quarterbacks, and the New England Patriots have 15 Wide Receivers. Seriously, most of the Patriots activity this off-season has been to re-sign their own guys but they have made some splashes with Stallworth, Welker, and Thomas. Gone are Dillon, Graham, and Banta-Cain.
McDaniels and Pees will now be in their 2nd years as coordinators, which will help.
APRIL: Obviously, the big news in April was the trade for Randy Moss, which I like as an addition for one year. Also, the additions of James and Merriweather will help a secondary that desperately needed it.
OVERALL: They’re shaking up the WR position, which needed to be done and they upgraded at LB and secondary. Other than that, it’s actually par for the course for the Patriots. Theirs will probably turn out to be one of the best drafts in the league once again when we look back on it in a few years.
GRADE prior to April: A –
Consensus Draft GPA: 3.0
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: A -
New York Jets
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: After whiffing with Barlow and Blaylock, the Jets are trying again with Thomas Jones. I think they’re fairly safe on this one. Jones and Washington should make a pretty good duo and they didn’t have to give up too much for Jones. This is an upgrade.
Mangini, Schottenheimer (Brian), and Sutton return for a 2nd year, hopefully building off of the success of the 1st year. Other than that, most of the Jets off-season has been spent bringing ‘their’ players back and adding a few guys on the D-line for depth.
APRIL: VERY quiet month for the Jets and they only had a few draft picks, but apparently made the most of them, because the consensus gives them pretty good grades.
OVERALL: They shook up the running back position but other than that did not lose or gain a lot of players. I like the fact that the O-line stays intact and they will begin to see the line coming together with newcomers Ferguson and Mangold going into their Sophomore seasons. This line has a bright future.
GRADE prior to April: A –
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.9
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: B+
Oakland Raiders
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: What could make the Raiders feel better after a disasterous 2006 season ? They went out in the off-season and got some Booty……….and Rhodes and Griffith. Don’t underestimate the addition of Griffith as a blocking fullback. He is one of the best. I would imagine Knapp pushed for him when he came over.
And the addition of Rhodes is a HUGE plus in my book because that means that Jordan will be given the ball less. Other than Rhodes and Griffith, every other pick-up is very low impact. There are going to be some changes on a horrible O-line but I don’t see that they’ve made any strides to improve it at this point.
I don’t like the hiring of Kiffin at all but Ryan deservedly kept his job as D-coordinator. It would have been a mistake to let him go.
APRIL: The Raiders had a VERY active April and a very good one, in my opinion. The ‘new offense’ in Oakland is taking shape rather suddenly. Moss is gone and it was the right move. Carlisle, Green, Russell, Miller, Henderson, and Higgins are in. The Raiders had a TON of draft picks, including 7 of the first 110 selected. They couldn’t help but have a good draft and the consensus agrees.
OVERALL: Positives for Rhodes and Griffith and the wise use of draft choices where needed but I’m not impressed with the new coaching staff.
GRADE prior to April: D
Consensus Draft GPA: 3.5
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: C +
Pittsburgh Steelers
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: A very quiet off-season other than the coaching changes. Hartings retired but they’ve got some guys who will compete for the job. They re-signed Starks and Porter is gone. That’s about it.
Tomlin and Arians are good enough hires and Lebeau deservedly remains as D-coordinator.
APRIL: Another quiet month for the Steelers. Their draft was ‘good’, according to the consensus, but nothing spectacular.
OVERALL: The Coaching hires don’t do anything spectacular for me but they got who they feel will replace Porter in the draft.
GRADE prior to April: B –
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.9
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: B -
San Diego Chargers
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The Chargers have brought in no new players from the outside. They fired their head coach, who just went 14-2 last year. And they lost a starting LB, a starting safety, and a starting WR.
Anyone want to guess where this grade is going to end up?
To add insult to injury for Chargers fans, they also hired perennial loser Norv Turner to become their new head coach.
APRIL: Nothing exciting to report other than a Michael Turner trade that never happened. Their draft received decent marks.
OVERALL: Good enough draft but the coaching losses and player losses are huge for this team.
GRADE prior to April: F
Consensus Draft GPA: 2.5
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: D -
Tennessee Titans
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH: The Titans have brought in a few new players, the biggest acquisition being Nick Harper, who was the best cornerback remaining in free agency after the 49ers backed the Brinks truck up to Nate Clements doorstep. This team needed Harper BADLY, especially considering PacMan may not be on their roster for long.
On offense, the Titans have lost their 2 leading receivers and their leading rusher from last year and have done nothing to replace any of the 3. THAT can never be good. At this point, White is the only decent running back on the roster and the Titan’s wide receivers include Courtney Roby, Brandon Jones, Roydell Williams, Jonathan Orr, and the newly-acquired Justin Gage. Huh ? Are they serious ? And this is a team with an ENORMOUS amount of cap space.
Norm Chow heads into his second season as O-coordinator with a LOT less talent. Schwartz gets another try to build this young defense. I say they need to improve quite a bit for him to retain his job at this point.
APRIL: Another bad month for the Titans. Things don’t seem to be getting any better. PacMan gets suspended for the entire year. They fail to fill the WR and RB holes prior to the draft and then proceed to turn in the 3rd worst draft in the league, according to the consensus.
OVERALL: Huge losses at 3 skill positions on offense. PacMan suspended for a year. One of the worst drafts, according to the consensus. I am not real impressed with Renfeldt’s first off-season as GM, to say the least.
GRADE prior to April: F
Consensus Draft GPA: 1.7
POST-DRAFT OFF-SEASON GRADE: F
Summary of Current Off-Season Grades:
New England Patriots A –
Cleveland Browns A –
New York Jets B +
Pittsburgh Steelers B –
Baltimore Ravens C +
Oakland Raiders C +
Denver Broncos C
Houston Texans C
Jacksonville Jaguars C
Buffalo Bills C
Cincinnati Bengals C –
Kansas City Chiefs D +
Miami Dolphins D +
Indianapolis Colts D +
San Diego Chargers D –
Tennessee Titans F
