A Decade of Day 1-2 Draft Picks

Not sure what to make of this, or how similar it is to other teams' draft success. I guess maybe temper your enthusiasm when our post-draft grades talk about all of the holes we "filled".

Rough stretch from 13-16, about to be left with 1 of 12 guys. Have as many guys from 11-12 left.

Gonna start peeling off guys from 2017 in a couple weeks, too. 2018 complete Meh, 2019 a shot at two long term impact starters, same with 2020 (3 if you include Day 3 pick Dotson, maybe their best pick last year).

2011: Heyward, Gilbert, Brown
2012: DeCastro, Adams, Spence
2013: Jones, Bell, Wheaton
2014: Shazier, Tuitt, Archer
2015: Dupree, Golson, Coates
2016: Burns, Davis, Hargrave
2017: Watt, Smith-Schuster, Sutton, Conner
2018: Edmunds, Washington, Rudolph, Okorafor
2019: Bush, DJ, Layne
2020: Claypool, Highsmith

 

mcfarland may still be salvageable and gentry. snell. a few others. brooks, buggs, davis, gilbert, samuels.

 

I wonder what other teams look like. The Lions come to mind, Megatron their last retiree?

 

Saints, Ravens and Packers are all pretty good at drafting given their often late draft position. I’d say the Steelers are in and around the top 5 teams at drafting. Every team has some bad misses now and again.

Even in that 2018 draft when the Steelers picked Edmunds the Saints picked Davenport and the Ravens picked Hurst in that same first round. Neither have worked out

 

I think McFarland struggled with no mini camps, a modified training camp and zero pre-season games.

That all the Steelers run blocking was terrible, and that is bad news for a speed back.

I think he will play better going forward

 

Only 245 carries in college, too, half of which came in 2018 under Matt Canada.

 

Hargrave, Bell and Brown have been successes I would say. Yes, Antonio Brown's Steelers Story ended in catastrophe but he was arguably the best Wide Receiver in Football during his time with Pittsburgh. Le'Veon Bell's prime was no slouch either; a Top 3 Running Back during 2014-2017.



Hargrave may have not made any Pro Bowls but he definitley had a very good career here. Not Canton worthy but definitely outplayed his draft stock. I do agree with @mac daddyo about the 2019 Class albeit time with Ulysses Gilbert III is running out. Still not throwing in the towel on Benny Snell either; doubly so for Justin Layne.

 

Of the three, Terrell Edmunds looks like the best pickup. Marcus Davenport has to show something this season or he is as good as gone. The Hayden Hurst pick made no sense to me then and my concerns with him have been all but sealed now.

 

Yes, I think it just illustrates the point that every team misses on picks no matter how good they are at scouting and drafting. Tampa has been the best team in the draft over the past five years I would say, culminating in a Super Bowl, but it wasn’t until Brady arrived that they were in any way serious contenders.

Pats record in the draft in recent years is appalling and I’d imagine that it was a critical factor in Brady leaving, he was left with very little around him in the end

 

Yep. All it takes sometimes for a team is one piece. Thankfully for Tampa Bay, that missing piece was Tom Brady. How long Brady has left will be interesting to see.



Regarding New England, I think it is safe to say that Robert Kraft ended up screwing himself in the long run given the Jimmy G fiasco that happens all the way in 2018. Sure, Kraft got another Ring out of it, six total... but at what cost?!?! Who knows if the New England Patriots will ever be that successful again?!

 

I think it’s very unlikely they will ever see that kind of success again, maybe no team will. Brady was the glue that held it together and they had a knack for picking up guys on discount deals that wanted a ring, and wanted to play with Brady. That’s over, no more discounts, they are not special any more.

I don’t know if losing Jimmy G hurt them that much, he is good but he can’t stay on the field. If they had been even average at drafting skill guys on offence Brady would probably still be there. They took guys like Michel and Harry in the first round when there were several vastly superior players at the same positions still on the board.

 

I'm quite surprised that a little over one year after he took them to the SB, the 49ers are ready to give up on Garropolo. Granted I know he's injury prone.

 

Brady did it with Steeler injections.

 

Agree on the Hurst thing and I'm a Gamecock. He did well in college because he was a grown man among boys but when he got to the NFL, other grown men showed him what time it was.

 

Not saying Jimmy G's injury luck would have been any better in New England. That said, Bill Belichick wanted Jimmy G to be Brady's successor. Tom informed Kraft of what was going on and Bill was forced to trade Jimmy for essentially peanuts at the time.




Since Jimmy G was the backup option, I seriously doubt New England had any other fail safes at the time leading up to 2019. That said, Bill Belichick is likely eye balling Mac Jones at this point.

 

Id argue that it was more a case of the 49ers taking Jimmy G to the Super Bowl than the other way around. That defence was ridiculous, offence built nearly entirely on the run, he hardly threw the ball in the postseason. I think Jimmy G is starter caliber, and can do well in the right environment but he’s not a guy that will elevate those around him or move the needle when you need him to. 49ers have a team that can win now and I can see why they are looking to move on. They are too smart and careful to do anything stupid however, they’ll make their move when the right guy is there at the right price.

 

Psst! Wrong Brown in 2011.

But if you want to talk some AB success, get @Blast Furnace in here to show you some JuJu numbers.

 

2 be honest ....at the Time I wanted Hurst.

 

You can do with this every team drafts OP.

 

Don't get me wrong, I knew he could play in the league but not worthy of a 1st round pick.

 

Its early yet. But hard to complain about 17-20.

 

Tampa had a ****raft of free agents on that team, didn't they?

 

There were a few but the core of their team came via draft, Evans, Godwin, Howard, OLine, their entire secondary and linebacker corp were draft picks. Both their pass rushers were free agents but they developed Barrett from nothing, he was a depth piece in Denver. They added AB, Fournette and Gronk and obviously Brady via free agency.

That defence was built in the draft, it’s seriously impressive, albeit they got lucky in the super bowl with the KC OLine being in tatters.

 

Didn't they bring in a FA on the O-line this year, or did I Dream that?
Been know 2 happen.
Would have sworn I read they had 27 different players than the year before.

 

Not to mention that without Brady/Gronk/Fournette/Suh/JPP they're not a playoff team.