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Gaffney's 2024 NFL Draft Top 50 Big Board

Having done NFL Draft adjacent writing for the better part of the last four years, constructing a big board was something I had not done. Now, with less than a week to go until the Chicago Bears officially go on the clock (and, in all likelihood, select USC signal caller Caleb Williams), I thought this was as good a time as any to try and take a crack at putting one together, in what is a draft class I believe has some good talent even beyond the 50 players you see below. So, with that in mind, here's how I have my 50 best players in the 2024 NFL Draft lined up.



Gaffney's 2024 NFL Draft Top 50 Big Board

No.

Name

Position

School

Consensus Rank

1

Marvin Harrison Jr.

WR

Ohio State

1

2

Brock Bowers

TE

Georgia

7

3

Caleb Williams

QB

USC

2

4

Olu Fashanu

OT

Penn State

9

5

Malik Nabers

WR

LSU

3

6

Jayden Daniels 

QB

LSU

8

7

Taliese Fuaga

OT/IOL

Oregon St.

15

8

Joe Alt

OT

Notre Dame

4

9

Drake Maye

QB

UNC

5

10

Rome Odunze

WR

Washington

6

11

Troy Fautanu

OT/IOL

Washington

18

12

Byron Murphy 

IDL

Texas

16

13

Jared Verse

EDGE

Florida St.

13

14

Dallas Turner

EDGE

Alabama

10

15

Terrion Arnold

CB

Alabama

12

16

Laiatu Latu

EDGE

UCLA

14

17

Cooper DeJean

CB

Iowa

23

18

Johnny Newton

IDL

Illinois

21

19

Quinyon Mitchell

CB

Toledo

11

20

Adonai Mitchell

WR

Texas

29

21

Brian Thomas

WR

LSU

19

22

Kool-Aid McKinstry

CB

Alabama

27

23

Jackson Powers-Johnson

IOL

Oregon

26

24

Tyler Guyton

OT

Oklahoma

30

25

Amarius Mims

OT

Georgia

20

26

JC Latham

OT

Alabama

17

27

Ladd McConkey

WR

Georgia

32

28

Graham Barton

IOL

Duke

28

29

Mike Sainristil

CB

Michigan

57

30

Nate Wiggins

CB

Clemson

24

31

J.J. McCarthy

QB

Michigan

22

32

Kingsley Suamataia

OT

BYU

42

33

Ja'Tavion Sanders

TE

Texas

55

34

Michael Penix Jr.

QB 

Washington

35

35

Chris Braswell

EDGE

Alabama

50

36

Darius Robinson

IDL

Mizzou

31

37

Xavier Legette

WR

South Carolina

46

38

Chop Robinson

EDGE

Penn State

25

39

Xavier Worthy

WR

Texas

33

40

Kris Jenkins

IDL

Michigan

51

41

Edgerrin Cooper

LB

Texas A&M

37

42

Zach Frazier

IOL

West Virginia

41

43

Trey Benson

RB

Florida State

60

44

Jonathon Brooks

RB

Texas

58

45

Jaden Hicks

SAF

Washington St.

70

46

Patrick Paul

OT

U. of Houston

59

47

Roman Wilson

WR

Michigan

52

48

Ja'Lynn Polk

WR

Washington

65

49

Marshawn Kneeland

EDGE

W. Michigan

64

50

Kiran Amegadjie

OT

Yale

74


*- Consensus Rankings based on a vast array of different big boards


Where I'm Higher Than Consensus

Yale OT Kiran Amegadjie (+24), Washington State SAF Jaden Hicks (+25), and Michigan CB Mike Sainristil (+28)

A friend of mine who helps out in the D3 ranks recently mentioned a certain safety out of Wazzou that he liked by the name of Jaden Hcks, and after seeing enough of him for myself, I'm sold. More of your typical box safety, he plays mean as hell as a tone-setter in the run game and as a tackler in general. He has a ways to go as a cover guy, but there is a foundation you can work with here. Better yet, Dane Brugler from the Athletic has him even higher than I do, which is one hell of an endorsement to have.


Having recently done a full report on Sainristil, we'll skip over to Amegadjie, the final name to make the cut. While I think it's fair to have reservations about a tackle out of the Ivy League, you don't often find guys with his physical skill set, especially on day two of the draft. Also, despite not testing at the combine due to an injury, he checks off most of the athletic boxes you'd hope for. Always remember, you can find NFL-caliber talent at any level of college football, even the Ivy League.


Where I'm Lower Than Consensus

Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy (-9), Alabama OT JC Latham (-9), and Penn State EDGE Chop Robinson (-13)

Despite a monster outing at the NFL Combine, Chop Robinson didn't overcome a consensus slide back in February, and even still, I believe I'm a bit lower on him than most. His getting off the line is out of this world good, and he has some eBute fluidity. but that didn't lead to a ton of sack production in college, and combined with some lack of technique as a pass rusher, small frame, and some other issues, are the key reasons he's lower on here than you could potentially be expecting.


Onto Latham now, whose standing is a bit all over the place these days, although he's generally agreed upon as a top-30 guy. His physical tools are better than some of the tackles ranked higher than him, and he has almost unrivaled power, but working against speed as a pass protector was/is a trouble spot for him. Despite the placement here, I'm still a fan of what he's capable of, and he has a really good chance to outperform the grade, just as the man placed right above him, Amarius Mims, out of Georgia does.


As for McCarthy, he's probably going to go much higher than where he's placed here no matter what, but having scouted him for myself, I feel much better about his long-term outlook than I did a month ago. He should sit in year one no matter where he lands; I don't think he's ready to be a full-time starter yet, but he's still very young.



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