You usually cannot judge a draft class until after a few years, but we are all so quick to grade the rookies after their first season to see what trajectory they are on. While we cannot evaluate a Ryan Poles draft class from three years ago, we can look at the second year of his draft class and find out which players made progress or are trending one way or the other. How do the second-year Chicago Bears grade out?
Round 2 Kyler Gordon
The first and second years of Kyler Gordon are nearly polar opposites. It starts with where he was lining up. As a rookie, the Chicago Bears expected him to play both slot and outside. This year, it was all slot. Gordon went from 295 snaps as an outside cornerback to 22 this year.
He saw his missed tackle rate improve from 15% to 9.4%. He saw his passer rating go down from 110.8 to 86.3. His pressures also went up from two to six. Overall, he was better in coverage, run defense, and as a pass rusher. He went from a liability on the outside to a rising player who could be one of the better slot defenders in the NFL next year.
This is a pretty good lesson about putting your stock into a rookie's first season. Gordon would have been a D or F in any book last year; now, he may be the best pick from the class. Gordon did miss four games with a hand injury, so it is not quite an A+ season, but it was strong overall.