Thursday, April 23, 2009

LOGICAL MENTALITY by Tannen

Lot of talk about how nuts it is to own one of the top 4 or 5 picks in Saturday's NFL draft. For openers, a team picking that high probably stinks unless they got this selection via a past trade. Second, with the salary cap, the financial commitment could blow up in the face of the franchise. I'm sort of on board, but further research offers a mixed bag of results. If you take a peek at last year's 1st team All Pro team and see where those guys were picked....well draw your own conclusion.
Begin on offense.
QB/Peyton Manning: 1st overall in 1998
RB/Adrian Peterson-SD/Michael Turner-Atl: #7 overall in 2007/5th round by Chargers 04
WR/Andre Johnson-Hou/Larry Fitzgerald-AZ: #3 overall in 2003/#3 overall as well in 2004
TE/Tony Gonzalez-KC: #13 overall in 1997
OT/Jordan Gross-Car/Michael Roos-Tenn: #8 overall in 2003/2nd rnd #41 overall 2005
OG/Steve Hutchinson-Min/Chris Snee-NYG: #17 overall in 2001(sea)/2nd rnd 34th overall 04
C/Kevin Mawae-Tenn: 2nd rnd #36 overall/1994(sea)
We'll run the defense later but you see that of these 11 studs, 5 were taken with the 8 overall selection of their particular draft or higher. Of the 11, four started their careers with different teams. It certainly shoots down any blanket theories and simply furthers the one I believe in. It's a gamble and the best scouting and personnel people still win.

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