Ranking the NFL Drafts

So, yesterday I read somewhere (I think either foxsports, espn, or yahoo) about the best top 5 picks from a draft. Soooooo, that got me thinking about what 1st round draft picks have been the best and which has been the worse in the past 10 years (for those of you who can't do math, Malone, it's the years 1998-2007). I'm going to rank how great the first round was, the biggest bust(s), the best pick(s) and who was the best player(s) taken late(in the last two rounds). Here we goooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

1998: Alrighty there folks, in the first round we had 9 players who were drafted in the first round who eventually made it to at least one pro bowl. The biggest names in the first round are a few guys by the name of Manning and Moss. Surprisingly, Moss was taken one pick before the Pats. I wonder what would have happened if he had gone to NE? I'm glad he didn't, he he.

Biggest Busts - Well, this is easy. Ryan Leaf by far is the biggest bust at the #2 pick by the Chargers. Not far behind him is Curtis Enis at the #5 pick by the Bears. You don't think that the Bears aren't kicking themselves for not taking Fredy Taylor instead?

Best First Round Pick - Do I really need to write it? Isn't it that obvious? Okay, I'll let you know. It's Peyton Manning. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so.

Best Pick Late - There were 3 pro bowlers taken in the last two rounds. The best by far is Matt Hasselhoff, i mean Hasselbeck. Of course he was drafted by the Pack who then traded him to the Seahawks. It's not like they were going to play him ahead of Favre. In a close second is Pat Tillman taken with the 226th pick.

Overall Grade - Well, seeing as 5 out of the top 7 picks didn't make a pro bowl and didn't really do much with their career it's hard to rate this draft high. There were a few great players taken, but most were not that good. I give it an overall grade of C+.

1999: The beginning of this draft was better than the previous year as 10 of the first 17 picks made at least 1 pro bowl. The biggest names in this draft are D McNabb, Ricky "where my weed?" Williams, Daunte Culpepper, Edge James and Torry Holt. There were 12 overall pro bowl players in the first round. The best draft pick has to either go to the Eagles with McNabb at the #2 pick or the Colts for getting Edge at the #4 pick. This draft will be known for two reasons. 3 straight qb's taken to start the draft and Ditka trading his entire draft for Ricky Williams at the #5 pick. Glad this worked out.

Biggest Busts - This has to be a tie between the Browns with Tim Couch with the 1st pick and the Bungles with Akili Smith at the #3 pick. Think the Browns are kicking themselves for not taking McNabb #1 and the Bungles for not taking Culpepper with the 3 pick?

Best First Round Pick - Well, if McNabb didn't get hurt every year he'd be the best here, but he's not. I've got to give it to Torry Holt and Champ Bailey. Both of these guys have been one of the best at their positions almost every season and they're still going strong.

Best Pick Late - Well, there were 2 Pro Bowlers taken in the last two rounds. I have to give the Pack the best pick late with Donald Driver in the last round.

Overall Grade - I have to rate this draft pretty high as a bunch of teams got key players in the first round. There were some tremendous busts, but they don't outweigh the great players. I give it an overall grade of B+

2000: This draft also had 12 Pro Bowlers taken in the first round. Like the year before 10 out of the first 17 players taken in the draft were in the Pro Bowl. The biggest names in the draft have to be LaVar Arrington, Jamal Lewis, Shaun Alexander and some dude name Urlacher. I think he dated Paris Hilton or something. Once again the draft will be remembered by a horrible Browns pick. Hotta love that GM.

Biggest Bust - There are a bunch of players who did a bunch of nothing later in the first round, but no one was a bigger bust than the Browns taking Courtney Brown with the first pick. Hey, at least they finally got Jamal Lewis! Too bad he's old now.

Best First Round Pick - This one is a toss up between Brian Urlacher and Julian Peterson. Both have been two of the best defensive players since they were drafted. A close third is Shaun Alexander and he probably would have gotten it if I wrote this two years ago but it looks like he could be slowing down now.

Best Pick Late - There were 5 players that made the Pro Bowl in the last two rounds. I'd have to give my Best Pick Late to the Benglas taking Neil Rackers with the..... okay, just kidding. Hate to say this, but this goes to the Pats for taking some guy from Michigan named, Bradley or Badley, or Brady. One of those.

Overall Grade - There were some great players taken, but not enough to make up for the ones that sucked. Overall grade is a C+

2001: This draft had 15 Pro Bowlers taken in the first round. That's by far the most so far. Biggest names in the draft are LaDainian Tomlinson, Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and some guy who likes dogs named Vick.

Biggest Busts - Once again, the Browns are Bungles are up here, what a surprise! The Browns took Gerard Warren with the 3 pick and the Bungles grabbed Justin Smith with the 4. And to be fair, you might as well throw in Andre Carter with the 'Niners at the 7 pick.

Best First Round Pick - Without a doubt, this goes to LT. He's been amazing and seems to play at that same level every year.

Best Pick Late - Well, since there was exactly 1 Pro Bowler taken in the last round I have to give it to T.J. Housyourdaddy. I don't even recognize anyone else.

Overall Grade - There were a lot of decent players taken in the first round. Not a lot of amazing players, but a lot of key guys. So, I'm giving this first round a grade of B.

2002: Well, this draft was an interesting one. It seemed like most teams picked guys wayyyyy to early since there were only 9 guys in the first round that made a Pro Bowl. The big names in this draft are Julius Peppers, Roy Williams(the safety), Dwight Freeney, Shockey, and Ed Reed.

Biggest Busts - Well, well, well, where do we start? Since 1 of the top 7 picks made a pro bowl its hard to say who is a clear cut #1. I guess now you'd have to say David Carr is the biggest bust since he was, you know, the #1 pick of the draft but not far behind his is Joe Harrington at the #3 pick by the Lions. It really should have been a coin flip.

Best First Round Pick - Yeah, I think I'm going with a 5 way tie for the best player with Julius Peppers, Roy Williams, Dwight Freeney, Ed Reed, and Lito Sheppard. They're all so close and there's no unanimous best player.

Best Pick Late - This one was hard to pick since there were 0 Pro Bowlers taken in the last two rounds. I guess you'd have to give it to David Givens 'cause at least he's won a SB, but no one really stands out.

Overall Grade - Yeah, this was the worst draft class by far! There were a couple key players but most sucked a lot. I give this draft a D+.

2003: This draft had 9 Pro Bowlers in the first round, the same as last year, but I like this one a lot better. Key names in the first round were Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Andre Johnson, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee, and Troy Polamalu.

Biggest Bust - Surprisingly the Bungles can't be listed here as they smartly took Palmer #1 overall. So, the Lions decided to step up to the plate and take the Bungles spot with Charles Rogers with the #2 pick. The Jets get honorable mentions by taking Dewayne Robertson with the #4 pick instead of taking shutdown corner Terence Newman.

Best First Round Pick - Yeah, this one goes to Carson Palmer, but Kyle Boller and Rex Grossman are giving him a run for his money. Okay, that was a joke.

Best Pick Late - There were 3 Pro Bowlers taken in the last 2 rounds, but the best pick has to go to the Giants, especially after the SB, with David Tyree with the 211th pick.

Overall Grade - Even though there weren't as many Pro Bowlers as past drafts, I think this first round rates a little bit highere because there were a lot of key players added to teams. I'm giving this one a B-.

2004: Boy was this first round HUGE! There were 13 Pro Bowlers in this first round plus about 5 guys who will make a Pro Bowl by the time they retire. Not only that, but there are two SB winning QB's in this draft. This draft will be remembered for the Manning-Rivers trade. The big names in this draft? Try picks 1, 3-8, 11, & 24.

Biggest Bust - There really isn't a big bust so far. I guess maybe Robert Gallery could be seen as one, but that's just 'cause he plays for the Raiders. You can't really fault him in that.

Best First Round Pick - Believe me I really want to say Eli Manning is the best player in this draft. Believe me, I want to. But I can't. I think he's the best QB taken in the first round, but he's a close fourth to Steven Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Roy Williams(the WR). Sean Taylor would be on this list but unfortunately he was murdered this season.

Best Pick Late - Surprisingly with all of the great early picks, there weren't any amazing late picks. The best one I could come up with is Jim Sorgi with the Colts and he's just a backup. I would have thought about Patrick Crayton but after all those drops in the post season, I can't take him as the best. There was 1 Pro Bowler in the last two rounds, but he's a punter and doesn't count.

Overall Grade - This is now, by the far the best first round that I've looked at. There were a lot of great players taken and they weren't all with the first few picks. There weren't any terrible picks in the first round so I give this a grade of A-.

2005: Okay, these last 3 drafts are going to be hard to grade so I won't be grading them as tough. Sooo, right now we've had 5 Pro Bowlers from this draft. There are a few other guys who I think will make one later. The biggest names in the first round are Alex Smith, Cadillac Williams, Pac-man Jones, and Shawn Merriman.

Biggest Bust - It's hard to judge now but I think it would either have to be Alex Smith with the 49ers and the #1 pick or Cedric Benson and the Bears with the #4 pick. I'm not sure I can take someone as a serious player in the NFL if they cry when they get picked. I just can't. There is definitely time for these guys to get off this list but Smith regressed majorly last season and it doesn't look like Benson has it to be a #1 back.

Best First Round Pick - This pick is going to Shawne Merriman even though he's a known 'roider. But, he's played the best out of everyone. Coming in a close second and could maybe catch him soon is Braylon Edwards.

Best Pick Late - There was 1 Pro Bowl pick in the last two rounds going to Derek Anderson this season. It's still a toss up betwen him and Madison Hedgecock. Anderson started strong but sucked at the end, big time. You're probably wondering who Hedgecock is, but he's one of the best blocking fullbacks and as soon as he hit the waiver wires the Gmen were smart enough to sign him to a lot term contract.

Overall Grade - Right now I'm going to a C but there is a lot of room for this to change, up and down. We'll see what happens.

2006: This draft will always be remembered for the Mario Williams-Reggie Bush debate and how the entire world thought the Texans were insane for not taking Bush or Vince Young. Well, as we now know, Super Mario was the correct choice even though VY wouldn't have been bad. So far, this draft has had 4 Pro Bowlers. Not too bad. Big names in this draft being of course, Williams, Bush, VY, Leinart, Cutler and AJ Hawk.

Biggest Bust - Right now it looks like it could actually be Reggie Bush and the Saints with the #2 pick. He looked like himself in his rookie year but had a HUGE sophmore slump.

Best First Round Pick - This one is a tie between Joseph Addai and Mario Williams but Joe might have a slight edge. I could see Cutler joining these two, but maybe in a few years.

Best Pick Late - Marquest Colston and the Saints with the 4th to last pick. It looks like Colston will be a monster of a wide receiver and has worked well with Drew Brees.

Overall Grade - It looks like a lot of the teams in the first round got essential picks that they needed. There aren't any huge busts, but that's also hard to tell now. I should give this an incomplete, but as I look at the work right now I give this first round a B.

2007: For me, sadly this draft will be remembered for who the Raiders were going to take #1, either JaMarcus Russell or Brady Quinn and then the fall of Brady Quinn to #22 where the Browns took him. Surprisingly 3 players this year made it to the Pro Bowl. The biggest names of the first round being Russell, Quinn, & Adrian Peterson. Also noteable was the fact that the Texas took 19 year old Amobi Okoye, the youngest player ever to be drafted.

Biggest Bust - Hmm... yeah I know it's really too early to tell, but I'd have to give it to Calvin Johnson just because everyone, including myself, thought that he would be unstopable as a WR. Then everyone realized he went to the Lions. Oh well.

Best First Round Pick - This has to go to Adrian Peterson, right? Right? Right? Well, sort of. He did have a monster of a rookie year, but there are durability issues with him. Plus he wasn't the only rookie to have a monster year. You can pick between AP, Joe Thomas and Patrick Willis. Watch out for Anthony Gonzalez and LaRon Landry. Plus, Quinn and Russell.

Best Pick Late - Surprisingly there was an actual Pro Bowler taken in the last 2 rounds, but it was a kicker and therefor doesn't count. Sorry. This pick is being split between Ahmad Bradshaw and the Gmen taking him #250 and Chinedum Ndukwe and the Bengals taking him #253. Ndukwe played really well for the Bengals down the stretch and had a lot of picks(especially against the Browns) and Bradshaw was key for the Giants SB run.

Overall Grade - Yeah, I can't give this one a grade yet. It looks like it could be in the B to B+ range, but we'll see.