We all know draft grades are nonsense but we also know that when they trash the inferior NFC North teams they're great. For other past few years, I've enjoyed Rene Bugner's NFL draft GPAs. Bugner averages together the draft grade from every prominent writer who grades every team and then ranks them. This year, the Patriots were first, Bengals last and Packers 25th. Not great for the Packers, but cool for us that the Vikings and Lions were even worse. Let's look at some GPAs. 

Bears

We'll start with the Bears. While they were ranked higher than the Packers, at 19th, they, as always, still suck. Their highest grade came from Dan Wilkins. Note that Wilkins was an easy grader, giving 13 teams at least an A-. Wilkins writes for The Score, here's a little of what he said about the Bears' draft:

Chicago's dream offseason continues. Loveland is a dynamic receiver who I've compared to Darren Waller, and he'll be an outstanding fit for the Sam LaPorta role in Ben Johnson's offense.... Burden is one of the most explosive pass-catchers in this class, Trapilo could push Braxton Jones for a starting job at tackle before long, and Turner's a powerful interior lineman with the traits to become a three-down player with some more development.

This is obviously too positive for our purposes. The Bears' lowest grade came from Thor Nystrom. Nystrom was a rough grader, giving several teams their lowest grader and giving the Packers a D- despite only writing positive things about them. Norstrom may be a plant in this. Anyway, here's what he had to say:

The thing Burden doesn’t do is create throwing windows for his quarterback—those need to be generated for him. Over his three-year career, Burden had 192 catches—84 of them came behind the line of scrimmage (43.7%!). By contrast, Burden had only 48 catches 10-plus air yards down the field (25%). His career aDOT was 15th percentile....Because of Trapilo’s stretched-out build, he struggles to fire low in the run game. By the numbers, he was roughly an FBS-average run-blocker the past two seasons.

Altogether, the Bears had a 3.04 GPA thanks to 5 A/A-'s, 14B's and five C's. By comparison, the Packers had a GPA of 2.65.

Generally speaking, the graders who liked the Bears' draft thought they got a value in Ozzy Trapilo and that Colston Loveland and Luther Burden are destined to be great weapons for Ben Johnson. Doubters thought that Trapilo and Burden had clear holes and that Loveland maybe doesn't block as well as you'd like a first-round tight end to block. 

Vikings

Next is there Vikings, who came in ranked 29th with a 2.35 GPA. Even Dan Wilkins gave them a B-, though Chris Trapasso (I'll forgive you if you've never heard of some of these people) gave them an A. Thor Nystrom was lowest again with a D, though Vinnie Iyer also came in strong with a D grade. 

Here's what Trapasso had to say:

Jackson in Round 1 directly helps J.J. McCarthy and the run game. He's a pro-ready guard with All-Pro upside. 

Felton's speed is evident on film -- and from looking at his combine workout -- but there's also run-after-the-catch pop his profile, and Ingram-Dawkins can be another chess piece for Brian Flores up front.

Lot of positivity for a draft with just one pick in the top 100. Here's what Vinnie Iyer wasn't pleased by:

The Vikings had an underwhelming draft after some strong previous work from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. They ended up with some good offensive line depth early with Jackson, but the rest of the picks don't work to keep them as a playoff team in QB transition. They also should not have bothered trading for Sam Howell.

The Vikings were destined to be low on the list after they unloaded all their 2025 picks last year to draft J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner. As far as I can tell, neither of them played/made an impact last year so maybe they should be counted as part of this year's draft. 

Lions

The Lions came in last in the division with a shocking 2.33 GPA, tied with the Dolphins for 30th place. Interesingly, both of those teams burned a first on a nose tackle. The Lions' most friendly grader was Tim Bielik who writes for Cleveland.com, Clevelanders are certainly experts in mediocrity. The worst was from Thor Nystrom who gave them an F. Lol .

  Here's what Bielik said: 

This draft for the Lions had the feel of Brad Holmes’ first draft in Detroit in 2021. It was all about the lines.

They bet on Ohio State DT Tyleik Williams at 28, and they doubled down on the interior offensive line with Tate Ratledge at 58 and Miles Frazier at 171, the latter of whom was sensational value.

And Nystrom:

GM Brad Holmes has gotten the last laugh in the past for his draft classes, which have often been criticized in the moment. I begin with that caveat as a means to say: he’s given himself another opportunity for more of that.

Holmes' machinations during the draft confused me. His team, desperate for help on the EDGE, eschewed multiple quality prospects at that position in order to make the most shocking pick of Round 1, DT Tyliek Williams.

Williams is a wide-bodied, quick-footed interior player who is an awesome run defender. I understand the vision. I did not see the pass-rushing profile I need to see for a first-round prospect at that position.

We've talked endlessly about the Lions' obsession with the run game in the draft. It's worked for them so far but, like me last week, almost all graders hate it.