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Drafts by Drafts for Teams by Hall of Famers by Supplemental Drafts
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Pro Football Draft History encourages contributions analyzing past football drafts. Submit your contributions to Chris Malumphy at cmalumphy@earthlink.net. DraftHistory.com reserves the right to reject and make minor edits to all submittals. Authors retain full rights to their contributions. Texans, Bears, Ravens, Rams and Saints The USA Today Sports Weekly Special Draft Issue and the Sporting News Pro Football Draft each published unique and highly informative data on the successes and failures of NFL teams during recent drafts. Unfortunately, as DraftHistory.com commented recently, neither publication had the insight to present the information in a consolidated table that could be readily used by readers, nor did they provide the few simple calculations necessary to let those readers easily identify who performed the best, or the worst, at the draft table. Our last article focused on the data presented by USA Today for the three-year period 2001 to 2003. This article will provide the calculations and the improved format to analyze the data provided by the Sporting News for the five-year period 1999 to 2003. Once again, the Jacksonville Jaguars lead the list of teams that regularly fail at the draft. From 1999 to 2003, the Jaguars drafted 19 players that are no longer in the NFL, nearly four wasted picks per year. See full article Jaguars, Bucs & Falcons Squander Picks Two publications recently provided some of the basic information necessary to evaluate the drafting ability of NFL teams. Unfortunately, neither the USA Today Sports Weekly Special Draft Issue nor the Sporting News Pro Football Draft recognized the usefulness of the data they had and both failed to print the info in a way that could be easily read or understood by their readers. Thus these otherwise top notch magazines failed to identify that the Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers had some of the worst drafts in recent years, while the picks of the Indianapolis Colts were probably the most productive. See full article. Do Superstars Come from the Top 10 The value of top ten picks is sky high, yet there's been no real evidence or research to show which positions are your "best bet" for a top ten pick, depending on whether you're trying to find a superstar or just avoid a bust. I did a cursory examination, and here it is. The gist: your best bet is an offensive tackle, and never, ever draft a wide receiver in the top ten. See full article. Eleven of Top 15 Passers Not Drafted in 1st Round Maurice Clarett will be Drafted Earlier than
You Think Several pundits have suggested that running back Maurice Clarett will be sorely disappointed about how highly he is selected in the draft. I think not. Clarett is likely to go no later than the first few picks into round two. Unless he expects to be a top 10 selection, he is more likely to be modestly surprised on the upside than he is to be disappointed. Why is this so? Because of Al Davis, Dennis Green, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Marvin Lewis and a host of other owners, coaches and teams that want to win. See full article.
Only 25% of Top Ball Hawks Drafted in First Round
Wide Receivers Get Fewer than 7 Touches Per Game Raiders Face Tough Choice: Over 90% of Sack Leaders Drafted in Top Three
Rounds Coaches who win consistently in the NFL preach a simple perscription for victory. Establish the run, avoid turnovers on offense and force turnovers on defense. The key to forcing turnovers is to create a fearsome pash rush that hurries quarterbacks into making errors. A player's ability to sack a quarterback is a talent that NFL teams seem able to judge well at draft time. Of the 31 players with seven or more sacks in 2003, 17 (55%) were drafted in the first round. Over 90% (28 of 31) were drafted in the top three rounds. Only two of the 31 were drafted after round three, and just one was undrafted. But despite the overwhelming number of high picks among the 31 sack leaders, three of the top four were not drafted in the first round. See full article. Pro Football Weekly Super 50 Pro Football Weekly recently compiled a listing of 50 players it considered super based on the player's performance in 2003 and the value to his team. PFW's coverage and knowledge of pro football is undoubtedly among the best, so we won't question the merits of those highly subjective rankings. Instead, we will take a quick and dirty look at where and when arguably the best players in the game were drafted. See full article. Elway, Sanders, Brown & Eller QB John Elway, RB Barry Sanders, G Bob Brown and DT Carl Eller were elected to the Hall of Fame earlier today. Eleven other worthy finalists were left at the altar, hoping to be enshrined sometime in the future. Those left waiting were General Manager George Young, Defensive Linemen Jim Marshall and Richard Dent, Lineback Harry Carson, Defensive Backs Cliff Harris and Lester Hayes, Wide Receivers Bob Hayes and Art Monk, and Offensive Linemen Rayfield Wright, Bob Kuechenberg and Gary Zimmerman. See full article. Defensive Starters on Panthers and Patriots Take a look at the starting offensive and defensive lineups of the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots and you can learn a great deal about how the two best teams of 2003 were built. Both teams devoted significant draft picks to build strong defenses. Both teams have relied on lower picks to build their offenses. New England has five first round draft picks starting on defense and only one on offense, and that player (Antowain Smith) was originally drafted by the Buffalo Bills. Carolina has two first round picks starting on both offense and defense, but then has five second rounders starting on defense versus only two on offense. See full article. Roethlisberger and Winslow Lead First Round Quarterbacks Beaten By When the Panthers stifled the Eagles 14-3 and the Patriots manhandled the Colts 24-14 yesterday, draft day quarterback suspects once again knocked out their more highly regarded brethren from Super Bowl contention. Yesterday, undrafted Jake Delhomme played well enough to send Donovan McNabb, the second player selected in the 1999 draft, to an earlier than hoped for off-season. Tom Brady, selected in the sixth round of 2000's draft, clearly outplayed Peyton Manning, the number one pick in 1998. This will now be the third Super Bowl in a row without a first round quarterback leading either team. The last time a first round pick led his team in the big game was in the 2001 Super Bowl when "highly regarded" (at least on draft day) quarterbacks Trent Dilfer (1994, round 1, player 6) triumphed over Kerry Collins (1995, round 1, player 5). See full article. Few Head Coaches Among Former Draftees NFL teams spend millions of dollars on first round draft choices each year and count on them to perform to the lofty expectations of the team and its fans. The head coach is responsible for ensuring that those players are fully developed and achieve the goals set for those high selections and the franchise. The head coach is typically held most accountable when a franchise fails to live up to those expectations and often pays for it with his job whenever the team is perceived to be headed in the wrong direction. Unlike college coaches who can be the strict disciplinarians that the NFL now only recalls from bygone eras, a primary trait valued by most NFL teams is that their coach be able to relate to, and maintain the respect of, its highly paid players. Yet few NFL coaches today ever walked in the same shoes as the players they are supposed to train, develop, mentor and lead because few of today's coaches have any significant professional playing experience and even those that do only had modest talent that did not warrant a high draft selection. The recent turnover in coaches reduced that experience even further. See full article. Tennessee, Texas, Miami (FL) & Pittsburgh There were 18 running backs who passed the 1,000 yard threshhold in 2003, including 8 first-round draftees, 9 taken in subsequent rounds and Priest Holmes, who was incomprehensibly overlooked by everyone the year he came out of Texas. Four colleges produced two 1,000 yard rushers each: Tennessee, Texas, Miami (FL) and Pittsburgh. See full article. 16 Players Selected After the 1st Round Pro Football Weekly recently named its All-Rookie team for the 2003 season. Neither QB Carson Palmer nor WR Charles Rogers, the first two players selected in the 2003 draft made the team. In fact, just 11 of the 27 players selected to the All-Rookie team were first rounders. Productivity from running backs selected early in the 2003 draft was especially weak, with the first eight picks being passed over by PFW. The Patriot's selection of Center Don Koppen, a fifth round pick from Boston College, must have been particularly galling to the five teams who drafted six centers before him, particularly the Cleveland Browns, who drafted two. See full article. Hall of Fame Finalists Selectedby Chris Malumphy, January 15, 2004 Only 15 Hall of Fame finalists remain after 12 semifinalists were dropped from the list yesterday. Sure-fire bets QB John Elway, RB Barry Sanders and General Manager / League Administrator George Young lead the list with several other serious contenders including DE Jim Marshall, G Bob Brown, G Gary Zimmerman, DT Carl Eller and G Bob Kuechenberg. See full article. Draft Positions of 2004 Pro Bowl Selectionsby Chris Malumphy, January 13, 2004 One measure of a player's success is whether he is selected to play in the Pro Bowl. It's not necessary to be a high draft pick to be selected, in fact, you don't even have to be drafted at all, as the selection of two Kansas City Chief running backs attest. Following is a list of players selected to the 2004 Pro Bowl along with information on where they were selected in the draft. See full article. A Quick Draft Quiz by Chris Malumphy, January 10, 2004 Name the first player ever drafted? by Chris Malumphy, January 8, 2004 Hall of Fame players come from large colleges and small and can be drafted early, late or sometimes not at all. This year's semifinalists run the gamut. From big football powerhouses like Notre Dame, Ohio State and Nebraska to small unknown colleges like Ouchita Baptist and Ft. Valley State. From the first selection in the draft, down to rounds 9 and 10 with two nominee players who were never even drafted. See full article. Twenty-Seven Have Chance to Join Hall of Fameby Chris Malumphy, January 7, 2004 Twenty-seven individuals have been designated Hall of Fame semifinalists for 2004, including three owner/administrators and two Senior Committee nominees. Every player and owner/administrator nominated has warranted acclaim for the contributions they have made to the sport. But only a handful will achieve the highest honors the game has to bestow. Among the virtual certainties to be elected to the Hall are QB John Elway and RB Barry Sanders. General Manager and League Administrator George Young, who survived only one year as a player, is also a near certain selection for the tremendous contributions he made to the game. Many others on the list deserve wide recognition for their unique skills, but may not make the final cut including: world's fastest human Bob Hayes, greatest punter ever Ray Guy, longevity winner Jim Marshall, one time all-time leading receiver Art Monk, and special team stalwart Steve Tasker. See full article. Six of the Top Picks Never Played for the Teams
that Drafted Them Suppose your favorite team had the number one pick in the NFL draft. Of course you'd be ecstatic. Your team's scouting department would undoubtedly work had to ferret out all the best collegians available and then hone in on that one perfect choice that best suited your team's needs. Imagine then that the player never played a down for your team. Couldn't happen you say. Well it has, at least six times. Think about it. To date there have been 68 college drafts. That means that nearly 10% of the time the first player selected never plays for the team that drafts him. See full article. Notre Dame and USC Contribute Most Draft Selections A quick and dirty tally of NFL draft choices by college shows that Notre Dame (439) and the University of Southern California (409) lead the way by a significant margin over third place Ohio State (344) and other perennial football powerhouses like Michigan (306), Oklahoma (305), Nebraska (305), Tennessee (298), Penn State (295), Texas (286) and Michigan State (270). See full article. Draft for Success I just got done reading a column by Len Pasqueralli of ESPN.com, and he made a surprising statement about the Baltimore Ravens: 18 of their 22 starters were drafted by the team or signed as rookie free agents. That seemed like an amazingly high number, so I decided to do some research into this to see just how this stacked up with the rest of the league. See full article. Bengals Draft Leads to Improvement Well here we are at last Bengals fans. The moment we've all waited on. The moment where our playoff destiny is in our own hands and not decided before the month of October like prior losing seasons. It has been stated before including "yours truly" that as you draft, so you succeed. The CINCINNATI BENGALS, and the Baltimore Ravens sit atop the NFC north seven months after the April 2003 NFL draft. Is there any reason why they have leapfrogged the perennial division champs and the new found Browns? Of course Not! See full article. Seeking a Hall of Fame Quarterback? The crop of quality quarterbacks available in the 2003 draft appears to be deep with Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Chris Simms, Rex Grossman, Kyle Boller and David Ragone leading the pack. But a quick look at a list of Hall of Famers sorted by position shows that NFL teams have a much more difficult time identifying the quarterbacks that are likely to excel than they are in identifying quality running backs or defensive tackles. See full article. Surprise All But Taken Out Well, what had seemed to have all the drama and mystique of an evening on the "red carpet" turned out to be another day at the office for Marvin Lewis and his Cincinnati Bengals. See full article. Transactions (1998-2002) Following are transactions involving draft choices for the years 1998 thru 2002. 1998
First-Round Picks (1998-2002) by Ron Marthia, April 7, 2003 From 1998-2002, 5 veteran QBs changed teams in transactions involving 1st-round draft choices. What were the terms of the trades? Why were these signal callers available? Why were they sought? How did they fare in new surroundings? Read on. See full article. Bengals In Good Spot This year, and for the 7th time in the last 11 years, we find the Cincinnati Bengals holding a pick either at the top of the NFL draft or in the top 5. This year could be different though to all of the Bengal fans, they may be in position to potentially draft a great player without that player being a need. See full article. 1983 Draft Best Ever? The drafts producing the greatest numbers of Hall of Famers were 1953 and 1957 with eight Hall of Famers each, 1961 and 1964 with seven apiece and 1967 with six players elected to the shrine. But the 1983 draft may soon prove to be the best of them all. See full article. Cost Analysis of Ditka's In 1999 the New Orleans Saints made a much maligned trade with the Washington Redskins that brought an odd couple together--Mike Ditka and Ricky Williams. Washington's then-general manager Charlie Casserly gave up the fifth selection in the first round of the 1999 draft that Mike Ditka used on Ricky Williams for all six of Iron Mike's picks that year (1-12, 3-71, 4-107, 5-144, 6-179 and 7-218) plus 1st and 3rd-round choices in 2000 that became the 2nd and 64th overall. See full article. The Draft Mistakes That Doom A Franchise Every mid to late April, diehard fans' eyes fill of hope and promise that their team will find the next diamond in the rough or the next sure thing, however a wise man once said "if something is too good to be true,then it probably is." Which brings us to the demise of a once promising and exciting franchise; the Cincinnati Bengals. See full article. A Look Back at the Nobody knew the intentions of the Colts when GM Bobby Beathard engineered a trade with Arizona which allowed San Diego to draft the QB that Indianapolis didn't select first in the 1998 draft. Once the Colts announced their preference for Peyton Manning, Beathard used the second pick, which he had acquired from Arizona,to reel in Ryan Leaf. The Leaf trade netted Arizona three high draft choices (1-3-98 DE Andre Wadsworth, 2-33-98 DB Corey Chavous, 1-8-99 WR David Boston) and two players (RB Eric Metcalf, LB Patrick Sapp). But this month that blockbuster deal became a nothing for nothing transaction. See full article. Best Players Not Always Drafted Pro teams spend countless hours preparing for the NFL Draft by reviewing game tapes and endlessly measuring and analyzing each player's height, weight, speed, bench-press repetitions, and Wonderlic scores. Personnel department heads, head coaches, assistant coaches and scouts talk to everyone under the sun vetting potential draftees more carefully than most presidents choose their cabinets. See full article. Outland Trophy Winners The Outland Trophy has been awarded each year since 1946 to the outstanding interior lineman in college football by the Football Writers Association of America. If history is a guide, the 2002 Outland Trophy winner, Rien Long, a defensive tackle from Washington State, is expected to have a good, but not necessarily outstanding, NFL career. See full article. Heisman QBs Usually NFL Flops The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the individual voted best among all collegian football players each year. Voters are not seeking to predict which player will have the greatest impact in the NFL or even whether the player is likely to be drafted or make an NFL team. The award is set aside for the player said to excel the most during the collegiate season. See full article. Bengals with First Pick Once Again After a bright beginning under Coach/Owner Paul Brown, the Cincinnati Bengals have become the laughingstock of professional sports, and the losingest NFL team of the past decade, under his son Mike. It may be difficult to remember, but the once promising Bengals won a divisional title in only their third year of existence, and another three years later. The team has been to two Super Bowls which is two more than the Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars COMBINED. While they lost both games to the San Francisco 49ers, they requited themselves well, losing by a mere nine points total, 26-21 in 1982 when a rally from a 20 point deficit fell short and 20-16 in 1989 when Joe Montana threw the winning touchdown pass with 34 seconds on the clock. See full article. Super Bowl Quarterbacks Not Always Top Picksby Chris Malumphy, February 5, 2003 The 2003 Super Bowl has come and gone with Tampa Bay's impressive thrashing of a formidable Oakland Raider team that appeared lackluster on what could have been the crowning moment of the careers of Tim Brown and Rich Gannon. And once again, as it so frequently seems to happen, the Super Bowl teams were led by quarterbacks who were not among the top picks of their drafts. See full article. 1974 Steelers' Draft Greatest Ever Several DraftHistory.com visitors have asked which team had the all-time best draft. Evaluating drafts is a subjective task. Is it better to get one superstar or two or three solid performers? Notwithstanding such phlosophical meanderings, one simplistic method is to take a look at those drafts that produced Hall of Fame players. See full article. Bobby R. Williams Still Remembered Fondly
Editors Note: Recently, Drafthistory.com visitor Rob Stratton brought to our attention that Bobby Williams was the 11th Round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in1966. While this website has loads of information on the history of the draft, I think it is readily apparent to everyone that the player lists are still missing many years of data. So I asked Mr. Stratton why he was interested in Bobby Williams. I'm glad I asked, See full article. Texans to take Carr; Destiny Unknown When Paul Tagliabue goes to the podium and announces that the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NFL Draft goes to the Houston Texans who select Fresno State Quarterback David Carr, few eyebrows will be raised. Carr has long been known to be the top choice of the new franchise. But should he be? See full article. Raiders were Tucked Tom Brady didn't fumble the ball away with under two minutes to play in the Raiders-Patriots Saturday night snow fest. That's what I thought I saw, and that is what the officials on the field ruled initially. However, after reviewing the action (at the behest of an official in a booth) and remembering the "tuck rule"(with the help of an official in a booth?), the referee reversed his call: Brady had thrown an incomplete pass. See full article. Panthers Doomed Before Seifert's Arrival Don't blame George Seifert's dismissal on the Bosa Nova. The Richardson band was prepared to play the Dance of Death, not the Dance of Love, before George became Carolina's coach in 1999. See full article. Bengals Likely to Bungle Again With one regular season games remaining in the 2001 season, the NFL's doormat is poised to once again exercise a top-9 pick in the draft, its 8th in 11 years. That's not good, Cincinnati fans, not good at all. See full article.
Too Early to Call Tim Couch a Future Superstar When he led 2-1 Cleveland to its 3rd win in a week 4 matchup against San Diego, which entered the game at 3-0, the media claimed he was close enough to realizing his full potential to be declared a future super star. Because I don't face the rigid deadlines that people who write and talk about pro football for a living face, I decided to wait almost two weeks to review the factual basis for the opinion that Tim Couch, the 1st pick in the 1999 draft, is a budding super star. Now I have looked. I have not found. See full article. Injury Count BuildsIs a Champion Caliber Team on Injured Reserve by Ron Marthia, October 13, 2001 The season is less than 4 games per team old, but a slew of talent is already on Injured Reserve. Steve Beuerlein is the QB. The Jamals (Lewis and Anderson) divide running back duties. Ed McCaffrey and Ricky Dudley are 2/3 of the receiving corps. Barret Robbins (C) and Tre Johnson (G) look forward to Tony Boselli's joining them (maybe). Trace Armstrong is a pass rusher at DE, and Jason Ferguson a run stopper at DT. Sam Cowart, stellar LB, is the only Buffalo Bill on the team, but I anticipate Rob Johnson's joining Sam a blow or two to the head from now. See full article. Buffalo Continues to Ignore Offensive Line Needs
In a Nov. 7, 2000 article concerning the Bills' offensive line, I noted that the Bills were 4-4, that their QBs were among the league's most-often-sacked, and that their RBs ranked near the league's bottom in yards gained per carry. I wondered aloud whether the team's unimpressive performance in each of these areas could be attributed, at least in part, to the club's inability to find quality offensive linemen in the 1990-2000 drafts and keep those it found. I urged the Bills to draft an offensive lineman in the 1st round of the 2001 draft and perhaps add a solid starter at that position via trade or free agency. See full article. Top 10 Team's Last Picks The last time the teams that currently own the top 10 picks in the 2001 draft had top 10 picks they used them as follows: See full article. Playoff Bound Teams Get There Of the 36 teams that reached the playoffs following the 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons, 22 did so without quarterbacks they had drafted. See full article. Second QB Selected Is Not A Sure Thing In 10 of the 20 drafts held in the last 2 decades, 2 QBs were taken in the 1st round. How have those twenty quarterbacks fared? See full article. The Bill's Offensive Line Headed into the 1st weekend of November, the Buffalo Bills' 4-4 record was remarkable in that the team's running backs had rushed for fewer yards per carry (3.2 rounded) than 15 of the 16 AFC teams' RBs, and given that the Johnson/Flutie quarterback tandem had been sacked more often (% of passing attempts) than all but 4 AFC teams' QB pairs. See full article. Two Picks In First Round Don't
Guarantee Success Much has been made about how Washington has the 2nd and 3rd picks and how that should guarantee that they have a good draft. But it was only eight years ago that the Indianapolis Colts had not only the 2nd pick, but the first selection as well, and neither of those players is on a roster at this moment. Number one selection DT Steve Emtman was injured for most of his career and was never a factor. Number two pick LB Quentin Coryatt was felled by injury as well, albeit not to the same extent, and has at least played passably well for a few teams, most recently Dallas who released him at seasons end. See full article. Browns Should Trade Top Pick If the Browns don't trade out of the first slot, how long will we have to wait for some local media guy to report what the Browns could have gotten for last year's and this year's first pick? If they had accepted Ditka's offer last year, they could have selected Cade McNown with the 12th pick and done whatever with the extra picks (71, 107, 144, 179, 218) the Saints gave Washington for the 5th pick. If I recall correctly, Ditka offered more than that to the Browns, along with the 1st and 3rd round picks he gave the Skins (2000 draft). See full article. Denver: History in the Making The Broncos, 4-4 at the midpoint of their 2000 season, lost a squeaker to the Rams in their opener. Victories over the Falcons and Raiders followed. Next came losses to the Chiefs and Patriots. The next 3 games should have been the easiest 3 of the season, yet the Broncos won only 2, against the Chargers and Browns, and flopped against the Bengals. Though the task is formidable, the Broncos' making the playoffs is still very possible. See full article.
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© Copyright Chris Malumphy, 2000-2005, U.S.A. All Rights Reserved.
Send comments and contributions to: Chris Malumphy at cmalumphy@earthlink.net.
