Grading NFL Draft picks the night they’re made is notoriously difficult.
While years of college ball and pre-draft workouts might give us a good idea how talented a prospect might be, there’s no way to know for sure until he takes the field on Sundays. JaMarcus Russell once looked like a franchise savior for the Raiders but turned out to be a cannon-armed bowling pin in the pros.
That means our first-round draft grades aren’t the be-all, end-all of a player’s career. They’re an educated guess based on the prospect’s talents, the way he’d fit with his new team and, most importantly, whether or not the perceived value of his draft slot makes sense. Some draft picks will look like bargains. Others will look like overpays. So we’re going to make some snap decisions based on which camps each guy fits into.
This is all to say this is a guide through the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft that will feature some spot-on instructions and a few wrong turns. But after months of preparation, we’re pretty confident in our grades… for now.
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