I think one of the weirdest phenomenons in following the draft, is how people talk in definitives, and people seem to think that the draftees can’t become better than they are now, that they are a finished product.
The draft as we all know, is a crapshoot. Nobody can know what will become of these kids. Hell, a QB drafted after the first round could wind up being the best QB in the entire draft, hell they could wind up being better than last year’s QBs. Nobody knows, it’s all guessing.
I’ve studied prior drafts, and it’s incredible how many flops there were, especially in the 1st round. And then there’s the 1989 first round, 4 of the top 5 became Hall of Famers, and 5 of the top 20 became HOFs (Steve Atwater at 20). Hopefully the is year’s draft is like 1989, and we get one of the Hall Of Famers at #4, but we don’t need a Hall of Famer, we just need guys who play well and fit well in Vrabel’s system. I think of Kevin Faulk in 1999, a 2nd round pick, is he a Hall of Famer ? No, but was he important to the Pat’s early Dynasty ? Hell Yeah ! Give me 3 or 4 Kevin Faulk types, not necessarily a RB, just a Kevin Faulk type in his career at his position.
So in a roundabout way of answering your question, I think guys like Carter and Hunter would be high up in last year’s draft.
