First Rounders don't always mean a franchise player!
By justpjteb
@justpjteb (183)
United States
February 16, 2010 1:26pm CST
The nfl draft is right around the corner and the talk so much on the first round of the draft. The thought process from fans is if your taken in the first round your going to be make it to the hall of fame or be that franchise name. Since you figure the players in the first round make more money than any of the other players taken from any other of the other rounds.
The answer to this is no. Yes you might be taken in the first round. Yes you might have had a great college career. Yes you might have a lot of talent. Answering yes to them doesn't mean you will ever meet the expectations set for you.
Lets look back at a few players taken overall number one since 2000. Courtney Brown drafted number 1 overall by the Browns in 2000. Michael Vick drafted number 1 overall by the Falcons in 2001. David Carr drafted number 1 overall by the Texans in 2002. Carson Palmer drafted number 1 overall by the Bengals in 2003. Eli Manning drafted number 1 by the Chargers than traded to the Giants in 2004. Alex Smith drafted by the 49ers in 2005. 5 of the 6 were quarterbacks with only Eli Manning winning a super bowl. Vick and Palmer have put up good numbers but have battled injuries or off the field issues.
Lets look at a few players taken in later rounds who have been franchise players or have put up the numbers to be one. Tom Brady drafted in the 6th round and has lead his team to 4 super bowls winning 3 of them. He is also a 2 time super bowl mvp. Brett Favre drafted in the second round by the falcons and eventually traded to the Packers where he lead his team to 2 super bowls winning 1 of them. He also holds Nfl career records for Td Passes, Passing Yards, Pass Completions, Pass Attempts, Most Int's and Most consecutive starts and most victories as a starting quarterback. Drew Brees selected in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Chargers. He has a super bowl mvp award and a super bowl title. While passing for over 30,000 yards and 202 touchdowns. He helped lead a Saints team to there first superbowl and also superbowl title.
So after taking a look 3 future hall members not drafted in the first round. So who will be the bust of the 2010 draft and who will be the big sleeper!
4 responses
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
12 Mar 10
The bust will be the one that the Raiders pick (which makes you an automatic bust), and the sleeper will be Brandon Graham out of Michigan.
@justpjteb (183)
• United States
12 Mar 10
I agree they have had some bad picks lately. The corner they drafted is good but again they gave him that ridiculous extension last year. They are also the reason that Crabtree happened last year. No way should they have selected Heyward-Bey with the 8th pick. I live in Maryland and watch the Terps. He was fast and could land the long ball but he also had drops. I think he can be a good receiver but just think that Crabtree was more polished and if I was Crabtree I would want the same money too. I don't know much on Graham. I like Cj Spiller but haven't been paying much attention to the combine or the players work outs to know who's impressing and not!
@hbk2244 (180)
• United States
17 Feb 10
You can have the best football mind in the world and still never get every draft pick right. Like the poster above me said, it's all a guessing game. I'd say about half of first round picks become busts while Kurt Warner went from stocking shelves to winning a Super Bowl. It's a total crap shoot. As far as this year goes, I think C.J. Spilner is the real deal and could be the next stud running back in the NFL.
@justpjteb (183)
• United States
17 Feb 10
Are you talking about C.J. Spiller out of Clemson? If you are I agree he could be a good back since I am a terps fan I have watched him run the against them a few times. The only thing I would like to see him is put on about 15 more lbs of mass. Get up around 210 or 215.
@dalip32 (100)
• United States
17 Feb 10
The draft (and maybe the NFL draft over and above all others), can be such a huge guessing game. However, I think a GM has to approach it from a more optimistic manner. The way I see it, there is value to be had in every round. Tom Brady is an excellent example. So is Terrell Davis. Even someone like Jeff Saturday, who is one of the best centers in the game today, went undrafted. I always respect those general managers who can not only find contributors in the first rounds of the draft, but can find those gems in the later rounds as well. Ron Wolf was always one of the best at that, and I always respected how he approached each draft and always seemed to find people who could come in right away and contribute.
In addition, the better your draft goes, the less you have to invest in the free agent market which may be an even bigger gamble than the draft
