How Important is the Draft? (1 Viewer)

[nerangers]

Rainy day here so just catching up on the article reading. I was reading an article over at NFL.com on the Top 10 drafted players to remember and forget

The Colts really stood out to me...about James and Manning vs who they could have drafted instead.

from the article:

At #4: best: Running back Edgerrin James -- How many people are still wondering how the Colts could ever draft Edge over Ricky Williams?

At #2 Worst: Quarterback Ryan Leaf -- And to think the Colts didn't decide on Peyton Manning over Leaf until the week before the draft.

At #1 Best: Quarterback Peyton Manning -- Again, Manning was the easy choice. His 49 touchdown passes in one season are Ruthian.

But here's a thought to ponder, illustrating how critical the draft is to the success of any franchise: Where would the Colts be today had they gone ahead and selected Ryan Leaf and Ricky Williams?

So who was your teams Best and Worst draft picks?

 

[The Shizzle]

OK, probably an obvious one, but i'll post it anyways:

New England Patriots:

Best Draft: 2000

Round Player Pick# Pos. College

6th Tom Brady 199 QB Michigan

Worst Draft: 1992

Round Player Pick# Position College

1st Eugene Chung 13* OL Virginia Tech

*(from Dallas, along with a third round pick in 1992, in exchange for Patriots’ first round, 19th pick from Atlanta, second round, 37th pick and fourth round, 104th pick from Atlanta)

Obviously we know how this panned out. Brady leads the tream to 3 Superbowls while Eugene Chung gets cut after 2 years and platoon with 5 teams in 7 years. His claim to fame was that he was the FIRST Asian ever drafted in the NFL in the first round.

 

[nerangers]

OK, probably an obvious one, but i'll post it anyways:

New England Patriots:

Best Draft: 2000

Round        Player      Pick#    Pos.      College

  6th        Tom Brady    199      QB      Michigan 

Worst Draft: 1992

Round        Player            Pick#    Position        College

  1st    Eugene Chung      13*        OL        Virginia Tech 

*(from Dallas, along with a third round pick in 1992, in exchange for Patriots’ first round, 19th pick from Atlanta, second round, 37th pick and fourth round, 104th pick from Atlanta)

Obviously we know how this panned out. Brady leads the tream to 3 Superbowls while Eugene Chung gets cut  after 2 years and platoon with 5 teams in 7 years. His claim to fame was that he was the FIRST Asian ever drafted in the NFL in the first round.

Agree with Brady...Worst Pick (1994): WR Kevin Lee (he was a 2nd round pick in 1994, did nothing for the pats, went to SF the next year, and then out of football).

| Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| 1995 nwe | 7 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0 |

| 1996 sfo | 2 | 0 0 0.0 0 | 0 0 0.0 0 |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| TOTAL | 9 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0

 

[Despyzer]

The Chargers have been riddled by bad draft selections in their history, which is probably why they have not been a consistently good club since the early '80s. Take a look at these recent first-rounders:

'03 - Sammy Davis

'98 - Ryan Leaf

Previous to this there were a lot of names that were decent starters but guys that really weren't worthy of high 1st round picks, like:

'93 - Darrien Gordon

'92 - Chris Mims

'89 - Burt Grossman

'88 - Anthony Miller

'87 - Rod Bernstine

'86 - James Fitzpatrick

And then you go back to wasted picks like Mossy Cade in '84.

Add to this the fact that the Chargers traded away so many first-rounders, leaving them with first overall picks like:

'00 - Rogers Beckett

'99 - Jermaine Fazande

'97 - Freddie Jones

'96 - Bryan Still

'95 - Terrence Shaw

'94 - Ike Davis

(How many of these guys have you even HEARD of?)

Their only true bright spots in the last 25 years? LaDainian Tomlinson, Junior Seau, and Leslie O'Neal.

 

[Boston]

For the Pats the two best picks are Brady and Seymour. There's not much to add about Brady since that speaks for itself. IMO the Seymour pick was really the start of the BB era. When they took him at #6 many scratched their head and said who is this guy. Others said he was a reach because he only had one sack in his last year as a Bulldog. Tons of Patriot fans were pleading for the Pats to take David Terrell or Koren Robinson. In the end BB and Pioli took a player that has turmed into the foundation of their D and is as good as there is in the NFL. Seems like a no brainer now but that wasn't the case when they called his name on draft day.

As far as bad picks...there have been quite a few. Chung was a complete waste. The minute you saw him in a uniform you knew that wasn''t happening. Also, Chris Canty not only was horrible on the field but had as bad of an attitude as possible just to pile on to a bad pick. Another huge Pats screw up was trading out of the #3 slot where the Seahawks took Cortez Kennedy and ending up with two subpar players in Ray Agnew and Chris Singlrton. That trade haunted them for years.

 

[Texasmouth]

The draft is huge. If you draft say..... David Kilnger, Andre Ware, Akili Smith, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, etc, it can set the franchise back for years. This draft is extremly important especially for teams that are rebuilding.

Best draft pick for the Cowboys- Troy Aikman, UCLA

Worst draft pick......man that is a long list.....Greg Ellis is a great player and he has been really solid but we passed on Randy Moss, who we all but gave a verbal commitment to, to take him.

Ebenezer Ekubon the next year sucked too.

 

[Fantasy Football Junkie]

The draft is huge. If you draft say..... David Kilnger, Andre Ware, Akili Smith, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, etc, it can set the franchise back for years. This draft is extremly important especially for teams that are rebuilding.

Best draft pick for the Cowboys- Troy Aikman, UCLA

Worst draft pick......man that is a long list.....Greg Ellis is a great player and he has been really solid but we passed on Randy Moss, who we all but gave a verbal commitment to, to take him.

Ebenezer Ekubon the next year sucked too.

I have to argue with that. Hershel Walker-for it not for him the Dallas Cowboys 90's run may have never happened.

Emmitt Smith

Larry Allen

Troy Aikman

Mark Stepnoski

Erik Williams

in that order.

 

[Bri]

OK, probably an obvious one, but i'll post it anyways:

New England Patriots:

Best Draft: 2000

Round        Player       Pick#    Pos.      College

  6th        Tom Brady    199      QB      Michigan 

Worst Draft: 1992

Round        Player            Pick#    Position        College

   1st     Eugene Chung       13*         OL        Virginia Tech 

*(from Dallas, along with a third round pick in 1992, in exchange for Patriots’ first round, 19th pick from Atlanta, second round, 37th pick and fourth round, 104th pick from Atlanta)

Obviously we know how this panned out. Brady leads the tream to 3 Superbowls while Eugene Chung gets cut  after 2 years and platoon with 5 teams in 7 years. His claim to fame was that he was the FIRST Asian ever drafted in the NFL in the first round.

Agree with Brady...Worst Pick (1994): WR Kevin Lee (he was a 2nd round pick in 1994, did nothing for the pats, went to SF the next year, and then out of football).

| Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| 1995 nwe | 7 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0 |

| 1996 sfo | 2 | 0 0 0.0 0 | 0 0 0.0 0 |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| TOTAL | 9 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0

hart lee dykes?

 

[Boston]

OK, probably an obvious one, but i'll post it anyways:

New England Patriots:

Best Draft: 2000

Round        Player       Pick#    Pos.      College

  6th        Tom Brady    199      QB      Michigan 

Worst Draft: 1992

Round        Player            Pick#    Position        College

   1st     Eugene Chung       13*         OL        Virginia Tech 

*(from Dallas, along with a third round pick in 1992, in exchange for Patriots’ first round, 19th pick from Atlanta, second round, 37th pick and fourth round, 104th pick from Atlanta)

Obviously we know how this panned out. Brady leads the tream to 3 Superbowls while Eugene Chung gets cut  after 2 years and platoon with 5 teams in 7 years. His claim to fame was that he was the FIRST Asian ever drafted in the NFL in the first round.

Agree with Brady...Worst Pick (1994): WR Kevin Lee (he was a 2nd round pick in 1994, did nothing for the pats, went to SF the next year, and then out of football).

| Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| 1995 nwe | 7 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0 |

| 1996 sfo | 2 | 0 0 0.0 0 | 0 0 0.0 0 |

+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

| TOTAL | 9 | 1 4 4.0 0 | 8 107 13.4 0

hart lee dykes?

Hart Lee could actually play some...the injuries destroyed him.

 

[Blackjacks]

Rams

Best Torry Holt

Worst L. Phillips

 

[-OZ-]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

 

[Doug B]

For the Saints:

Best pick: this can be evaluated either as "best player ever drafted", or "best value at spot".

Archie Manning (2nd overall, 1971) is probably the best NFL player ever drafted by the New Orleans Saints, regardless of round. Rickey Jackson (51st overall, 1981) and Willie Roaf (8th overall, 1993) are also in the discussion. George Rogers (1st overall, 1981) had the talent to be in the conversation, but succumbed to cocaine addiction during his New Orleans years.

Best value had to be DT Jim Wils (17th round, 1981) -- the guy was a long-time starter on one of the top defenses of the late 80s.

Worst pick: some would say "Ricky Williams" with their tongue in cheek ... but at least he had legitimate NFL ability.

A franchise as sorry as the Saints has many, many bad picks. The two most notorious were DT Shawn Knight (11th overall, 1987) and K/P Russell Erxleben (11th overall, 1979) in 1979. The Saints passed on Kellen Winslow to take Erxleben ( ), and passed on long-time 49er tackle Harris Barton to take Knight.

(That 1987 first round was pretty brutal.)

 

[Doug B]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Barry Sanders?

 

[Doug B]

Rams

Best Torry Holt

If you count the L.A. years, Eric Dickerson was a nice grab.

 

[-OZ-]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Barry Sanders?

I was thinking more recent, and deeper than 1.03, but yes. Barry was a great pick obviously.

 

[Doug B]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Barry Sanders?

I was thinking more recent, and deeper than 1.03, but yes. Barry was a great pick obviously.

Yeah ... it gets back to the ways we can interpret "best pick ever":a) best player ever selected, regardless of round?

b) best case of a later-round sleeper panning out?

I wonder if for any teams, both players are one in the same? For the 49ers, a case can certainly be made for 3rd-rounder Joe Montana fitting both interpretations.

Can it be said credibly that Tom Brady is the best player in Patriots' history? If so, as a 6th-rounder, he'd clearly fit both interpretations.

 

[jurb26]

2000

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 8 Plaxico Burress WR Michigan State

2 38 Marvel Smith T Arizona State

3 72 Kendrick Clancy DT Mississippi

3 77 Hank Poteat CB Pittsburgh

4 103 Danny Farmer WR UCLA

5 137 Clark Haggans OLB Colorado State

5 163 Tee Martin QB Tennessee

6 173 Chris Combs DE Duke

6 204 Jason Gavadza TE Kent State

2001

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 19 Casey Hampton NT Texas

2 39 Kendrell Bell OLB Georgia

4 111 Mathias Nkwenti T Temple

5 146 Chukky Okobi C Purdue

6 181 Rodney Bailey DE Ohio State

6 182 Roger Knight OLB Wisconsin

7 218 Chris Taylor WR Texas A&M

2002

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 30 Kendall Simmons G Auburn

2 62 Antwaan Randle El WR Indiana

3 94 Chris Hope FS Florida State

4 128 Larry Foote ILB Michigan

5 166 Verron Haynes RB Georgia

6 202 Lee Mays WR Texas-El Paso

7 212 Lavar Glover DB Cincinnati

7 242 Brett Keisel DE Brigham Young

2003

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 16 Troy Polamalu SS Southern California

2 59 Alonzo Jackson OLB Florida State

4 125 Ivan Taylor CB Louisiana-Lafayette

5 163 Brian St. Pierre QB Boston College

7 242 J.T. Wall RB Georgia

2004

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 11 Ben Roethlisberger QB Miami, O.

2 38 Ricardo Colclough CB Tusculum, Tenn.

3 75 Max Starks T Florida

5 145 Nathaniel Adibi DE Virginia Tech

6 177 Bo Lacy T Arkansas

6 194 Matt Kranchick TE Penn State

6 197 Drew Caylor C Stanford

7 212 Eric Taylor DE Memphis

2005

Rd Sel# Player Pos. School

1 30 Heath Miller TE Virginia

2 62 Bryant McFadden CB Florida State

3 93 Trai Essex T Northwestern

4 131 Fred Gibson WR Georgia

5 166 Rian Wallace ILB Temple

6 204 Chris Kemoeatu G Utah

7 228 Shaun Nua DE Brigham Young

7 244 Noah Herron RB Northwestern

I took only since people said they wanted recent. Pitt makes it very difficult to find bad picks among the group and this team does not get enough credit yer in and year out for just how well they draft IMO.

 

[Doug B]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Barry Sanders?

I was thinking more recent, and deeper than 1.03, but yes. Barry was a great pick obviously.

Looking back way further ... you guys picked one of the cornerstones of your 50s title teams, LB Joe Schmidt, in the 7th round In '57, the Lions drafted QB Jack Kemp in the 17th round Of course, with Bobby Layne on board, Kemp woulda gotten buried on the roster.

 

[3C's]

I took only since people said they wanted recent. Pitt makes it very difficult to find bad picks among the group and this team does not get enough credit yer in and year out for just how well they draft IMO.

Worst pick in recent history for the Steelers I can think of (just before your cutoff) would be Troy Edwards. He makes all the in your list look good. Horrible pick. Actually looking back, 1999 was a pretty bad draft, but a couple of picks saved them. Scott Shields in the second. Joey Porter in the 3rd. Aaron Smith in the 4th.

 

[Chase Stuart]

For worst Jets pick, I'd throw a surprise out there -- James Farrior

For best Jets pick, it's pretty tough. Keyshawn, Pennington, Abraham, Ellis and Vilma have all been pretty similar -- had two or three very good years, first round picks.

I'd probably go with Keyshawn though, since it's more in line with my reasoning for why Farrior was the worst.

In 97, the Jets had the first pick. They traded 1.01 [Orlando Pace] for 1.06, 3.06, 4.06 [Terry Day] and 7.06.

They then traded 1.06 [Walter Jones] for 1.08 and nothing else special.

They ended up drafting Farrier at 1.08, who was largely mediocre except for his breakout performance in 2001, Herm's first year.

To have the 1st pick in the draft and to end up with one good year out of a LB four years down the line (and Farrior left after that season) is pretty horrible.

Conversely, Keyshawn was the 1st pick and had two excellent seasons with the Jets and brought them to the AFC Championship Game. Even better, he was traded for two more first round picks - one of which helped bring in Abraham or Ellis.

 

[Texasmouth]

For the Saints:

Worst pick: some would say "Ricky Williams" with their tongue in cheek ... but at least he had legitimate NFL ability.

(That 1987 first round was pretty brutal.)

I think the way they grabbed Ricky is why it was such a bad pick. I am just thankful, as a Cowboys fan, that hte Redskins didn't pick Ricky, that would have been an awful day for a Cowboys/Longhorns fan......

 

[Titans_fan]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Barry Sanders?

I was thinking more recent, and deeper than 1.03, but yes. Barry was a great pick obviously.

Looking back way further ... you guys picked one of the cornerstones of your 50s title teams, LB Joe Schmidt, in the 7th round In '57, the Lions drafted QB Jack Kemp in the 17th round Of course, with Bobby Layne on board, Kemp woulda gotten buried on the roster.

I was gonna post on the Lions earlier, but had to go to work.....anyways, I figured I'd get slammed for not putting Barry Sanders (my all-time favorite, BTW) as the best pick for the Lions. Also, I don't think Harrington was the worst. Sticking to the topic over at NFL.com I'll stay with drafts from 1985 to present.IMO, the best draft choice for the Lions (in this timeframe) is.....

Cory Schelsinger. Before all you Lions fans go nuts, understand I feel best draft pick is a guy who produces higher than likely expected based on where he was drafted.

Schelsinger was drafted in the 6th round of 1995 at number 191 overall!! Beginning in 1995, he has missed only 9 games and has been a constant blocking force for the Lions. Not a huge rushing or receiving threat, but he knows how to get the job done as a fullback.

Others I considered were: Jerry Ball (63rd overall in 1987), Chris Spielman (29th overall in 1988), Reuben Droughns (if they would have kept him! 81st overall in 2000), and Shaun Rogers (61st overall in 2001).

Now, worst draft choice since 1985 brings to mind A LOT of names. Joey Harrington being the most recent, as the Lions haven't really had a good quarterback since Gary Danielson. Staying in that vein, my worst draft choice for the Lions is...

Andre Ware. Coming out of Houston, he was a can't miss prospect who put up the following numbers after being drated SEVENTH OVERALL in 1990: 14 games, 161 attempts with 83 completions (51.6%), 1112 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs. Rushing he accumulated 217 yards on 38 attempts.

Some other choices I considered included: Chuck Long (12th overall in 1986...granted he was okay, but not for the Lions), Reggie Rogers (7th overall in 1987....2 sacks in 4 years with 3 teams), Reggie Brown (17th overall in 1996...gone in 2 years with 2.5 sacks and 2 INTs), and Joey Harrington (3rd overall in 2002...jury may still be out on him, but was bad for Detroit).

Just my $.02, feel free to begin the flogging!

 

[-OZ-]

IMO, the best draft choice for the Lions (in this timeframe) is.....

Cory Schelsinger. Before all you Lions fans go nuts, understand I feel best draft pick is a guy who produces higher than likely expected based on where he was drafted.

Schelsinger was drafted in the 6th round of 1995 at number 191 overall!! Beginning in 1995, he has missed only 9 games and has been a constant blocking force for the Lions. Not a huge rushing or receiving threat, but he knows how to get the job done as a fullback.

No flogging from this fan, Cory is a huge assett.

 

[Super King]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Shaun Rogers? That isnt how you spell Barry Sanders

 

[Spartans Rule]

Off hand: worse, Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers, tied.

Best - Shaun Rogers.

Shaun Rogers? That isnt how you spell Barry Sanders

Barry was awesome, but I'd have to say that Shaun Rogers made a bigger impact relative to his draft position.Rogers was the 61st overall pick and is now one of the top 20 or 30 players in the league.

Worst for the Lions is, without question, Andre Ware.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

Buffalo Bills

Best: Jim Kelly

Worst: JP Losman

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Their only true bright spots in the last 25 years? LaDainian Tomlinson, Junior Seau, and Leslie O'Neal.

Shawne Merriman, Rodney Harrison, Jim Lachey, Billy Ray Smith, Natrone Means, Marion Butts . . . but yeah, for most of the last couple decades, the drafting was terrible.My personal favorite was WR Ray Ethridge in the third round in 1992. He wasn't listed in any of the pre-draft publications -- not Kiper, Buchsbaum, Ourlads, etc. Nobody had ever heard of him. He played at some junior college, and even there I don't think he had any decent stats. But he ran a super fast forty in a private workout for the Chargers, so even though he sucked at football and he probably wasn't on any other teams' draft boards at all, the Chargers spend a first-day pick on him.

 

[Despyzer]

Their only true bright spots in the last 25 years? LaDainian Tomlinson, Junior Seau, and Leslie O'Neal.

Shawne Merriman, Rodney Harrison, Jim Lachey, Billy Ray Smith, Natrone Means, Marion Butts . . . but yeah, for most of the last couple decades, the drafting was terrible.

I was pretty much constraining my comments to either first-round draft picks or first selections. Merriman has had ten good games as a pro and looks like a great selection, but he's not heading to Canton yet.

 

[ThisGuy]

Giants worst pick: Cedric Jones #5 overall in 1996. And this is the same team that brought you Jarrod Bunch, Derek Brown, and Thomas Lewis in the first round in the 90's as well

Giants best pick: Rodney Hampton, #24 overall in 1990. Not bad to get your 2nd All-Time leading rusher at the end of the first round.

Now if you want to talk about value picks, here are some of the Giants 2nd round picks the last few years: Michael Strahan #40 overall 1993, Jason Sehorn, #53 overall in 94, Amani Toomer #34 overall in 96, Tiki Barber #36 overall in 97, Joe Jurevicius #55 overall in 98, Osi Umenyiora #56 overall in 03.

Perhaps the best VALUE pick in NFL history: Rosey Brown, HOFer, 9 Time Probowler at OL, Drafted in the 27th round in 1953!

 

[Sweetness_34]

Da Bears:

Best pick ever: Richard Dent (forget which round but he was selected really low)

Worst pick ever: Could go with Curtis Enis (4th pick) over Randy Moss or maybe Cade Mcnown at #12 after trading down from the #7 spot (not taking Champ Bailey or Chris McAllister or Daunte Culpepper)

 

[Despyzer]

Best pick ever: Richard Dent (forget which round but he was selected really low)

9th

 

[thejag]

For the Pats the two best picks are Brady and Seymour. There's not much to add about Brady since that speaks for itself. IMO the Seymour pick was really the start of the BB era. When they took him at #6 many scratched their head and said who is this guy. Others said he was a reach because he only had one sack in his last year as a Bulldog. Tons of Patriot fans were pleading for the Pats to take David Terrell or Koren Robinson. In the end BB and Pioli took a player that has turmed into the foundation of their D and is as good as there is in the NFL. Seems like a no brainer now but that wasn't the case when they called his name on draft day.

As far as bad picks...there have been quite a few. Chung was a complete waste. The minute you saw him in a uniform you knew that wasn''t happening. Also, Chris Canty not only was horrible on the field but had as bad of an attitude as possible just to pile on to a bad pick. Another huge Pats screw up was trading out of the #3 slot where the Seahawks took Cortez Kennedy and ending up with two subpar players in Ray Agnew and Chris Singlrton. That trade haunted them for years.

I'll nominate trading down with SF (who took someone named Rice) and taking C Trevor Matich. Quite possibly the worst trade/draft combo in NE sports history.