2006 Pro bowlers......interesting trends to help you understand how things work

Discussion in 'NFL Draft' started by bongo59, Jan 19, 2007.

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  1. bongo59

    bongo59 Starter

    From draft-history.com

    Nearly Half of 2006 NFL Pro Bowlers Drafted in First Round
    The recent dominance of AFC teams over their NFC counterparts may have a great deal to do with value AFC teams have placed on skill position players. Take a look at the Pro Bowl quarterbacks, for instance. The three AFC quarterbacks were all drafted in the first round. Indeed two (Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer were the top picks in their drafts and Philip Rivers was the fourth player selected in his draft). By contrast, none of the three NFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks was taken in the first round, and Tony Romo wasn't even drafted. This isn't to say that the NFC has overlooked quarterbacks when drafting. After all the Texans did expend a number one pick on David Carr, and it was the Giants who actually drafted Philip Rivers and then traded him to the Chargers for the first pick in the draft, Eli Manning. But it is obvious that in at least the last few years the AFC has done a better job of recognizing and obtaining top quarterbacks and those quarterbacks have been high draft picks.

    Much the same can be said for other skill positions. The AFC starter at running back is LaDanian Tomlinson, selected with the fifth pick in the first round in 2001. His top backup is Larry Johnson selected by the Chiefs in the first round in 2003. The starting running back in the NFC is the 49ers Frank Gore, a third round pick. His top backup is veteran Tiki Barber of the Giants, a second round choice way back in 1997.

    Not convinced yet. Three of the four AFC wide receivers are first round picks (Andre Johnson, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne) and the other is a high second round choice (Chad Johnson, the 4th selection in the second round). Of the four NFC wide receivers, only Torry Holt is a first round choice back in 1999. Steve Smith (3rd rounder), Anquan Boldin (2nd rounder), Donald Driver (7th rounder).

    It may not surprise anyone that the Miami Hurricanes produced more Pro Bowl players than any other college in 2006, since they have produced the most draft picks over the past decade. Six Hurricanes were selected in 2006 including: wide receivers Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne, running back Frank Gore, tight end Jeremy Shockey, safety Ed Reed and kick returner Devin Hester. Johnson, Wayne, Reed and Shockey were first round picks, Hester was taken in round two and Gore in round three.

    But I bet you can't guess which college is a close second. North Carolina has five pro bowlers including tight end Alge Crumpler, defensive end Julius Peppers, safety Adrian Wilson, center Jeff Saturday and running back Willie Parker. Peppers was the second player selected in round one of the 2002 draft, Crumpler was picked in the second round of 2001 and Wilson went in the third round the same year. Parker, who has rushed for over 1,000 yards each of the last two seasons, and Saturday were undrafted.

    The position that continues to be easiest to spot talent at draft time is offensive tackle. All six tackles selected for the 2006 Pro Bowl were first round selections, each within the top 19 picks.

    The position where draft status mattered least, discounting kickers and special teamers, was center. Of the four centers in the Pro Bowl in 2006, two were drafted in round three (Olin Kreutz and Nick Hardwick), one (Matt Birk) was taken in the sixth round and the other (Jeff Saturday) was undrafted.

    Twin brothers, running back Tiki Barber and cornerback Ronde Barber, made the Pro Bowl.

    The 2006 Pro Bowlers drafted longest ago were taken in 1993 and are: guard Will Shields (3rd round, 74th selection), safety John Lynch (3rd round, 82nd selection) and fullback Lorenzo Neal (4th round, 89th selection).

    Overall, the 84 Pro Bowlers include: 40 first rounders, 13 second rounders, 12 third rounders, one 4th rounder, two 5th rounders, three 6th rounders, a 7th rounder and 12 undrafted players.

    Among the late round picks selected for the 2006 Pro Bowl are: wide receiver Donald Driver (7th round, 213th pick, 1999), linebacker Adalius Thomas (6th round, 186th pick, 2000), center Matt Birk (6th round, 173rd pick, 1998), quarterback Marc Bulger (6th round, 168nd pick, 2000), defensive end Aaron Kampman, (5th round, 156th pick, 2002), linebacker Zach Thomas (5th round, 154th pick, 1996) and fullback Lorenzo Neal (4th round, 89th pick, 1993).

    The undrafted Pro Bowlers are: quarterback Tony Romo, running back Willie Parker, fullback Mack Strong, tight end Antonio Gates, guard Brian Waters, center Jeff Saturday, cornerback Rasheen Mathis, punters Brian Moorman and Mat McBriar, placekicker Robbie Gould and special teamers Kassim Osgood and Brendan Ayanbadejo.

    Of the drafted Pro Bowlers, the overwhelming majority continue to play for the pro team that first selected them. Somewhat surprisingly, the position with the most players playing on different teams is quarterback. Philips Rivers was drafted by the Giants and traded on draft day to the Chargers. The Saints' Drew Brees started with the Chargers and the Rams Marc Bulger was drafted by the Saints. Fullback Lorenzo Neal was drafted by the Saints but now leads the blocking for LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers. Vikings' guard Steve Hutchinson was drafted by the Seahawks and 49ers' guard Larry Allen was picked by the Cowboys. Defensive end Derrick Burgess, now of the Raiders, was drafted by the Eagles and Seahawks' linebacker Julian Peterson was drafted by the 49ers. Champ Bailey was drafted by the Redskins and traded to the Broncos for former Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis. But, all in all, over 60 of the drafted Pro Bowlers still play for team that orginally drafted them.
     
  2. JMB54

    JMB54 Waitin on a Win!

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    Good research. A bunch of time on your hands?
     
  3. Vigsted

    Vigsted Starter

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    Well, if the ProBowl wasn't just one big popularity contest then this article would have merit. It would probably be more interesting to look at the AP All Pro team, although that's not entirely safe from the popularity bug either.
     
  4. The Playmaker

    The Playmaker pineapple pizza party

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    We should have 5 Pro-bowlers next year.(Young,Mawae,Bulluck,Hope, and Pac-Man.)
     
  5. titansfan9

    titansfan9 Camp Fodder

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    I thought Rasheen Mathis was a 2nd rounder?
     
  6. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

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    he was
     
  7. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    A broader approach..

    I appreciate bongo's post and his conclusions are basically correct but i think we need to use a broader sample than just one years pro bowl roster.

    Looking at QBs for example we can see that manning, palmer and rivers were first rd picks but doesn't it also matter that mcnair, mcnabb, culpepper and bledsoe also were. Or that marino, kelly, aikman, elway were. That really cements the notion that franchise QBs come early in the draft and with the success of young, lienart and cutler this season it has never been more apparent. Joe montana the greatest of them all was a third rd pick and of course warren moon wasn't even drafted.:rolleyes: despite montana an undrafted QB has a better chance of being a pro bowl player it seems than those taken in rds 2-4. I can name jake delomne, kurt warner, rich gannon and trent green among the undrafted but not many mid rd picks. Hasselback was a 6th and brunell a 5th.

    Then we have runningbacks, forget this years pro bowl look at the hall of fame and try to find a RB not drafted in rd one. All those who came into the league since the 1970s were first rd picks. All of them! Then add to their number emmitt smith, bettis, faulk and some day tomlinson also first rd picks.

    WR is not quite so obvious. There are many good WR in this league over the years that are not top picks. TO, mason, jimmy smith, earnest givens and rod smith. What i have noticed about WRs is that you can get quality at Wr in the 2nd through 4th rds were there is rarely much quality in those rds for QBs or RBs. Laverneus coles was a third rd pick, chris chambers a 2nd.

    DEs, the best DEs of our time are all from the 1st rd. Reggie white, bruce smith, micheal strahan, jason taylor, hugh douglas. In the modern era the absolute best DEs come from the first rd. Note that two all time greats from the 60s willie davis of the packers and deacon jones of the rams were not top picks at all. In fact davis went to the army for 2 years before becoming a packer but that was another era. Richard dent a third rd pick was one exception and history shopws you can draft good players at DE in the 2nd-4th rds but the absolute studs come from the first.

    That's my contribution for now..
     
  8. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

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    What about the titan-oilers?

    The best players in the history of this franchise might make for an interesting study.

    Best QB were mcnair a first rd pick and moon who was not drafted. The fact that moon was not drafted is one of the greatest injustices in thye history of the league. Moon had it all he had size, a gun for an arm and he played great at the highest level leading his team to a rose bowl win but was not taken in 17 rds of the draft. Unbbelievable!

    Best RB campbell and eddie of course both first rd picks.

    Best WRs were earnest givens and shaun jefferson both 1st rd picks. Mason was a 4th as we know..

    Best offensive linemen is obvious bruce matthews and mike munchack. Muchack was the oilers first rd pick in 82 and matthews in 83. Not bad eh?

    Best defensive players were robert brazille and ken houston. Houston was the best safety of all time at least since ronnie lott anyway. He was a 9th rd pick and brazille a 1st rd pick. The legendary ray childress was the third pick in the 85 draft.

    Some of the same trends hold here as well..
     
  9. Dangermode

    Dangermode A New Era has Begun

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    So your saying we should trade all of our picks to get 3 first rounders. Is that even possible? To the draft trade chart! Somebody else, I no good at math.
     
  10. No, going by the draft trade chart, if we trade in all of our picks excluding our #19, at the highest we could get the 22nd pick, the cowboys pick, as an extra 1st rounder, we can't get another 3rd 1st rounder from our picks...
     
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