Re-Grading the North: 2017 NFL Draft
Josh Frey
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The 2022 NFL Draft is almost here, and while we here at PurplePTSD will continue to have plenty of content surrounding this class all the way up to April 28th, it also seemed like an appropriate time to go back and take a look at drafts of the past. In this series dubbed “Re-Grading the North”, we will be going through the past five draft classes of the NFC North teams and giving them each a grade as we stand today. First off, we get the series started with the controversial 2017 NFL draft.
Chicago Bears: F
We are coming up on the five-year anniversary of one of the biggest draft blunders in recent history. In one of the more infamous moves in NFL Draft history, the Chicago Bears traded their third and fourth round picks in 2017 as well as their 2018 third-round pick just to move up one spot from No. 3 to No. 2 in order to select a quarterback. That quarterback was not Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes. Instead, they drafted Mitchell Trubisky, and he spent just four years with the Bears. Meanwhile, Mahomes has made multiple Super Bowls with the Chiefs in that time.
Luckily for Chicago, this wasn’t the only pick of their class, otherwise their grade would be an F–. Scratch that, they’re luckier that their second-round selection of TE Adam Shaheen wasn’t their last pick, either. The Bears actually found some great talent in the third day of the draft in RB Tarik Cohen and S Eddie Jackson. Both were selected in the fourth-round and, while Cohen is no longer on the team, both players made a massive impact immediately. These two picks made the sting of their botched QB selection a little easier to bear, but the number of picks they gave up for a QB that isn’t on the team anymore makes this a failed draft.
Detroit Lions: C-
The 2017 draft was not a disaster for the Detroit Lions as it was for the Chicago Bears, but it was not a big win by any means, either. None of their nine picks are on the roster going into 2022, and they had about as middle-of-the-pack first-round selection as they could possibly have with LB Jarrad Davis with the 22nd overall pick. Just as a reminder, T.J. Watt went at No. 30.
The class highlight for Detroit was definitely wide receiver Kenny Golladay, who Detroit got at No. 96 overall in the third round. Golladay emerged as a starter in 2018 and put together a Pro Bowl season in 2019 in which he caught 11 touchdown passes. After 2020 was derailed by injury, he headed off to the New York Giants prior to the 2021 season. This isn’t a class that inspired a ton of confidence for Detroit, but serviceable players were found. Missing out on Watt certainly hurts the grade, but at least they weren’t Chicago.
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Green Bay Packers: B-
The Packers clearly went into the 2017 NFL Draft with the intentions of fixing their secondary after having one of the worst pass defenses in the league during the 2016 season. They used their first two picks in the draft on defensive backs, but none of these picks included players like Marcus Maye, Marcus Williams, Marlon Humphrey, or Tre’Davious White, who they realistically could have gotten by trading up a couple spots late in the first round. Almost more egregious, they could have landed a hometown kid in Watt if they just stayed put at No. 29.
Instead, they traded out of the first round entirely and picked Kevin King with No. 33 overall. A few years later he was on the wrong side of a playoff Hail Mary touchdown at the end of the first half of the NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Luckily for Green Bay, they found an absolute stud at RB in the fifth round with their selection of Aaron Jones. Wrongs have been righted since then too in the secondary, as the Eagles 2017 third-round pick, Rasul Douglas, was a premiere CB in the Packers defense during 2021.
Minnesota Vikings: B-
Of the league-high 11 picks made by the Minnesota Vikings during the 2017 NFL Draft, only one of them remains on the team. If only one of your picks is going to hit, it might as well be Dalvin Cook, though. After some injury issues over his first couple seasons, Cook has blossomed into one of the very best RBs in the NFL and has undoubtedly been the anchor of the Vikings offense for years. Once again though, this was a rather underwhelming class for another NFC North team.
This class is highlighted by Cook, but Minnesota also had a failed QB move as they traded No. 14 and a fourth rounder to the Eagles in exchange for Sam Bradford. Bradford played 17 games for the Vikings from 2016-17, and the team was 9-8 in that time. There was also the selection of Pat Elflein in the third round, who never lived up to the hype along the interior o-line.
The Bradford trade hurts, but as short as his tenure was in Minnesota, it must be taken into account that without him, the Vikings likely would have been looking for a QB in round 1. Looking at this class, Bradford’s stint with the Vikings was infinitely more successful than any QB selected past Watson.
The Vikings were able to avoid any of the dumpster fires at QB, so this trade isn’t as bad as it could have been. Because of that, they get the same grade as the Packers for having an underwhelming class but ultimately landing a star in the backfield.
Final Thoughts
There weren’t a ton of lasting headline names across the NFC North in this class, but it truly sparked a theme that has lasted since. The Chicago Bears continue to search for a franchise QB and just moved a ton of draft capital last year for Justin Fields. The Green Bay Packers still have an alarming shortage of skill players to surround Aaron Rodgers with, preventing Super Bowl runs.
The Minnesota Vikings are still in need of that elusive answer along the interior offensive line. Perhaps it leads to another big draft move this month. And the Detroit Lions, well, they sort of just continue to exist within the ranks of the division.