Thanks! And thoughts on the final draft grade?
 

Just wanted to give a hat tip to a few people here for their work over the draft season.

Dante for the visits tracker and insane work on getting info on the picks up so quickly

Crow for the immense detail and knowledge provided on prospects. I always learn stuff from you each year. Much appreciated.

Staylor for the mock draft. Amazed we made it, thanks for putting in the effort to keep it on the road man

Coach for starting loads of interesting threads to ponder and general enthusiasm for all things draft. You seem like a real solid dude as well.

And then there's a load of you who know loads more than I do about scheme fits and specific skillsets etc.which includes those above, but also DJ, Duncan, Chris Meck, Run...probably loads of others.

Thanks all, I really enjoy this time of year, and I'm pretty happy with how this year's draft has gone. Reckon I'd give it an -A. What do you think?

A lot of risk with Simmons and ONL, but Veach and Co did their due diligence and signed off on them. This draft has insane potential to be one the best, excluding the Mahomes draft. I’ll go with a solid A-. Love it so far.

Thanks, OP. I'm just a big old nerd with too much time on his hands and a brain that doesn't stop until I'm asleep.

Here's my thoughts on grade:

Present: B+.
I actually really like everything the Chiefs did in this draft, aside from the amount of risk they took on in Round 1. Royals and Smith are excellent fits and should help add some explosion back to the offense. Williams and Bassa and Gillotte are all immediate nice depth pieces, and possible future starters. Anudike-Uzomah doesn't take a step? Fine. Flush him and slide in Gillotte as your cheap partner for Karlaftis on his second deal. Tranquill sucks ass again in coverage? Bassa offers an alternative. Watson gets hurt, Fulton gets hurt, Josh Williams continues to make the staff not trust him? Hello, Nohl. Norman-Lott is probably never a starter, but you can see the value of the player.

So why is it a B+ if I love that all so much? It's Josh Simmons.

I'll reference the Barney Stinson crazy-hot X-Y axis theorem. We'll call it the Duncan Idaho Draft Nerd Risk-Reward X-Y axis. Theory goes, a potential partner must be as hot as they are crazy. If they are crazier than they are hot, you should stay away. For me, Simmons' potential reward factor IS significant. Like, a 9 on a scale of 10. The problem is that I see the risk factor as a true 10/10. The risk is as bad as it can get. I will acknowledge that some might disagree and see the reward factor as higher, or the risk factor as lower (though I think you're layering on an awful lot of hope in that case). But for me, this pick by itself is a D. Maybe a D+ if I inflate my grades a bit.

Simmons - D+ (which, if the team is right, morphs into an A+)
Norman-Lott - B
Gillotte - B+
Williams - A
Royals - A+
Bassa - B+
Smith - A+

Potential: A+.
Because if Simmons is healthy, he's going to be an above-average LT.

OP is spot on! This place rocks! Thanks to all you guys!

I’d give every pick a B- to A, except Simmons.

I almost just have to give that an incomplete for now. My grade would be such a wide range on that one.

I think I'm very close to your evaluation of all of those picks, and agree that the Simmons pick really muddies the water.

Simmons - Man, i didn't like the risk. Factoring in the upside, I guess I'd say - C-

ONL - B - I'm lower than other guys here, but he did look like maybe the best left. I think even at 24 and with worse competition I might have gone Alexander

Gillotte - B+

Williams - B+ - great fit, not sure I wanted that pick at that point with Starks around

Royals - A

Bassa - B

Smith - A

Minus the risk of Simmons, there's none i dislike in isolation.