2015 NFL Draft Grades: Easy-to-View Results and Letter Scores

The globe took a gigantic fan to all the smoke over the course of the last three days, the result a clear look at the 2015 NFL draft class and the intentions of teams around the league.

For better or worse, of course. Some teams are content to ride out a bad situation—looking at you, Cleveland Browns. Others proved ready for a new, albeit risky, era. Yes, you, Tennessee Titans.

While the 2015 draft wasn't as thrilling as the hype suggested it would be, an extended wait before teams announce more than 250 picks tends to blow things out of proportion.

Let's reel things back in with the smoke gone and take a look at draft results and grades.

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, 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 it 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 numbers need to match 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 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, Benardrick 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 pefect 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 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 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 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.

On the Right Path: Jacksonville Jaguars 

Head coach Gus Bradley continues to build something special in Jacksonville, although some of the value was quite odd.

Alas, Dante Fowler Jr. was the obvious choice at No. 3. The defense doesn't need an addition in the middle thanks to Sen'Derrick Marks and the offseason add of Jared Odrick, so now Bradley has an elite edge-rusher to help a defense that already posted a smooth 45 sacks last year.

NFL Network's Jeff Darlington put it best:

Things got iffy in Round 2 with Alabama's T.J. Yeldon. Nobody would suggest Toby Gerhart is the answer, but Yeldon's a plodding back who carried the ball 576 times in college. It's a lot of usage for a guy the team may view as an every-down answer.

Still, if Bradley likes Yeldon, then he likes Yeldon. He also scooped up steals in guard A.J. Cann, tight end Ben Koyack, safety James Sample and defensive tackle Michael Bennett.

There's a rough outline in place of another great class by the Jaguars, even if Yeldon was a reach. Most of the picks need a lot of time to develop, but when the roster all clicks in a few years, the AFC South may have a new perennial contender. 

Undercover Great Class: Cincinnati Bengals 

It's easy to look at the Cincinnati Bengals' class, scoff at the notion of two offensive tackles to start and call it a day.

It's a foolish notion to dismiss one of the league's best drafting teams at face value, though.

Before a shredded ACL in January, many considered Cedric Ogbuehi a top-10 pick. Many considered Jake Fisher a first-round pick, too, and the team got him in the mid-second round. With left tackle Andrew Whitworth and right tackle Andre Smith headed to free agency after next season, the picks make sense.

For fun, here's a list of big-name players the Bengals have heading to free agency after next season, per Spotrac:

• LT Andrew Whitworth
• RT Andre Smith
• WR A.J. Green
• WR Mohamed Sanu
• WR Marvin Jones
• CB Leon Hall
• CB Adam Jones
• S Reggie Nelson
• S George Iloka

Now the class makes a tad more sense, right?

Cincinnati wants to keep most of those guys, but it's not realistic from a financial standpoint. Josh Shaw and Derron Smith were good values to reinforce the secondary. Marcus Hardison is the versatile piece the Bengals love in the trenches. Even seventh-round pick Mario Alford will make the roster as a returner and bubble-screen player.

Most impressive is Paul Dawson at the end of the third round. Not only does he resemble Vontaze Burfict on the field with character concerns to boot, he's a player most considered a first-round talent.

Sometimes, the sexy drafts aren't the winning drafts. Just look at how the Bengals have performed on draft day the past four or five years, hence so much quality talent possibly departing in the first place.

Biggest Shrug of the Shoulders: St. Louis Rams

St. Louis didn't have a bad draft per se, but it's one of those non-reactionary classes a bit lost in the shuffle.

Which is wild to think about at first because the addition of Todd Gurley is outstanding. Coach Jeff Fisher knows how to use elite running backs, but the caveat is the Georgia product needs to stay healthy.

Things get "meh" after the Gurley pick, though, in large part because three of the next four picks were offensive linemen. Some love it, some hate it. ESPN.com's Mike Sando falls in with the former:

There's nothing wrong with a team knowing its identity and sticking to it, but the Rams have an identity not prone to great success in the NFL. Sean Mannion in the third round was entirely too high, and as a whole, he joins an underwhelming crop of quarterbacks, including Nick Foles and Case Keenum.

To be fair, Rob Havenstein was a great pick fans will look back on and smile. But building a run-first team isn't the best move, nor is it with a rookie back coming off a serious injury.

Things could pan out, but right now, the biggest reaction to St. Louis' class is indifference.

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of May 3. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.