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Thread: Average at best draft?
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Average at best draft?
Check out the nice piece Kris Jones did on Kelechi Osemele. The rookie really has had a nice season.
I got a little hung up on the opening line from this piece, however.
In a 2012 draft class that is shaping up to be average at best for the Ravens...
Below I subjectively list the best three picks in each draft (and the round selected) I also noted anytime a pick from the first three rounds never really panned out at all -- the busts -- or the picks from rounds 4 and on who overachieved and became regular contributors in the league. Finally, I tried to note how many picks "stuck" in the league long enough to be considered a minimally productive pick/versus the guys who really never panned out from each class.
Where does 2012's class fall? Too early to say for sure, but surely better than the god-awful 2004 and 2005 classes (the Phil Savage era) where I couldn't even bring myself to list a top three.
While there will probably be no stars, I'm not sure how many classes can match the top three as being guys who could become solid role players for a long time, at the very least, and maybe more.
2002
Ed Reed 1st
Dave Zastudil 4th
Chester Taylor 6th
Bust: None
Sleeper: Taylor
Sticks: 5/10
2003
Terrell Suggs 1st
Jarret Johnson 4th
Aubrayo Franklin 5th
Bust: Kyle Boller
Sleeper: Johnson, Ovie Mughelli, Franklin
Sticks: 6/10
2004
Dwan Edwards 2nd
n/a
n/a
Bust: Devard Darling
Sleeper: None
Sticks: 1/7
2005
Mark Clayton 1st
Jason Brown 4th
n/a
Bust: Dan Cody, Adam Terry
Sleeper: Brown
Sticks: 4/7
2006
Haloti Ngata 1st
Dawan Landry 5th
Sam Koch 6th
Bust: David Pittman
Sleeper: Landry, Koch
Sticks: 8/10
2007
Ben Grubbs 1st
Marshal Yanda 3rd
Le'Ron McClain 4th
Bust: Yamon Figurs
Sleeper: McClain
Sticks: 6/8
2008
Joe Flacco 1st
Ray Rice 2nd
Tom Zbikowski 3rd
Bust: Tavares Gooden, Oniel Cousins
Sleeper: None
Sticks 4/10
2009
Michael Oher 1st
Paul Kruger 2nd
Lardarius Webb 3rd
Bust: None
Sleeper: None
2010
Ed Dickson 3rd
Dennis Pitta 4th
Arthur Jones 5th
Bust: Sergio Kindle, Terrence Cody
Sleeper: Jones
Sticks 6/7
2011
Torrey Smith 2nd
Jah Reid 3rd
Pernell McPhee 5th
Bust: Jimmy Smith
Sleeper: McPhee
Sticks: 8/8
2012
Courtney Upshaw 2nd
Kelechi Osemele 2nd
Bernard Pierce 3rd
Bust: None
Sleeper: DeAngelo Tyson, 7th
Sticks: 7/8
It's very subjective. You may weigh a class with one star but then a bunch of marginal picks (eg, 2002) higher than I do.
Or, unlike me, you may downgrade a draft with a clear bust, even though they still salvaged a handful of really good picks from that same class (eg, 2003)
When all is said in done, where do you rank 2012 among these ten drafts?
Bear in mind, I think they only held a top-15 pick three times in these ten drafts (the drafts they selected Suggs, Ngata, and Flacco -- in 2008 they sent the 8th pick to the Jags, and then traded back up from the bottom of the first round to take Flacco 18th.) I think it's hard to expect a star from drafts when you aren't picking in the top 15.
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