Jene Bramel

It was brought to my attention today that I buried the Combined Draft Board in the Draft thread and that it hasn't been easy to find.

So...I'm using this post to link the original feature and commentary, the original Excel sheet (with multiple tabs) to download and modify as you wish, and any updates to the feature as they get published.

CBD 1.0 Full Feature w/ Commentary

CBD 2.0 Full Feature w/ Commentary (coming soon)

Downloadable / Modifiable CBD Excel Sheets Only (tabbed with each version to date):

 Combined Draft Board.xlsx   195.58K   228 downloads

If you're interested in my pre-draft capsules, blurbs, etc. on the rookie defensive prospects, you'll find them littered throughout the draft thread here.

This thread will (eventually) be linked in the pinned IDP Warehouse thread and will be bumped with every update to this initial post (usually on Wednesdays) during the regular season.

We've proven in recent seasons that dismissing the importance of knowing which linebackers come off the field on passing downs is a recipe for statistical disaster. Backers who don't play in their team's subpackages often miss at least 40% of their team's defensive snaps over a full season and may miss 70-80% of their team's snaps in any given week. 

I'll use a combination of film study and internet resources to confirm these names during the season, but during the preseason months, this list will be my best guess at which backers would play every down if the season started today. For the purposes of discussion, we’ll list any linebacker expected to take at least 80% of his team’s snaps each week regardless of subpackage usage.

Recent week's changes (inseason) in BOLD.

[Preseason question marks and possibles in brackets]

Baltimore: Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil, Arthur Brown [Jameel McClain]
Buffalo: Kiko Alonso, Nigel Bradham
Cincinnati: Vontaze Burfict [Rey Maualuga]
Cleveland: D'Qwell Jackson, Paul Kruger, Jabaal Sheard
Denver: Von Miller, Wes Woodyard
Houston: Brian Cushing, Brooks Reed, Whitney Mercilus
Indianapolis: Jerrell Freeman, Robert Mathis
Jacksonville: Paul Posluszny, Russell Allen
Kansas City: Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston
Miami:: Dannell Ellerbe, Philip Wheeler
New England: Jerod Mayo, Dont'a Hightower
New York Jets: David Harris, Demario Davis, Calvin Pace
Oakland: Nick Roach, Kevin Burnett
Pittsburgh: Lawrence Timmons, Larry Foote, LaMarr Woodley
San Diego: Donald Butler, Jarrett Johnson, Melvin Ingram [Manti Te'o]
Tennessee: Colin McCarthy, Zach Brown

Arizona: Daryl Washington, Sam Acho, O'Brien Schofield
Atlanta: Sean Weatherspoon, Stephen Nicholas [Akeem Dent]
Carolina: Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis [Jon Beason]
Chicago: Lance Briggs [DJ Williams]
Dallas: Sean Lee, Bruce Carter
Detroit: Stephen Tulloch, DeAndre Levy
Green Bay: Desmond Bishop, Clay Matthews
Minnesota: Chad Greenway, Erin Henderson
New Orleans: Curtis Lofton [Will Smith]
New York Giants: [Mark Herzlich, Keith Rivers, Jacquian Williams]
Philadelphia: DeMeco Ryans, Mychal Kendricks [Trent Cole, Brandon Graham]
St. Louis: James Laurinaitis [Alec Ogletree, Jo-Lonn Dunbar]
San Francisco: Patrick Willis, Navorro Bowman, Aldon Smith
Seattle: KJ Wright, Bobby Wagner
Tampa Bay: Lavonte David [Mason Foster]
Washington: London Fletcher, Perry Riley, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan

*May rotate out in a small number of nickel and dime packages

Link to full feature.

I had to condense the draft board a bit for publication, so I thought I'd provide the original spreadsheet to download here to give folks an opportunity to check it out early (and alert me to any cut-and-paste errors) and have it in a form you can more easily print or modify.
 
Briefly, it's based on a 12-14 team, PPR, full IDP league. As in past seasons, I expect the draft board to be fluid this first week for lots of reasons and I'm planning the first update in the next 7-14 days.
 
 Combined Draft Board.xlsx   12.91K   367 downloads

This is the eighth year  for this thread in the Forum.

As usual, I’m going to borrow this thread to post my pre-draft thoughts on the higher profile prospects by position, the Bloom 100 columns, my yearly column on the best depth chart opportunities and then as a companion to my real-time Twitter thoughts during draft weekend.

Earlier Forum Discussion

Matt Waldman comparing / contrasting Barkevious Mingo and Dion Jordan

Defensive End / Pass Rusher Capsules ~~ Post 2

Linebacker Capsules ~~ Post 7

Safety Notes ~~ Post 8

Defensive Tackle Notes ~~ Post 9

Cornerback Notes ~~ Post 10

Pre-Draft Bloom 100

Depth Chart Opportunity ~~ Post 12

If you’re new to these threads, here are our previous threads to revisit and enjoy. It’s always one of my favorite threads of the year.

2012 // 2011 // 2010 // 2009 // 2008 // 2007 // 2006

These tiers will obviously change significantly between now and August.

I’m going to use this thread to update the defensive back tiers through the summer (they’ll also be translated into my rankings starting in early May after the NFL Draft). Each update will have its own post in the thread, with later posts including a notation for changes from the previous version. I’ll link the post to each version here to keep things (somewhat) organized.

For the purposes of the defensive back tiers, assume a league with 30-40 DB rostered, 20+ starting LB, a balanced scoring system and a relatively strong upside bias.

Discussion is welcome and encouraged.

Post 2 => Mini Manifesto on DBs.

Version 1.0 (Post 3) -- Post Coaching Changes / Pre Free Agency