We continue our division draft grades with the AFC North. If you missed yesterday’s, we covered the AFC West. Today we look at the AFC North. The most “old school” division in football, as cliche as that may sound, the AFC North for years has gained the reputation of being the most physical division in the game. Three of the four teams are ,for the most part, a run-first team with a strong defense. On the other hand, three of the four teams in the division came into the draft with their QB situation addressed with the Bengals and Joe Burrow, Ravens MVP Lamar Jackson and the Browns saying goodbye to any first round picks for the next 15 years seemingly for Deshaun Watson. In a division so competitive, a good haul in the draft can go a long way in deciding the short term and long term outlooks of each team. Let’s see how they all did.
Baltimore Ravens: A+ (maybe even add a few more +s)
The Ravens are playing 3-D chess while the rest of the league is playing hopscotch. Eric DeCosta might be the best GM in all of football when it comes to playing the draft board and capitalizing on good players being available to him. Landing the player who in my opinion was the best in the draft at pick 14 should be illegal, yet here we are, living in a world where the Ravens landed Kyle Hamilton without even having to trade up. Simply nutty stuff. Grabbing Tyler Lindebaum- a consensus top 15 player in the class- at 25 is great, even if some Ravens fans are bemoaning the pick. Listen, I understand he’s not the greatest scheme fit for the team, but they wouldn’t have picked him if there wasn’t a plan in place. David Ojabo getting to basically redshirt his rookie year with Baltimore than form the most terrifyingly athletic pass rush duo with Odafe Oweh is unfair but blame the NFL for letting him fall to the Ravens at pick 45. Travis Jones was a name that many thought could go in the late first round or early second round so imagine my surprise when he was a Raven at pick 76 to play nose (a position we thought was a no-brainer in round one except for Jordan Davis not making it to them). There is no better landing spot for Daniel Faalele, the largest human being on the planet, than Baltimore. He’s 6’8 385, in shape and has plenty of untapped potential. The Ravens are going to help him develop a mean streak and he’ll become the scariest human on the planet soon enough. I love the Isaiah Likely and Tyler Badie picks on Day 3. I didn’t watch Jordan Stout and Demarion Williams but they both fill needs. The only pick I don’t love is Charlie Kolar, but that’s fine. They knocked it out of the park on literally every other selection.
Cincinnati Bengals: B-
I like the players, but the overwhelming presence in the secondary signals to me that the team is likely moving on from Jessie Bates next offseason, which is something they should absolutely not do. That’s the one glaring takeaway this draft. I wish I had more to say.
Cleveland Browns: B-
No first or second round picks makes the Browns’ class a little hard to judge but when you go pick by pick it’s serviceable. Martin Emerson is a very scheme specific defensive back. Alex Wright is a great pick for the team and I love that he gets to learn from one of the league’s best in Myles Garrett. David Bell is Cleveland’s replacement for Jarvis Landry but he’s athletically limited, even if he is a favourite of mine. The Browns needed a gap plugging, run stopping defensive tackle but instead they got a gap-shooting pass rusher who offers very little against the run in Perrion Winfrey. At least they upgraded the kicker position. Much like the Bengals, I like the picks for Cleveland, but was this a case of filling needs or was it a BPA approach, because those two philosophies are competing in this instance.
Pittsburgh Steelers: B-
Kenny Pickett going to the hometown Steelers was a touching moment but beyond that he’ll probably be starting by the end of the year because he’s at least on par with Mitch Trubisky as is. Getting him George Pickens to throw to is the perfect target for a young QB and Pickens won’t need to be the team’s WR1 right away. In fact, I was a little surprised he made it all the way to pick 52. DeMarvin Leal gets to learn from Cam Heyward- great stuff. Calvin Austin is a cheat code. Just let Kenny Pickett throw it to Austin over the middle and he can turn a 5 yard catch into a 45 yard touchdown at any time. The team drafted Cam Heyward’s brother too! I’m not sure what his role with the team is, but another cool story. The only reason this isn’t higher is that I wonder if it wouldn’t have made more sense to get Malik Willis at 20 instead. That being said, this is a solid draft.
