NFL Trade Rumors
Conventional wisdom suggests you can’t truly judge a draft class until they’ve been in the league for at least three years. Any immediate reactions are just based on your priors, and rookie seasons can be misleading. To truly gauge a class’ value, it’s important to see how things play out over the course of the bulk of their rookie contracts.
Today, I’m following that conventional wisdom. Let’s wind the clock back three years to 2023: how did these classes turn out compared to our initial first impression? I’m re-grading all 32 classes with the benefit of hindsight. Let’s see how each team did:
Original Grade: A+
3-Year Grade: B+
The Cardinals moved around the board twice to land Johnson, netting a future first-round pick in the process. While he hasn’t single-handedly fixed their offensive line, he’s been a good addition and a steady presence on the left side. Williams had to take a redshirt year as a rookie to recover from a torn ACL, but he’s stood out as a good nickel corner since coming back.
Wilson might be the star of this group. He dominated down the stretch of 2025 once Arizona started funneling more of the passing offense through him. Gaines and Pappoe have managed to stick as depth pieces, too.
Original Grade: C
3-Year Grade: C+
Robinson is just as good as everyone thought he’d be coming out of Texas. The problem for the Falcons is exactly what everyone thought as well: they don’t have the infrastructure to maximize Robinson’s talents. Three years later and they’re still looking to cobble together a competent team.
Bergeron is a good left guard, but no one else in this class made much of an impact. Harrison and Hellams are still on the roster, but don’t get much run.
