Consensus board vs. draft day: the full S class, charted.
The Steal
Jalon Kilgore was ranked S8 on the consensus board (#91 overall) but lasted until pick 167, where the Buffalo Bills took him in Round 5. A 76-spot fall, the largest gap between consensus and draft day of any S in the class. Behind him, Zakee Wheatley (+63) and Kamari Ramsey (+49) also outlasted their rankings.
The Conviction Pick
The Jacksonville Jaguars took Jalen Huskey at pick 100, 87 spots ahead of his #187 consensus rank. That's the league's strongest disagreement with the public board at the position. Teams showed similar conviction on Jakobe Thomas (79 spots) and Dalton Johnson (76 spots).
The Cliff
After Lorenzo Styles went at pick 172, the next S didn't come off the board for 52 picks. That's the sharpest drop in the class.
The Spend
Teams spent 19 picks on S, 5 of them in the first two rounds. That's below the position's average of 20.4 since 2018.
The Bet
The Dallas Cowboys spent more draft capital on S than any other club: pick 11, 32% of their total draft investment.
The One Who Slipped
Bishop Fitzgerald, ranked #181 on the consensus board, went undrafted through all 257 picks.
| Pick | Player | Pos Rank | Consensus | Δ | School | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Caleb Downs | S1 | #4 | +7 | Ohio State | Dallas |
| 25 | Dillon Thieneman | S2 | #17 | +8 | Oregon | Chicago |
| 38 | Treydan Stukes | S5 | #60 | −22 | Arizona | Las Vegas |
| 58 | Emmanuel McNeil-Warren | S3 | #24 | +34 | Toledo | Cleveland |
| 64 | Bud Clark | S6 | #79 | −15 | TCU | Seattle |
| 78 | A.J. Haulcy | S4 | #56 | +22 | LSU | Indianapolis |
| 98 | Jakobe Thomas | S12 | #177 | −79 | Miami | Minnesota |
| 100 | Jalen Huskey | S14 | #187 | −87 | Maryland | Jacksonville |
| 131 | Genesis Smith | S10 | #97 | +34 | Arizona | LA Chargers |
| 141 | Kamari Ramsey | S9 | #92 | +49 | USC | Houston |
| 150 | Dalton Johnson | S17 | #226 | −76 | Arizona | Las Vegas |
| 151 | Zakee Wheatley | S7 | #88 | +63 | Penn State | Carolina |
| 158 | Michael Taaffe | S11 | #145 | +13 | Texas | Miami |
| 167 | Jalon Kilgore | S8 | #91 | +76 | South Carolina | Buffalo |
| 172 | Lorenzo Styles | S21 | #263 | −91 | Ohio State | New Orleans |
| 224 | Robert Spears-Jennings | S16 | #210 | +14 | Oklahoma | Pittsburgh |
| 228 | VJ Payne | S | — | — | Kansas State | New York Jets |
| 244 | Cole Wisniewski | S18 | #228 | +16 | Texas Tech | Philadelphia |
| 246 | Miles Scott | S23 | #361 | −115 | Illinois | Denver |
| Undrafted (UDFA) | ||||||
| — | Bishop Fitzgerald | S13 | #181 | — | USC | — |
| — | Louis Moore | S15 | #199 | — | Indiana | — |
| — | Xavier Nwankpa | S19 | #255 | — | Iowa | — |
| — | DeShon Singleton | S20 | #258 | — | Nebraska | — |
| — | Jalen Stroman | S22 | #298 | — | Notre Dame | — |
| — | Ahmaad Moses | S | — | — | SMU | — |
| — | Austin Brown | S | — | — | Wisconsin | — |
| — | Jacob Thomas | S | — | — | James Madison | — |
| — | Cam Smith | S | — | — | Marshall | — |
| — | Ike Larsen | S | — | — | Utah State | — |
| — | Gunner Maldonado | S | — | — | Kansas State | — |
| — | Larry Worth III | S | — | — | Arkansas | — |
Pre-draft projections are from the Wide Left Consensus Big Board compiled by Arif Hasan, an aggregation of published analyst boards.