Our Value Board is based on conversations with scouts, coaches and front office people as well as other sources in and around the NFL.  I use this information to rank the players on the Value Board where they will be picked in April.  The Huddle Report’s opinion of a player is not reflected in this ranking.  THR’s opinion of a player is on the Talent Board; this board is built by Drew Boylhart who watches a lot of film and writes our player profiles.  He then ranks all the players he profiles by the round in which he thinks they should go; therefore, it can differ greatly from my Value Board.

The Value Board

 Starting in June, I research prospective players that will enter the following April’s NFL Draft. During that process, I gather information from many resources including NFL General Managers, scouts, coaches and others trying to build a consensus of where players may fall in the current year’s draft.  I then rank the players 1-255.  This gives you, the fan, an educated idea of where a player should be drafted.

The Talent Board

Drew Boylhart spends many hours watching game tapes of college football.  He ranks players based on talent displayed on the field and how it may translate to the NFL. 

Drew use his evaluations of each prospect to place them on the Talent Board according to the round in which that player’s talent warrants.  This doesn’t try to predict where the player will be drafted.  What it does tell you is how successful THR thinks that player will be in the NFL over his career, considering it may take a player 2-3 years to measure up to that potential.

Reaches & Steals

When watching the draft this April, all you’ll need are copies of the final Draft Value Board and Talent Board. On draft day, if your favorite team drafts at pick #22 and chooses a guy that is in the first round of the Talent Board, but ranked #45 on the Value Board, you know that THR believes two things for certain:

1) Your team got a player with first round talent.

2) Your team could probably have gotten the same player in Round 2

 To find the best Value picks, look for players that their Talent Board rating is 1 or more rounds above their Draft Value Board ranking.