With the NFL Draft finally approaching, getting a consensus on the talents of the prospects may give us the best possible understanding of who a team selects or whether or not they did a good job (as far as we can tell). Unfortunately, not every board is constructed with the same goals in mind or with the same amount of information available to them.

NFL Draft Tracker, a great website for getting detailed reports on prospects as well as a general understanding of the theories driving the draft, made a good point not too long ago: consensus boards don’t make a lot of sense if we don’t discriminate between those who are purely evaluating player talent and those who are attempting to reflect the consensus of the league.

That’s fine—these draft resources generally answer two questions: 1) “Who’s Good?” and 2) “Who Are We Going to Pick?”

The good news is that we can easily do that. For the most part, while insiders like Rob Rang and Daniel Jeremiah do an excellent job pointing out how they differ from mainstream views, the major networks reflect often the consensus of the league, and their draft rankings do not change much from each other. At the very least, their low variance suggest that their rankings are influenced by what they hear around the league, if not driven by it.

I was initially skeptical of this approach, but when I found unusual clusters of rankings by the mainstream draft services (especially those at the same networks) but not among the third-party services, I was fairly convinced they were either stealing evaluations or working from the same inside information—it should be extremely rare to find clusters when you’re ranking around 70 or 100 (flat talent distribution means small differences of opinion cause wide ranking divergence), but among the more established services, it was not.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think they’re stealing draft evaluations from each other, I just think that when they start hearing the same things from the same people over and over again, it affects the process. The fact that many of the NFL-influenced draft boards showed much more week-to-week volatility than the film-dependent draft boards further solidifies this approach.

As a result, we can construct two consensus boards. I ended up including 34 total boards (listed at the bottom of this post), with 22 of the boards categorized as coming from “evaluators” and the other 12 coming from people categorized as “projectors.”

Some of folks (notably Bob McGinn of the Milawaukee Journal-Sentinel) have not released a Top 100 yet, but we’ll do our best regardless.

The distinction wasn’t necessarily arbitrary, but I did make some calls. A simple divergence test on the boards actually produced stark differences between the two groups—with all of the boards with similar ranks coming from those who have insider access and the others coming from a mix of those with high-level access who haven’t incorporated outside input and somewhat amateur evaluation boards (here, “amateur” is used not as a reference to evaluation talent, but recognition).

There are drawbacks and benefits to either approach. Getting information from NFL generally means getting information from a source that has more access to knowledge of injuries (they get to inspect all the top prospects at the combine and request medical information from teams, as well as do their own medical work with top doctors), off-field concerns (as Daniel Jeremiah points out, he left scouting because it has become 70 percent character background work), coaches film (invaluable for scouting safeties and quarterbacks) and years of high-pressure evaluation experience.

On the other hand, relying on information from those who have an enormous incentive to lie and those who are often stuck too far into tradition may cause serious issues in terms of accuracy and evaluation.

For these boards, I’ve used different positional names to get a clearer picture of a player’s most often projected role, so that we can compare like to like. For example, I think a rush linebacker and an edge-setting defensive end are more alike than different, and that to categorize one as an “LB” and the other as a “DE” causes too much confusion—Anthony Barr is not similar to C.J. Mosley, even though both are considered “LBs,” while Jadeveon Clowney and Stephon Tuitt hardly play the same position, despite both being “DEs.”

I’m hardly the first to come up with this concept; it’s been discussed on Twitter for quite some time, and the first time I saw it implemented in a ranking was from Josh Norris at Rotoworld. Positions below:

Positions QB OT IL TE RB SB SE FL SL Quarterback Offensive Tackle Interior Offensive Line Tight End Running Back Scatback or Offensive Weapon Split End WR Flanker WR Slot WR ER 5T 3T NT CB OB MB SS FS Edge Rusher Two-Gap DT Interior Pass-Rusher Nose Tackle, 0- or 1-technique Cornerback Off-Ball Outside Linebacker Middle or Inside Linebacker Strong Safety Free Safety

First, let’s look at how the Top 200 shakes out if we only look at what the mainstream sources forecast, using their access to NFL teams and what the NFL tells them (as well as their own evaluations).

Forecaster Consensus Board Rank Name Position Pos Rk School 1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina 2 Greg Robinson OT 1 Auburn 3 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson 4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo 5 Jake Matthews OT 2 Texas A&M 6 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan 7 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M 8 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA 9 Justin Gilbert CB 1 Oklahoma State 10 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina 11 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh 12 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU 13 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama 14 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama 15 Blake Bortles QB 1 UCF 16 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State 17 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville 18 Teddy Bridgewater QB 2 Louisville 19 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame 20 Darqueze Dennard CB 2 Michigan State 21 Johnny Manziel QB 3 Texas A&M 22 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State 23 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California 24 Kyle Fuller CB 3 Virginia Tech 25 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota 26 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri 27 Timmy Jernigan NT 1 Florida State 28 Louis Nix NT 2 Notre Dame 29 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame 30 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama 31 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State 32 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State 33 Bradley Roby CB 4 Ohio State 34 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State 35 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA 36 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn 37 Jason Verrett CB 5 TCU 38 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia 39 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 2 Washington 40 Jace Amaro TE 3 Texas Tech 41 Davante Adams FL 1 Fresno State 42 Joel Bitonio OT 6 Nevada 43 Allen Robinson FL 2 Penn State 44 Tre Mason RB 2 Auburn 45 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt 46 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young 47 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois 48 Bishop Sankey RB 3 Washington 49 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois 50 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame 51 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida 52 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech 53 Ja’Wuan James OT 7 Tennessee 54 Jeremy Hill RB 4 LSU 55 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State 56 Demarcus Lawrence ER 7 Boise State 57 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State 58 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford 59 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU 60 Antonio Richardson OT 8 Tennessee 61 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State 62 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss 63 Weston Richburg IL 4 Colorado State 64 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State 65 Keith McGill CB 6 Utah 66 David Yankey IL 5 Stanford 67 Ego Ferguson 3T 3 LSU 68 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado 69 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State 70 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU 71 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska 72 Cyril Richardson IL 6 Baylor 73 Marcus Roberson CB 8 Florida 74 Cody Latimer SE 9 Indiana 75 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin 76 Marcus Martin IL 7 Southern California 77 Ka’Deem Carey RB 5 Arizona 78 Bashaud Breeland CB 9 Clemson 79 Anthony Johnson 3T 4 LSU 80 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State 81 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa 82 Charles Sims RB 6 West Virginia 83 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville 84 Jack Mewhort OT 9 Ohio State 85 Will Sutton 3T 5 Arizona State 86 Brandon Coleman SE 10 Rutgers 87 Dri Archer SB 1 Kent State 88 Martavis Bryant SE 11 Clemson 89 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee 90 Kareem Martin ER 10 North Carolina 91 Brandon Thomas IL 8 Clemson 92 Terrance West RB 7 Towson 93 Phillip Gaines CB 10 Rice 94 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama 95 Carl Bradford ER 11 Arizona State 96 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas 97 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin 98 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College 99 Jaylen Watkins CB 11 Florida 100 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina 101 Josh Huff SL 2 Oregon 102 Lache Seastrunk RB 9 Baylor 103 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech 104 Cameron Fleming OT 10 Stanford 105 Travis Swanson IL 9 Arkansas 106 Chris Smith ER 13 Arkansas 107 Bruce Ellington SL 3 South Carolina 108 Pierre Desir CB 12 Lindenwood 109 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon 110 Caraun Reid 3T 7 Princeton 111 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 13 Florida 112 Tom Savage QB 8 Pittsburgh 113 Devonta Freeman SB 2 Florida State 114 Billy Turner OT 11 North Dakota State 115 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State 116 Ed Stinson 5T 4 Alabama 117 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming 118 Ed Reynolds FS 4 Stanford 119 Adrian Hubbard ER 14 Alabama 120 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon 121 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California 122 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU 123 Aaron Murray QB 9 Georgia 124 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama 125 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia 126 Terrence Brooks FS 5 Florida State 127 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama 128 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford 129 Logan Thomas QB 10 Virginia Tech 130 Deandre Coleman 5T 6 California 131 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF 132 Jordan Tripp ER 15 Montana 133 Seantrel Henderson OT 12 Miami (Fla.) 134 Trevor Reilly ER 16 Utah 135 James Hurst OT 13 North Carolina 136 Craig Loston SS 4 LSU 137 Aaron Colvin CB 14 Oklahoma 138 E.J. Gaines CB 15 Missouri 139 Lamin Barrow MB 5 LSU 140 James Gayle ER 17 Virginia Tech 141 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA 142 Brandon Linder IL 12 Miami (Fla.) 143 Dezmen Southward SS 5 Wisconsin 144 Cassius Marsh ER 18 UCLA 145 Preston Brown MB 7 Louisville 146 Ross Cockrell CB 16 Duke 147 Rashaad Reynolds CB 17 Oregon State 148 Will Clarke 5T 7 West Virginia 149 Ahmad Dixon SS 6 Baylor 150 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming 151 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma 152 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa 153 Shamar Stephen 3T 8 Connecticut 154 Walt Aikens CB 18 Liberty 155 David Fales QB 11 San Jose State 156 Chris Watt IL 13 Notre Dame 157 Tajh Boyd QB 12 Clemson 158 Vic Hampton CB 19 South Carolina 159 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame 160 Colt Lyerla TE 6 Oregon 161 Jeoffrey Pagan 5T 8 Alabama 162 Richard Rodgers TE 7 California 163 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida 164 Wesley Johnson IL 14 Vanderbilt 165 Max Bullough MB 8 Michigan State 166 Gabe Ikard IL 15 Oklahoma 167 Mike Davis SE 12 Texas 168 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif OT 14 McGill (Canada) 169 Antone Exum CB 20 Virginia Tech 170 Brock Vereen SS 7 Minnesota 171 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame 172 Kendall James CB 21 Maine 173 Zach Fulton IL 16 Tennessee 174 Yawin Smallwood MB 9 Connecticut 175 Andre Hal CB 22 Vanderbilt 176 John Urschel IL 17 Penn State 177 Russell Bodine IL 18 North Carolina 178 Arthur Lynch TE 8 Georgia 179 Dontae Johnson CB 23 North Carolina State 180 Larry Webster ER 20 Bloomsburg 181 Justin Britt OT 15 Missouri 182 Morgan Breslin ER 21 Southern California 183 Shaquelle Evans SE 13 UCLA 184 Bryan Stork IL 19 Florida State 185 A.C. Leonard TE 9 Tennessee State 186 Jon Halapio IL 20 Florida 187 Jeff Janis SE 14 Saginaw Valley 188 Michael Sam ER 22 Missouri 189 Devin Street SE 15 Pittsburgh 190 John Brown SL 7 Pittsburg State 191 Corey Linsley IL 21 Ohio State 192 Chris Davis CB 24 Auburn 193 Jerick McKinnon SB 4 Georgia Southern 194 Jonathan Dowling FS 7 Western Kentucky 195 Howard Jones ER 23 Shepherd 196 Brett Smith QB 13 Wyoming 197 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State 198 Ethan Westbrooks ER 24 West Texas A&M 199 Aaron Lynch ER 25 South Florida 200 Lorenzo Taliaferro RB 11 Coastal Carolina

After that, you can take a look at how the evaluators graded the talent of the players they saw, and there are some pretty stark differences from the table above.

Evaluator Consensus Board Rank Name Position Pos Rk School 1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina 2 Jake Matthews OT 1 Texas A&M 3 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville 4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo 5 Greg Robinson OT 2 Auburn 6 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson 7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama 8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina 9 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA 10 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh 11 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State 12 Derek Carr QB 2 Fresno State 13 Johnny Manziel QB 3 Texas A&M 14 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota 15 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame 16 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M 17 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan 18 Jason Verrett CB 2 TCU 19 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame 20 Blake Bortles QB 4 UCF 21 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU 22 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama 23 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California 24 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri 25 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State 26 Justin Gilbert CB 3 Oklahoma State 27 Bradley Roby CB 4 Ohio State 28 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State 29 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech 30 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA 31 Kyle Fuller CB 5 Virginia Tech 32 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville 33 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida 34 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State 35 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn 36 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young 37 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech 38 Jordan Matthews SE 5 Vanderbilt 39 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State 40 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State 41 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama 42 Kelvin Benjamin SE 6 Florida State 43 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford 44 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State 45 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois 46 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame 47 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State 48 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State 49 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State 50 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington 51 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State 52 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU 53 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame 54 Pierre Desir CB 6 Lindenwood 55 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington 56 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin 57 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State 58 Marcus Smith ER 7 Louisville 59 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia 60 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor 61 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford 62 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State 63 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee 64 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State 65 Demarcus Lawrence ER 9 Boise State 66 Billy Turner OT 7 North Dakota State 67 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford 68 Jack Mewhort OT 8 Ohio State 69 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn 70 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois 71 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU 72 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State 73 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska 74 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas 75 Charles Sims RB 4 West Virginia 76 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State 77 Lache Seastrunk RB 5 Baylor 78 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State 79 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas 80 Yawin Smallwood MB 5 Connecticut 81 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California 82 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin 83 Ka’Deem Carey RB 6 Arizona 84 Joel Bitonio OT 9 Nevada 85 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss 86 Ja’Wuan James OT 10 Tennessee 87 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa 88 David Fales QB 7 San Jose State 89 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU 90 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas 91 Aaron Lynch ER 13 South Florida 92 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.) 93 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina 94 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado 95 Marcus Roberson CB 8 Florida 96 Jeremy Hill RB 7 LSU 97 E.J. Gaines CB 9 Missouri 98 Logan Thomas QB 8 Virginia Tech 99 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor 100 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson 101 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida 102 A.J. McCarron QB 9 Alabama 103 Brandon Thomas IL 8 Clemson 104 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton 105 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State 106 Kareem Martin ER 14 North Carolina 107 Keith McGill CB 11 Utah 108 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon 109 Aaron Murray QB 10 Georgia 110 Terrance Mitchell CB 12 Oregon 111 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah 112 Brett Smith QB 11 Wyoming 113 Brandon Coleman SE 10 Rutgers 114 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina 115 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State 116 Marcus Martin IL 9 Southern California 117 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA 118 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford 119 Vic Hampton CB 13 South Carolina 120 James Hurst OT 12 North Carolina 121 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College 122 Antone Exum CB 14 Virginia Tech 123 Cody Latimer SE 11 Indiana 124 Jordan Tripp ER 16 Montana 125 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon 126 Isaiah Crowell RB 9 Alabama State 127 Phillip Gaines CB 15 Rice 128 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee 129 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 16 Florida 130 Anthony Steen IL 10 Alabama 131 Trai Turner IL 11 LSU 132 Will Clarke 5T 4 West Virginia 133 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU 134 Cody Hoffman SE 12 Brigham Young 135 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech 136 Adrian Hubbard ER 17 Alabama 137 Richard Rodgers TE 6 California 138 Andre Hal CB 17 Vanderbilt 139 Aaron Colvin CB 18 Oklahoma 140 Marion Grice RB 10 Arizona State 141 Arthur Lynch TE 7 Georgia 142 Terrance West RB 11 Towson 143 Tyler Larsen IL 12 Utah State 144 James Gayle ER 18 Virginia Tech 145 Sean Parker SS 6 Washington 146 Colt Lyerla TE 8 Oregon 147 Walt Aikens CB 19 Liberty 148 Michael Campanaro SL 4 Wake Forest 149 Bashaud Breeland CB 20 Clemson 150 Michael Sam ER 19 Missouri 151 Bryan Stork IL 13 Florida State 152 Robert Herron SL 5 Wyoming 153 Jon Halapio IL 14 Florida 154 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa 155 Jalen Saunders SL 6 Oklahoma 156 Ronald Powell ER 20 Florida 157 Dakota Dozier IL 15 Furman 158 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia 159 Storm Johnson RB 12 UCF 160 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 21 Boston College 161 Avery Williamson MB 7 Kentucky 162 Cameron Fleming OT 13 Stanford 163 Rashaad Reynolds CB 21 Oregon State 164 De’Anthony Thomas SB 2 Oregon 165 George Uko 3T 7 Southern California 166 James White RB 13 Wisconsin 167 Dri Archer SB 3 Kent State 168 Anthony Johnson 3T 8 LSU 169 Tajh Boyd QB 12 Clemson 170 Deandre Coleman 5T 6 California 171 Crockett Gillmore TE 9 Colorado State 172 Charles Leno IL 16 Boise State 173 Michael Schofield OT 14 Michigan 174 Ed Stinson 5T 7 Alabama 175 Ross Cockrell CB 22 Duke 176 Gabe Ikard IL 17 Oklahoma 177 Jeff Janis SE 13 Saginaw Valley 178 Xavier Grimble TE 10 Southern California 179 Vinnie Sunseri SS 7 Alabama 180 Jay Bromley 3T 9 Syracuse 181 Zach Kerr NT 6 Delaware 182 Wesley Johnson IL 18 Vanderbilt 183 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State 184 Devin Street SE 14 Pittsburgh 185 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama 186 Cassius Marsh ER 22 UCLA 187 Chris Watt IL 19 Notre Dame 188 Andrew Jackson MB 8 Western Kentucky 189 T.J. Jones SL 7 Notre Dame 190 Ryan Carrethers NT 7 Arkansas State 191 Max Bullough MB 9 Michigan State 192 Stephen Morris QB 13 Miami (Fla.) 193 Jeremy Gallon SL 8 Michigan 194 Tom Savage QB 14 Pittsburgh 195 Tre Boston FS 6 North Carolina 196 Devon Kennard ER 23 Southern California 197 Spencer Long IL 20 Nebraska 198 Calvin Barnett 3T 10 Oklahoma State 199 Brandon Linder IL 21 Miami (Fla.) 200 Keith Wenning QB 15 Ball State

In a 200-person big board, it’s difficult to really get the differences broken down at a glance, although some stand out: Teddy Bridgewater fares better with the evaluators than the projectionists. Tom Savage barely cracks the top 200 for the evaluators, while the projectionists were more optimistic. It should be noted that the forecasters had a clear split with Savage, with nearly half of them projecting a top 64 (but not top 40) appearance, and some others ranking him well outside the top 100.

At first, it might seem intuitive to simply look at the differences in rankings to see who disagrees with who the most, but it’s not particularly interesting if a player ranked 500th by one set of people gets ranked 400th by the other. The disagreements are magnified at the top—seeing a Top Five player in one board going in the second round of the other is more dramatic than 300 to 400. Talent distribution at the bottom is a little flatter, so smaller things can sway decisions than at the top, where it takes a generally big difference of opinion to matter.

So, I’ve largely corrected for that phenomenon with some dirty math and found the 42 biggest sticking points in the Top 300 of both boards, ranked in order of largest disagreement relative to their draft position:

Biggest Disagreements Difference Rank Name Position School Evaluators Forecasters Overall Rank 1 Michael Campanaro SL Wake Forest 148 342 199 2 Teddy Bridgewater QB Louisville 3 18 6 3 Sean Parker SS Washington 145 315 197 4 Aaron Lynch ER South Florida 91 199 112 5 Cody Hoffman SE Brigham Young 134 274 174 6 Yawin Smallwood MB Connecticut 80 174 100 7 Terrance Mitchell CB Oregon 110 226 140 8 Anthony Johnson 3T LSU 168 78 133 9 Jeoffrey Pagan 5T Alabama 306 161 241 10 Tyler Larsen IL Utah State 143 269 170 11 Dezmen Southward SS Wisconsin 268 143 214 12 Justin Gilbert CB Oklahoma State 26 9 22 13 Dri Archer SB Kent State 167 87 132 14 Kendall James CB Maine 304 172 274 15 Derek Carr QB Fresno State 12 31 21 16 Bashaud Breeland CB Clemson 149 78 117 17 Isaiah Crowell RB Alabama State 126 227 164 18 Pierre Desir CB Lindenwood 54 108 65 19 Shayne Skov MB Stanford 67 128 81 20 Taylor Lewan OT Michigan 17 6 13 21 Joel Bitonio OT Nevada 84 42 67 22 Zach Kerr NT Delaware 181 303 215 23 Brett Smith QB Wyoming 112 196 138 24 Tom Savage QB Pittsburgh 194 112 145 25 David Fales QB San Jose State 88 155 108 26 Telvin Smith MB Florida State 64 115 75 27 Shamar Stephen 3T Connecticut 247 153 211 28 Jason Verrett CB TCU 18 37 23 29 John Urschel IL Penn State 279 176 239 30 Lamin Barrow MB LSU 225 139 171 31 Jeremy Hill RB LSU 96 54 82 32 Avery Williamson MB Kentucky 161 256 182 33 Billy Turner OT North Dakota State 66 114 73 34 Justin Britt OT Missouri 281 181 240 35 Mike Evans SE Texas A&M 16 7 11 36 Cody Latimer SE Indiana 123 74 99 37 Will Sutton 3T Arizona State 49 85 57 38 Louis Nix NT Notre Dame 14 28 20 39 Marion Grice RB Arizona State 140 216 165 40 Keith McGill CB Utah 107 65 90 41 Calvin Pryor SS Louisville 32 17 28 42 Cameron Fleming OT Stanford 162 104 134

The top disagreements by the forecasting crowd of the evaluators are all of players that are technicians with athletic or size-related deficiencies. Campanaro is an excellent and profoundly intelligent receiver with a good combine, but came in at 5’9″. Yawin Smallwood is instinctive and quick, but weighs less than 240 pounds. We all have had enough of the Teddy Bridgewater talk to be hardly surprised at the differences here, and Cody Hoffman’s prototypical size seems to impress the NFL (by proxy) but not the third-party draft services.

Just barely missing the cut were Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson, surprisingly enough, but that is largely because the differences between #2 and #5 are fairly big in this formula, and each group had one of the two tackles ranked at those spots (Matthews at #2 for the evaluators with Robinson at #5, and the reverse for the forecasters).

The other general category of differences include small-schoolers, where the evaluators were far more willing to bet on players from lesser-known foobtall factories than the forecasters.

The two groups are not constantly warring in their evals, though. They agreed far more often than disagreed (if that wasn’t the case, this would all be useless and no one knows anything. Even though we like to say that, the clear pick-by-pick performance curve tells us we know a few things), and the biggest agreements happened all over the board.

The most impressive even evaluations are usually through chance—you’re always going to end up with a number of players that happen to be in similar spots on the boards, just because over 1120 players were evaluated, and the amount of skill that the players possess is not random. Still, the amount of times they agreed by just a few positions is impressive. The biggest 44 agreements (again, through the quick math formula mentioned above) are below:

Biggest Agreements Similarity Rank Name Position School Evaluators Forecastors Overall Rank 1 Christian Kirksey OB Iowa 154 152 150 2 Zach Mettenberger QB LSU 71 70 72 3 Aaron Colvin CB Oklahoma 139 137 139 4 Ryan Grant SL Tulane 208 205 196 5 Jaylen Watkins CB Florida 101 99 98 6 Christian Jones OB Florida State 78 80 79 7 Anthony Steen IL Alabama 130 127 130 8 Marqise Lee SE Southern California 23 23 24 9 Joe Don Duncan TE Dixie St 246 251 251 10 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB Nebraska 73 71 71 11 Dee Ford ER Auburn 35 36 34 12 Jalen Saunders SL Oklahoma 155 151 148 13 Devin Street SE Pittsburgh 184 189 178 14 Jimmie Ward FS Northern Illinois 45 47 46 15 Matt Hazel SE Coastal Carolina 209 203 195 16 Tevin Reese SL Baylor 232 225 238 17 Antonio Richardson OT Tennessee 63 60 60 18 Trent Murphy ER Stanford 61 58 58 19 Troy Niklas TE Notre Dame 53 50 50 20 Ronald Powell ER Florida 156 163 153 21 Davante Adams FL Fresno State 44 41 42 22 Caraun Reid 3T Princeton 104 110 101 23 Deone Bucannon SS Washington State 57 61 56 24 Scott Crichton ER Oregon State 51 55 52 25 Josh Huff SB Oregon 108 101 105 26 Ka’Deem Carey RB Arizona 83 77 81 27 Jordan Tripp ER Montana 124 132 122 28 Tre Boston FS North Carolina 195 206 192 29 Aaron Donald 3T Pittsburgh 10 11 9 30 Devonta Freeman SB Florida State 105 113 104 31 A.J. McCarron QB Alabama 102 94 96 32 Josh Mauro 5T Stanford 201 215 208 33 Tajh Boyd QB Clemson 169 157 164 34 Terrence Brooks FS Florida State 115 126 113 35 Brandon Thomas IL Clemson 103 91 100 36 Ben Gardner ER Stanford 233 207 232 37 Bruce Ellington SL South Carolina 93 107 94 38 Loucheiz Purifoy CB Florida 129 111 121 39 Trey Millard FB Oklahoma 274 239 267 40 Jadeveon Clowney ER South Carolina 1 1 1

It’s hardly surprising that Jadeveon Clowney is the consensus #1 on every group of boards, and that Aaron Donald is a top ten pick to both groups, but it is sort of interesting that Dee Ford is just barely in the top 40, while Jimmie Ward and Davante Adams are just out. There’s a cluster around pick 100, as a bunch of players that are supposed to be “top 100” talents could potentially get shoehorned in by both groups, and the players at the top seem to be barely draftable.

Here, the patterns aren’t clear. There’s a decent mix of small-school and big-school players, as well as a good mix of positions. Certainly, none of the top qurterbacks made the list, but McCarron and Mettenberger solidified their 96th and 72nd overall rankings.

Some players are easy to evaluate, and it just so happens that you’ll find a lot of agreements among the different Boards—no need to incoprorate an overriding reason or pattern.

That said, there were definitely a lot of players who caused a lot of consternation among the 34 different boards. By comparing the squared difference in their rankings to the overall likelihood of disagreement for a generalized pick spot, you can see which players are the most polarizing. It was important not to take the worst ranking and the best ranking and get the difference (though displayed here), simply because one off grade will throw the whole thing out of whack when really there is general consensus on a player.

Some are obvious, but some may catch you by surprise (again, the list below looked at all 34 boards, not just an average of the two consensus boards, so it’s not the same as above):

Most Polarizing Players Polarity Rank Name Worst Rank Best Rank Overall Rank 1 Michael Campanaro 744 58 199 2 Lamarcus Joyner 176 17 53 3 Aaron Murray 325 29 111 4 Dominique Easley 111 4 36 5 Teddy Bridgewater 35 1 6 6 Will Sutton 187.5 15 57 7 Dion Bailey 227 42 91 8 Ed Reynolds 290 64 118 9 Jon Halapio 379 48 160 10 Nevin Lawson 429 75 185 11 Arthur Lynch 336 52 150 12 Jackson Jeffcoat 249 37 89 13 Sean Parker 472.5 58 197 14 Kyle Van Noy 95 8 37 15 Aaron Lynch 344 29 112 16 Brett Smith 312 59 138 17 Cody Hoffman 453 63 174 18 David Fales 260 27 108 19 James Hurst 252 58 128 20 Kelcy Quarles 249 43 107 21 Lache Seastrunk 172 35 86 22 Bryan Stork 300 61 159 23 Jordan Tripp 298.5 61 131 24 Ahmad Dixon 259 40 114 25 Michael Sam 299 58 162 26 Marion Grice 304 64 165 27 Jace Amaro 151.5 15 33 28 Yawin Smallwood 453 39 100 29 George Uko 453 40 195 30 Xavier Grimble 338 75 188 31 Josh Mauro 390 72 194 32 Carl Bradford 210 19 78 33 Walt Aikens 390 70 148 34 Will Clarke 298.5 68 136 35 Darqueze Dennard 67 6 12 36 Weston Richburg 151.5 32 68 37 Robert Herron 231 75 135 38 Billy Turner 210 13 73 39 Paul Richardson 229 38 87 40 Jimmie Ward 150 12 46 41 E.J. Gaines 225 64 110 42 Chris Borland 210 25 59 43 Khalil Mack 10 2 2 44 Johnny Manziel 62 1 14 45 James White 322 58 193

Players well known for causing controversy didn’t necessarily score high on the list. As you’ll see in a moment, one of the most controversial players in the draft is Jadeveon Clowney, but he is the least polarizing player in the rankings. Johnny Manziel barely made the cutoff, and was about as polarizing as “safe” pick Khalil Mack—who got every rank between 10 and 2 from the 34 boards (again, because of the difference of value between #2 and #10, volatility in the rankings mean more here than they do for a player ranked 14th overall bouncing between first and sixty-second).

There are a few basic things that get a player on this list: excellent play, but poor measureables (Lamarcus Joyner), injury (Dominique Easley), an uneven career (Will Sutton), and insane bullshit (Teddy Bridgewater).

For me, a big surprise was not seeing Telvin Smith, whose on-field play has been electric, but is well outside the size demands traditionally fit for his position. He just missed the cut off here, but the general thought on him seems more settled than I thought (which is still not very settled).

While the most polarizing players list doesn’t look much like the “biggest disagreements” list, the least polarizing players list does look like the “biggest agreements” list, which makes a lot of sense. The difference between “worst” and “best” rank doesn’t mean much here, largely because they were outliers instead of a good demonstration of the volatility.

Least Polarizing Players Amity Rank Name Worst Rank Best Rank Overall Rank 1 Jadeveon Clowney 2 1 1 2 Greg Robinson 18 1 3 3 Calvin Pryor 180 11 28 4 Justin Gilbert 139 7 22 5 Sammy Watkins 24 2 5 6 Demarcus Lawrence 187.5 16 60 7 Ryan Shazier 94 5 26 8 Deandre Coleman 298.5 68 157 9 A.J. McCarron 257 44 97 10 Donte Moncrief 151.5 33 71 11 Carlos Hyde 92 21 43 12 Ed Stinson 390 67 147 13 Andre Williams 249 52 109 14 Anthony Johnson 390 49 133 15 Stephon Tuitt 219 12 42 16 Daniel McCullers 298.5 57 116 17 Anthony Barr 93 3 9 18 Rashaad Reynolds 298.5 37 152 19 Dri Archer 232 59 132 20 Shaquelle Evans 298.5 75 187 21 Trai Turner 390 34 122 22 Bradley Roby 53 11 30 23 Brock Vereen 453 75 190 24 Marqise Lee 90 9 24 25 Kareem Martin 210 16 95 26 Marcus Martin 210 21 96 27 Joel Bitonio 171 12 67 28 Mike Evans 123 3 11 29 Chris Watt 298.5 75 168 30 Tre Mason 225 15 58 31 Kelvin Benjamin 145 12 39 32 Lamin Barrow 390 73 171 33 Ja’Wuan James 150 17 70 34 Jimmy Garoppolo 154 18 63

Don’t worry about the “.5” rankings—they were part of a system to assign players a rank to be averaged when a particular big board in question was too small to include them (I did not take any boards with fewer than 50 players, and even then only one). All that means is that at least one big board chose not to include them, and they therefore were penalized (the size of the penalty was directly proportional to the size of the big board).

Despite the fact that Greg Robinson was a point of contention between the two different sets of boards, there was still significant agreement that he was a top pick, and he generally floated in between two and six—unlike Khalil Mack, who was all over the top ten.

I didn’t expect to see Kelvin Benjamin, who’s movement in the first round halfway through the offseason was criticized by a number of people, given the fact that he has inconsistent hands, is a mediocre route-runner and has shown limited versatility despite incredible production at Florida State. It seems that even in a rich receiver class, people of all flavors were willing to forgive his spotty development for his size and speed.

Finally, you can look at the full consensus of picks. There are two separate Top 200 charts that are consensus, because we can either treat each category separately (the average of the “forecasters” and “evaluators”) or treat each board separately (averaging all 34 draft boards). Below is that first board, the average of the two consensus boards:

Evaluator and Forecaster Consensus Board Rank Name Position Pos Rk School 1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina 2 Greg Robinson OT 1 Auburn 3 Jake Matthews OT 2 Texas A&M 4 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo 5 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson 6 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA 7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama 8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina 9 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh 10 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville 11 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan 12 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M 13 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State 14 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama 15 Justin Gilbert CB 2 Oklahoma State 16 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame 17 Johnny Manziel QB 2 Texas A&M 18 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU 19 Blake Bortles QB 3 UCF 20 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota 21 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame 22 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State 23 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State 24 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California 25 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State 26 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville 27 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri 28 Jason Verrett CB 3 TCU 29 Kyle Fuller CB 4 Virginia Tech 30 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State 31 Bradley Roby CB 5 Ohio State 32 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA 33 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech 34 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn 35 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama 36 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame 37 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State 38 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State 39 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State 40 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt 41 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young 42 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State 43 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida 44 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech 45 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington 46 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois 47 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State 48 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia 49 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington 50 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame 51 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford 52 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State 53 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State 54 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU 55 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn 56 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State 57 Demarcus Lawrence ER 7 Boise State 58 Trent Murphy ER 8 Stanford 59 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois 60 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee 61 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin 62 Joel Bitonio OT 7 Nevada 63 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State 64 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor 65 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State 66 Ja’Wuan James OT 8 Tennessee 67 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State 68 Jack Mewhort OT 9 Ohio State 69 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss 70 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville 71 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 6 Nebraska 72 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU 73 Pierre Desir CB 7 Lindenwood 74 Jeremy Hill RB 4 LSU 75 Charles Sims RB 5 West Virginia 76 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU 77 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado 78 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State 79 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State 80 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa 81 Ka’Deem Carey RB 6 Arizona 82 Keith McGill CB 8 Utah 83 Billy Turner OT 10 North Dakota State 84 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas 85 Marcus Roberson CB 9 Florida 86 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State 87 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson 88 Kareem Martin ER 12 North Carolina 89 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas 90 Lache Seastrunk RB 7 Baylor 91 Cody Latimer SE 10 Indiana 92 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 13 Texas 93 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin 94 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina 95 Marcus Martin IL 8 Southern California 96 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama 97 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford 98 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida 99 Brandon Coleman SE 11 Rutgers 100 Brandon Thomas IL 9 Clemson 101 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton 102 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College 103 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California 104 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State 105 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon 106 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee 107 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina 108 Phillip Gaines CB 11 Rice 109 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.) 110 Bashaud Breeland CB 12 Clemson 111 Aaron Murray QB 8 Georgia 112 Logan Thomas QB 9 Virginia Tech 113 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State 114 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford 115 Terrance West RB 9 Towson 116 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon 117 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor 118 E.J. Gaines CB 13 Missouri 119 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU 120 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech 121 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 14 Florida 122 Jordan Tripp ER 14 Montana 123 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah 124 Anthony Johnson 3T 7 LSU 125 Dri Archer SB 2 Kent State 126 Jordan Zumwalt MB 5 UCLA 127 Cameron Fleming OT 12 Stanford 128 David Fales QB 10 San Jose State 129 Adrian Hubbard ER 16 Alabama 130 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama 131 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming 132 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU 133 James Hurst OT 13 North Carolina 134 Brent Urban 5T 4 Virginia 135 Vic Hampton CB 15 South Carolina 136 Will Clarke 5T 5 West Virginia 137 Yawin Smallwood MB 6 Connecticut 138 James Gayle ER 17 Virginia Tech 139 Aaron Colvin CB 16 Oklahoma 140 Aaron Lynch ER 18 South Florida 141 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon 142 Ed Stinson 5T 6 Alabama 143 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF 144 Walt Aikens CB 17 Liberty 145 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama 146 Antone Exum CB 18 Virginia Tech 147 Tom Savage QB 11 Pittsburgh 148 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma 149 Brett Smith QB 12 Wyoming 150 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa 151 Rashaad Reynolds CB 19 Oregon State 152 Deandre Coleman 5T 7 California 153 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida 154 Arthur Lynch TE 6 Georgia 155 Richard Rodgers TE 7 California 156 Colt Lyerla TE 8 Oregon 157 Ross Cockrell CB 20 Duke 158 Andre Hal CB 21 Vanderbilt 159 Terrance Mitchell CB 22 Oregon 160 Brandon Linder IL 12 Miami (Fla.) 161 Gabe Ikard IL 13 Oklahoma 162 Cassius Marsh ER 20 UCLA 163 Chris Watt IL 14 Notre Dame 164 Tajh Boyd QB 13 Clemson 165 Jeff Janis SE 12 Saginaw Valley 166 Bryan Stork IL 15 Florida State 167 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame 168 Max Bullough MB 7 Michigan State 169 Isaiah Crowell RB 11 Alabama State 170 Michael Sam ER 21 Missouri 171 Lamin Barrow MB 8 LSU 172 Marion Grice RB 12 Arizona State 173 Wesley Johnson IL 16 Vanderbilt 174 Jon Halapio IL 17 Florida 175 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming 176 Preston Brown MB 9 Louisville 177 Dakota Dozier IL 18 Furman 178 Devin Street SE 13 Pittsburgh 179 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif OT 14 McGill (Canada) 180 Shaquelle Evans SE 14 UCLA 181 Crockett Gillmore TE 9 Colorado State 182 Mike Davis SE 15 Texas 183 Brock Vereen SS 6 Minnesota 184 Vinnie Sunseri SS 7 Alabama 185 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State 186 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame 187 James White RB 13 Wisconsin 188 Michael Schofield OT 15 Michigan 189 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 22 Boston College 190 Charles Leno IL 19 Boise State 191 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State 192 Tre Boston FS 7 North Carolina 193 Larry Webster ER 23 Bloomsburg 194 Shamar Stephen 3T 8 Connecticut 195 Matt Hazel SE 16 Coastal Carolina 196 Ryan Grant SL 7 Tulane 197 Xavier Grimble TE 11 Southern California 198 Dezmen Southward SS 8 Wisconsin 199 Russell Bodine IL 20 North Carolina 200 Jonathan Dowling FS 8 Western Kentucky

That board corrects for the fact that there were almost twice as many “evaluator” boards as “forecaster” boards, by weighting the two groups equally. On the other hand, you could avoid that and simply average out every board (functionally weighting the evaluators 67% and the forecasters 33%):

Full Consensus Board Rank Name Position Pos Rk School 1 Jadeveon Clowney ER 1 South Carolina 2 Khalil Mack OB 1 Buffalo 3 Jake Matthews OT 1 Texas A&M 4 Greg Robinson OT 2 Auburn 5 Sammy Watkins SE 1 Clemson 6 Teddy Bridgewater QB 1 Louisville 7 C.J. Mosley MB 1 Alabama 8 Eric Ebron TE 1 North Carolina 9 Anthony Barr ER 2 UCLA 10 Aaron Donald 3T 1 Pittsburgh 11 Mike Evans SE 2 Texas A&M 12 Darqueze Dennard CB 1 Michigan State 13 Taylor Lewan OT 3 Michigan 14 Johnny Manziel QB 2 Texas A&M 15 Blake Bortles QB 3 UCF 16 Zack Martin IL 1 Notre Dame 17 Ra’Shede Hageman 5T 1 Minnesota 18 Odell Beckham SE 3 LSU 19 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS 1 Alabama 20 Louis Nix NT 1 Notre Dame 21 Derek Carr QB 4 Fresno State 22 Justin Gilbert CB 2 Oklahoma State 23 Jason Verrett CB 3 TCU 24 Marqise Lee SE 4 Southern California 25 Brandin Cooks SL 1 Oregon State 26 Ryan Shazier OB 2 Ohio State 27 Kony Ealy ER 3 Missouri 28 Calvin Pryor SS 1 Louisville 29 Kyle Fuller CB 4 Virginia Tech 30 Bradley Roby CB 5 Ohio State 31 Timmy Jernigan NT 2 Florida State 32 Xavier Su’a-Filo IL 2 UCLA 33 Jace Amaro TE 2 Texas Tech 34 Dee Ford ER 4 Auburn 35 Cyrus Kouandjio OT 4 Alabama 36 Dominique Easley 3T 2 Florida 37 Kyle Van Noy OB 3 Brigham Young 38 Jeremiah Attaochu ER 5 Georgia Tech 39 Kelvin Benjamin SE 5 Florida State 40 Allen Robinson FL 1 Penn State 41 Jordan Matthews SE 6 Vanderbilt 42 Stephon Tuitt 5T 2 Notre Dame 43 Carlos Hyde RB 1 Ohio State 44 Davante Adams FL 2 Fresno State 45 Gabe Jackson IL 3 Mississippi State 46 Jimmie Ward FS 2 Northern Illinois 47 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 3 Washington 48 David Yankey IL 4 Stanford 49 Morgan Moses OT 5 Virginia 50 Scott Crichton ER 6 Oregon State 51 Troy Niklas TE 4 Notre Dame 52 Bishop Sankey RB 2 Washington 53 Lamarcus Joyner FS 3 Florida State 54 Jarvis Landry FL 3 LSU 55 Deone Bucannon SS 2 Washington State 56 Trent Murphy ER 7 Stanford 57 Will Sutton 3T 3 Arizona State 58 Tre Mason RB 3 Auburn 59 Chris Borland MB 2 Wisconsin 60 Demarcus Lawrence ER 8 Boise State 61 Antonio Richardson OT 6 Tennessee 62 DaQuan Jones NT 3 Penn State 63 Jimmy Garoppolo QB 5 Eastern Illinois 64 Cyril Richardson IL 5 Baylor 65 Pierre Desir CB 6 Lindenwood 66 Marcus Smith ER 9 Louisville 67 Joel Bitonio OT 7 Nevada 68 Weston Richburg IL 6 Colorado State 69 Jack Mewhort OT 8 Ohio State 70 Ja’Wuan James OT 9 Tennessee 71 Donte Moncrief SE 7 Ole Miss 72 Zach Mettenberger QB 6 LSU 73 Billy Turner OT 10 North Dakota State 74 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 7 Nebraska 75 Telvin Smith MB 3 Florida State 76 Charles Sims RB 4 West Virginia 77 Christian Jones OB 4 Florida State 78 Carl Bradford ER 10 Arizona State 79 Ka’Deem Carey RB 5 Arizona 80 Ego Ferguson 3T 4 LSU 81 Shayne Skov MB 4 Stanford 82 Jeremy Hill RB 6 LSU 83 Chris Smith ER 11 Arkansas 84 Travis Swanson IL 7 Arkansas 85 C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 5 Iowa 86 Lache Seastrunk RB 7 Baylor 87 Paul Richardson SE 8 Colorado 88 Jared Abbrederis FL 4 Wisconsin 89 Jackson Jeffcoat ER 12 Texas 90 Keith McGill CB 8 Utah 91 Dion Bailey SS 3 Southern California 92 Marcus Roberson CB 9 Florida 93 Martavis Bryant SE 9 Clemson 94 Bruce Ellington SL 2 South Carolina 95 Kareem Martin ER 13 North Carolina 96 Marcus Martin IL 8 Southern California 97 A.J. McCarron QB 7 Alabama 98 Jaylen Watkins CB 10 Florida 99 Cody Latimer SE 10 Indiana 100 Yawin Smallwood MB 5 Connecticut 101 Seantrel Henderson OT 11 Miami (Fla.) 102 Caraun Reid 3T 5 Princeton 103 Brandon Thomas IL 9 Clemson 104 Brandon Coleman SE 11 Rutgers 105 Josh Huff SL 3 Oregon 106 Devonta Freeman SB 1 Florida State 107 Kelcy Quarles 3T 6 South Carolina 108 David Fales QB 8 San Jose State 109 Andre Williams RB 8 Boston College 110 E.J. Gaines CB 11 Missouri 111 Aaron Murray QB 9 Georgia 112 Aaron Lynch ER 14 South Florida 113 Logan Thomas QB 10 Virginia Tech 114 Ahmad Dixon SS 4 Baylor 115 Terrence Brooks FS 4 Florida State 116 Daniel McCullers NT 4 Tennessee 117 Bashaud Breeland CB 12 Clemson 118 Ed Reynolds FS 5 Stanford 119 Phillip Gaines CB 13 Rice 120 Taylor Hart 5T 3 Oregon 121 Trevor Reilly ER 15 Utah 122 Trai Turner IL 10 LSU 123 Justin Ellis NT 5 Louisiana Tech 124 Terrance West RB 9 Towson 125 Loucheiz Purifoy CB 14 Florida 126 Adrian Hubbard ER 16 Alabama 127 Vic Hampton CB 15 South Carolina 128 James Hurst OT 12 North Carolina 129 Jordan Zumwalt MB 6 UCLA 130 Anthony Steen IL 11 Alabama 131 Jordan Tripp ER 17 Montana 132 Dri Archer SB 2 Kent State 133 Anthony Johnson 3T 7 LSU 134 Cameron Fleming OT 13 Stanford 135 Robert Herron SL 4 Wyoming 136 Will Clarke 5T 4 West Virginia 137 Craig Loston SS 5 LSU 138 Brett Smith QB 11 Wyoming 139 James Gayle ER 18 Virginia Tech 140 Terrance Mitchell CB 16 Oregon 141 Brent Urban 5T 5 Virginia 142 Antone Exum CB 17 Virginia Tech 143 Aaron Colvin CB 18 Oklahoma 144 De’Anthony Thomas SB 3 Oregon 145 Tom Savage QB 12 Pittsburgh 146 Christian Kirksey OB 5 Iowa 147 Ed Stinson 5T 6 Alabama 148 Walt Aikens CB 19 Liberty 149 Jalen Saunders SL 5 Oklahoma 150 Arthur Lynch TE 6 Georgia 151 Ronald Powell ER 19 Florida 152 Rashaad Reynolds CB 20 Oregon State 153 Colt Lyerla TE 7 Oregon 154 Kevin Norwood FL 5 Alabama 155 Richard Rodgers TE 8 California 156 Storm Johnson RB 10 UCF 157 Deandre Coleman 5T 7 California 158 Andre Hal CB 21 Vanderbilt 159 Bryan Stork IL 12 Florida State 160 Jon Halapio IL 13 Florida 161 Ross Cockrell CB 22 Duke 162 Michael Sam ER 20 Missouri 163 Dakota Dozier IL 14 Furman 164 Isaiah Crowell RB 11 Alabama State 165 Marion Grice RB 12 Arizona State 166 Gabe Ikard IL 15 Oklahoma 167 Cassius Marsh ER 21 UCLA 168 Chris Watt IL 16 Notre Dame 169 Tajh Boyd QB 13 Clemson 170 Tyler Larsen IL 17 Utah State 171 Lamin Barrow MB 7 LSU 172 Marqueston Huff FS 6 Wyoming 173 Max Bullough MB 8 Michigan State 174 Cody Hoffman SE 12 Brigham Young 175 Devin Street SE 13 Pittsburgh 176 T.J. Jones SL 6 Notre Dame 177 Jeff Janis SE 14 Saginaw Valley 178 Brandon Linder IL 18 Miami (Fla.) 179 Kevin Pierre-Louis ER 22 Boston College 180 Preston Brown MB 9 Louisville 181 Michael Schofield OT 14 Michigan 182 Avery Williamson MB 10 Kentucky 183 Wesley Johnson IL 19 Vanderbilt 184 Vinnie Sunseri SS 6 Alabama 185 Nevin Lawson CB 23 Utah State 186 Mike Davis SE 15 Texas 187 Shaquelle Evans SE 16 UCLA 188 Xavier Grimble TE 9 Southern California 189 Charles Leno IL 20 Boise State 190 Brock Vereen SS 7 Minnesota 191 Prince Shembo OB 6 Notre Dame 192 Marcel Jensen TE 10 Fresno State 193 James White RB 13 Wisconsin 194 Josh Mauro 5T 8 Stanford 195 George Uko 3T 8 Southern California 196 Crockett Gillmore TE 11 Colorado State 197 Sean Parker SS 8 Washington 198 Jonathan Dowling FS 7 Western Kentucky 199 Michael Campanaro SL 7 Wake Forest 200 Ryan Carrethers NT 6 Arkansas State

I used a lot of Big Boards for this work, naturally. The online resources used were Eric Galko’s Optimum Scouting, Dan Kadar and Matthew Fairburn’s SB Nation Mocking the Draft site, the National Football Post, Rob Rang’s Big Board at CBS, the eDraft family of boards (Vincent Frank, Luke Inman, Josh Collacchi, Matt Johnson, Derrik Klassen, Blake Meek, Vance Meek, Blake Arnold, Ryan Ratty, Patrick Conn and Richard Gatenby), Ben Natan’s board at With the First Pick, Andrew Parson’s board at Draft Mecca, Drafttek’s Big Board, James Christensen’s board at NEPatriotsDraft, Mel Kiper’s Big Board at ESPN Insider, Todd McShay’s Big Board with Scouts, Inc. at ESPN Insider, Jon Dove’s Big Board at Draft Breakdown, Tony Pauline’s board at Draft Insider, Ryan McCrystal’s Big Board at Draft Ace, Josh Norris’ Big Board at Rotoworld, Charlie Campbell’s Big Board at Walter Football, Path to the Draft’s Daniel Jeremiah’s Big Board at NFL.com, Gil Brandt’s Big Board at NFL.com, and the NFL.com official rankings (run by Nolan Nawrocki—they match his published big boards 1-for-1).

I also purchased draft guides from Bryan Perez at First Round Grade (purchase here for $4.99), Dan Shonka at Ourlads (purchase here for $32.00), Mike Loyko at NEPatriotsDraft (purchase here for $16.00), Kyle Crabbs at NDT Scouting (purchase here for $10.00) and Dane Brugler at SportsXchange and CBS (purchase here for $4.99 – but you can find his top 100 here with a short blurb for each of the 100 here).

I also purchased two draft guides (Rookie Scouting Portfolio from Matt Waldman and Chris Trapasso’s Guide—email him for it at [email protected]), but they do not have an overall Big Board I could include (Waldman only sells work done for offensive skill players because it has a dynasty fantasy football focus).

If you’re interested in going against the grain, the most divergent ratings were from NDT Scouting’s report, the National Football Post and Ben Natan in that order. If you’d rather find a few people who better reflect the consensus of peers, Daniel Jeremiah ranks first, followed by Mike Loyko and Tony Pauline.

My advice: just print off the last table as a quick cheat sheet when you head into whatever draft party you’re hanging out at. Printable copy here.