By MIKE HERNDON, COLUMNIST
This is one of my favorite pieces to write each year as the NFL Draft remains one of my favorite weekends of the entire sports calendar. It’s the one weekend each year when every team – well, almost every team – feels like a winner. Fans of all 32 franchises will leave this weekend with hopes and dreams that the young men that their team selected will become the next Mahomes or the next Donald.
Of course, most of those teams will be slowly let down over the next four years, but then again, there is always next year’s draft.
However, I want to start this year’s edition of “My Guys” with a look back at my take on the 2023 draft class, which you can find here. I’ll go ahead and take an early victory lap on this quote:
“Stroud is my QB1 in this class. Yes, even over Bryce Young.”
I’ll also pat myself on the back for guys like Sidy Sow, who earned a starting job as a fourth-round rookie in New England and debuted as the highest-rated interior offensive line rookie per PFF with a grade of 64.4, and YaYa Diaby, who was selected in the third round by the Bucs and produced 7.5 sacks as a rotational edge rusher in his first season.