Best Draft of the Past 10-12 years

The Gipper

Which team, in your opinion, had the best draft in the past 10-12 years?

Here is the opinion of Sports on Earth Writer Mike Tanier (as of prior to last year's draft), FWIW:

1. Dallas 2005, best pick: Demarcus Ware

2. Falcons 2008, best pick Matt Ryan

3. Saints 2006, best pick Marquise Colston

4. Chargers 2004, best pick Phillip Rivers

5. Cardinals 2004, best pick Larry Fitzgerald

6. Colts 2003 best pick Robert Mathis

7. Broncos 2007 best picks: Cutler/Marshal/Dumerville...all now gone

8. Patriots 2003 best pick Assante Samuel

9 Tie 2012 Colts, best pick Andrew Luck, 2012 Seahawks best pick Russell Wilson

10. Packers 2009 best pick Clay Matthews III

Can you come up with a better draft by any team?

The Gipper

Another Question, will any teams draft in the last 19 years match any of the following drafts.....these are the teams that drafted more than one Hall of Fame player in the same year:

1995 Bucs draft Derrick Brooks/Warren Sapp

1985 Bills draft Andre Reed/Bruce Smith

1974 Steelers draft Swann/Stallworth/Lambert/Webster

1970 Steelers draft Bradshaw/Blount

1965 Bears draft Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers

1964 Browns draft Paul Warfield/Leroy Kelly

........ Redskins draft Charley Taylor/Paul Krause

........ Cowboys draft Bob Hayes/Roger Staubach

1963 Texans/Chiefs draft Buck Buchanan/Bobby Bell

1957 Browns draft Jim Brown, Gene Hickerson, Henry Jordan

........Eagles draft Sonny Jurgenson and Tommy McDonald

1956 Packers draft Bart Starr and Forrest Gregg

1952 NY Yanks draft Gino Marchetti and Les Richardson

1945 Rams draft Tom Fears/Elroy Hirsch

1936 Bears draft Dan Fortman/Joe Stydahar.

Has any team drafted two players that are projected Hall of Famers since the Bucs got Sapp and Brooks in 1995?

Browns149

I can say without a doubt

IT WASN'T THE BROWNS

bbedward

@browns149 said:

I can say without a doubt

IT WASN'T THE BROWNS

2010 we got Haden an Ward - nobody else good. The next year Taylor, Sheard, Cameron, Skrine.

At least we got SOME starters and serviceable players and 3 pro bowlers. Better than our usual. Hopefully this year we come out a bit better though.

2012 and 13 mostly blech. Benjamin, Winn, Mingo? Hopefully we stockpiled to come out big this year.

Vagitron

Phillip rivers out of the 2004 draft? Based on what exactly? Is this fantasy football or value to a franchise? Rivers has had some pretty terrible playoff performances, seasons and has won nothing. Take my "homer" vote of Ben out of the equation even tho I think he's the best of that class. I'd vote eli over diva rivers.

bbedward

It's hard for me to pick the best one because I don't recall who every team drafted when, but some of those drafts weren't that outstanding in the OP.

After the 2003 pats draft they won a super bowl though.

Btw Rivers replaced Brees that year. I'd take Brees over rivers.

Vagitron

@bbedward said:

It's hard for me to pick the best one because I don't recall who every team drafted when, but some of those drafts weren't that outstanding in the OP.

After the 2003 pats draft they won a super bowl though.

Btw Rivers replaced Brees that year. I'd take Brees over rivers.

I agree on brees but he wasn't drafted in 04. Rivers is just a little diva bitch that put up big numbers every other season and never won a meaningful game. Sports of the earth dude isn't a very good analyst.

Pumpkin Eater

Only about half of the teams listed even won a Super Bowl. What a dumb list.

Browns149

@vagitron said:
I agree on brees but he wasn't drafted in 04. Rivers is just a little diva bitch that put up big numbers every other season and never won a meaningful game. Sports of the earth dude isn't a very good analyst.

Rivers hasn't won much, but he HAS won more then the Browns

Mr. Make-Believe

There's a chance we can put the Browns on this list this year. Great time to have this many picks.

The Gipper

@vagitron said:
Phillip rivers out of the 2004 draft? Based on what exactly? Is this fantasy football or value to a franchise? Rivers has had some pretty terrible playoff performances, seasons and has won nothing. Take my "homer" vote of Ben out of the equation even tho I think he's the best of that class. I'd vote eli over diva rivers.

The article said it was the Chargers entire 2004 draft that the author rated so high. I didn't list every player drafted in each of these drafts, just the most well known player. So it wasn't just Rivers, but others as well.

The Gipper

OK, well, here is the comparison between the Chargers 2004 draft and the Steelers:

Steelers got BR and Max Starks....and no one else who ever started.

Chargers got: Rivers in trade for Eli, Nate Keading, Nick Hardwick, Shaun Phillips, Michael Turner, Shane Olivea

...all long time starters.

Now, the Steelers may have done better than the Chargers in other drafts, OK, but for that year, overall, the Chargers did better. Was that one of the best drafts since 2000? Who knows.

The Gipper

Using the Career Production average statistic as put forth by Pro Football Reference, the year that saw the most production out of Browns drafts since 1999 is the year 2000. That year we drafted William Green, Andre Davis, Melvin Fowler, Kevin Bentley, Ben Taylor, Darnell Sanders, Andra Davis, and Joaquin Gonzales.

It is probably not fair to rate drafts since like 2009 or 2010 because a lot of those guys are in the prime of their career.

The Browns worst year was 2008....but recall that was the year we didn't have a pick until the 4th round and our first choice was Beau Bell.

Clevfan4life

uhhh..how about the Ravens when they got Ogden with their 1st and then good ole ray ray with the late 1st rounder. That has got to be perhaps the best draft of all time especially considering nobody ever expected Lewis to become the best 34 ILB that ever played the game.

Vagitron

@clevfan4life said:
uhhh..how about the Ravens when they got Ogden with their 1st and then good ole ray ray with the late 1st rounder. That has got to be perhaps the best draft of all time especially considering nobody ever expected Lewis to become the best 34 ILB that ever played the game.

The ogden/lewis draft was more than 12 years ago. The best draft ever was the 74 steelers draft. Swann, stallworth, lambert, webster.

bbedward

The Gipper

@vagitron said:
The ogden/lewis draft was more than 12 years ago. The best draft ever was the 74 steelers draft. Swann, stallworth, lambert, webster.

Yes, that draft was like 1996. It was a great draft, but no, not as good as the 74 Steelers, or 57 Browns.