2015 NFL Draft Grades: Team-by-Team Results and Letter Scores After Day 3

Call the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings the leaders of the pack.

All three teams blew away the competition at the 2015 NFL draft in Chicago, amassing elite draft classes sure to help their organizations contend now and into the future.

There's no exact science to the draft (it's what some not so politely call a "crapshoot"), but the initial returns on each class are obvious at both ends of the scale.

Look at a team like the Cleveland Browns, who somehow managed to ignore quarterback and wideout. Then look at the highlighted teams below and see the discrepancy between addressing need with great value and ignoring it.

Here's a look at the full draft results with grades for each class and the big winners after the jump.

Draft Grades

Team	Grade	Analysis
Arizona Cardinals	C	Bruce Arians and Co. played it smart with D.J. Humphries, but the rest of the value left something to be desired.
Atlanta Falcons	A+	Vic Beasley was a no-brainer. The risk on Jalen Collins is perfect. Tevin Coleman might be the steal of the draft. Easily the best class of 2015.
Baltimore Ravens	A	Baltimore swaps Torrey Smith for Breshad Perriman and steals Maxx Williams in Round 2 and Carl Davis in Round 3. That's how it's done.
Buffalo Bills	C	Buffalo tried to hit areas of need with few picks, but didn't do anything noteworthy.
Carolina Panthers	C	Shaq Thompson's an odd choice, and Devin Funchess needs to improve his catch rate.
Chicago Bears	A	Kevin White makes sense. Eddie Goldman fixes a huge hole on defense. Hroniss Grasu was the best at his position and a third-rounder. Great draft.
Cincinnati Bengals	A+	Cincinnati shores up both offensive tackle spots, steals Paul Dawson at the end of the third and gets an outstanding safety in Derron Smith in Round 6.
Cleveland Browns	C	Cleveland shored up its defense with Danny Shelton and Xavier Cooper, the latter an absolute steal in the third round. No quarterback or wide receiver, though?
Dallas Cowboys	D	Byron Jones in the first is questionable as his flashy workout numbers need to match his on-field play, and Randy Gregory's an iffy gamble to spend a second-round pick on.
Denver Broncos	B	It's odd to trade up for Shane Ray, but Denver did do a good job of picking up Jeff Heuerman in the third round.
Detroit Lions	B	Detroit did a nice job of filling needs with good value in limited opportunities.
Green Bay Packers	C	Damarious Randall's good, but he was an odd choice given the structure of Green Bay's roster. Ty Montgomery's an absolute reach.
Houston Texans	A+	What. A. Draft. Kevin Johnson in the first, Benadrick McKinney in the second and Jaelen Strong in the third is perfect.
Indianapolis Colts	B	Adding another receiver is an odd choice. Josh Robinson might turn out to be the steal of the draft in the sixth round.
Jacksonville Jaguars	C	It's hard to go wrong with Dante Fowler, but T.J. Yeldon in the second round doesn't make a ton of sense given the value still on the board in the sixth round—just ask the Colts.
Kansas City Chiefs	B	Kansas City is smart to gamble on Marcus Peters. Steven Nelson in the third round is a steal.
Miami Dolphins	B	DeVante Parker gives the offense a No. 1 wideout, and Jordan Phillips is the perfect complement to Ndamukong Suh.
Minnesota Vikings	A+	Mike Zimmer can't seem to do any wrong on draft day, getting a starting corner and linebacker in the first two rounds, then stealing T.J. Clemmings and Stefon Diggs later.
New England Patriots	C	Malcom Brown was an obvious choice, but it's a mishmash of odd decisions after that.
New Orleans Saints	A	Andrus Peat will keep Drew Brees' jersey clean, and Rob Ryan has a pair of athletic linebackers to work with, not to mention a great value with P.J. Williams in the third round.
New York Giants	A	Landon Collins at the top of the second is a steal. Owamagbe Odighizuwa's a typical Giants end and a steal in the third round.
New York Jets	A	Look at the new Jets go. Leonard Williams is a perfect fit, and Bryce Petty may start despite being a fourth-round pick.
Oakland Raiders	A	Derek Carr gets to throw to Amari Cooper and a criminally underrated Clive Walford. Perfect draft.
Philadelphia Eagles	B	Nelson Agholor fits well, and Eric Rowe's a great value in Round 2. The rest was decent value.
Pittsburgh Steelers	A	Alvin Dupree falls in Pittsburgh's lap in the first, but the pick that folks will talk about for a long time is Senquez Golson in the second.
San Diego Chargers	C	Melvin Gordon's a reach given the depth of the class, and the rest of the class could have been better.
San Francisco 49ers	B	San Francisco lined up needs and knocked them down, although Jaquiski Tartt's a bit of a reach.
Seattle Seahawks	C+	Frank Clark's a talent but with a ton of baggage. Tyler Lockett fits well, but the rest of the class is mixed.
St. Louis Rams	C	Todd Gurley's a great pick, but it felt like the Rams were just pulling names out of a hat to fix the offensive trenches.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	B	Pretty straightforward. Take the best quarterback in the class and then follow with two high-upside offensive linemen. The Anthony Collins nightmare is fully over.
Tennessee Titans	B	Since "incomplete" won't work, a B will have to do. Marcus Mariota needs to adjust to the pro level, and Dorial Green-Beckham's a major risk. Huge, huge reward with both, though.
Washington	B	Scherff was an interesting pick. Preston Smith's destined for big things.

Highlighting Draft's Top Classes

Atlanta Falcons

This is how it's done, folks.

Forget Clemson's Vic Beasley. It was one of the most predictable picks of the class, especially after the Falcons totaled just 22 sacks last season.

A gamble on LSU corner Jalen Collins in the second round is a genius move to help a budding defense, too, as ESPN's Field Yates explains:

This better prepares the Falcons to contend with the pass-happy ways of the NFC South, which features Drew Brees and new No. 1 pick Jameis Winston, if not the entire NFC as a whole as teams gun to keep up with an offense led by Matt Ryan. 

Speaking of that offense, taking Tevin Coleman in the third round is akin to highway robbery. Coleman's a bully of a runner who ran for 2,036 yards last year and 15 scores on a 7.5 yard-per-carry average.

Suffice it to say, the Steven Jackson era is over in emphatic fashion.

Swing back to the defense just one more time to admire the acquisition of Clemson tackle Grady Jarrett. Tackles fell down the board for one reason or another, but Atlanta got a major steal in the fifth round, as ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure explains:

Jarrett qualifies as the embodiment of the Falcons' draft as an amazing value at a position of need, but it's a lie—he's a fraction of that because Atlanta's front office knocked every single pick out of the park.

Houston Texans

The Texans are a close second to the Falcons. 

Coach Bill O'Brien's team entered the draft looking for a way to better combat the passing attacks of the league, including Andrew Luck in the AFC South as well as Marcus Mariota if he pans out.

Houston hit the proverbial nail on the head in the first round with Wake Forest corner Kevin Johnson, who was the No. 1 corner in the class in the minds of many.

It gets better—the Texans lost talented linebacker Brooks Reed to the Falcons in free agency, so they scooped up one of the draft's best in Mississippi State product Benardrick McKinney.

Like Johnson, McKinney can start right away, and even better, he offers a form of insurance considering Brian Cushing hasn't played in a full 16-game season since 2011.

But why stop there? Jaelen Strong, considered a first-round pick by most, is an amazing get in Round 3. The Arizona State product, who caught 82 passes for 1,165 yards and 10 scores last season, has perhaps the best hands in the class and is an ideal No. 1 with Andre Johnson gone.

The rest of the class isn't bad, either, but the first three picks are a need-value blend impossible to ignore.

Minnesota Vikings 

Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer must have learned to draft for outstanding value at each pick during his time with the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Or they learned it from him.

Trae Waynes was a natural fit in the first round. Eric Kendricks in Round 2 is an even better example of value, though, as his size (6'0", 232 pounds) knocked him down the board despite the fact he's perhaps the most productive and instinctive linebacker in the class. In a smooth wrinkle, he reunites with former UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr, too.

Zimmer excelled down the board, too. Pittsburgh offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings is a jaw-dropping value in the fourth round. He's a project, but with perhaps more upside than any other tackle in the class and many of whom mocked as a first-round pick.

For what it's worth, NFL Network's Mike Mayock believes Clemmings can start as a rookie, per CollegeFootball 24/7:

It's clear Zimmer wants to help sophomore quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as much as possible, something he did in the fifth round as well with Maryland wideout Stefon Diggs.

Diggs' numbers won't blow anyone away, but his film will. NFL Network's Albert Breer puts it best:

For a team on the rise stuck in a division already touting two surefire playoff contenders, Zimmer has his organization on the right track.

This sort of class is the foundation for yearly contention, and if he follows it up with another, watch out.

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of May 2. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.