Mel Kiper’s grades reflect important additions for Ravens, Colts, not so much for Packers

The 2020 NFL Draft is officially a wrap, and while it will take several years to fully evaluate these picks, that doesn’t stop the media from putting together grades immediately after the draft ends. We broke down the class Sunday morning, and now ESPN’s Mel Kiper has arrived with his own draft grades.

The top two-graded teams are teams that will be popular considerations for fantasy football players this fall. Kiper gave the Baltimore Ravens an A and the Indianapolis Colts an A-. Those grades were due to a variety of additions on both sides of the ball, but both teams made some key additions on offense that will shake up the depth charts for what should be strong offenses in 2020.

The Ravens did a lot of work on defense, but they spent their second round pick on running back J.K. Dobbins and a third round pick on wide receiver Devin Duvernay. Wide receiver was a bigger need, but Dobbins is a great fit for what the Ravens do on offense. The question is what it means for Mark Ingram and Lamar Jackson. Ingram seems a good bet to take a hit in fantasy value. He’ll remain an RB1, but a season removed from ranking ninth among standard backs, will he drop out of the top ten?

Duvernay is a project speedster. They’ll work on ways to get the ball in his hands, but he’ll need to clean up his game to become a long-term option. It could be a nice boost for Lamar Jackson in the passing game, and if Duvernay can start rounding into form, it also could open things up that much more for Marquise Brown.

The Colts signed Philip Rivers this offseason and added a pair of weapons in the second round in wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and running back Jonathan Taylor. Pittman has tremendous upside even as a guy who was not part of that top group of receivers. The Colts struggled to get much going opposite T.Y. Hilton, and when Hilton got hurt, things went south. Pittman is a much-needed addition for Rivers.

The trend in the NFL for teams that don’t have a clear 25+ touch workhorse is to go deep with the second back. Taylor joins Marlon Mack, Nyheim Hines, and Jordan Wilkins to give the Colts one of the deeper backfields in the NFL. Mack takes a hit in his overall value, but the offense as a whole should take a big step forward in 2020.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Green Bay Packers tied for the worst grade with a C. The Packers are thinking long-term with the selection of quarterback Jordan Love, but they did little to boost the offense in the short term. They selected running back A.J. Dillon in the second round and tight end Josiah Deguara in the third round. The team already has Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams in their backfield, so I’m not sure what to make of the Dillon addition. Deguara is viewed as more of an h-back, and is unlikely to add much value.

Arguably the biggest question was why they didn’t pick a wide receiver after only adding Devin Funchess in the offseason. Davante Adams is a great receiver, but it’s hard to get excited about any of the other pass catchers.