2021 Day One Draft Grades: NFC South

How did your favourite NFC South team do one day one of the draft?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: B+

Joe Tyron, LB/DE, Washington: What did I tell you? Luxury pick. The logic here must have been that with all of the funky sub-packages that Tampa Bay ran last year (watch the film from the Super Bowl, it was wild), Tyron’s power and versatility may allow him to get into the rotation. I’m not sure that there were too many analysts with a first-round grade on him (which is why this is a B+), but Tampa Bay isn’t necessarily wrong, per se. With all of their starters returning from their Super Bowl run last year, getting into the rotation is probably the most that any pick could have hoped for this year. Tampa Bay grabbed a guy that they hope can contribute, even if it is not a massive role.

New Orleans Saints: C-

Payton Turner, DE, Houston: The only way this draft pick makes sense is if they aren’t sure whether they’ll re-sign Davenport or how much longer Cam Jordan can produce. To me, the Saints needed to find a linebacker or a corner. JOK from Notre Dame was still available at linebacker and Asante Samuel is still available at corner. Honestly, this pick just seemed really out of the blue. Even if they were convinced they needed another end, both Jayson Oweh and Gregory Rousseau were available, meaning that Turner is a huge reach. Out of those four guys that I just named, I would pick every single one of them over Turner. Maybe the Saints see something that I don’t but this seemed like one of those picks that they should’ve just traded out of.

Carolina Panthers: B+

Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina: I don’t hate this pick, I just think that Surtain II would have been a better one. It’s really that simple. I think that Surtain II is far and away the best corner in this year’s class and they let him slip. I guess it really comes down to personal preference, but I think that every team looking for a corner that was picking after Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when Goodell announced that the Panthers were drafting Jaycee Horn instead of Surtain II

Atlanta Falcons: A-

Kyle Pitts, TE, Atlanta: Kyle Pitts is going to be a very good NFL tight end, don’t get it twisted. The reason that I wasn’t as crazy about this draft pick as I am about Kyle Pitts himself is that I bet you Atlanta could’ve gotten a pretty penny from a team trying to trade up. With Justin Fields still on the board, my guess is that they could have gotten at least a couple of first-round picks for the #4 pick. I guess that they just decided that they wanted Kyle Pitts more than they wanted a bunch of first-round picks.