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Does anyone use the NFL draft as their rookie draft ranking? (1 Viewer)

FunkyPlutos

Footballguy
Just wondering if anyone uses the order of how the players are drafted in the NFL draft as their guide for drafting rookies?

Do higher drafted players tend to get a shot longer with a team, therefore warrant taking the chance on them ahead of some who you think is better?

:thumbup:

 
Not in a vacuum, no, but it can help to sway me if a lot of other things seem equal(perceived talent, situation, respect of the gm that drafted them, etc).

But it still comes down to your gut. If there is a player that I'm stoked on, then him falling to the 3rd round or so isn't going deter me(though it would be something I'd want to look into) from nabbing him. If I feel a player is a bust, then I don't care how high he goes, I'll be passing.

 
No, situation, position, and opportunity are much more important than draft order. Players on bad teams are not likely to perform as well as players on good teams. Just because QBs and WRs are picked first doesn’t mean you should draft them first. Players who are going to start right away should be drafted before the guys that are going to sit on the bench for two or three years.

All first round picks are given about the same number of chances to stick with their team. It is true that if a player drafted in the 4th round or later gets hurt in their first year, they are probably done. If a first or second rounder gets hurt in the preseason they will be given a chance next year. It is also rare for a talented player to slip to the 4th round.

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
While good examples, there are far more FF studs from the 1st round than there are in subsequent rounds. Rashaun Woods just shows that every year, a good percentage (probably pretty consistent year to year) of every round is littered with busts. Just making up numbers, but probably something like 1st - 50%, 2nd - 70%, 3rd - 80%, .... 7th - 98%. Colston is mentioned, but how many of the other 31 7th round picks had an impact? Look at the 1st round and you have Cutler, Young, Leinart, Bush, Maroney and Addai (probably missing someone, just going from memory).For example at QB, for all the Tom Brady, Bulger and Delhomme examples, there are always a slew of 1st rounders like Vick, Vince Young, Manning x 2, Palmer, Leinart, Cutler, Rivers, Alex Smith, McNair, Leftwich, Roethlisberger, etc. I did a quick glance at my FF league with is a start 2 QB, so most teams are represented and 1st round QBs start on 18 of the 32 teams. That number was a quick count, but still shows my point. Even in my PPR league, 5 of the top 10 RBs were 1st rounders and of the other 5, only Willie Parker was not a 3rd round pick or higher.

Anyway, I think my main point is that the NFL Draft is probably the best predictor of talent we have, but the only caveat is that no one, including the best scouts is perfect and so some of the best NFL players slide more than they should and some of the top propsects bust out.

One other point, the only thing I noticed was that some of the top FF guys that were drafted later usually had some measurable issue, i.e. size (Tiki, Westbrook, MJD, Parker), school (Colston) or injuries (Gore). If someone seems to play better in college than their measurables would dictate, then that may be a guy who slips and does way outperform their draft slot.

ETA: I know I am probably just stating the obvious, but this topic and the whole pick safe (i.e. OL over QB) in the 1st round come up a lot with 1 or 2 names thrown out as proof. I went back over a lot of draft history and basically it seems like most (@50%) NFL starters are 1st round picks and there seems to be no correlation between position and "bust safety" in the draft. You can list as many OL busts in the early 1st round as you can QBs and RBs.

 
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Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
While good examples, there are far more FF studs from the 1st round than there are in subsequent rounds. Rashaun Woods just shows that every year, a good percentage (probably pretty consistent year to year) of every round is littered with busts. Just making up numbers, but probably something like 1st - 50%, 2nd - 70%, 3rd - 80%, .... 7th - 98%. Colston is mentioned, but how many of the other 31 7th round picks had an impact? Look at the 1st round and you have Cutler, Young, Leinart, Bush, Maroney and Addai (probably missing someone, just going from memory).For example at QB, for all the Tom Brady, Bulger and Delhomme examples, there are always a slew of 1st rounders like Vick, Vince Young, Manning x 2, Palmer, Leinart, Cutler, Rivers, Alex Smith, McNair, Leftwich, Roethlisberger, etc. I did a quick glance at my FF league with is a start 2 QB, so most teams are represented and 1st round QBs start on 18 of the 32 teams. That number was a quick count, but still shows my point. Even in my PPR league, 5 of the top 10 RBs were 1st rounders and of the other 5, only Willie Parker was not a 3rd round pick or higher.

Anyway, I think my main point is that the NFL Draft is probably the best predictor of talent we have, but the only caveat is that no one, including the best scouts is perfect and so some of the best NFL players slide more than they should and some of the top propsects bust out.

One other point, the only thing I noticed was that some of the top FF guys that were drafted later usually had some measurable issue, i.e. size (Tiki, Westbrook, MJD, Parker), school (Colston) or injuries (Gore). If someone seems to play better in college than their measurables would dictate, then that may be a guy who slips and does way outperform their draft slot.

ETA: I know I am probably just stating the obvious, but this topic and the whole pick safe (i.e. OL over QB) in the 1st round come up a lot with 1 or 2 names thrown out as proof. I went back over a lot of draft history and basically it seems like most (@50%) NFL starters are 1st round picks and there seems to be no correlation between position and "bust safety" in the draft. You can list as many OL busts in the early 1st round as you can QBs and RBs.
Excellent points... and I certainly agree... I was just mentioning that one shouldn't cut and paste the draft listing to rank the rookies for FF purposes...As a matter of fact, I was fortunate enough to have a freelance article posted at FBG that looks at the correlation between: NFL draft rank / FF eliteness / NFL experience... to try and figure out the success rates you are mentioning above... (I can't add the link here since FBG is blocked here at work... under freelance article: Dynasty Study...)

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
This bolded line is what I take issue with the most. While not a perfect correlation, I would say that the draft rank and FF production are very tightly correlated. I defy anyone to bring any other measure in besides draft rank and match it up better to FF production.For 2006, 9 of the top 20 RBs were 1st rounders, 14 of the top 20 QBs were 1st rounders, and 8 of the top 20 WRs were 1st rounders. That is around 50% being 1st rounders. Without looking, I would bet good money that around 90% of all the top 20 players were 1st-3rd round picks.

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
While good examples, there are far more FF studs from the 1st round than there are in subsequent rounds. Rashaun Woods just shows that every year, a good percentage (probably pretty consistent year to year) of every round is littered with busts. Just making up numbers, but probably something like 1st - 50%, 2nd - 70%, 3rd - 80%, .... 7th - 98%. Colston is mentioned, but how many of the other 31 7th round picks had an impact? Look at the 1st round and you have Cutler, Young, Leinart, Bush, Maroney and Addai (probably missing someone, just going from memory).For example at QB, for all the Tom Brady, Bulger and Delhomme examples, there are always a slew of 1st rounders like Vick, Vince Young, Manning x 2, Palmer, Leinart, Cutler, Rivers, Alex Smith, McNair, Leftwich, Roethlisberger, etc. I did a quick glance at my FF league with is a start 2 QB, so most teams are represented and 1st round QBs start on 18 of the 32 teams. That number was a quick count, but still shows my point. Even in my PPR league, 5 of the top 10 RBs were 1st rounders and of the other 5, only Willie Parker was not a 3rd round pick or higher.

Anyway, I think my main point is that the NFL Draft is probably the best predictor of talent we have, but the only caveat is that no one, including the best scouts is perfect and so some of the best NFL players slide more than they should and some of the top propsects bust out.

One other point, the only thing I noticed was that some of the top FF guys that were drafted later usually had some measurable issue, i.e. size (Tiki, Westbrook, MJD, Parker), school (Colston) or injuries (Gore). If someone seems to play better in college than their measurables would dictate, then that may be a guy who slips and does way outperform their draft slot.

ETA: I know I am probably just stating the obvious, but this topic and the whole pick safe (i.e. OL over QB) in the 1st round come up a lot with 1 or 2 names thrown out as proof. I went back over a lot of draft history and basically it seems like most (@50%) NFL starters are 1st round picks and there seems to be no correlation between position and "bust safety" in the draft. You can list as many OL busts in the early 1st round as you can QBs and RBs.
Excellent points... and I certainly agree... I was just mentioning that one shouldn't cut and paste the draft listing to rank the rookies for FF purposes...As a matter of fact, I was fortunate enough to have a freelance article posted at FBG that looks at the correlation between: NFL draft rank / FF eliteness / NFL experience... to try and figure out the success rates you are mentioning above... (I can't add the link here since FBG is blocked here at work... under freelance article: Dynasty Study...)
That sounds pretty cool actually. I would love to read it. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a pretty smooth statistical curve. I am sure that there are some weak and strong draft classes, but that for the most part you could predict that X% of Y round will bust or succeed.Also, it may have looked like I was picking at your post, but I do actually think that some people take 1 or 2 examples and actually believe that to prove that the draft is a "bad" indicator.

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
While good examples, there are far more FF studs from the 1st round than there are in subsequent rounds. Rashaun Woods just shows that every year, a good percentage (probably pretty consistent year to year) of every round is littered with busts. Just making up numbers, but probably something like 1st - 50%, 2nd - 70%, 3rd - 80%, .... 7th - 98%. Colston is mentioned, but how many of the other 31 7th round picks had an impact? Look at the 1st round and you have Cutler, Young, Leinart, Bush, Maroney and Addai (probably missing someone, just going from memory).For example at QB, for all the Tom Brady, Bulger and Delhomme examples, there are always a slew of 1st rounders like Vick, Vince Young, Manning x 2, Palmer, Leinart, Cutler, Rivers, Alex Smith, McNair, Leftwich, Roethlisberger, etc. I did a quick glance at my FF league with is a start 2 QB, so most teams are represented and 1st round QBs start on 18 of the 32 teams. That number was a quick count, but still shows my point. Even in my PPR league, 5 of the top 10 RBs were 1st rounders and of the other 5, only Willie Parker was not a 3rd round pick or higher.

Anyway, I think my main point is that the NFL Draft is probably the best predictor of talent we have, but the only caveat is that no one, including the best scouts is perfect and so some of the best NFL players slide more than they should and some of the top propsects bust out.

One other point, the only thing I noticed was that some of the top FF guys that were drafted later usually had some measurable issue, i.e. size (Tiki, Westbrook, MJD, Parker), school (Colston) or injuries (Gore). If someone seems to play better in college than their measurables would dictate, then that may be a guy who slips and does way outperform their draft slot.

ETA: I know I am probably just stating the obvious, but this topic and the whole pick safe (i.e. OL over QB) in the 1st round come up a lot with 1 or 2 names thrown out as proof. I went back over a lot of draft history and basically it seems like most (@50%) NFL starters are 1st round picks and there seems to be no correlation between position and "bust safety" in the draft. You can list as many OL busts in the early 1st round as you can QBs and RBs.
Excellent points... and I certainly agree... I was just mentioning that one shouldn't cut and paste the draft listing to rank the rookies for FF purposes...As a matter of fact, I was fortunate enough to have a freelance article posted at FBG that looks at the correlation between: NFL draft rank / FF eliteness / NFL experience... to try and figure out the success rates you are mentioning above... (I can't add the link here since FBG is blocked here at work... under freelance article: Dynasty Study...)
By the way, this could be a question or a suggestion, but did you happen to look at things like where the players went to college, injury history, and size/speed measurables?If you look at some of the 2nd round picks that have been studs (Tiki, Boldin, MJD, Javon Walker, Gore, the list goes on), they may have dropped due to size (Barber/MJD) or speed (Boldin/Walker) or injury concerns (Gore) but they still were selected in the 2nd/3rd because they were perceived to have talent and in the 2nd/3rd they were deemed worth the risk. We have seen in the past tremendous players like Rice and E. Smith, who didn't blow away the combine records, but just seemed to be able to translate a quickness into success.

It would be interesting to see if there were easy to spot patterns in the guys who outperformed their draft rank.

 
That sounds pretty cool actually. I would love to read it. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a pretty smooth statistical curve. I am sure that there are some weak and strong draft classes, but that for the most part you could predict that X% of Y round will bust or succeed.Also, it may have looked like I was picking at your post, but I do actually think that some people take 1 or 2 examples and actually believe that to prove that the draft is a "bad" indicator.
I agree that my initial posting was making it sound like one shouldn't be using the draft at all for FF purposes... As I mentioned - it was not my purpose - far from it... (and I certainly know that an example is not a proof - stupid Applied Math Masters to attest to that :rolleyes: )As for the correlation - you can certainly see a tight correlation between NFL draft rank and FF eliteness... the NFL teams are spending millions in trying to figure out who to pick - they know their stuff (altough we always seem to disagree on sundays!)
 
By the way, this could be a question or a suggestion, but did you happen to look at things like where the players went to college, injury history, and size/speed measurables?If you look at some of the 2nd round picks that have been studs (Tiki, Boldin, MJD, Javon Walker, Gore, the list goes on), they may have dropped due to size (Barber/MJD) or speed (Boldin/Walker) or injury concerns (Gore) but they still were selected in the 2nd/3rd because they were perceived to have talent and in the 2nd/3rd they were deemed worth the risk. We have seen in the past tremendous players like Rice and E. Smith, who didn't blow away the combine records, but just seemed to be able to translate a quickness into success.It would be interesting to see if there were easy to spot patterns in the guys who outperformed their draft rank.
I didn't look at these factors... just the plain data / not wanting to add too much subjectivity in the study... but, at first glance, it certainly would be a good idea to do so... even though I'm not sure I might be on top of all the "issues" that happened in the last ten years for example (since I had gone back to the '96 draft)...Interesting... I foresee another freelance article! <_<
 
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By the way, this could be a question or a suggestion, but did you happen to look at things like where the players went to college, injury history, and size/speed measurables?If you look at some of the 2nd round picks that have been studs (Tiki, Boldin, MJD, Javon Walker, Gore, the list goes on), they may have dropped due to size (Barber/MJD) or speed (Boldin/Walker) or injury concerns (Gore) but they still were selected in the 2nd/3rd because they were perceived to have talent and in the 2nd/3rd they were deemed worth the risk. We have seen in the past tremendous players like Rice and E. Smith, who didn't blow away the combine records, but just seemed to be able to translate a quickness into success.It would be interesting to see if there were easy to spot patterns in the guys who outperformed their draft rank.
I didn't look at these factors... just the plain data / not wanting to add too much subjectivity in the study... but, at first glance, it certainly would be a good idea to do so... even though I'm not sure I might be on top of all the "issues" that happened in the last ten years for example (since I had gone back to the '96 draft)...Interesting... I foresee another freelance article! :lmao:
That will be hard to do, but maybe easier just in the past few drafts. I tend to remember too much useless information, which is why I tend to be a more reactive poster. I unfortunately fall below the FBG average in terms of 4.3 speed and 400 pound bench pressing :lmao: , so I tend to think that the NFL folks know more than I do.But, when I remember things like both Boldin and Walker being 2nd round picks, meaning they were very talented, but sliding out of the first because they were considered "slow", it make me think that you might be able to measure it. A guy like Gore was plagued with injuries in college and ran a bit "slow", but he was considered talented enough to be thought highly off on a powerhouse team that had Portis and McGahee. MJD was lights out in terms of talent, but was considered too small, as were FWP, Tiki and Westbrook.Heck, even some of the all-time fantasy greats, like Emmitt, Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Marino were middle to late 1st round picks. It just seems like there might be patterns, like slow 40 speeds, even though the guy might seem like a playmaker on the field, could be applied to guys that seem to slip into spots where they have the opportunity to start.It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that the 1st round busts (outside injuries) tended to be guys who measured better than average but didn't seem to play like studs in college and the 2nd/3rd round surprises were guys who measured below average or not as good as hoped, but seemed to play above their supposed abilities.
 
I always tweak my rookie draft sheets from all the so called experts.

For example last year I moved Addia up to 2 because of his situation he got drafted into and I was not dissapointed. He may have been the 4th or 5th best back in the draft but he was in the best situation to immediately suceed. (It was a no brainer) I was tempted to move him to 1 over Bush but wasn't in any 1 positions to worry about it.

This year will be no difference. I will be adjusting my rookie cheat sheets like crazy. Even more so for position needs per team then situations they get drafted into.

 
Rashaun Woods... Marques Colston...

Not that we could have guessed it ourselves... but to think that draft rank and FF production are perfectly correlated is dead wrong... we don't even know all the raminications (lobbying / contract amounts / etc.) that goes into a draft selection - so to think it's always BPA is evidently wrong...
While good examples, there are far more FF studs from the 1st round than there are in subsequent rounds. Rashaun Woods just shows that every year, a good percentage (probably pretty consistent year to year) of every round is littered with busts. Just making up numbers, but probably something like 1st - 50%, 2nd - 70%, 3rd - 80%, .... 7th - 98%. Colston is mentioned, but how many of the other 31 7th round picks had an impact? Look at the 1st round and you have Cutler, Young, Leinart, Bush, Maroney and Addai (probably missing someone, just going from memory).For example at QB, for all the Tom Brady, Bulger and Delhomme examples, there are always a slew of 1st rounders like Vick, Vince Young, Manning x 2, Palmer, Leinart, Cutler, Rivers, Alex Smith, McNair, Leftwich, Roethlisberger, etc. I did a quick glance at my FF league with is a start 2 QB, so most teams are represented and 1st round QBs start on 18 of the 32 teams. That number was a quick count, but still shows my point. Even in my PPR league, 5 of the top 10 RBs were 1st rounders and of the other 5, only Willie Parker was not a 3rd round pick or higher.

Anyway, I think my main point is that the NFL Draft is probably the best predictor of talent we have, but the only caveat is that no one, including the best scouts is perfect and so some of the best NFL players slide more than they should and some of the top propsects bust out.

One other point, the only thing I noticed was that some of the top FF guys that were drafted later usually had some measurable issue, i.e. size (Tiki, Westbrook, MJD, Parker), school (Colston) or injuries (Gore). If someone seems to play better in college than their measurables would dictate, then that may be a guy who slips and does way outperform their draft slot.

ETA: I know I am probably just stating the obvious, but this topic and the whole pick safe (i.e. OL over QB) in the 1st round come up a lot with 1 or 2 names thrown out as proof. I went back over a lot of draft history and basically it seems like most (@50%) NFL starters are 1st round picks and there seems to be no correlation between position and "bust safety" in the draft. You can list as many OL busts in the early 1st round as you can QBs and RBs.
Excellent points... and I certainly agree... I was just mentioning that one shouldn't cut and paste the draft listing to rank the rookies for FF purposes...As a matter of fact, I was fortunate enough to have a freelance article posted at FBG that looks at the correlation between: NFL draft rank / FF eliteness / NFL experience... to try and figure out the success rates you are mentioning above... (I can't add the link here since FBG is blocked here at work... under freelance article: Dynasty Study...)
Linked.PM a mod or report the post and we can take care of this for you.

 
Just looking at the recent drafts, there are landmines in each of the 1st 3 rounds just about every year.

Try to do some of your own research or listen to some of the knowledgeable guys around here and try to avoid the landmines. Also, try to check your biases at the door. Just because small guys like Darren Sproles and Quentin Griffin didn't make it (4th rounders), doesn't mean that Maurice Drew (2nd Round) won't.

 
By default, I place a lot of weight on the draft order, because the scouts do know a lot more than I do.

However, there are certainly situations where I would not place much weight on draft order. Examples:

-If your rookie draft is held in August (2-3 months after the draft), a lot of new information has come out post-draft. I don't place much weight on praise of high draft picks, but I do pay attention to grumblings about high draft picks, praise of low draft picks and pre-season play.

-Once you get past round 2, draft order doesn't really matter. I wouldn't rank a third rounder ahead of a sixth rounder necessarily, although I will generally rate a high first rounder ahead of a low first rounder.

-Since this is fantasy, not real NFL, situation does matter. Running QB > Passing QB, starting RB > backup RB, KC RB > CLE RB, etc.

 
I find that 1st round defensive rookies in IDP leagues seem to be much more predictable from just going with the NFL scouting than offensive skill players. Cornerbacks can be hit or miss but linebackers and D-line men seem to usually pan out pretty consistently. I've changed my rookie draft strategy to go for 1 offensive player if I have a high 1st round pick but then load up on defense rookies in later rounds of rookie draft. Usually I can get solid defensive NFL 1st rounders in the last 2 rounds of my rookie draft while most other owners are taking NFL 2nd and 3rd round WR's which to me is a total crapshoot.

 
[bloom]

EEEEEEEEEEEEE Brandon Marshall

[/bloom]

(I'll post some more thoughts on this if I have time back in Austin tomorrow or Friday)

 
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