Let’s compare how the consensus draft board, Field Yates and Mel Kiper Jr.’s rankings differ as we begin draft season.

Last month, as part of ESPN’s First Draft series, Mel Kiper Jr. dropped his 2024 draft board alongside Field Yates. On Friday, Yates got his opportunity to discuss his own top-25 rankings with Kiper on the show.


For the most part, Yates’ rankings were fairly chalk when compared to the consensus draft board . Dive into Yates’ rankings below, before we discuss where he diverged from public opinion:


Field Yates’ Draft Rankings
Caleb Williams, QB, USC
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR Ohio St
Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU
Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
Malik Nabers, WR, LSU
Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn State
Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame
Rome Odunze, WR, Washington
Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia
Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama
Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA
Keon Coleman, WR, FSU
Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson
Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State
J.C. Latham, OT, Alabama
Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama
Troy Fautanu, OT, Washington
Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma
Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa
Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama
Chop Robinson, EDGE, Penn State
Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, LSU
Bralen Trice, EDGE, Washington

Three players that Yates seems to be higher on than the consensus draft board are tackle Troy Fauatanu of Washington, receiver Adonai Mitchell of Texas and tackle Tyler Guyton of Oklahoma. Yates had Fauatanu ranked nine spots ahead of the consensus draft board, Mitchell ranked ahead by 12 spots and Guyton by a whopping 20.

For reference, neither Mitchell or Guyton were ranked in Kiper’s top 25 last month. Fauatanu, though, was Kiper’s second-ranked tackle at 14th overall — even higher than Yates had him ranked. With that being said, Guyton wasn’t one of the seven tackles that Kiper discussed in December.


For Packer fans, a deep tackle class will only serve them well. Green Bay has two question marks on the offensive line moving into 2024: left tackle and right guard. It’s uncertain what left tackle David Bakhtiari’s status will be next year, as he’s been unable to stay on the field since his extension. Rasheed Walker has been playing his best football lately, but the prospect of a first-round pick might entice the team to add some competition to the position.


At right guard, Jon Runyan Jr. is the 2023 starter, but he is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024. If the team isn’t sold on Sean Rhyan, who is rotating in at the position, on being the long-term starter, don’t be surprised if the team ends up converting one of these tackles to play guard so that a young player can see the field immediately.


As far as the players that Yates is lower on than the consensus, cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry of Alabama is ranked 12th on the consensus draft board but just 21st on Yates’ board. Illinois interior defensive lineman Jer’Zhan Newton, who is 11th on the consensus draft board, didn’t make the cut for Yates’ top 25 at all. For what it’s worth, McKinstry was also Kiper’s 21st-ranked player, but Newton made his top 25 as the 18th player in the class last month.


Along with Newton, two other players who are ranked in the consensus draft board’s top 25 but weren’t featured by Yates are tackle Taliese Fuaga of Oregon State  (21st) and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. of Washington (23rd). Fuaga was actually Kiper’s fourth-ranked tackle in December, earning nods over Amarius Mims, J.C. Latham, Jordan Morgan and Tyler Guyton. Penix was also left off of his big board.


Yates was higher on a few players that Kiper was lower on, though. Pass-rushers Chop Robinson of Penn State and Bralen Trice of Washington were both unranked by Kiper, but they were ranked 22nd and 25th by Yates, respectively.


If you want to check out the full 65-minute discussion between Yates and Kiper on the top 2024 draft picks, the video is linked down below:

Continue Reading @ Justis Mosqueda 

Justis Mosqueda wrote:

It looks like DeJean is right there at 19 along with a few OT. Of course it won't matter when GB wins on Sunday.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

Interesting decisions for the Bears....
1. Keep Fields?
2. If not, which QB. IMO Dix is better than any of those listed
3. Harrison is a generational pick...if I were them, I would draft him #1 regardless. If not, Odunze is terrific.

For us, the OT position seems to be deep....good for us.
Also, I think CB is our top priority

Originally Posted by: Martha Careful 

Given some of the drama around Williams supposedly wanting an ownership share in whatever team drafts him, I would lean towards Harrison and trying to grab a QB with my 2nd pick at #9 or trying to trade up for someone like Daniels. Problem for the Bears is that they dont have many picks to play with this year. It might behoove the Bears to trade down from #1, get a haul and go QB+BPA with their two top 10 picks.

Originally Posted by: Mucky Tundra 

DeJean makes me nervous, because yes a lot of people want him, but they want him to move to a position that he's never played before, to Safety.

Also Packers last CB from Iowa CB Jackson didn't do so well, and Van Ness from Iowa and switched position hasn't lite it up yet (though in fairness, he's wasn't expected to as he's young and growing into the NFL and OLB role).

Also, the season ending injury which I believe he had, correct?

Though DeJean does a great job off man which zone teams will surely love, but I'd also looking at those Alabama CBs.

Originally Posted by: beast 

Interesting decisions for the Bears....
1. Keep Fields?
2. If not, which QB. IMO Dix is better than any of those listed
3. Harrison is a generational pick...if I were them, I would draft him #1 regardless. If not, Odunze is terrific.

For us, the OT position seems to be deep....good for us.
Also, I think CB is our top priority

Originally Posted by: Martha Careful 

This is my prediction and If I was a Bears fan I would be in Heaven:

Trade the #1 overall to Washington for the #2 a 1st next year and a 2nd this year
Trade the #2 to NE for their #3 and a 1st next year
at #3 you still get Harrison Jr but you now picked up 2 more #1's for next year from 2 teams that still won't be that good.
You still have the 9th pick so you turn around and either trade up with the Giants or Tennessee sending the #9 and Justin Fields for the 6th or 7th pick and grab either Maye or Daniels and now you have in my opinion a better QB than Williams(he doesn't want to be in Chicago per rumor). So you now have an extra 2nd 2 extra 1's next year the top WR and a top 3 QB. With a deep OT class, you could use the 2 2nds and move back into the 1st and grab a top tackle.

Even if you can't get both NE and Washington to trade one of them will and you should still be able to grab Harrison and a QB.

Originally Posted by: dhazer 

I have been spending some time over at the Bears discussion board and none of them have come up with anything close to this level of utilization of picks. Hopefully Poles reads their posts and not yours.

Good analysis

Originally Posted by: dfosterf 

DeJean makes me nervous, because yes a lot of people want him, but they want him to move to a position that he's never played before, to Safety.

Also Packers last CB from Iowa CB Jackson didn't do so well, and Van Ness from Iowa and switched position hasn't lite it up yet (though in fairness, he's wasn't expected to as he's young and growing into the NFL and OLB role).

Also, the season ending injury which I believe he had, correct?

Though DeJean does a great job off man which zone teams will surely love, but I'd also looking at those Alabama CBs.

Originally Posted by: beast