Biggest Impact Players in a Draft
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The question came up elsewhere about who may become the biggest impact player of this past draft. Of course, the totally remains to be seen. However, here document those players whom I believe to have been the 3 or 4 biggest impact players of each draft, going back to the beginning of the common draft in 1967. So, here they are, top impact player first....then 2-3 runnersup for each year:
1967 Alan Page ....Gene Upshaw, Bob Griese
1968 Ron Yary...Ken Stabler, Art Shell
1969 Ted Hendricks....Mean Joe Greene, OJ Simpson
1970 Terry Bradshaw...Mel Blount, Lemar Parrish
1971 Ken Anderson...Jack Ham, Jack Youngblood, John Riggins
1972 Franco Harris...Lydell Mitchell, Cliff Branch, Brian Sipe
1973 Dan Fouts...John Hannah, Joe Dellamelleure
1974 Mike Webster...Jack Lambert, Too Tall Jones
1975 Walter Payton...Randy White, Steve Grogan
1976 Mike Haynes...Steve Largent, Harry Carson
1977 Tony Dorsett...Stanley Morgan, Bob Baumhauer
1978 James Lofton...Earl Campbell, Mike Kenn, Clay Matthews II
1979 Joe Montana...Dan Hampton, Phil Simms
1980 Anthony Munoz...Art Monk, Steve McMichael
1981 Lawrence Taylor...Mike Singletary, Ronnie Lott, Ricky Jackson, Howie Long
1982 Marcus Allen, Mike Munchak, Andre Tippett
1983 Dan Marino.....John Elway, Jim Kelly, Bruce Matthews, Darrell Green, Eric Dickerson
1984 Boomer Esiason...Wilbur Marshall, Ernest Byner (pick #280)
1985 Jerry Rice...Bruce Smith, Chris Doleman
1986 Pat Swilling....Jim Everett, Charles Haley
1987 Rod Woodson....Rich Gannon, Vinny Testaverde
1988 Randall McDaniel...Thurman Thomas, Michael Irvin
1989 Barry Sanders.....Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Troy Aikman
1990 Emmit Smith....Junior Seau, Cortez Kennedy
1991 Brett Favre...Aeneas Williams, Ricky Waters
1992 Jimmy Smith...Troy Vincent, Levon Kirkland
1993 Michael Strahan... Will Shields, Willie Roaf, Drew Bledsoe
1994 Marshall Faulk....Kevin Mawae, Isaac Bruce
1995 Derrick Brooks.....Warren Sapp, Steve McNair, Curtis Martin
1996 Ray Lewis...Marvin Harrison, Terrelle Owens, Jonathan Ogden
1997 Jason Taylor (ZIP!!) Ronde Barber, Orlando Pace
1998 Peyton Manning...Randy Moss, Charles Woodson
1999 Edgerrin James...Champ Bailey, Donovan McNabb
2000 Tom Brady...Brian Urlacher, John Abraham
2001 Drew Brees...Ladanian Tomlinson, Reggie Wayne
2002 Julius Peppers....Ed Reed, Dwight Freeney
2003 Carson Palmer...Terrell Suggs, Kevin Williams
2004 Phillip Rivers.....Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning
2005 Aaron Rodgers...Logan Mankins, Demarcus Ware
2006 Jahri Evans...Haloti Ngata, Andrew Whitworth
2007 Patrick Willis, Adrian Peterson, Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas
2008 Matt Ryan.....Joe Flacco, Calais Campbell
2009 Matt Stafford...LeSean McCoy, Clay Matthews III
2010 Antonio Brown...Ndamakong Suh, Geno Atkins
2011 Cam Newton...JJ Watt, Von Miller
2012 Russell Wilson...Luke Kuechley, Bobby Wagner, Andrew Luck
2013 Leveon Bell....David Bakhtari, Travis Frederick
stoppin here as too soon to telll past this
Those in Bold were #1 overall picks
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Notes on this list:
1. There are 17 QBs here listed as most impactful player.....there are 9 RBs (including 3 since 1999...when supposedly the RB position was de-emphasized); there are 6 linebackers, 5 offensive linemen; 4 defensive linemen; 4 WRs, and 2 DBs.
2. There were a few very low picks that made impact: Brady of course, Sipe, Byner (#280), Antonio Brown...6th round.
3. As you might expect 1983 and 2004 had 3 QBs among the top 3-4 impact players of those drafts.
4. Two of the top three impact players in the 1973 draft were OGs...which has to be unusual. (Hannah and Joe D.)
Browns players included Sipe, Joe D. (for half of his career), Clay Matthews, Byner, Vinny T. for a bit of his career, and Joe Thomas
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NFL Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of team sports. The feature RB has kind of kind of diminished in value over recent years and that will probably continue in years to come.
Even starting pitchers in MLB as individuals can't really compare one on one with a starting quarterback.
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NFL Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of team sports. The feature RB has kind of kind of diminished in value over recent years and that will probably continue in years to come.
Even starting pitchers in MLB as individuals can't really compare one on one with a starting quarterback.
NFL Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of team sports. The feature RB has kind of kind of diminished in value over recent years and that will probably continue in years to come.
Even starting pitchers in MLB as individuals can't really compare one on one with a starting quarterback.
Even going back a few generations the feature RB wasn't as important as the QB.
The 50s and 60s were dominated by teams with Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Johnny Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin, Y.A. Tittle, Bart Starr, etc at QB.
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Von Miller owned Cam Newton in their Superbowl faceoff and walked away with the SB MVP trophy for it to boot.
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