Let's review the NFL Draft ... circa 2005.

[kenobi_65]

@garygnu

Billy Bajema, TE

I can’t resist…

Billy Bajema
Rolled out of bed
And he ran to the police station
When papa found out
He began to shout
And he started the investigation

[Omniscient]

I’m going to review the draft thread and see what stupid and prescient comments I made and embarrass myself thoroughly. My first reaction after reading the OP was “Larry Johnson and Frank Gore came out of the same draft as Cedric Benson?” Those two guys seem much older than any of the RBs that came out in that draft.

[Hung_Mung]

I still feel bad about David Pollack. That guy was awesome.

[Hamlet]

@Omniscient

I’m going to review the draft thread and see what stupid and prescient comments I made and embarrass myself thoroughly. My first reaction after reading the OP was “Larry Johnson and Frank Gore came out of the same draft as Cedric Benson?” Those two guys seem much older than any of the RBs that came out in that draft.

Frank Gore came out in that draft. However, much to my chagrin, I was wrong in asserting that Larry Johnson did (as Jules pointed out). LJ came out two years earlier in 2003.

[Omniscient]

The 2005 Draft was a big one for me. I was just frothing at the mouth for it and blathered way too much about it. It seems like I vacillated back and forth on some opinion so many times it’s tough to say what I got right and wrong. That the Bears had the 4th overall pick only amped me up even more. First lets look at some of the themes from my pre-draft posts.

@Omniscient

1. Braylon Edwards vs. Mike Williams

I’m not convinced that Edwards is the top choice. Edwards is the better combine guy, great 40 time and leaping ability, but he tended to disappear against average competition in college. Partly because Michigan was a pretty balanced team that played alot of D, but also because he simply didn’t find ways to get into the action. Williams however always stepped up in the clutch. The bigger the game, the bigger he was.

@Omniscient

Re: Bears

They need a WR much more than a RB, but here one of the RBs is probably a better “value” than M. Williams. I’d prefer to see them make a slight reach for Williams and try and negotiate a slightly below scale bonus instead of taking another RB before they know whats going to happen with the incumbents and the free agents.

Whichever scenario plays out, if it end up with the Bears getting Mike Williams I’m satisfied, even if most people don’t have him ranked as the #4 player in the draft. He fits, and doesn’t have “head case” written all over him.

@Omniscient

Michigan WRs are the football equivalent of Duke Point Gaurds. No thanks.

@Omniscient

I’d compare Williams to guys like Chambers, Muhammed, Toomer, Boldin and Rod Smith, all of which I think were more indespensible to the offenses than a homerun hitter. I can tell you right now that Braylon Edwards will not be effective over the middle.

Gimme Williams or Clayton over Edwards every time. I could be wrong and he might be the next Moss…but odds are he’s not.

So yeah, I was totally in the tank for Mike Williams. Perhaps one of the dumber things I’ve ever said. Historically I’ve always had a real blind spot when it comes to evaluating WRs, not sure why that is, I’m typically pretty good with the rest of the positions. I’d say I was justified in my hesitance about Edwards and his performance in the Pros almost exactly mirrors my pre-draft read on him, but you simply cannot defend arguing for Williams ahead of him.

I do take a moment to wonder what would have happened if the Bears had ended up with him. Does his career turn out any different if he’s not on a team like Detroit that was so terrible and wasn’t part of a WR group that included Roy Williams and Charles Rogers ahead of him on the depth chart? Could he have been Marty Booker on a run first team?

@Hamlet

3. Braylon Edwards v. Mike Williams - Even though he’s a Michigan guy, Braylon all the way. Mike Williams is great, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t have the elite speed, or the experience, to be a T.O. or a Randy Moss. Heck, I like M. Clayton better than Williams. Braylon is a lot like R. Moss, he’s fast, big, and, unfortunately, a bit of a head case. That’s why he tends to disappear against mediocre teams, but comes up big in huge games, like this years Rose Bowl. Braylon would be a great pickup for any team, if he gets his head straight, which he did this year. It’s Randy Moss v. Keyshaun Johnson.

At least I wasn’t the only guy who though Williams could play…

The other big themes from the pre-draft talk sorta go together.

@Omniscient

Personally, I’d love them to do this since that might take Edwards off the board and leave Brown to the Bears. Almost forcing them to not fuck up that pick. Brown would be a much bigger asset than Edwards, though I’m not sure what the Bears would have to do to shore up WR after that.

@Omniscient

Alternatively, people mysteriously are now ranking Cedric Benson as the #1 RB…balderdash I say. However, the Bears suddenly could fuck this draft up after all.

@Omniscient

So, what are the Bears going to do. If my instinct is correct that the QBs go down early, that’ll basically give the Bears more options and more chances to fuck things up.

So you could say that wasn’t optimistic in the Bears ability to execute the draft. Turns out I hit that prediction out of the ballpark. Look at this murders row of draft picks:

Round 1 (#4) – RB Cedric Benson
Round 2 (#39) – WR Mark Bradley
Round 3 (#70) – TRADED to Miami along with WR Marty Booker for DE Adewale Ogunleye
Round 4 (#106) – QB Kyle Orton
Round 5 (#140) – WR Airese Currie
Round 6 (#181) – S Chris Harris
Round 7 (#220) – LB Rod Wilson

The only guys who were worth a squirt were Orton and Harris. Harris was bizarrely traded away for peanuts. Orton also traded for Cutler. Both guys contributed to the Super Bowl run as did Ogunleye, but it’s tough to argue this draft was a decent one when not a single player is still on the team.

The connected theme is this:

@Omniscient

One last thing. If the Bears take Benson at #4, I’m throwing myself off a fucking bridge.

And after the draft began…

@Omniscient

BTW, I’m cursing the fact that I live in a city where the highest bridge is about 17 feet above the water. Just can’t get the desired effect of a protest suicide jump. The Bears will just have to tolerate my constant bitching and harrasment. Fucking morons.

So yeah, you can pretty much say that I had that fiasco predicted from the start. Sigh…

I’ll be back in a bit to review some of my projections and complaints from the mid and post draft discussion.

[Hamlet]

@Omniscient

So yeah, I was totally in the tank for Mike Williams. Perhaps one of the dumber things I’ve ever said. Historically I’ve always had a real blind spot when it comes to evaluating WRs, not sure why that is, I’m typically pretty good with the rest of the positions. I’d say I was justified in my hesitance about Edwards and his performance in the Pros almost exactly mirrors my pre-draft read on him, but you simply cannot defend arguing for Williams ahead of him.

Whatever did happen to Mike Williams. Did the year off make him fat and lazy? Did he just not have the heart to play? I’m guessing it wasn’t physical skills (although he was never fast), but a lack of concentration and desire.

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@Hamlet

Whatever did happen to Mike Williams. Did the year off make him fat and lazy? Did he just not have the heart to play? I’m guessing it wasn’t physical skills (although he was never fast), but a lack of concentration and desire.

All of the above. He pretty much ate himself out of the league.

[EllisDee]

I saw an article linked from the giants.com boards that the Giants are #1 in the league at drafting as measured by % of drafted players still on the team (~66% compared to something like 46% average) and % of drafted players currently starting. (~36% compared to I think it was 26% league average.)

2005 was a break from their drafting mold. The year before they’d sent a bunch of picks over to San Diego in the Eli trade. In 2005 they drafted:

Round 2: Corey Webster
Round 3: Justin Tuck
Round 4: Brandon Jacobs
Round 6: Eric Moore

Yeah, that’s pretty good, with a 75% success rate if you judge success as a solid starter 5 years later. As I recall Eric Moore was injury-plagued, never got on the field as was released after the 2005 season.

But because they had no first round pick, Ernie Accorsi was free to spend big in free agency. His acquisitions that year:

Plaxico Burress
Antonio Pierce
Kareem McKenzie
Kendrick Clancy
Jay Feely

That’s six guys (Webster, Tuck, Jacobs, Burress, Pierce, McKenzie) out of nine (67%) who contributed mightily to a Superbowl victory two years later, so I’m calling the 2005 offseason a solid showing by Ernie Accorsi.

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@EllisDee

I saw an article linked from the giants.com boards that the Giants are #1 in the league at drafting as measured by % of drafted players still on the team (~66% compared to something like 46% average) and % of drafted players currently starting. (~36% compared to I think it was 26% league average.)

2005 was a break from their drafting mold. The year before they’d sent a bunch of picks over to San Diego in the Eli trade. In 2005 they drafted:

Round 2: Corey Webster
Round 3: Justin Tuck
Round 4: Brandon Jacobs
Round 6: Eric Moore

Yeah, that’s pretty good, with a 75% success rate if you judge success as a solid starter 5 years later. As I recall Eric Moore was injury-plagued, never got on the field as was released after the 2005 season.

But because they had no first round pick, Ernie Accorsi was free to spend big in free agency. His acquisitions that year:

Plaxico Burress
Antonio Pierce
Kareem McKenzie
Kendrick Clancy
Jay Feely

That’s six guys (Webster, Tuck, Jacobs, Burress, Pierce, McKenzie) out of nine (67%) who contributed mightily to a Superbowl victory two years later, so I’m calling the 2005 offseason a solid showing by Ernie Accorsi.

I think that’s fair. If you can spend big or think you drafted really well and can put together a year or two in which you can realistically have a shot at the title, you’ve got to take it, right?

[Wilson]

Speaking as a Jet fan, I’ll not say much of anything until we start reviewing the 2006 draft…
About all I can say about our draft in 2005 was “Better than the Bengals”.

[Death_of_Rats]

One thing that strikes me about this draft was that it was a baaaaaaad year to need a WR.

As for my lowly Rams, round 1,2 and 3 landed them thre starters I would ranks as a C and two A’s (Alex Barron, Ron Bartell and OJ Atogwe, repectively) and thier last pick (Madison Hedgecock) developed into a decent FB…for the Giants. That is 4 good starters and Ritchie Incognito as a journeyman backup G out of 11 picks with the rest as duds so I have to give them a B for the draft.

[jrbor76]

I remember that outside of SF, nobody really had a need for a QB. That’s why Rodgers was still available when GB picked, and are we (we being the entire state of WI) glad we got him.

[Chicagojeff]

Cedric Benson, RB, Bears

“Cedric Benson was a great pick for the Bears. He’ll be a solid running back for years to come, and is a great pick to complement the perennially overrated Thomas Jones.”

Mostly wrong, because he’s never developed into the workhorse RB stud I had thought, but he wasn’t that bad (the Bears were), and is having a bit of a renaissance in Cincinnati. The jury is still a bit out on him.

You were completely wrong on this account. First on the assessment of Thomas Jones… and then on Benson. How can Jones and now the kid outta Tulane be successful when Benson didn’t give us shit. Answer… is probably the same reason CB got arrested on the boat in TX. So now that he’s given up the bottle and is desperate to keep his career afloat he’s doing something for Marvin Lewis… well isn’t that special (insert Church Lady’s voice)