April 28, 2017
There's a thinking that you have to wait three years to properly evaluate a draft pick, but does that mean we can't have opinions on how well each team did the next day? Hell no. With that in mind, here are my NFC East draft grades.
We'll go in order of draft position:
Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee: Way back in January, Barnett was the first round pick in my "Eagles only mock draft 1.0," so obviously I saw good player who I thought fit the Eagles' scheme. Barnett was an extremely productive player for the Volunteers, posting at least 10 sacks in every season going back to his freshman year:
| Derek Barnett | Tackles | Sacks | TFL | FF |
| 2014 | 47 | 10 | 20.5 | 0 |
| 2015 | 44 | 10 | 12.5 | 1 |
| 2016 | 56 | 13 | 19 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 147 | 33 | 52 | 3 |
It is extremely rare for an 18-year old to put up 10 sacks and over 20 tackles for loss in a season in any conference, much less the SEC. And there's room to grow, as Barnett is still only 20 years old.
Barnett is also a very good run defender, giving the Eagles two of them when paired with Brandon Graham. Barnett's game isn't flashy. He wins with hand-fighting as opposed to elite burst, but he is battle tested in the best conference in college football, where he faced (and beat) his share of quality offensive tackles.
Grade: B+
Jonathan Allen, DE, Alabama: Over the last two seasons, Allen has been the best player on a dominant Alabama defense, posting 22.5 sacks and 30.5 tackles for loss. While not an elite athlete by any stretch, Allen does very clearly possess impressive quickness for a 286-pound man, and his country strength is evident when you watch him shed blocks. Some have made the comparison to Fletcher Cox, which I can see. He was easily a top-five talent in this draft.
So if Allen is so good, why did he slip to pick 17? Allen has an arthritic shoulder, which has caused teams to lower his draft grade.
Still, for the value of the player at pick 17, this could very well be a steal for the Redskins.
Grade: A
Evan Engram, TE, Ole Miss: Engram isn't your typical tight end. At 6'3, 234, he's shorter and lighter than a handful of NFL wide receivers. As such, you would expect that he would have great athleticism, which he does, posting the following impressive numbers at the Combine:
I like Engram quite a bit as a player, and it's going to be difficult for opposing defenses to cover Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall, Sterling Shepard, and now Engram. However, pick 23 for him was a bit early, and while it will be difficult for opposing defenses to cover the Giants' skill players, the Giants will likely continue to struggle to protect against opposing pass rushes.
Grade: C+
While Charlton didn't have eye-popping numbers (just 19 sacks over his four-year career), he had a monster performance in one of the biggest regular-season games in college football this past season, when he had nine tackles and 2.5 sacks against Ohio State. But those performances were too few and far between.
Still, Charlton is an athletic specimen and a height-weight-speed dream for NFL scouts, and he constitutes appropriate value in the tail end of the first round.
Grade: B
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
Like Jimmy on Facebook.
