NFL.com - NFL rookie grades: Ranking each 2024 draft class, from No. 1 to 32

[zSkins]

Gennaro Filice
Deputy Editor, Written Content
Published: Feb 14, 2025 at 03:40 PM

With the 2024 NFL campaign fully in the rearview, it's officially draft season! Yep, mock madness is upon us. But before we completely shift focus to the next class of rookies, let's close the book on this past year's crop. Here's my final ranking of all 32 rookie classes, with accompanying grades and analysis on the most notable newbies.

Rank 1
Washington Commanders

Class grade: A
Round 1
(No. 2) Jayden Daniels, QB | 17 games/starts

Round 2
(36) Jer'Zhan Newton, DT | 16 games/11 starts
(50) Mike Sainristil, CB | 17 games/16 starts
(53) Ben Sinnott, TE | 17 games/2 starts

Round 3
(67) Brandon Coleman, OT | 16 games/12 starts
(100) Luke McCaffrey, WR | 17 games/4 starts

Round 5
(139) Jordan Magee, LB | 8 games/1 start
(161) Dominique Hampton, S | 1 game/0 starts

Round 7
(222) Javontae Jean-Baptiste, DE | 12 games/1 start

Notable free agent signees
Tyler Owens, S | 12 games/0 starts

Yes, Jayden Daniels is the biggest reason Washington tops this ranking, but he isn’t the only reason. In his first draft as a general manager, Adam Peters selected impact starters on both sides of the football, helping the Commanders go from 4-13 cellar-dwellers to 12-5 NFC Championship Game participants.

That said, Peters’ first pick did provide an outsized benefit, giving Washington the league’s most valuable commodity: a true franchise quarterback. Posting the highest completion percentage (69.0) and most rushing yards (891) by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, Daniels tormented foes via arm and legs.

Frankly, though, his most remarkable trait might be his eternally calm demeanor. No moment is too big, no task too daunting -- and that’s a quality reflected by courageous cover man Mike Sainristil. The 5-foot-9, 182-pounder was drafted to play nickel, but the Commanders’ perimeter cornerbacks couldn’t hold their own in the first two weeks of the season, so Washington sent Sainristil outside. The rookie answered the bell with aplomb, finishing the season with four interceptions, including two in Washington’s playoff upset of Detroit. Add in 15 starts at left tackle from Brandon Coleman as well as under-the-radar disruption from DT Jer'Zhan Newton, and one overriding sentiment becomes even more pronounced: It’s a brand new day for football in the nation’s capital.

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So we had 6 rookies in the top 100 in this ranking. That is really good. Can't wait to see what AP and DQ do in the upcoming draft.

The full article here: https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-rookie-gra ... os-1-to-32

[mcsluggo]

i think those parentheticals (xx) were the draft ordering, not their rankings after the first year
(i HAVE to assume that JD is everysinglerankingthatexists #1 ranking, not #2)


at the bottom of the page was a link to the same article last year--- where the WFT got a D+ (generously) for the February 2024 evaluation of the 2023 draft. looking back another year later, the WFT has cut their first, third, fourth and fifth round selection. they got a safety (2nd round); a backup RB (sixth round) and a 2-years-later-still-practice-squad player (7th round, so that might not be a bad thing?) . Or, to phrase it more succinctly: the 2023 draft was pretty much graded the same (2 or three years later) as every other WFT draft since 1999..... even with our country doing its best to pretend we are in 1938 Berlin, i still wake up sometimes with a half-smile remembering that at least Snyder&Co. have slithered off to the horizon.

[zSkins]

i think those parentheticals (xx) were the draft ordering, not their rankings after the first year
(i HAVE to assume that JD is everysinglerankingthatexists #1 ranking, not #2)


at the bottom of the page was a link to the same article last year--- where the WFT got a D+ (generously) for the February 2024 evaluation of the 2023 draft. looking back another year later, the WFT has cut their first, third, fourth and fifth round selection. they got a safety (2nd round); a backup RB (sixth round) and a 2-years-later-still-practice-squad player (7th round, so that might not be a bad thing?) . Or, to phrase it more succinctly: the 2023 draft was pretty much graded the same (2 or three years later) as every other WFT draft since 1999..... even with our country doing its best to pretend we are in 1938 Berlin, i still wake up sometimes with a half-smile remembering that at least Snyder&Co. have slithered off to the horizon.

Oh, I see it now. I was trying to tie the word ranking of the header to the number. That makes more sense now

So glad Dan is gone and him playing Madden in Franchise mode.