NFL Draft Grades

Now that we've all had time to digest the thrilling NFL Draft, here's how each team did.

First off, let me give the entire league a general thumbs up for not drafting a wide receiver in the top 10- and even in the first round.

A- : Kansas City Chiefs : Glenn Dorsey DT, Brandon Albert OT, Brandon Flowers CB. KC fans should have been cheering in the streets when Dorsey fell to them, and they wisely used their second pick to address need on the other side of the ball. Flowers in the second round was a solid pickup. Too bad they traded Jared Allen, or maybe the Chiefs would be in the conversation for one of the best D-lines in the league, but without the trade they don't get Albert.

B+ : Buffalo Bills : Leodis McKelvin CB, James Hardy WR. Wisely drafted the (arguably) best all-around corner in the draft and waited until the 2nd round to address the WR need.

B+ : Baltimore Ravens : Joe Flacco QB, Ray Rice RB. Flacco is a good pickup for where he is drafted. He will need a year or two to adjust, but should make the Ravens into a contender in the near future. One wonders if the Ravens defense will be able to holdover until that happens.

B+ : Pittsburgh Steelers : Rashard Mendenhall RB, Limas Sweed WR. Two of the best players at their respective positions. The Steelers need all the help they can get with their schedule, and the funny thing is that after losing 2 home games against Jacksonville in 2007-2008, they go to Jacksonville in 2008-2009. Failed to address first-round needs on the offensive line.

B+ : Washington Redskins : Devin Thomas WR, Fred Davis TE, Malcolm Kelly WR. In about 6 hours, Washington revamped basically their entire offense for the better. Jason Campbell won't have any excuses if he fails next year with two of the top WRs of the '08 class in addition to Chris Cooley and Santana Moss. The only thing they didn't do was draft a safety, which is a little questionable. And odds are one of the two WRs will work out.

B : Miami Dolphins: Jake Long OT, Philip Merling DE, Chad Henne QB. Chad Henne brought down the Dolphin's grade from an A-. QB isn't the problem in Miami, and they could have used their third pick to draft a linebacker like Dan Connor to replace Zach Thomas or a wide receiver like Early Doucet or Mario Manningham.

B : New Orleans Saints : Sedrick Ellis DT, Tracy Porter CB. Traded with New England to stick it to the Bengals, who still won't have a run defense.

B : Arizona Cardinals : Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie CB, Calais Campbell DE. Two solid players who should at the worst be passable starters. Can't get much worse than Antrelle Rolle anyways.

B : Tampa Bay Buccaneers : Aqib Talib CB, Dexter Jackson WR. #1 pass defense in the NFL doesn't mean much when you don't play against a good team your entire season. It's nice to see a team that realizes that. D. Jackson should be groomed to replace Joey Galloway.

B : Dallas Cowboys : Felix Jones RB, Mike Jenkins CB, Martellus Bennett TE. Jones should compliment Marion Barber nicely, while Jenkins will make a nice replacement for Roy Wil...err, a nickel corner. Bennett is a good blocking TE that can also go out and catch passes. Another weapon for Tony Romo- so as long as they aren't in the playoffs, the Cowboys should be a great team next year.

B : Seattle Seahawks : Lawrence Jackson DE, John Carlson TE. Hopefully Carlson is the kind of TE that Seattle has been missing for the past couple seasons. Jackson should be a nice complement to Patrick Kerney, but the real reason they get a B is because they finally released Shaun "jelly legs" Alexander.

B : Philadelphia Eagles : Trevor Laws DT, DeSean Jackson WR. Hopefully Jackson will be a little more reliable than Kevin Curtis and/or Reggie Brown. Also picked up a first rounder in 2009 for basically pocket change.

B- : Oakland Raiders : Darren McFadden RB. Should have drafted Glenn Dorsey and maybe move into the top half of the league in rush defense. Oakland was already stocked with tailbacks...wtf. B- only because McFadden is ridiculous.

B- : NY Jets : Vernon Gholston DE, Dustin Keller TE. Props for not letting a monster like Gholston slip to the Patriots. Unfortunately, it remains to be seen if Gholston can be convinced to play every down by the Jets mediocre coaching staff. And please stop making a big deal about Gholston facing Jake Long twice a year. Gholston got one sack on Long, but was shut down the rest of the game and even got pancaked more than once.

B- : Denver Broncos : Ryan Clady OT, Eddie Royal WR. Not bad pickups, probably could have done better than Royal at #42 but a solid day 1 for the Broncos. Let's hope Royal can avoid shoving his arm through home entertainment centers unlike a certain other Broncos starting WR.

B- : Chicago Bears : Chris Williams OT, Matt Forte RB. Goodbye Cedric Benson! Finally! Williams should give Forte someone to run behind in the very competitive NFC North. Whether or not the Bears' QB will be worth protecting remains to be seen.

B- : Detroit Lions : Gosder Cherilus OT, Jordon Dizon LB. They didn't draft a WR!! Amazing. Cherilus is a bit of a reach, but basically any half-decent O-lineman is an improvement considering the frequency that Jon Kitna is on the ground. Maybe that's why he's always looking up at the sky praying.

B- : New York Giants : Kenny Phillips S, Terrell Thomas CB. Addressed a value/need pick at the safety position. Got possibly the steal of the draft in Mario Manningham late in round 3. It's hard to knock their not drafting a linebacker until the 4th round.

B- : Indianapolis Colts : Mike Pollack C (Tony Ugoh OT). No first-rounder this year, but Pollack should be a suitable replacement for Jeff Saturday and Tony Ugoh turned into a starter his rookie season in a very competitive division. Peyton Manning can continue his dominance.

B- : Minnesota Vikings : Tyrell Johnson S. Replace or complement aging Donovan Darius.

C+ : St. Louis Rams : Chris Long DE, Donnie Avery WR. Ok, I honestly don't understand drafting Donnie Avery at #33 when every WR was still on the board. I have, however, recanted my belief that the Rams should have taken Glenn Dorsey over Long as I forgot that they had Carriker playing on the outside at DE instead of DT.

C+ : Cincinnati Bengals : Keith Rivers LB, Jerome Simpson WR. Didn't get Sedrick Ellis. Drafting Simpson over Sweed, Kelly, and DeSean Jackson is a little questionable. Keep them out of jail!

C+ : San Diego Chargers : Antoine Cason CB. Not a very large draft class for the Chargers, but decent enough. Cason should be a starter by the time Jammer retires... or by the time he should retire.

C : New England Patriots : Jerod Mayo LB, Terrence Wheatley CB. At least Belichick didn't get stupid in his arrogance. Mayo should be able to learn from Seau, Bruschi, and Vrabel and be productive immediately. However, one has to wonder how he is literally going to replace all 3 of them at the same time when they all die of old age sometime in the middle of next season. Lastly, the Patriots don't have a good track record of home-grown linebackers. Probably could have been at least a B if they hadn't cheated and were able to keep their own first round pick.

C : Houston Texans : Duane Brown OT. If they wanted a tackle, why not just stay put at #18 to grab Cherilus or trade up a few spots to get one of the consensus first-round tackles?

C- : Atlanta Falcons : Matt Ryan QB, Sam Baker OT, Curtis Lofton LB. Matt Ryan and Joey Harrington on the same team is going to be the most pathetic QB controversy outside of Chicago. Sam Baker was a major reach, and if they wanted a tackle they should have traded up higher to get a better one.

C- : San Francisco 49ers : Kentwan Balmer DT. It's hard to know how to grade the 49ers. Part of me likes the nose tackle pick to give already-matured Patrick Willis more room to run around and make tackles, but on the other hand can Mike Martz really turn Alex Smith, Arnaz Battle, and Isaac Bruce into a fearsome offense? My guess is no, so I think they should have taken a WR or traded out of the first round to get more picks. Nobody has really said it, but the 49ers need to go into rebuilding mode because of their selection of Alex Smith.

C- : Green Bay Packers : Jordy Nelson WR, Brian Brohm QB. Why draft a WR? Last I checked the Packers weren't needy in the passing department, Brett Favre or not. I also don't really understand drafting Brohm, as this just puts unnecessary pressure on Aaron Rodgers. I guess none of it really matters because as soon as Brett Favre walks back into Lambeau Field he's going to suit up and start.

D+ : Carolina Panthers : Jonathan Stewart RB, Jeff Otah OT. Gave up way too much for Otah. If they were going to draft an OT, why not use their first pick and not reach and trade into the late first round if necessary to get Stewart? I doubt he would have been taken before the Chargers.

D- : Jacksonville Jaguars : Derrick Harvey DE, Quentin Groves DE. Trading up from #26 to #8, only to reach for a DE? Until it's shown to be a stroke of genius it's a failure. Starting 2 rookie DEs is just asking for trouble in a division with upper-tier offensive lines in the Colts' and the Titans'.

X : Cleveland Browns : Lots of later round picks. I don't care about later round picks not named Tom Brady. The Browns built through free agency this year and had pretty good drafts the last couple of years.

F : Tennessee Titans : Chris Johnson RB, Jason Jones DT. Here's an idea Tennessee, instead of setting VY up for failure, how about drafting someone to catch his passes? Or instead of drafting a second rate DT, why not re-sign your pro bowl franchised player to the long term deal he deserves? Idiotic draft (unless Johnson lines up at WR and VY learns to bomb it, unlikely given his retarded sidearm throwing motion). Total failure.