Looking Back At Gil Brandt’s 2017 Top 100 Draft Prospect Rankings

I always look forward to NFL senior draft analyst Gil Brandt releasing his top 150 players for the draft each and every year because he certainly seems to have a firm handle on the players most likely to be drafted in the top 100 overall selections.

On Monday, Brandt released his top 150 rankings ahead of the 2018 NFL Draft and in celebration of that, I thought we would take a quick look back at his 2017 rankings, and specifically how he fared in his top 100. You can see his final top 100 players of 2017 below along with where the player was ultimately selected overall and by which team.

Of the 32 players that wound up being drafted in the first round last year, Brandt had all but 6 of them ranked in his top 32. The year prior, Brandt had all but 6 of the 31 total players drafted in the first-round of the 2016 NFL Draft ranked in his top 31. The year prior to that, Brandt had all but 7 of the 32 total players drafted in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft ranked in his top 32.

Brandt’s biggest first-round miss last year wound up being outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who the Pittsburgh Steelers selected 30th overall. Additionally and surprisingly, Brandt’s biggest miss the year prior to that was cornerback Artie Burns as he had him ranked 99th overall and the Steelers selected him in the first-round with the 25th overall pick.

Of Brandt’s top 100 players in 2017, only 23 of them wound up being selected outside the top 100 selections for a 77% success rate. The year prior to that, only 21 players that Brandt had ranked in his top 100 wound up being selected outside the top 100 selections, good for a 79% success rate.

When you look at Brandt’s top 150 players for the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft you’ll notice that he has four off-the-ball linebackers, Tremaine Edmunds, Roquan Smith, Leighton Vander Esch and Rashaan Evans all ranked in the top 28. Of those four players, perhaps Evans, ranked 28th overall by Brandt, probably has the best shot at still being on the board come time for the Steelers to make their first-round selection. Evans and Vander Esch have both been mocked to the Steelers by national draft analysts quite a bit this offseason and with good reason.

As for a few safeties that have been considered potential first-round targets of the Steelers this year, Justin Reid and Jessie Bates III, Brandt has those two players ranked 49th and 52nd, respectively. In short, Brandt fully expects those two safeties to still be on the board come time for the Steelers to make their first-round selection.