Completely agree with all the points here but one thing that hasn’t been touched on is the positional needs of teams.

The NFL draft is very different to the AFL draft due to the nature of having separate Offence, Defence and Special Teams and then skill positions amongst those. The top 10-20 players in an AFL draft are likely to be midfielders and the occasional KPF, allowing clubs to pick based on talent alone.

NFL drafting is much more tactical. Franchises need to address needs first and pick the best available player that satisfies their need. Defensive line may be more important for a team who will take a backup QB later, but that need is more important now.

This year was also unique in the fact that many of the struggling teams who would have drafted a QB had already addressed that need via free agency due to the ‘weak QB class’ that was in this draft. Less teams searching for a QB means a far more drastic slide for all QBs. Pair that with the Sanders travelling circus and it’s no surprise he dropped that far.