We’ve done our best to dissect the results of the 2014 NFL draft in as many ways as possible without drowining you, but here’s an angle that sometimes gets overlooked — how the divisions fared.
Consider three short years ago. The NFC West was roundly considered a joke of a division. Now, of course, it’s the best. One big draft by the teams that year in that division helped spur a sea change.
The Seahawks drafted Richard Sherman, Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith, K.J. Wright and James Carpenter. They culled Doug Baldwin from the undrafted ranks.
The 49ers drafted Aldon Smith, Colin Kaepernick, Chris Culiver (like him as a human being or not) and Bruce Miller.
The Rams landed Robert Quinn … and little else, but still.
Ditto with the Cardinals and Patrick Peterson.
That’s five stars, a handful of quality complementary parts and the seeds of what is now a fierce division. So we’ve tallied our final draft grades , which were in letter form, and assigned them the following number grades (I assigned nothing less than a D+ — not that cruel — and no A+ grades):
Team
Division
Number grade
Total
Cleveland Browns
AFC North
95
Cincinnati Bengals
AFC North
88
Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC North
85
Baltimore Ravens
AFC North
85
353
Carolina Panthers
NFC South
92
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC South
85
New Orleans Saints
NFC South
82
Atlanta Falcons
NFC South
82
341
San Francisco 49ers
NFC West
95
St. Louis Rams
NFC West
95
Seattle Seahawks
NFC West
75
Arizona Cardinals
NFC West
75
340
Houston Texans
AFC South
95
Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC South
92
Tennessee Titans
AFC South
85
Indianapolis Colts
AFC South
68
340
Green Bay Packers
NFC North
92
Minnesota Vikings
NFC North
92
Chicago Bears
NFC North
78
Detroit Lions
NFC North
75
337
Oakland Raiders
AFC West
95
San Diego Chargers
AFC West
82
Denver Broncos
AFC West
78
Kansas City Chiefs
AFC West
72
327
New York Giants
NFC East
85
Dallas Cowboys
NFC East
78
Washington Redskins
NFC East
72
Philadelphia Eagles
NFC East
72
307
New York Jets
AFC East
82
New England Patriots
AFC East
78
Miami Dolphins
AFC East
72
Buffalo Bills
AFC East
72
304
Although both the NFC West and AFC South were tied with a total of 340 points, we broke the tiebreaker with the West on top because they had the two best grades given out with the Rams’ and 49ers’ A’s.
So perhaps does this mean that the AFC North will be the toughest division in football in a few years? We’re not going that far. After all, Andy Dalton’s contract currently expires after the coming season and Ben Roethlisberger is set right now to be a free agent after the 2015 season — too many unknowns.
But the Browns’ terrific haul (which will get better next year, with additional first-, fourth- and sixth-round picks), the Bengals’ nice value picks, and the Steelers’ and Ravens’ solid efforts likely will make the division a more forceful one in both the short and long terms.
On the flip side, the Patriots’ lower grade is reflected in the fact that they have drafted few obvious 2014 contributors. The Dolphins mostly played it safe throughout. The Jets had some odd picks, although they were sandwiched by a few decent ones early and late. And the Bills might have landed Sammy Watkins and a potential gem in Cyrus Kouandjio, but their level of risk (trading those two picks to the Browns, plus gambling on potential bust players later) was quite high.
Hence why the AFC East graded so low relatively. Will the Patriots win the division yet again? I have yet to see a good argument against that, barring disaster and maybe even not in that case.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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