David Johnson, Jaelen Strong make Grantland’s NFL Draft ‘All-Value’ team
May 4, 2015, 11:33 PM | Updated: 11:34 pm
Thanks to Grantland, we have a reasonable way of judging the 2015 NFL Draft mere days after it unfolded, instead of immediately projecting “busts” or “steals” before the draftees have played in a pro game.
The All-Value team was composed of early-round players whose value-baseline was pre-draft estimates of where they were expected to be selected.
To use their example, it’s far more valuable to a team to find first-round talent in the third round than it is to take fourth-round talent in the sixth round.
The Arizona Cardinals’ third-round pick (86th overall), former Northern Iowa running back David Johnson, was one of two players at the position with the most projected value.
There were a variety of backs with different skill sets available in the second tier, though, and Johnson stood out to me as one of the more interesting candidates available. At 224 pounds with a 4.50 40-yard dash at the combine, he earned himself a speed score of 109.0, suggesting his mix of size and speed should play up at the professional level. The Northern Iowa product profiles as the power back in a rotation with Andre Ellington, but he’s hardly the sort of Brandon Jacobs-style bruiser who lacks versatility; as a solid pass protector and above-average receiver, it’s not out of the question that Johnson becomes Arizona’s primary running back.
Former Arizona State wide receiver (and projected first or second-rounder) Jaelen Strong watched 10 receivers get drafted before him before the Houston Texans picked him up late in the third round (70th overall).
The leaguewide interest in bigger, stronger cornerbacks after the success of the Legion of Boom in Seattle has naturally made size more meaningful for the wide receivers who have to line up across from those cornerbacks. Enter Strong, who dominated the Pac-12 during his two seasons in Arizona State’s spread attack. Strong’s 6-foot-2 frame drew attention, but after he ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the combine, he began to attract first-round grades from some observers. One anonymous scout even called him a faster Larry Fitzgerald, although that seems aggressive. Strong didn’t have the tape to justify a first-round pick, but the Texans traded up to nab him early in the third round, and he’ll serve as a downfield weapon.
