2012 NFL Draft Grades: Great Picks That Are Highly Underrated

While the NFL draft closes up shop, we put our prognosticator's hat on and give some grades to very good picks that need to be highlighted. 

I hope you enjoyed the draft, because it will hardly get any better than that. I can be as cynical as anyone when it comes to spending the weekend watching names come off a board. 

However, the draft is the perfect time to reshape a franchise, and do it with timely picks that come with tremendous value and immense hope. 

Here are but a few of the draft picks that I am confident will be seen as pure winners a few years from now. 

1. St. Louis Rams take Janoris Jenkins 39th overall

Grade: A

This is a huge gamble that I am confident will turn out for the best. Jeff Fisher is the right coach to get the best Jenkins has and limit any off-field issues that would otherwise surface. 

If Jenkins can keep his head straight, this pick instantly becomes the best of the second round. He has elite defensive capabilities and would have been a first rounder if not for a checkered past. 

2. Philadelphia Eagle take Mychal Kendricks 46th overall

Grade: A 

The team has obvious needs at linebacker as they try to create a group that is stout and able to shut down the run. 

Kendricks had a great combine work out and his tape shows ideal instincts to the ball, making him a steal this late in the draft. 

3. Cincinnati Bengals take Mohamed Sanu No. 83 overall

Grade: B+

He doesn't have top-level speed and that has many scouts down on his prospects, but I am of the different opinion that his physicality and strength make him a solid contributor early. 

His route running will come in time. Until then, he is an immediate red-zone weapon. 

4. Pittsburgh Steelers take Alameda Ta'amu at 109th overall: 

Grade: A

The obvious great pick was Bobby Massie a couple picks later, but this was a solid pick that will be huge in a few years' time. 

Ta'amu isn't the best pass rusher at this time, but his mountainous size and quick first step gives me confidence we have a beast on our hands here. 

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