I've been saying for a while now, and TedSlimmJr and I talked about it a year ago, how even though the 2010 draft class was regarded to be so awesome, we saw an incoming 2011 class that should be full of talent. I still stand by that. The only position that looks real disappointing to me is safety, and even that position is one where I think teams are going to find some bargains, some guys that shine up like a new penny.
This WR class is stocked. Absolutely stocked with contributors. At the top you have guys as good of a top tier as I've seen in A.J. Green, Julio Jones and Leonard Hankerson. Then you have guys I have a ton of faith in like Denarius Moore, Edmond Gates, Randall Cobb. Jon Baldwin I don't have tons of faith in but I know that dude is going to scare some defenses one way or another, and he belongs in that group. I love guys like Niles Paul, Torrey Smith and Jerrel Jernigan as potential 2's. Greg Little and Titus Young have no shortage of talent, it's just will they get beyond their attitude issues? Those guys are all starters to me at the position. Then you have guys like Greg Salas, Dwayne Harris, Tandon Doss, Terrence Toliver, Austin Pettis, Aldrick Robinson, Tori Gurley, Ronald Johnson...one way or another they're probably making your team. You can probably say the same about Dane Sanzenbacher whose agility scores were off the charts (3.97, 6.46), and who no matter what you can't say that mother effer doesn't get open.
The RBs class is full of contributors. Mark Ingram is the only premium guy but there are a ton of guys that can take carries. Mikel Leshoure, Ryan Williams, Kendall Hunter, Daniel Thomas, Jordan Todman, Shane Vereen, Delone Carter, Bilal Powell, Alex Green, Roy Helu, Dion Lewis, Allen Bradford, Johnny White...every single one of those guys can take carries for me any time. Can they do all the other stuff to be an all-around player? I don't know. I hate to leave out guys like DeMarco Murray, Taiwan Jones, Jacquizz Rodgers and Derrick Locke...they're also going to be valuable role players...and that's what the RB position is full of nowadays in the NFL. It's all role players. And there's no shortage of them in this class. There are so many guys that when I watch them play I'm genuinely excited about what they can do. That's unusual. That doesn't happen every year.
And for all the bitching and moaning about the tight ends class there are eight interesting guys that I would REALLY be excited to get into my training camp to see what they'd do. I'd love to bring Kyle Rudolph, D.J. Williams, Virgil Green, Luke Stocker, Jordan Cameron, Julius Thomas, Lance Kendricks or Rob Housler to my camp. Those are all really, really interesting guys to me.
For all the bitching about the quarterbacks class, you could legitimately have five quarterbacks go in the 1st round. Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert will definitely go 1st round. I think when all is said and done so will Ryan Mallett and Christian Ponder, and all it takes is one team to really like Jake Locker's ability to make big throws on the run. When it comes to the bottom of the QB class, there are definitely some interesting guys there, from T.J. Yates to Colin Kaepernick, Ricky Stanzi, Pat Devlin, Andy Dalton...all of those guys have the physical ability, all of them have production, all of them are winners, all of them are smart with great character. If any of those guys jumps up and becomes a starter, is that really going to be a shock? Really? Even Jeff Van Camp is an interesting physical specimen. And you know Greg McElroy's going to kick around for a long time as a backup.
The tackle class may be top heavy (as are most tackle classes I've evaluated, that tends to be the nature of the position), but there are a lot of interior linemen that I would swear are going to play football, from Orlando Franklin to Mike Pouncey, Danny Watkins, John Moffitt, Will Rackley, Justin Boren, Daniel Kilgore, Rodney Hudson and Stefan Wisniewski.
I don't even have to go into the defensive line class because everyone already is super high on it, but we saw that happening a year in advance.
I think this linebackers class (the true linebackers, not the pass rushers) is pretty darn underrated, too. Guys like Martez Wilson, Quan Sturdivant, Colin McCarthy and Nate Irving will play football. Bruce Carter will at the very least play on passing downs. Guys like K.J. Wright, Ross Homan and Mark Herzlich will play football. Then you've got some guys I can't help but find interesting like Tressor Baptiste, Mario Harvey, Jonas Mouton, Scott Lutrus, Winston Venable, Casey Matthews, Chris White and Ben Jacobs.
At pass rusher, Dontay Moch is about as interesting and unique a role player as I've ever seen at the outside rush spot (note: I do think he's just a role player). I love Chris Carter. I love Von Miller. Akeem Ayers has a ton of talent. Justin Houston is just solid, maybe a little overrated, but he'll play football. A lot of people I respect are super high on Brooks Reed. Aldon Smith is an excellent prospect. Jabaal Sheard is an excellent prospect. Clay Nurse is going to play football.
At cornerback I love the top of the class, I love Patrick Peterson and I love Prince Amukamara. They're the next Champ Bailey and Darrelle Revis. I truly believe that. Brandon Harris can play, I don't care what anyone says. Jimmy Smith is more of a question for me. I haven't done my homework on the depths of the CB class, but when I see guys I'm familiar with like Ras-I Dowling, Rashad Carmichael, Marcus Gilchrist, Shareece Wright, Cortez Allen and Chris L. Rucker languishing in the middle to bottom of the class, that has to be a pretty good sign.
As for the safety position it's clearly lacking all the way around, and especially at the top. But that doesn't mean you're not going to get some bargains. Smart evaluators are going to find players for that position, converts like Marcus Gilchrist, Cortez Allen and Chris Culliver, guys with big play ability but some issues like Rahim Moore and DeAndre McDaniel, and then really underrated guys like David Sims, Tejay Johnson and Mistral Raymond. I also like Chris Conte a lot, you could see his explosion on tape and then going to the Combine and having a 10'7" broad jump shows that the explosion you could see on tape was for real.
