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One of the most interesting things about the NFL Draft is not the evaluations that are happening now, content is great, but whose content can you trust?

Draft Savages has taken the time to look back and evaluate the evaluators to give the fans those that are the best follows.

As a disclaimer we have been through our own misery to open up all of this and talked about “Why We Suck at Scouting” on the Draft Savages show. I have also reached out to all evaluators before I publish these articles to invite them onto Draft Savages to talk about their mistakes, how they’ve changed their own methods and what tripped them up previously. If they didn’t want to be a part of the show, that is fine, but they at least knew what was coming.

We start with a look at Eric Stoner’s 2012 Big Board, I had a lot of questions for Eric and he was gracious enough to give Draft Savages his time.

We started discussing his tier theory first:

TIER 1
1. Andrew Luck
2. Trent Richardson

Richardson was a universal miss, which doesn’t excuse it, but makes it easier to swallow. Why did he put Richardson in the same Tier as Luck though? What type of career arc would have been appropriate to justify this?

TIER 2
3. Janoris Jenkins
4. Ryan Tannehill
5. Fletcher Cox
6. Robert Griffin

Tier 2 was an interesting list. Tannehill has been better than RG3, and Cox is a play maker, but that’s an interesting grouping.

TIER 3
7. Stephon Gilmore
8. David DeCastro
9. Morris Claiborne
10. Lavonte David
11. Shea McClellin
12. Matt Kalil
13. Courtney Upshaw

TIER 4
14. Luke Kuechly
15. Chandler Jones
16. Brandon Boykin
17. Quinton Coples
18. Stephen Hill
19. Bobby Massie
20. Dre Kirkpatrick
21. Lamar Miller

TIER 5
22. Melvin Ingram
23. Kendall Wright
24. Riley Reiff
25. Justin Blackmon
26. Coby Fleener

What tiers 3-5 show is Eric can spot a lemon pretty well. Lower rankings on guys like Kalil, Claiborne, and Blackmon, but he shows his willingness to take chances on projects as well. Stephen Hill, Bobby Massie, and Lamar Miller all were day two or later picks who have not lived up to his rankings. This is where evaluations become interesting, what did you as an evaluator see that made you think these guys were that good?

TIER 6
27. Whitney Mercilus
28. Mark Barron
29. Mychal Kendricks
30. Cordy Glenn
31. Doug Martin
32. George Iloka
33. Rueben Randle
34. Josh Chapman

TIER 7
35. Marvin Jones
36. Dont’a Hightower
37. Russell Wilson
38. Dontari Poe
39. Mitchell Schwartz
40. David Wilson
41. Greg Childs

TIER 8
42. Devon Still
43. Bruce Irvin
44. Nick Perry
45. Vinny Curry
46. Mo Sanu
47. Alshon Jeffrey
48. Bobby Wagner
49. Michael Floyd
50. Ronnie Hillman

Another good list here, as Eric has low grades on players like Irvin and Mark Barron while being higher than most on Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner.

Still some curious rankings find their way in, as players like George Iloka, Josh Chapman and Greg Childs check in in Eric’s top 41.

The NFL was lower and seems to have been right, what caught Eric’s eye on these players?

For in depth answers check out the Draft Savages “Why Your Scouting Sucks” with Eric Stoner, brought to you by Football Savages.