biffman

Yeah, I like Welker – he was definitely a thorn in our side. Like I said, I’m kind of on the fence still, considering the 2nd round pick. OTOH, I agree that the draft is a crapshoot. Just looking at some of our 2nd round picks – Bethel, Hill, et al – I can’t think of any since Branch that have panned out.

Stallworth was my first choice as a FA WR and it looks like we still have a chance to get him. If he is willing to sign a 1 or 2 yr deal, I’d love to see that happen. This offense would be pretty sick with Stallworth, Caldwell, Gaffney, Welker and Watson (and, if Thomas continues to improve, all the better).

The team has improved by A LOT in the past few days. That’s pretty exciting, especially considering the fact that we were one of the best teams in the league already. If we could somehow sign D. Edwards (I know that’s a pipe dream), I’d be in heaven.

__________________
On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson . . they took Richard Seymour, who is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon. - Ron Borges, MSNBC after 2001 Draft

upstater1

I don't think that's true about the busts.

I looked at one draft, Bethel's, and the three receivers taken after Bethel in that draft all panned out.

I'd say it's a 50/50 shot of boom to bust in the second round.

Last year's #28 pick in the 2nd round was Maurice Jones-Drew.

But since we're picking at 28, I'll look for the next round in past years

2002
61 Buffalo Ryan Denney DE Brigham Young
62 Pittsburgh Antwaan Randle El WR Indiana
63 Dallas Antonio Bryant WR Pittsburgh
64 St. Louis Travis Fisher CB Central Florida
65 New England Deion Branch WR Louisville

Round 3
Sel# Team Player Pos. School
66 Houston Fred Weary G Tennessee
67 Cincinnati Matt Schobel TE Texas Christian
68 Detroit Andre' Goodman CB South Carolina
69 San Francisco Saleem Rasheed ILB Alabama
70 Minnesota Willie Offord SS South Carolina
71 San Diego Ben Leber OLB Kansas State
72 Chicago Roosevelt Williams CB Tuskegee
73 Carolina Will Witherspoon MLB Georgia
74 Indianapolis Joseph Jefferson SS Western Kentucky
75 Dallas Derek Ross CB Ohio State
76 Cleveland Melvin Fowler C Maryland
77 Tennessee Rocky Calmus MLB Oklahoma
78 N.Y. Giants Jeff Hatch T Pennsylvania
79 Washington Rashad Bauman CB Oregon
80 Atlanta Will Overstreet OLB Tennessee
81 Arizona Josh McCown QB Sam Houston State
82 New Orleans James Allen OLB Oregon State
83 Houston Charles Hill NT Maryland
84 St. Louis Lamar Gordon FB North Dakota State
85 Seattle Kris Richard CB Southern California
86 Tampa Bay Marquise Walker WR Michigan
87 Washington Cliff Russell WR Utah
88 N.Y. Jets Chris Baker TE Michigan State
89 Jacksonville Akin Ayodele ILB Purdue
90 Miami Seth McKinney C Texas A&M
91 Philadelphia Brian Westbrook RB Villanova
92 Green Bay Marques Anderson FS UCLA
93 Chicago Terrence Metcalf G Mississippi
94 Pittsburgh Chris Hope SS Florida State

I count 17 of the 32 players who went after the Patriots position pick as solid pros. The other half were busts.

Look at 2003:

60 Tennessee Tyrone Calico WR Middle Tennessee
61 Philadelphia L.J. Smith TE Rutgers
62 San Diego Terrence Kiel SS Texas A&M
63 Oakland Teyo Johnson TE Stanford
64 Tampa Bay Dewayne White DE Louisville

Round 3
Sel# Team Player Pos. School
65 Cincinnati Kelley Washington WR Tennessee
66 Detroit Cory Redding DT Texas
67 Houston Antwan Peek DE Cincinnati
68 Chicago Lance Briggs OLB Arizona
69 Dallas Jason Witten TE Tennessee
70 Arizona Gerald Hayes MLB Pittsburgh
71 Minnesota Nate Burleson WR Nevada
72 Jacksonville Vincent Manuwai G Hawaii
73 Seattle Wayne Hunter T Hawaii
74 St. Louis Kevin Curtis WR Utah State
75 Houston Seth Wand T N.W. Missouri
76 Carolina Mike Seidman TE UCLA
77 Baltimore Musa Smith RB Georgia
78 Miami Wade Smith C Memphis
79 Green Bay Kenny Peterson DE Ohio State
80 San Diego Courtney VanBuren T Arkansas-Pine Bluff
81 Washington Derrick Dockery G Texas
82 Carolina Ricky Manning CB UCLA
83 Oakland Sam Williams OLB Fresno State
84 Cleveland Chris Crocker FS Marshall
85 N.Y. Jets B.J. Askew FB Michigan
86 New Orleans Cie Grant MLB Ohio State
87 Miami Taylor Whitley G Texas A&M
88 Houston Dave Ragone QB Louisville
89 San Francisco Andrew Williams DE Miami
90 Indianapolis Donald Strickland CB Colorado
91 N.Y. Giants Visanthe Shiancoe TE Morgan State
92 Kansas City Julian Battle CB Tennessee
93 Tennessee Chris Brown RB Colorado
94 Buffalo Angelo Crowell OLB Virginia

I count 18 players here.

It really seems like drafting in this area of the Welker pick is a 50/50 proposition.