Monday will kick off one of our favorite parts of the football season. Draft season. Our first 2022 NFL Draft Player Profile will go up on the site (any guesses who it will be?) with our goal of doing well over 200 profiles this year to get you guys ready for this year’s draft.
We’re adding something new to this year’s reports. A Steelers Depot Grading Scale. A more objective and concrete way for us to evaluate prospects so you (and we) know where we stand on a player.
Credit to our Jonathan Heitritter who put this scale together for us to use. It ranges from a perfect ten, the rarest of grades, to 5.1, a tryout player.
You’ll see this grade reflected at the bottom of each report. So I wanted to share with you guys our scale and what it looks like when you guys see the number on tomorrow’s initial player profile. We’ll have a link to this article for our profiles for easy reference, too.
Excited to kick off draft season. We’ll be posting a flurry of player profiles and next week, will have several of us at the Senior Bowl and the East/West Shrine Game. Can’t wait.
| 2022 NFL Draft: Steelers Depot Grading Scale | |||
| Grade: | Round: | Classification: | Description: |
| 10 | #1 Overall Pick | The Perfect Prospect | Plays his respective position at the highest level ever seen. Possesses elite physical traits, unmatched college production, is extremely passionate, and has never been injured. This grade should be considered almost unattainable. (IE John Elway, Andrew Luck) |
| 9.9-9.7 | Top 3 Pick | Perennial All-Pro Talent | Immediate starter that makes a profound impact on the game Year 1. Likely to become a Pro-Bowl player in his first season and has the talent and upside to become a perennial All-Pro within his first three seasons in the league. (IE Chase Young, Von Miller, Larry Fitzgerald) |
| 9.6-9.1 | Top 10 Pick | Pro Bowl Talent/ Day 1 Starter | Has an NFL skillset and frame ready to make a smooth transition from the college game to the pros. This prospect is expected to come in polished and possesses the ceiling to become a Pro-Bowler in his first three seasons in the league. Should be recognized as one of the top players on a team’s roster within his first 2-3 seasons. (IE Penei Sewell, Ja’Marr Chase, Minkah Fitzpatrick) |
| 9.0-8.6 | 1st Round | Year 1 Quality Starter | Talented prospect that is above-the-bar when it comes to physical and positional traits in most areas. Most likely a starter within the first half of his rookie season that should remain a starter for the majority of his NFL career. |
| 8.5-8.1 | 2nd Round | Future Quality Starter | Has the talent to become a reliable starter within his first two seasons in the league and make immediate contributions as a rotational player for any team he gets drafted by. |
| 8.0-7.6 | 3rd Round | Potential Starter/Good Backup | Prospect has limiting factors, whether mental or physical, that should expect to become a good backup at the worst and could become an eventual starter down the road. |
| 7.5-7.1 | 4th Round | Raw Traits/Upside Prospect | “Athletic Ceiling” prospect that needs multiple years of development before touching an NFL field. His athletic traits are enticing, but needs substantial work developing football traits effectively. Can be a good starter, but also may fail to develop. |
| 7.0-6.6 | 5th Round | Backup/Special-Teamer | A prospect that lacks the physical traits or skill level to be an effective starter at the NFL level. This player should make the 53-man roster as a backup/special teamer, but potential to contribute regularly on offense/defense is limited. |
| 6.5-6.1 | 6th-7th Round | End of Roster/ Practice Squad | Prospect that likely gets selected at the end of the draft that teams want to secure to bring to training camp instead of allowing to hit UDFA once the draft concludes. Has a couple promising traits or impressive college production to warrant a look on the end of the roster or practice squad. |
| 6.0-5.6 | PFA | Undrafted Free Agent | A player that lacks the necessary physical traits to warrant draft consideration. This player has an outside shot at making a practice squad out of training camp if if signed. |
| 5.5-5.1 | UDFA | Camp Invite | Lacking the physical tools and talent to play at the NFL level. College player that will not make roster, but may get an invite to rookie minicamp. |
