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With a season behind us, I decided to waste my whole morning going through all 32 teams and seeing how productive their draft classes have been so far. I was planning to rank the best and worst, but the class of 2010 is off to such an outstanding start that the competition for "best" overwhelmed me. The following teams all had exceptionally productive rookie classes:
Arizona, Cleveland, Kansas City, New England, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco
With honorable mentions to Pittsburgh and Denver, and an incomplete for Tampa which ended the season with most of its rookie class on IR yet still hit a home run with Mike Williams.
The LEAST productive drafts stood out more...and all of the teams should make you smile:
3rd worst: New York Jets
This was a tremendous draft class, but the Jets treated their picks like poison. They came away with only 4 players: Kyle Wilson, a CB who has potential but looked nothing like a 1st rounder; Vlad Ducasse, a tackle who they'll probably have to move to guard, and who couldn't get into games at either position; Joe McKnight, a highly athletic underachiever in college who continued that streak as a pro; and John Conner, an RB/FB who didn't get a carry until the last game of the season.
2nd worst: San Diego Chargers
Ryan Mathews has been decently productive, but hardly the kind of impact RB you expect when you shell out the #12 overall pick. After Mathews, plenty of nothing. Only a 5th rounder, DT Cam Thomas, registered any stats all season (7 tackles, 2 sacks). Fellow 5th rounder Crompton is now on the Patriots practice squad.
#1 least productive draft: Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore traded out of the first round, then spent their top pick on Sergio Kindle, a player plastered with flashing warning signs. Looking at perhaps the best tight end class ever, they managed to spend a 3rd & 4th on 2 TEs who have made precious little impact. Overall, only 3 of Baltimore's 7 picks have even shown up on the stats sheet this year, combining for a whopping 4 starts, 14 receptions, 13 tackles. Ouch.
Arizona, Cleveland, Kansas City, New England, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco
With honorable mentions to Pittsburgh and Denver, and an incomplete for Tampa which ended the season with most of its rookie class on IR yet still hit a home run with Mike Williams.
The LEAST productive drafts stood out more...and all of the teams should make you smile:
3rd worst: New York Jets
This was a tremendous draft class, but the Jets treated their picks like poison. They came away with only 4 players: Kyle Wilson, a CB who has potential but looked nothing like a 1st rounder; Vlad Ducasse, a tackle who they'll probably have to move to guard, and who couldn't get into games at either position; Joe McKnight, a highly athletic underachiever in college who continued that streak as a pro; and John Conner, an RB/FB who didn't get a carry until the last game of the season.
2nd worst: San Diego Chargers
Ryan Mathews has been decently productive, but hardly the kind of impact RB you expect when you shell out the #12 overall pick. After Mathews, plenty of nothing. Only a 5th rounder, DT Cam Thomas, registered any stats all season (7 tackles, 2 sacks). Fellow 5th rounder Crompton is now on the Patriots practice squad.
#1 least productive draft: Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore traded out of the first round, then spent their top pick on Sergio Kindle, a player plastered with flashing warning signs. Looking at perhaps the best tight end class ever, they managed to spend a 3rd & 4th on 2 TEs who have made precious little impact. Overall, only 3 of Baltimore's 7 picks have even shown up on the stats sheet this year, combining for a whopping 4 starts, 14 receptions, 13 tackles. Ouch.