In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” Doug Farrar and Kyle Madson get you ready for training camp!
In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” Kyle Madson of Niners Wire and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire get into a few important items as NFL teams prepare for training camp… and sooner than you may think, the 2023 NFL season!
What will be the most fascinating training camp story?
Which training camp narrative already has our guys burnt out?
Which late-round rookies might surprise as potential starters; and
Which people in new homes will do the most for their new teams?
You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here.
Every NFL draft has its selection of steals — those players who could surprise despite their low selections — and here’s one for every NFL team.
One of the many reasons the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII was the job that general manager Brett Veach did outside of the first round of the 2022 draft. Three defensive backs (Bryan Cook in the second round, Joshua Williams in the fourth, and Jaylen Watson in the seventh) were difference-makers all season, and seventh-round running back Isiah Pacheco became the team’s bellcow back down the stretch. Also, second-round receiver Skyy Moore joined Pacheco with touchdowns in that Super Bowl victory over the Eagles.
First-round hits are nice, but it’s almost worse to miss in the first round than it is better to win there from an opportunity cost perspective. If you want to refresh your roster at a championship level, you had better get those picks right on the second and third day. Veach and his staff did that, and it was the difference that made all the difference in the end.
Moving to the 2023 NFL draft, we’ve selected one second- or third-day pick for every NFL team who could have a similar impact on their NFL roaters sooner than mater. Each of these players have reasons for their relatively low picks in line with their tape, stats, and talent, but these are the kinds of finds that can turn a team around over time.
Who are the best underrated prospects in the 2023 NFL draft? Doug Farrar runs down the sleepers who could make surprising differences in the NFL.
Several NFL executives have already made it clear that they’re struggling to find as many as 20 prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class deserving of a first-round grade.
That may look like a pull quote, but it’s not entirely uncommon. Drafts like the 2023 one, which starts Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST, are wider than they are tall, which means that while there aren’t a ton of obvious first-round guys, there are second- and third-day players who can make a difference on an NFL roster right away.
And that’s why it’s so important to have your scouting go all the way through all seven rounds and beyond. Ask the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who got their eventual starting running back (Rutgers’ Isiah Pacheco) in the seventh round. Or the Seattle Seahawks, who bagged starting cornerback Tariq Woolen out of UTSA in the fifth. And of course, there were few more interesting rookie stories in 2022 than the tale of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, the most relevant “Mr. Irrelevant” in pro football history.
Looking ahead to the most talented sleepers in the 2023 draft class, there are prospects who have been pushed down in loaded position groups, those who need a bit of finishing work to fully unlock their NFL potential, and those who don’t have a total skill set, but who do a few things very well. They are all more than worthy of NFL consideration, and just because they’ll probably hear their names called in the late second or early third day of the draft, don’t automatically discount their NFL potential.
That’s a mistake the smartest NFL teams never make. Here are my most gifted sleepers — the “Secret Superstars” of the 2023 NFL draft.
