Ozzie as a Drafter
by vlad755 on Apr 28, 2009 6:40 PM EDT
35 comments
Here is a definitive critique of Ozzie’s draft’s starting with the ’96 draft.
1996:
Jonathon Ogden- Hall of Famer
Ray Lewis- Hall of Famer
DeRon Jenkins- So-so
Jermaine Lewis- Critical SuperBowl component
Dexter Daniels- Who?
James Roe- A step below DeRon
Jon Stark- A Dexter Daniels wannabe…
In summary: 2 HoF’ers, 1 critical SuperBowl component, 1 FTE combination of competent players. 4 out of 7 hits.
1997:
Peter Boulware- Perennial All-Pro
Jamie Sharper- Just like Jermaine Lewis, just not as flashy…
Kim Herring- Competent starter
Jay Graham- Meh…
Tyrus McCloud- Who?
Jeff Mitchell- Competent starter
Steve Lee- Who?
Cornell Brown- Competent player
Chris Ward- Who?
Wally Richardson- Yes, I do remember, but barely registers…
Ralph Staten- Ack!
Leland Taylor- Who?
In summary: 1 Perennial All-Pro, 1 critical SuperBowl component, 3 competent starters/players. 5 out of 12 hits.
1998:
Duane Starks- Critical SuperBowl component
Patrick Johnson- Such a tease
Ryan Sutter- Who?
Martin Chase- Meh…
Ron Rogers- Who?
Sammy Williams- See Martin Chase
Cam Quayle- David Modell’s finest pick… The story: the Ravens had the absolute last pick in the ’98 draft AKA “Mr. Irrelevant”. As a goof, they decided to let David Modell make the pick. Now, how many times have NFL teams caught lightening in a bottle with sixth round, seventh round and UDFA’s? Enough that you do not waste a pick like this…
In summary: 1 critical SuperBowl component, 1 competent starter, combination 1 FTE competent players. 3 out of 7 hits.
1999:
Chris McAlister- Perennial All-Pro who at one point was arguably the best shutdown corner in the NFL; otherwise the consummate #2 shutdown corner behind some guy in Denver named “Champ” or something...
Brandon Stokely- See Patrick Johnson
Edwin Mulitalo- Competent starter
Anthony Pointdexter- Competent player
In summary: 1 perennial All-Pro, 3 competent starters/players. 4 out of 4 hits.
2000:
Jamal Lewis- Almost Hall of Fame. Almost.
Travis Taylor- Starting to see a pattern here with Patrick Johnson, Brandon Stokely and Travis Taylor…
Chris Redman- Competent player. Tragic case of really bad luck overall.
Richard Mercier: Who? And thus ends Ozzie’s run of seven straight good to outright spectacular draft picks going back to last year’s draft.
Adalius Thomas- Perennial Pro-Bowler
Cedric Woodard- Who?
In summary: 2 perennial Pro-Bowlers, 2 competent starts/players. 4 out of 6 hits.
2001:
Todd Heap- For awhile, one of the best
Gary Baxter- Competent player
Casey Rabach- Competent player
Edgerton Hartwell- Competent player
Chris Barnes- Who?
Joe Maese- Competent starter
Dwayen Missouri- Who?
In summary, 1 Pro-bowler, 4 competent starters/players. 5 out of 7 hits.
2002:
Ed Reed- Hall of Famer
Anthony Weaver- So-so
Dave Zastudil- Competent starter
Ron Johnson- Who?
Terry Jones- Meh…
Jarvin Hunter- See Ron Johnson
Chester Taylor- Competent player
Chad Williams- Meh…
Wes Pate- Okay, really, who?
In summary: 1 HoF’er, (being generous) 3 FTE competent starters/players. Call it 4 out of 9 hits –being quite generous…
2003:
Terrell Suggs- Perennial All-Pro
Kyle Boller- ‘nuff said
Musa Smith- Competent player
Jarret Johnson- Jury still out (injuries), for now let us say competent starter –could go either way
Ovie Mugheli- Meh…
Aubrayo Franklin- See Ovie…
Tony Pashos- See Aubrayo…
Gerome Sapp- See Tony…
Trent Smith- Who?
Mike Murphy- Really, who?
Antoine Sanders- No, really, who?
In summary: 1 perennial All-Pro, 2 competent starters/players and 1 maddening, all of the talent in the world, yet not the head to match… 4 out of 11 hits.
2004 (might want to skip to ’05 as ’04 was pretty ugly…):
Dwan Edwards- Meh…
Devard Darling- Meh…
Roderick Green- Who?
Josh Harris- Who?
Clarence Moore- Meh…
Derek Abney- Who?
Brian Rimpf- Meh…
In summary: I am probably going to lose all credibility by giving Ozzie credit for one Full Time Equivalent okay player… (maybe) 1 hit out of 7. Obviously Ozzie’s worse and the only one without a first rounder, which probably had something to do with this class going down in flames… And a run of FOURTEEN straight duds going back to last year’s draft. One would think somewhere along the line ONE of the fourteen would have hit…
2005:
Mark Clayton- And Ozzie ends his horrible run with a player that is starting to give Ravens fans visions of Patrick Johnson, Brandon Stokely, Travis Taylor et al. But the jury is still out on Mark, and I will be very generous and say competent player
Dan Cody- Meh (and that is being nice)…
Adam Terry- Competent player
Jason Brown- Competent starter (even for the ridiculous money, still hated to see him go)…
Justin Green- See Dan Cody
Derek Anderson- Competent player (ironically is/was of more value to a team other than the Ravens)
Mike Smith- See Justin Green
In summary: 4 competent starters/players. 4 out of 7 hits
2006:
Haloti Ngata- Perennial Pro-Bowler
Chris Chester- Competent player
Demetrius Williams- For now, a competent player. I know I will catch flack for calling him that and he could very easily go either way (even more so that Jarret Johnson) as the jury is still out on him.
PJ Daniels- Meh…
Quinn Sypniewski- Competent player. Again, because of injuries I do not know if the jury is ready ot return a verdict yet on him. So we will keep him here for now.
In summary: 1 Perennial Pro-Bowler, 3 competent players/starters. 4 out of 5 hits.
2007: (the last year I am grading as we are getting to the point where it is too early in many of these guys’ careers to render a decision)
Ben Grubbs- Competent starter
Yamon Figurs- Competent player (see Demetrius Williams)
Marshall Yanda- Competent player
Antwan Barnes- Jury still out
Le’Ron McClain- Pro-Bowler
Troy Smith- Competent player
Prescott Burgess- Jury still out
Jarred Gaither- Competent starter. Am including him here , even though he was the 2007 supplemental draft. Ravens gave up a 2008 5th rounder- kind of like trading a future draft pick to move up in the current draft, ergo the inclusion here.
In summary: 1 Pro-Bowler, 5 competent starters/players, plus I am willing to bet 1 additional competent player out of the combination of Barnes and Burgess. Call it 7 out of 8 hits.
So, you may ask yourself, which was his best effort? Was it ’96 with two future residents of Canton? Interestingly, 2007 could be ultimately the best as it appears Ozzie has hit on 7 of 8: three potential career OL fixtures in Grubbs, Yanda and Gaither, Barnes could be the Next Great Ravens Linebacker, Le’Ron has already greatly exceeded expectations, who knows how high Troy Smith’s career goes, if not here then elsewhere. But I would argue that the best drafting job Ozzie did was in ’99 when he hit on 4 out of 4. He maximized out of so little to work with: only four picks but he did the best he could, with each pick. And it is a shame about McAlister because if he had handled himself differently, we might be talking about him like we do Ed Reed –he was that talented. Mulitalo was a pretty solid if not spectacular guard for several years; Stokely and Pointdexter certainly had their moments when they contributed greatly, especially during the magical season of 2000. Not too shabby for only having four picks…
It is obvious ’04 was the worse for Ozzie. Here is a list of players drafted after the Ravens first pick of 2004. Since I am a believer of Chaos Theory, I submit that we can only realistically say one of them could have been a Raven, as by the Ravens not drafting Dwan Edwards, who is to say how Dwan Edwards remaining available would have changed teams’ boards, caused/or not caused other drafting movement, etc: Antwan Odom DE Bengals, Darnell Dockett DT Cardinals, Nick Hardwick C Chargers (although one could argue we then do not draft Jason Brown in ’05), Max Starks OT Steelers (if we draft him instead of Pittsburgh that would have had an interesting ripple effect for the 2008 season…), Bernard Berrian WR Vikings, Chris Cooley TE Redskins, Sean Locklear OL Seahawks, Matt Schaub QB Texans (which may have affected who drafts Joe Cool :) ), Shaun Phillips DE Chargers, Jerricho Cothery WR Jets, to name just a few. Any one of these would have greatly improved the Ravens 2004 draft.
It is hard to say how these stack up to other teams as I do not know other teams as well as the Ravens. I believe one could say Ozzie did a very good job in ’96, ’99 and ’07; a good job in ’97, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘06; an okay job in ’03, ‘05; a not so great job in ’98 and ‘04; -but I really do not have a good metric to go by. If you go by my grades, eight good to great drafts, with four marginal to ugly drafts; and he is “hitting” on slightly better than 50% of his picks- 49 out of 90 by my count –again, not sure how that measures up to other teams. This, of course, does not take into account UDFA’s such as Bart Scott, Priest Holmes, et al.
The opinions posted here are those of the administrator of this blog and his loyal readers. They are in no way official comments from the team, and should not be misconstued as such, even though he thinks he could do just as well or even a better job!
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ummm...
I don’t really understand your logic. Gary Baxter gets a ‘competent player’ and Ovie Mugheli gets a ‘Meh.’ What does ‘Meh’ even mean? The rest of the analysis seems to be hit or miss with very little objectivity or research. Not every player is drafted to be a hall of famer. We can hope, but the fact is that most players are drafted to be role-players. If they develop into more, that is just good for the team.
The fact is… unless we compare the Ravens drafting to that of other teams, then it doesn’t really mean anything. Competition is everything in this league, and they’re only good if they’re better than the other teams.
areas of disagreement
Martin Chase – had at least an 8 year career in the NFL. Granted not all with the Ravens but for a 4th round pick not bad.
Brandon Stokley – more than competent receiver who was the slot receiver for the sb winning colts. His only problem in Bmore was that we couldn’t keep him healthy. He is now a 10 year vet in the league.
Anthony Weaver – was a high level FA signing by Texans. Not a HOF by any means but a good serviceable starter in the league as a DE and all around good guy as a team football player. Much better than so-so
Chad Williams – was a good backup saftey and good special teams player. played in the league for at least 4 years. Not so bad for a 6 or 7th round pick
Ovie – how can you say Meh? One of the better FB in the league. Highest paid fb in the nfl right now.
A. Franklin – good servicable DT was signed by Mike Nolan off our team as a FA. Not a Meh.
2004 – I’ll give oz a pass for an overall bad year, but Dwan Edwards is still on the team and may actually play a significant role at DE this year.
Dan Cody – who knows? never healthy.
I think that one of the problems with most fans is that they expect too much from too many players. Guys picked below the 3rd round should be complementary parts who contribute to the overall success of the team. Anything more like AD or Dawan Landry (who btw you somehow missed as a 5th rounder) is purely gravy and not expected.
I saw a stat (don’t remember where) that says that overall the Ravens are in the top 10% of teams that have a very high percentage of their team being players they drafted or were UDFA’s.
Shit – look at the Clowns – Tim Couch, Courtney Brown, Gerard Warren, Kamerion Wimbley, William Green, Brady Quinn and the list goes on. These were all top 10 picks!!!!! who were absolute freaking busts.
Overall, I will put our draft record up against anyones. Travis Taylor and Kyle Boller were the only busts we have had as first rounders and they actually weren’t even our first pick in their draft year.
Think about how bad the Orioles SUCK and try to translate that to how good the Ravens are at evaluating talent. Could you imagine where we would be if the goofs that run the Orioles for the last decade were running the Ravens.
In Ozzie we trust. I would not trade our general manager for any other in football. Just ask all the a-holes that made noise about how it was really Phil Savage that was the brains behind the curtain. Look how successful he was with the Clowns. Lets see just how well Kokinis does in Cleveland.
We need to be more appreciative of what we have. And that is the best overall GM and one of the best front offices in football and that includes our owner. Who knows we could have Danny Snyder the prick or Jerry Jones the incompetent megalomaniac.
Tony Pashos is a starter in Jax, and is.....
Is a better player than terry, rabach, and chester, both who you deemed competent.
And while Demetrius the jury is still out on, Figurs is a total bust.
Other disagreements:
Jeff Mitchell- Critical Superbowl components
Anthony Weaver- Competent Starter
Jarrett Johnson- More competent of a starter than alot of the other competent starters.
Ovie- Competent Starter. Signed a big deal when he left Baltimore.
Justin Green- competent player
Troy Smith- hasn’t proven to be competent player
a few others...
Marshal Yanda – Starter 07 and 08
Ed Hartwell – Another starter, had good years in Balt, signed a big deal with Atlanta because of it. Got hurt early on with Atlanta, but was productive while here…
How can you put the injury tag on JJ and Syp, but not on D Williams? Out of those 3 Williams is the only one I would label injury prone..
All in all
a pretty good effort, vlad. Lots of debate, but isn’t that what the Beatdown is for. Lots of research and it is YOUR opinion, so respect it guys. Lots of specific issues I could disagree with but the main thing is that we see Ozzie differently than most. Lots of the experts sign on as Ozzie being that “Wizard” and I do as well. However, if you look at a lot of teams, you’ll see “wizardry” there as well.
Rexx
Doh-!
Completely brain farq’d on Ovie -my apologies; and Tony Pashos for that matter. Which makes ’03 an even better class for Ozzie.
I think I got Yanda and Hartwell. JJ, Syp, and Demetrious are all young, early in their careers and have been victums of the injury bug to one degree or another; I think I hit them also by saying “competent” BUT, and this is a big but, I agree the jury is still out on all three and could go either way. Although JJ may have finally turned the corner and be the real deal -just a late bloomer.
Troy Smith- for what he has been asked to do, the role he has filled, still young, I do not think has reached his full potential yet, jury is still out but I do not think one could say Ozzie “whiffed” on him, yet.
Jeff Mitchell: maybe I was a little too harsh on him, I’ll give you that.
I know he just signed with Arizona, and they are rolling the dice on him a bit, but I am not sold on Justin Green, yet. I will stick with my original assessment.
Figurs, I probably should been a little more critical.
A. Franklin I had no idea about -one of those that I thought faded off into oblivion -I will not even claim a brain farq on him like Pashos and Ovie.
So I missed on three or four… out of 90…
So Ozzie hit on three more. How does that compare with other organizations over the same time period? I do not know, but he is approaching hitting on almost two thirds of his picks. Is that good? Is that really good?
Like some of you above have stated, look at the O’s, look at the Clowns, Bungles, etc. yeah, from a talent evaluation standpoint it is obvious that Ozzie & Co. are better (than those). But how do the Ravens compare to New England, Pittsburgh, Indy, Titans and Philadelphia, whom many so-called experts seem to think do a very good job of drafting?
“Meh…” -take ’em or leave ’em.
While drafting a future Hall of Famer is certainly nice, I do not consider that the sole reason to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down on a particular class. It helps, it certainly does. Like I said, I personally believe ’99 was his best drafting effort because he had so little to work with and was able to pretty much max out those picks. I think we can all agree that ’96 and ’07 were also pretty good classes with ’04 being a real clunker.
Very good effort.
I would suggest finding statistics that you could correlate with your analysis. Most of us would probably agree with you overall consensus on the draft classes (1996 and 2007 were good… 2004 was bad). However, without stats or facts, your analysis seems a bit too subjective for most people. Not only that… research will help catch “Doh” mistakes in future posts.
JJ stats etc...
Vlad, what are you smokin’ for breakfast?
Jarrett Johson is not “early in his career” he is now a 7 year veteran.
He has missed only 1 reg season game in his entire time in the league.
Never played linebacker till joining the Ravens as a 4th round pick, had to essentially re-learn how to play and since taking over for AD has posted over 100 tackles and 6 sacks. So wtf do you mean by “may have turned the corner” ??
Ed Hartwell was a reliable productive starter when he played for the Ravens. In ’02 had over 140 tackles (100 solo tackles) and 3 sacks. In ’03 had 93 tackles 3 sacks. After playing with the Ravens he signed a six-year $26.25 million contract with Atlanta, caught the injury bug after leaving Baltimore.
Yanda, like Grubbs, is a starter. He had the injury last year, but I think most fans would agree that he, unlike Terry or Chester, will remain a starter..
I am up for a debate dude, so let me hear what you got. ;)
Just One for JJ?
Only out for one game? Sure about that? I don’t doubt you, but for some reason I seem to remember him missing more than one…
Not sure that JJ was/is as spectacular as AT was or if JJ ever will be. BUT, he may have, finally, have a break-out season (after seven-!) that does compare to AT. I think I may called him a late bloomer -certainly to have a breakout season in your eighth would be considered a later-bloomer. Competent linebacker, yes; At level yet? Not quite.
I do not think I threw Hartwell, Yanda or Grubbs under the bus; if it came across that way it was never intended that way. I am a little disappointed in Terry. He may have maxed out which is a shame because I thought he might be a little better.
I am not sure we have heard the last from Chester. He may still have something to prove. Do not get me wrong: would absolutely love our interior line of Grubbs, Birk and Yanda to be so solid that Chester is a back-up
1 in '03 / Grading System
According to the NFL
http://www.nfl.com/players/jarretjohnson/profile?id=JOH338168
My only disagreement with your eval of Yanda and Ed is that they are/were “Competent starters”.
JJ and Hartwell
Hartwell put up stats that were as good as Bart Scott was for the past 3 years. So whatever rankiing you give to Bart, you gotta give to Ed.
And JJ was a competant player when he wasnt starting, but since AD left, he has been a competant starter. Weak link on a Ravens defense means nothing. He is above average.
About the other top drafting teams, they have all had their own brain farts and mess ups, one that comes to mind is NE drafting Chad Jackson in the first round, total bust….
I agree, but...
Bart was not drafted, so he was not rated.
Exactly
I have no idea who all the Raven’s UDFA’s have been down through history. I think some of the more prominent ones were the aforementioned, current Jet, Mr. Scott and Priest Holmes. I am sure there are others I am forgetting.
Yes, I purposefully left Bart out for that reason.
But he would have been rated
Bart Scott would have been rated pro-bowler, and hartwell put up almost identical stats his last 3 years in baltimore
Compare the ravens to the steelers...
Steelers drafts:
2008
2008
Rnd Name College Note
1 Rashard Mendenhall competent player
2 Limas Sweed jury still out
3 Bruce Davis jury still out
4 Tony Hills jury still out
5 Dennis Dixon jury still out
6 Mike Humpal not on roster
6 Ryan Mundy jury still out
2007
Rnd Name College Note
1 Lawrence Timmons competent player
2 LaMarr Woodley competent starter
3 Matt Spaeth jury still out
4 Daniel Sepulveda competent starter
4 Ryan McBean not on roster
5 Cameron Stephenson not on roster
5 William Gay competent player
7 Dallas Baker jury still out
4/8 so far on 2007
2006
1 Santonio Holmes soon to be pro-bowler
3 Anthony Smith competent starter
3 Willie Reid not on roster
4 Willie Colon competent starter
4 Orien Harris not on roster
5 Omar Jacobs not on roster
5 Charles Davis not on roster
6 Marvin Philip not on roster
7 Cedric Humes not on roster
3/9 for 2006
2005
1 Heath Miller almost pro-bowler
2 Bryant McFadden competent starter
3 Trai Essex meh
4 Fred Gibson not on roster
5 Rian Wallace not on roster
6 Chris Kemoeatu competent starter
7 Shaun Nua not on roster
7 Noah Herron competent player
3/8 for 2005
2004
1 Ben Roethlisberger pro bowler
2 Ricardo Colclough not on roster
3 Max Starks competent starter
5 Nathaniel Adibi not on roster
6 Bo Lacy not on roster
6 Matt Kranchick not on roster
6 Drew Caylor Snot on roster
7 Eric Taylor not on roster
2/8 for 2004
2003
1 Troy Polamalu pro-bowler
2 Alonzo Jackson not on roster
4 Ivan Taylor not on roster
5 Brian St. Pierre decent player
7 J.T. Wall not on roster
1/5 for 2003
2002
1 Kendall Simmons competent starter
2 Antwaan Randle competent player
3 Chris Hope competent starter
4 Larry Foote competent starter
5 Verron Haynes competent player
6 Lee Mays not in league
7 LaVar Glover not in league
7 Brett Keisel competent starter
6/8 for 2002!
2001
1 Casey Hampton pro-bowler
2 Kendrell Bell competent starter
4 Mathias Nkwenti out of league
5 Chukky Okabi out of league
6 Rodney Bailey out of league
6 Roger Knight out of league
7 Chris Taylor out of league
2/7 for 2001
2000
1 Plaxico Burress almost pro-bowler
2 Marvel Smith competent starter
3 Kendrick Clancy Mississippi
3 Hank Poteat competent player
4 Danny Farmer not in league
5 Clark Haggans competent starter
5 Tee Martin not in league
6 Chris Combs not in league
6 Jason Gavadza not in league
4/9 in 2000
1999
1 Troy Edwards competent player, bust for 1st round
2 Scott Shields bust
3 Joey Porter pro bowler
3 Kris Farris bust
3 Amos Zereoue meh
4 Aaron Smith pro bowler
5 Jerame Tuman meh
5 Malcolm Johnson not in league
7 Antonio Dingle not in league
7 Chad Kelsay not in league
7 Kris Brown competent starter
4/11 for 1999, and thats including edwards
1998
1 Alan Faneca pro bowler
2 Jeremy Staat bust
3 Chris Conrad bust
3 Hines Ward pro bowler
4 Deshea Townsend competent starter
4 Carlos King not in league
5 Jason Simmons not league
6 Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala competent player
6 Ryan Olson not in league
7 Angel Rubio not in league
4/10 for 1998
So outside of 2002, all they are good for is drafting good players in the first 2 rounds, and even there they have a few busts. they rarely find more then decent role players after the 3rd round. I will profile the Pats and the Colts later today….
Better hope they dont come by and see this
Cause they will flip out and tell us why Angel Rubio is better then Ray Lewis.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Wow… They aren’t as amazing at drafting as everyone says. They had an EXCELLENT draft in 2002. That draft made them into the team that won two Superbowls. Other than that, I’m not that impressed. Ozzie has been much more consistent.
In their minds
They have drafted all pro bowlers. They are the greatest thing since sliced bread
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Compare..
Holmes best year with Clayton’s best year…Almost identical. Granted Holmes had a nice catch in the SB, (so did David Tyree, and where is he now?) Clayton had a decent highlight reel this year too. Holmes has had slightly more success overall, but to brand him a future pro bowler? Maybe, maybe not, If he does I am sure he will be the first pro bowler that freely admits to slingin’ rocks on the corner.. and showing off his weed to the cops..
Maybe it does..
but numbers don’t lie..
and it certainly does not guarantee future success, i.e. Deion Branch..
Excellent
That is what I am talking about.
Looking at what you have to say about the Steelers, it appears Ozzie is better, maybe averaging about one solid player, maybe slightly more, per year better. I think you are right: Ozzie does seem to do a better job after round two than his Pittsburgh counterpart. They both seem to have rounds one and two figured out for the most part.
Definitely looking forward to your Colts and Patsies comparisons.
Colts fans
They think they have only drafted hall of famers
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Colts aint so hott either.........
2008
Rnd Name College Note
2 Mike Pollak jury is still out
3 Philip Wheeler jury is still out
4 Jacob Tamme so far so good
5 Marcus Howard jury is still out
6 Tom Santi competent player so far
6 Steve Justice jury is still out
6 Mike Hart jury is still out
6 Pierre Garcon jury is still out
7 Jamey Richard jury is still out
2007
Rnd Name College Note
1 Anthony Gonzalez competent starter
2 Tony Ugoh competent starter
3 Dante Hughes competent player
3 Quinn Pitcock not on roster
4 Brannon Condren who
4 Clint Session competent starter
5 Roy Hall who
5 Michael Coe who
7 Keyunta Dawson who
4/9 in 2006
2006
Rnd Name College Note
1 Joseph Addai pro bowler
2 Tim Jennings competent player
3 Freddie Keiaho competent player
5 Michael Toudouze meh
6 Charlie Johnson meh
6 Antoine Bethea competent starter
7 T.J. Rushing who
4/7 in 2006
2005
Rnd Name College Note
1 Marlin Jackson competent starter
2 Kelvin Hayden competent starter
3 Vincent Burns who
4 Dylan Gandy who
4 Matt Giordano competent player
5 Jonathan Welsh Who
5 Robert Hunt who
5 Tyjuan Hagler competent player
6 Dave Rayner who
7 Anthony Davis who
4/10 in 2005
2004
Rnd Name College Note
2 Bob Sanders pro bowler
3 Ben Hartsock who
3 Gilbert Gardner who
4 Kendyll Pope who
4 Jason David competent player
5 Jake Scott competent starter
6 Von Hutchins who
6 Jim Sorgi competent player
7 David Kimball who
4/9 in 2004
2003
Rnd Name College Note
1 Dallas Clark pro bowler
2 Michael Doss competent player
3 Donald Strickland competent player
4 Steve Sciullo who
5 Robert Mathis competent starter
5 Keyon Whiteside who
6 Cato June competent starter
6 Makoa Freitas who
5/8 in 2003
2002
Rnd Name College Note
1 Dwight Freeney pro bowler
2 Larry Tripplett who
3 Joseph Jefferson who
4 David Thorton competent starter
6 David Pugh who
6 James Lewis who
6 Brian Allen who
7 Josh Mallard who
2/7 in 2002
2001
Rnd Name College Note
1 Reggie Wayne pro bowler
2 Idrees Bashir competent starter before injury
3 Cory Bird who
4 Ryan Diem competent starter/almost pro bowler
5 Raymond Walls who
6 Jason Doering Who
7 Rick DeMulling who
3/7 in 2001
2000
Rnd Name College Note
1 Rob Morris competent starter
2 Marcus Washington pro bowler
3 David Macklin barely competent player
4 Josh Williams who
5 Matt Johnson who
7 Rob Renes who
7 Rodregis Brooks who
3/7 in 2000
1999
Rnd Name College Note
1 Edgerrin James pro bowler
2 Mike Peterson competent starter
3 Brandon Burlsworth who
4 Paul Miranda who
5 Brad Scioli who
7 Hunter Smith Notre Dame
7 Corey Terry who
3/7 for 1999
1998
Rnd Name College Note
1 Peyton Manning hall of famer
2 Jerome Pathon competent player
3 E.G. Green who
4 Steve McKinney competent starter
5 Antony Jordan who
7 Aaron Taylor who
7 Cory Gaines who
3/7 for 1998
Colts are a litte better in the later rounds, with Cato June, McKinney, Diem, David Thornton, Mathis, Jake Scott, Jason David all taken after the 4th round.
But I do not think they have found close to as many good players in the mid to later rounds, and they bust alot on 2nd and 3rd round players.
Agreed.
Butmethinks that the Colts have fared slightly better than the Steelers, but not quite as good as Ozzie, just going by your ratings.
So far I would have to say Ozzie has done better than the Colts and Steelers.
The fans of those teams
Will try to eat us alive if they saw this fan post. Colts think they are the best, Steelers think they are the best. WE KNOW WE ARE THE BEST!
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
This just shows that
all you really need is one or two big name players who were late round or undrafted FA’s to make it big and you have earned that “guru” title. Didn’t we in Baltimore learn that about an un-named “offensive guru?”
Rexx
NE Patriots
So far we have Ozzie as the best, then Indy, then Pittsburgh.
Well NE, for all their vaunted reputation actually arent very good….
Outside of Gostowski(4th) in 06,Solid drafting in 2005 with Logan Mankins, Ellis Hobbs, Nick Kaczur , James Sanders , and Matt Cassel in the mid to late rounds, Asante Samuel in the 4th round in 03, Jarvis Green in the 4th in 02, and Tom Brady in 01.
So outside of 2 great QB picks in the late rounds, they have only selected Asante Samuel and a couple decent players outside of the 1st 2 rounds. And they have many 2nd and 3rd round busts.
Check it out for yourself.
http://www.databasefootball.com/draft/draftteam.htm?tm=NWE&lg=nfl
So who among the other GM’s might hold a candle to Ozzie when it comes to drafting? I am going to guess that AJ Smith of the Chargers is the only one who has as much success as Ozzie does in the draft. In addiition to his great trades with Rivers and LT, he is a great talent judge. The last team i will look at is the Chargers. Coming soon.
San Diego Chargers
I am wrong. Smith is not a peer of Ozzie’s. There probably isnt a peer for Ozzie. With the exception of the 2004 and 2005 drafts, he has been pedestrian at best. Those 2 drafts were exceptional, but outside of those 2 years, only one player drafted after round 2 was a competent starter or better.
Those 2 years:
2005
Rnd Name College Note
1 Shawne Merriman all pro
1 Luis Castillo competent starter
2 Vincent Jackson competent starter
4 Darren Sproles competent starter
5 Wesley Britt who
6 Wes Sims who
7 Scott Mruczkowski who
4/7
2004
Rnd Name College Note
1 Phillips Rivers Pro bowler
2 Igor Olshansky competent starter
3 Nate Kaeding almost pro bowler
3 Nick Hardwick almost pro bowler
4 Shaun Phillips almost pro bowler
5 Dave Ball who
5 Michael Turner pro bowler
6 Ryan Krause who
7 Ryon Bingham who
7 Shane Olivea competent player
7 Carlos Joseph who
7/11
If anyone thinks any other teams merit comparisons to Ozzie, post who and i will try to take a look at their history and summarize it.
There is something to be said for the Browns (and now the Jets): they pick up all our old players, so they at least pay homage to the Wizard’s brilliance. I guess that as a front office, it’s easier to ride on the coat tails of somebody proven than to actually look for talent yourself.
Water covers 2/3 of the Earth's surface. Ed Reed covers the rest.
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