It can be very fashionable to make an absolute determination–as if there are any absolutes–that a given year’s National Football League draft is a “good” or “bad” draft, as if there is any choice in the matter.
Every year you play a schedule, and you have a team composed of players. So every year, every team needs players.
Each season as well, there is a new crop of aspiring young players waiting to be drafted.
It is a given that some will succeed and others will fail, but some will always succeed.
If a draft is bad, but a certain team gets a great player, was it a bad one for that team?
In 1983 the Denver Broncos wound up with John Elway. Try telling any Bronco fan that 1983 was a bad draft. From where I sit, it looks like a pretty good one.
And just for the heck of it, let’s take a look at some Broncos and where they were selected in their respective drafts. This should serve to remind us all that anything can happen at any time.
Karl Mecklenburg was taken in the 12th round (the 310th overall selection), which no longer even exists.
Tyrone Braxton was taken in the 12th round and was just one pick away from being the last player taken, the fellow dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant” each year. He was the 334th player chosen; too small, too slow. Of course, he played on three national championship teams in college, so he must have made a tackle or knocked down a pass now and then.
Terrell Davis was a sixth round dhoice, the 196th player selected–so 195 guys were projected as better than Terrell Davis that year.
Shannon Sharpe, who becomes eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next January, was chosen in the seventh round, pick number 192.
Longtime starting safety Steev Foley was an eighth round pick, the 199th overall, in 1975, and he did not even play safety in college. Foley was a quarterback, and the first time he ever played safety was for the Broncos.
Keith Bishop was the 157th player chosen in 1980.
Gary Kubiak was regarded by many as the best backup quarterback of his generation, and he was the 197th player chosen back in that 1983 draft.
Steve Watson, one of the favorite receivers of Elway and Kubiak, was not even drafted at all.
Much more recently, Rod Smith was never drafted. Not late, not by anybody. And in the entire history of the NFL, among undrafted wide received he is the all-time leader in reception, reception yards, and touchdown catches. And he was a key leader on two world championship teams.
Every team has names like this, success stories to go along with the misses that the media love to talk about.
There is still no way to measure heart, and it can be very difficult to project development with absolute certainty.
So when somebody says it is a good draft or a bad one, that statement is completely correct–except for the times when it is wrong.
When you are only taking one player at a time, it only takes one to equal that number.
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You guys shouldn’t worry about Eddie Royal. I live in Virginia so i see all of the VT games. I promise he made a lot of plays. I know most of you think that we would have been better off drafting someone else but Royal was a safe pick. I promise.
OldSouthStander… I give you an F for your grading… How about pass or fail?… And i pass all of ‘em. The one I’m looking forward at seeing is the RB from ASU… goin into his last year he was considered a great back… but face some injury problem and didnt perform at his usual level… im also looking forward to the LB, Spencer, and the Fullback from Arkansas… and of course Clady and Royall
I read also that shanahan has already gotten a commitment from two undrafted kickers. Good philosophy, why draft someone who you can pick up without spending a draft pick on them.
We as fans can speculate but we don’t really know what goes on at Dove Valley. Coach says he got both the guys he wanted in the first two and that’s good enough for me. We all know Shanny can’t pick a running back, I can see why some of you might think that was a bad pick, NOT! Personally, I liked most of the picks. Though some of the “experts” are pretty good at evaluating talent, most of them get there info from the teams as far as where a player might be drafted. So, I’ll but my trust in the coaches and talent evaluators for the teams, not the experts.
Shanny must have some confidence in the kicker they brought in at the end of the season. He has great range but needs to work on accuracy. I’m betting he must look pretty good if coach wasn’t worried about drafting a kicker.
Now we have the long wait till training camp gets fired up,ugh !
Good grief, were giving all of these players guaranteed money for not even stepping foot on a pro field. Out of nine players, theres got to be about 7-8 of them that will be here on the final roster. There was a lot talent taken by Shanny. I guess the old south stander didn’t bother reading Jim’s story that started the blog about alot of talent can be taken in the later rounds regardless on how people are rated. I do feel really secure in knowing that we have the Goodmans, Shanny, Turner and staff looking after the future of this team and not some arm chair quarterbacks….
This was a good draft.
Many of you have said it many times already. Let’s wait and see. In regards to the kicker, how about we fix the #1 problem we really had all year long, THE RED ZONE! and then we wouldn’t have to worry about finding the next Elam. Simply someone solid to kick between uprights AFTER we’ve scored 6.
I love the Royal pick. This in my mind was a HUGE problem. I live just outside of Chicago and I can tell you Hester won a majority of games for them.. Not because the gizzilion touchdowns he scored, but because he had MEDIOCORE quarterbacks getting to start on their own 30 to 40 yard line. Now is Royal Hester? Probably not, but it’s better than starting on our own 10 Yard line everytime.
Clady is simply a no brainer. We needed it and went and got it.
Lastly, Our first opener with Oakland is going to have hightened ratings. McFadden first time out on prime time. You know the nation is tunning in for that one. Please for the love of God! TAKE THEM OUT!!!
GO GET EM’ BOYS!!!!
ANOTHER MEDIOCRE YEAR WAITS FOR US FOR 2008, THE TRANSACTIONS ARE TERRIBLE, AND AGAIN THE SHANAHAN¨S FOOLISHNESS IS PRESENT .
FOR GOD’S SAKE CHANGE SHANAHAN
Is there really one player we have drafted that you can feel genuinely excited about watching next season? I am not sure. We have to hope and pray that we protect Cutler so well that he has all day to make plays and keep us going.
(broncoboy1993)I agree ,but it doesn’t seem like anything gets him too excited. Maybe thats a good thing.
Although i support picking eddie royal, i am frustrated that the broncos organization passed up on Limas Sweed.
hei,,I’m pretty excited about our picks…though Branden ALbert would’ve been nice..but Clady we’ll do just FINE!!I dont care how some people rank this draft group,but I see a lot upsides…
before the draft,,,I noticed alot of us talking about adding depth, a good LT,, a kick returner/burner WR, help at LB core, depth at CB and Safety, a fullback, and a redzone weapon….
tell me if Shanny didnt do his job well???????he just answered most of our questions and filled holes not only with needs but with talent.
a good tackle(Clady-ranked to be a great one years to come with good feet and just needs work on technique), burner/KR ace (Royal), LB depth(Larsen- whose engine never stops), CB and Safety (Williams and Barrett-two of the fastest in this draft), a fullback (Hillis- whom may be ranked top of Schmitt–but still pure FB we drafted instead converting HBs), and a redzone weapon( RB Torien- at 6′1 and 125lbs–power and speed combined) and depth OL and DL….I forgot the names (a center and a DT)..
I feel much better about this draft…i just hope they all remain on the team..
All I care about is the waitings all over,,time to start training show the others whose the powerhouse in this the AFC West (which in my opinion as of this season just became the toughest division defensively)!!
We don’t need Limas Sweed… we picked up three WR before the draft and we were looking more for a return man…not just a reciever. Royal is great because he can easily become the return man, and he can work his way up into a starting position… Have Faith in Shanny, he knows what the team needs… I don’t know call me crazy but some random “Bronco fans” are putting down a Great coach and that is really stupid.
what hapened to rod smith? did he retire or what??
GET CARMODY !!!!!
Rod smith didn’t officially retire but he has a lot of health problems so denver decided to place him on the reserved/retired list
GREAT DRAFT, GREAT CHOICES, SHANAHAN AND COMPANY DID A GREAT JOB!!!!!!!
Anthony Alridge, Ryan Torain, Andre Hall and/or Selvin Young will be great RBs. i say let Selvin start and then have the other 3 compete for the 2 and 3 back positions. Andre Hall should be a KR with Eddie Royal too.
Clady - mauler with great potential and will have an immediate impact in both the run and pass games
Royal - best WR/KR combo at #42. will have impact at both places
Lichtenstein - can play G and C so versatile. could play after Hamilton retires or replace Holland
Williams - might replace Paymah and even Foxworth. good sized and physicallity. can line up against Marshall.
Torain - good, tall RB who will probably play and could overshine Henry but not Young
Powell - giant man that is probably DT #3 behind D-Rob and M-Thomas. will probably spell those two when tired
Larson - great ILB that’ll show up on the field. determined to make an impact and willing to play anywhere
Barrett - will fight for SS job with Mcree and Abdullah
Hillis - my man at FB. blocked for top 5 RBs and will be a great blocker everywhere. will almost indefinitely pass up Kyle Johnson for starter.
The draft was very good considering the 4, 5th, and man…the 7th, was the sleeper and it was a steal; squash what everyone else is saying because most people can’t evaluate raw athleticism anyway, but Barret is the real deal, he will learn from one of the greatest and return the days of lynch and atwater….he just needs to be challenged and pushed hard( he might be the new motivator) that is so desperately needed in the character of this team.
There is however one mistake Denver is about to make…..its pride on “class”
Let me finish….yes we are a “class” organization but we also pride ourselves on leadership by example instead of a lotta “yappers” and trash talkers, but i say put all that aside, and and get the single most important factor and “X” factor in the remaing Free Agents like possibly…..Another Deep threat WR.
I propose……to give Kolbert and Jacobs at WR, and Snell or Hamilton or Nalen at OL, with next years 1st Round…..to Cincey for “ocho cinco”!!! They need a lineman BAADD
Dont worry about the 1st round pick because we’ll be the 32nd pick after winning the Superbowl ‘09.!!!
Think about it, he’ll be so happy to get out of there he won’t be having an “all that” attitude like Javon….but he is dangerously still the most underrated deep threat at 1 or 2 WR with 3-4yrs of consistent blazing speed and reputation to force teams to account for him, opening our offense up even more…!!!!!!
Put aside your pride Denver………GET CHAD JOHNSON!!!!!
ocho-cinco…..B- Marsh….B-Stokes……”eddie” Royal, and Superman Scheffler, are you kidding me,…seriously are you kidding me, they better pray we don’t get frisky and bring back the hurryup, are go 4 wide two consecutive plays 3x’s a game……..thats the most explosive and pound for pound big play every-down threatening receiving corps in the NFL
HEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO is anybody OOUUUUT TTHHERRRREEEE!!!
GET CHAD JOHNSON and SEAL the SUPERBOWL!!!
do what it takes but you’ll remember this blog and say ……who was that
Knight anyway=}
Hi Jim,
I have just heard that Jay Cutler has type 1 diabetes and it reminded me of a well known footballer (soccer) in England who played at the highest levels, for Tottenham Hotspur and England, with Type 1 diabetes.
His name is Gary Mabbutt MBE and I am certain that if Jay would like advice from another sportsman Gary would be pleased to help him in this way. Just a thought as we all want Jay to be helped as much as possible to manage this condition.
Our number one and 2 picks are solid,, 6ft. 6 OT ,, great pick, now we need a rb that doesn’t smoke on the weekends,, and our #2 pick The next Deven hestner,, you know #23 on the Bears,, yeh our return game and receiving core just got a little brighter,, special teams needs alot of work ,, and we need to adjust the D_line lets do it easy schedule this yr. no excuses…..