Tag: NFL re-draft

2020 NFL re-draft has seven wide receivers taken ahead of Henry Ruggs III

2020 NFL re-draft has seven wide receivers taken ahead of Henry Ruggs III

The 2020 draft saw Henry Ruggs III as the first wide receiver taken at 12 overall to the Raiders. One year in, that’s not nearly where the former Alabama speedster places among his fellow 2020 drafted peers.

Draftwire put together a 2020 re-draft to project how that draft would have gone had the NFL had the hindsight of the one year under their belts as NFL players. The most noticeable tumble was Ruggs, who not only was no longer the first wideout taken, he barely slipped into the first round.

Here’s the complete list of first-round receivers in the re-draft with the original draft position in parenthesis:

5. Justin Jefferson (22)
11. CeeDee Lamb (17)
15. Jerry Jeudy (15)
19. Chase Claypool (49)
20. Brandon Aiyuk (25)
21. Tee Higgins (33)
22. Laviska Shenault Jr (42)
26. Henry Ruggs III (12)

All seven of the receivers taken ahead of Ruggs in this re-draft put up better numbers last season than Ruggs. Jefferson in particular — originally the fifth WR taken — put up incredible rookie numbers with 18 catches for 1400 yards.

Ruggs caught 26 passes for 452 yards which put ten rookie wide receivers ahead of him including fifth-round pick Darnell Mooney and fourth-round pick Gabriel Davis. The only receiver taken in the first 45 picks to have worse numbers than Ruggs was Jalen Reagor, taken at 21 overall by the Eagles.

The re-draft has the Raiders taking wide receiver Chase Claypool at 19 overall. In the real draft, he was the 11th wide receiver taken in the second round by the Steelers. Then he caught 62 passes for 873 yards and nine touchdowns, becoming a steal at 49 overall.

With the 12 overall picks the Raiders used on Ruggs, the re-draft has them going with safety Jeremy Chinn.

No question Ruggs needs to show great improvement in year two to live up to his draft position.

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Eagles’ Carson Wentz lands in the top-10 of a re-draft of 32 NFL quarterbacks

Philadelphia Eagles star Carson Wentz is No. 7 in a re-draft of all 32 NFL quarterbacks

The NFL is a quarterback-driven league and about 17 to 22 teams would gladly give up their signal-caller for the chance to land an elite guy at the position.

ESPN and their NFL Nation reporters re-drafted all 32 franchise quarterbacks around the league under the assumption that they were released from their contracts and re-drafted to new teams.

The list isn’t a clear ranking for all the teams but based on where Carson Wentz landed in the re-draft, the Eagles star isn’t receiving the Rodney Dangerfield treatment, as there was some respect put on his name.

Even though he landed behind Dak Prescott, Wentz still went high in the list, landing at No. 7.

7. Carson Wentz
Selected No. 11 overall in the NFL re-draft by Rich Cimini to the Jets

We already know the ceiling for Wentz, as he flexed it back during the 2017 season. He can be the MVP of the NFL (he likely would have been if not for a December ACL tear that season). Wentz’s accuracy, ability to keep plays alive and creativity inside the pocket are all exceptional. He’s a player who has shown himself capable of raising the level of play of others around him. There’s just one question, which is durability: While the Eagles have been to the playoffs for three straight years, Wentz has not been on the field at the end of any of their final playoff games within those seasons.

There are no questions about Wentz’s status around the league or where he ranks alongside his peers. The Eagles franchise quarterback simply needs to stay healthy and he’ll silence all of the critics this season.

Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson came off the board No. 1 and No. 2 while Philip Rivers was the final quarterback selected out of the group.

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Which players did Chargers get in Pro Football Focus’ NFL re-draft?

The Los Angeles Chargers got two of the best players at their perspective positions.

An exercise started by ESPN is re-drafting the entire NFL and shuffling all the top players to new teams. There was a lot of feedback, so Pro Football Focus decided to carry the trend.

Based on the Super Bowl odds, the Chargers had the No. 6 overall selection. With that pick, they drafted quarterback Matt Ryan. In the second-round (No. 59 overall), Los Angeles took defensive end T.J. Watt.

There was a run on quarterbacks early on in the re-draft. Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson and Kyler Murray were the signal-callers before Los Angeles was up.

With a handful of top quarterbacks still on the board like Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, Ryan was ultimately the selection.

The 35-year old Ryan has amassed 32,229 passing yards, 194 touchdowns and 87 yards in seven seasons with the Falcons.

The Chargers’ second pick came in the back end of Round 2, where they went with the dynamic edge defender.

In three seasons with the Steelers, Watt has proven to be among the top players at his position, where he’s posted 125 tackles, 51 tackles for loss, 34.5 sacks and 18 passes defensed.

For the full results from both rounds, you can find them below: