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Welcome to our annual NFL Draft Report Card, in which we grade both the teams and ourselves on how well they fared in this NFL Draft.

Using our grades, we attempted to rank each team’s draft class. Just like in our article from last season, we assigned all players who were drafted but not on the site a 5.4, which is the equivalent to a training camp body. We took those grades for each player and divided that by the number of selections the team had.

These rankings do not account for positional value, the value of where players were drafted, or trades teams made; it is literally based on the grades we gave the players who were drafted and how much talent we feel teams got from their selections compared to the number of picks they made.

And with that, the 2025 Best Draft Class, with an average grade of 6.50, goes to the Cleveland Browns. Much of the talk will be getting Shedeur Sanders in the 5th Round, but they grabbed our No. 2 overall prospect, Mason Graham, at pick No. 5 as well.

The Browns draft class is in the table below.

The Browns take our top spot after having our 2nd-worst spot in 2024. They made a shocking trade early in the draft by trading away the chance to take Travis Hunter and moving back three spots with the Jaguars. However, they did still get the chance to take the No. 2 overall player on our board in DT Mason Graham.

Due to the trade with Jacksonville, Cleveland ended up with 2 of the first 4 picks in Round 2. The Browns used the first one on Carson Schwesinger out of UCLA. The linebacker class was thin overall. Schwesinger was our No. 2 WLB behind Jihaad Campbell.

Cleveland doubled up at two separate positions during the draft, and running back was one of them. With their second Round 2 selection, they took Quinshon Judkins out of Ohio State, 1 of 2 in-state players they drafted. We had Judkins ranked No. 4 among RBs, just behind his Ohio State teammate, who was still on the board. Then, in the 4th round, they selected Dylan Sampson (SIS No. 13 RB) out of Tennessee.

Arguably the most notable thing to come out of the entire draft was the fact the Browns selected two quarterbacks, and not only that, but who they were and the order they took them in. Late in Round 3, they opted to take Dillon Gabriel from Oregon, who was the 5th QB taken to that point, but the No. 10 QB on our board. Then, they traded up in the 5th round to finally end Shedeur Sanders’ fall. Both Gabriel and Sanders create a very crowded and competitive QB room, as they join Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Deshaun Watson.

Not to be forgotten is Harold Fannin Jr. (SIS No. 3 TE, No. 44 Overall), who they selected early in Round 3. Another in-state player from Bowling Green, Fannin crushed numerous TE records in 2024 and should look to compete for snaps in the passing game from day 1.

Since we grade players based on what they will be at the beginning of Year 2, let’s widen the table of our recent Draft Class winners. 

After winning as top class in 2019, the Titans made consecutive playoff appearances. While the Browns made the playoffs the next year, the turmoil in that locker room in 2021 forced a fall to 8-9. The Lions did take a dip in 2021 in the first year of a new regime, but they took a huge step forward in 2022, nearly making the playoffs, and then making consecutive playoff appearances the past two seasons. 

As for the Jets, they improved their record in 2022 and had both the Offensive (Garrett Wilson) and Defensive (Sauce Gardner) Rookies of the Year, but expectations fell in 2023 when Aaron Rodgers went down in Week 1. The Panthers were tough to watch in 2023, but he showed a lot of confidence and a big turnaround in the back half of 2024. The Bears and Caleb Williams went through some growing pains during his rookie season, but they’ve revamped the roster under new head coach Ben Johnson to be able to compete with the rest of the NFC North.

What does that mean for the Browns this time around? This is the second time they’ve made our top spot immediately after the draft. The last time, they made the playoffs the next season. They now have five QBs competing for the starting job. They’ve revamped the RB room with Nick Chubb’s recent injury history. And, they added Graham and Schwesinger to a defense that already has Myles Garrett, and his new contract, and Denzel Ward. The AFC North is a tough division, and whether or not they are banking on one of these QBs to be their franchise guy or wait for next year’s class, they are building a solid foundation.

Now, let’s check out how the rest of the teams fared in our rankings. Here are the draft classes ranked in order of their grade:

The Falcons were aggressive to address their edge group, drafting Jalon Walker (SIS No. 2 ED, No. 9 Overall) and then trading back into the 1st round for James Pearce Jr. (SIS No. 7 ED, No. 29 Overall), en route to our No. 2 class. The Bengals, Giants, and Chiefs rounded out the top 5. New York took Abdul Carter (SIS No. 1 ED, No. 4 Overall) at pick No. 3 and then traded back into Round 1 for their potential franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart, then took three straight players with a 6.5 grade. Additionally, the Titans got Cam Ward No. 1 overall on their way to our No. 6 class.

The bottom three teams for 2025, listed 30 to 32, were the Patriots, Broncos, and 49ers. 

Philadelphia had our No. 30 class last year and won the Super Bowl. Much like the Eagles last year where they crushed their first two picks (Quinyon Mitchel and Cooper DeJean), the Patriots took LSU’s Will Campbell (SIS No. 1 OT, No. 5 Overall) and Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson (SIS No. 3 RB, No. 33 Overall) with their first two picks. They also drafted Georgia’s Jared Wilson (SIS No. 2 OC), Florida State’s Joshua Farmer (SIS No. 5 DT), and LSU’s Bradyn Swinson (SIS No. 14 ED), who we had graded at 6.4 or 6.5. While Kyle Williams (SIS No. 13 WR) has some upside, we felt he’s a No. 4 receiver and they took him early in Round 3. Their final four selections weren’t included on our site and included two special teamers.

The top 2 players on our board that the Broncos took were Texas’ Jahdae Barron (SIS No. 3 CB, No. 36 Overall) and Illinois’ Pat Bryant (SIS No. 11 WR). UCF’s RJ Harvey (SIS No. 17 RB) and LSU’s Sai’vion Jones (SIS No. 19 ED) graded out as versatile backups for us. Their other selections included a top backup edge rusher, a punter, and a multi-sport developmental tight end.

This year’s worst class goes to the 49ers. San Francisco had 11 selections, and while grading out high for us can be difficult with a lot of selections, they still had a chance to do so. Georgia’s Mykel Williams (SIS No. 8 ED, No. 34 Overall) was a solid 1st round selection, despite them having their pick of any EDGE besides Abdul Carter. Texas’ Alfred Collins (SIS No. 4 DT) and Oregon’s Jordan James (SIS No. 7 RB), both with 6.5 grades, should be strong role players. Their other eight selections graded out as 5.9 top backups or worse according to our scouts, including Nick Martin (SIS No. 6 MLB) and Upton Scout (SIS No. 16 CB) who were both selected in Round 3.

How we did

We always grade ourselves on how many players were drafted that we had featured on our NFL Draft website. 

When taking out specialists, which we currently don’t write up, there were only 12 players drafted who weren’t on the site and only 5 of which we didn’t formally watch. That’s over 98% of the NFL Draft covered! Plus, many players we had on the site who didn’t get drafted have already signed free agent deals with teams.

Key Facts

* With only 16 players drafted this year who weren’t featured on the site, many teams added a lot of talent in this year’s draft. Only four teams drafted more than one player who wasn’t featured on the site: the Patriots (4), Bears (2), Packers (2), and Broncos (2), though New England and Denver selected special teamers, who we don’t feature.

* All four teams in the NFC South ranked in our top 14 this year, further suggesting that it can be any team’s division this year and moving forward.

* The Panthers still have the best average SIS Draft Class rank and grade average over our seven seasons doing this. While it certainly hasn’t translated to wins, maybe this class will get them back on track in an open division. The Titans, Lions, Bengals, and Falcons round out the top 5 draft class ranks. 

The Colts continue to bring up the rear. Their No. 11 ranking in 2023 is the only time they’ve ever ranked better than this year’s No. 24, so it may be a while before they climb up the rankings and the standings.

* For the first time ever, our entire Top 100 Big Board was selected during the draft. Our top 5 UDFAs were Cobee Bryant (SIS No. 12 CB, No. 101 Overall), Seth McLaughlin (SIS No. 3 OC, No. 103 Overall), Xavier Restrepo (SIS No. 12 WR, No. 105 Overall), Zy Alexander (SIS No. 15 CB, No. 111 Overall), and Logan Brown (SIS No. 11 OT, No. 114 Overall). Restrepo has reportedly signed a UDFA deal with the Titans, pairing him up with his former QB in Cam Ward. The top UDFA on our board the past two seasons (Ivan Pace Jr. in 2023 and Leonard Taylor III in 2024) made our All-Rookie Team, so that could bode well for Bryant this year.

How the NFL Draft Site Compared to the Draft

Let’s take a look at how the website stacks up to the NFL’s thinking of where players were selected. 

On offense, the first player drafted at every position except TE was the No. 1 player on our board. Colston Loveland was the first TE off the board, but was our No. 2 ranked TE.

On defense, the top player at each position matched the first player drafted for all except MLB. Demetrius Knight Jr. was the first MLB taken, while he was our No. 2 player at the position.

Wide receiver and offensive tackle were the only two positions in which the top 5 drafted matched our top 5 of the position in some order. Every other position with the exception of NT, ED, MLB, WLB, and CB had only one player off, while those just mentioned each had two.

Overdrafted?

Only two players graded below a 6.6 were drafted in Round 1. Jaxson Dart (SIS No. 4 QB, No. 90 Overall) by the Giants at No. 25 and Maxwell Hairston (SIS No. 9 CB, No. 94 Overall) by the Bills at No. 30 were both given a 6.4 grade by our scouts.

Only two non-Top 100 players were drafted in Round 2: Louisville’s Tyler Shough (SIS No. 5 QB) and the aforementioned RJ Harvey. Shough has a great shot to start in New Orleans and just missed our Top 100 while we feel Harvey is a three-down backup.

Two players graded at 5.8 were selected by the end of Round 3. Minnesota’s Justin Walley (SIS No. 25 CB) by the Colts and USC’s Jaylin Smith (SIS No. 27) by the Texans. Both were near the top of our 5.8 CBs, but that was a bit rich based on who we had graded higher.

The first eligible player (non-specialist) taken who we did not give a strong enough grade to reach the threshold we set for the website was Maryland LB Ruben Hyppolite II, drafted by the Bears in the 4th round, No. 132 overall. There were only four other players drafted that we didn’t get a formal look at. Those were Tommy Mellott, Marcus Bryant, Junior Bergen, and Kobee Minor.

Underdrafted?

The only 6.7 or better player not drafted in the top three rounds was Shedeur Sanders (SIS No. 2 QB, No. 32 Overall), and he went No. 144 to Cleveland.

Kyle Kennard (SIS No. 9 ED, No. 43 Overall) was the only 6.6 not drafted by day 3, and he was selected No. 125 by the Chargers.

All of our 6.5 or better players were drafted by the end of Round 5, so there wasn’t much top-end talent left for picking in the final rounds of the draft this year.

Conclusion

Every year the SIS scouting department looks to make improvements, and this year was no different. With the SIS Football Operation growing the way it is and us assisting some other departments for much of the draft process this year, our time scouting was even more limited than normal. However, we got a huge help from some of our Data scouts and Live Data scouts in January and February to knock out many of the final first looks we needed to get on players.

Our six-man scouting team, consisting of Nathan Cooper, Jordan Edwards, Jeff Dean, Ben Hrkach, Chad Tedder, and Jeremy Percy, with the help of the rest of our full-time football operations staff, put in the hard work to finalize over 625 reports, of which 389 were featured on our NFL Draft site, plus get looks at another 60+ players to see if they were worthy of being written up.

Having nearly the same amount of players on the site this year compared to last year, seeing the same amount of players drafted who were featured on the site is encouraging. While the number of players we didn’t get looks on grew from 2 to 5, we still consider this year a success. As we noted, our Top-100 evaluations were a big success with 82 of our top 100 drafted in the first 100 picks, a 10-point improvement from our previous best from last year. Plus, it was great to see all of our Top 100 players off the board by the end of Round 5.

We want to thank the hard work our engineering, R&D, and product teams put in this year to get our own internal draft site back up and running and looking better than ever! We’re excited to continue to grow it each year and make it the best one out there.

Please continue to check out our NFL Draft website as the offseason continues. If you’d like to be involved in our scouting and charting processes next year, consider applying to our Football Data Scout position. We’re taking applications and interviewing for next year’s class now.