Packers 2017 NFL Draft Big Board: Ranking the Top-150 Prospects
By Dan Dahlke
It’s been a 10-month process of evaluating college tape, reading player bios, and scrutinizing stat lines and workout numbers, but the 2017 NFL Draft is officially here and draft boards are set around the NFL.
If you’re like me and you love all things college football and the NFL Draft, then this is a very exciting week for you. After months of speculation and hard work, it will be fun to just kick back and finally see how this whole thing plays out.
In preparation for the draft, I always try to compile my top-150 prospects, which helps provide a foundation for all of my draft analysis.
My big board of 150 players is largely based on the film grades I give players throughout the draft process. Combine workout numbers, injury history, and off-field red flags do factor in to some degree, but I primarily try to base my player evaluation on what I see on film.
When grading players, I use a 12-trait scoring rubric, weighting certain traits over others depending on the position. For example, when I evaluate linebackers I score each player’s athletic ability, play speed, mental processing, functional strength, impact play ability, run defense (inside/out), pass coverage, pass rush, motor, and toughness. All of this totals to a possible 100 points.
On my grading scale, any player that earns a 82.0 grade or higher is a first-round prospect, while any player with a 85.0 or higher is a special talent. Only one player on my board eclipsed the 90-point mark.
This grading system helps shape my view of the draft class, providing a consistent reference point when building my draft board.
The following is the top-150 player grades for the 2017 draft class. To be clear, I’m not ranking the players in the order I believe they’ll be drafted, but rather, who I view are the top prospects coming out of college regardless of positional value.