Last years Draft was one of the best in years with atleast 9 premier or pure blue-chippers: Williams, Bush, DBrick, Hawk, V.Davis, Ngata, and the 3 top QBs. I don't see this Draft as having that kind of talent, atleast not at this point ? I dunno, but I'm unwilling to say there's 8 blue-chip prospects in '07,
meaning the eighth pick won't necessarily yield a top-of-the-line player.
This may be a Draft where there are half dozen outstanding prospects followed by relative mediocrity for the rest of the top half of the first round ?
Which players are considered to be real blue-chippers. Is there a DLineman
thats rated as high as Mario was ? A back rated with Bush ? A LB rated with
Hawk ? A TE rated with V. Davis. A QB who would be in the 2006 class ?
I say no to all of those questions, unless we learn different between now and
the last weekend of April.
Good post, to expand on that let's look at some of the 1st day picks from last year's draft vs. this years prospects to kind of gauge the talent/depth of this year's crop:
QB
2006: Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, Kellen Clemens, Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Brodie Croyle
2007: Brady Quinn, JaMarcus Russell, Troy Smith, Drew Stanton, Trent Edwards, Kevin Kolb
Talent: 2006
Depth: maybe even
Overall Advantage: 2006
RB
2006: Reggie Bush, Laurence Maroney, DeAngelo Williams, Joseph Addai, LenDale White, Maurice Drew, Jerious Norwood (and Leon Washington in the 4th)
2007: Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Bush, Tony Hunt, Kenny Irons
Talent: easily 2006
Depth: 2006
Overall Advantage: definitely 2006
WR
2006: Santonio Holmes, Chad Jackson, Sinorice Moss, Greg Jennings, Derek Hagan, Travis Wilson, Brandon Williams, Maurice Stovall (plus Brandon Marshall in the 4th and Marques Colston in the 7th)
2007: Calvin Johnson, Dwayne Jarrett, Sidney Rice, Ted Ginn, Dwayne Bowe, Robert Meachem, Anthony Gonzalez, Craig Davis
Talent: easily 2007
Depth: 2007
Overall Advantage: definitely 2007
TE
2006: Vernon Davis, Marcedes Lewis, Anthony Fasano, Tony Scheffler, Leonard Pope, David Thomas (Owen Daniels in the 4th)
2007: Zach Miller, Greg Olsen, Scott Chandler, Ben Patrick, Joe Newton
Talent: 2006
Depth: 2006
Overall Advantage: 2006
OT
2006: D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Winston Justice, Daryn Colledge, Marcus McNeill, Andrew Whitworth, Jeremy Trueblood, Charles Spencer, Eric Winston, Rashad Butler (Jahri Evans in the 4th)
2007: Joe Thomas, Levi Brown, Joe Staley, Tony Ugoh, Arron Sears, Ryan Harris
Talent: 2006
Depth: definitely 2006
Overall Advantage: 2006
OG/C
2006: Davin Joseph, Nick Mangold, Deuce Lutui, Chris Chester, Ryan Cook, Paul McQuistan, Jason Spitz (Max Jean-Gilles in the 4th)
2007: Justin Blalock, Ben Grubbs, Josh Beekman, Ryan Kalil, Doug Datish
Talent: close but probably 2006 edges out this group
Depth: 2006
Overall Advantage: 2006
DE
2006: Mario Williams, Kamerion Wimbley (DE in college), Tamba Hali, Mathias Kiwanuka, Darryl Tapp, Chris Gocong, Frostee Rucker, Jason Hatcher (Elvis Dumervil in the 4th and Mark Anderson in the 5th
2007: Jamaal Anderson, Gaines Adams, Adam Carriker, Quentin Moses, Victor Abiamiri, Charles Johnson, Jarvis Moss, LaMarr Woodley, Anthony Spencer, Ikaika Alama-Francis, Dan Bazuin
Talent: probably have to give the edge to 2007
Depth: 2007
Overall Advantage: 2007
DT
2006: Haloti Ngata, Brodrick Bunkley, John McCargo, Claude Wroten, Dusty Dvoracek (Barry Cofield in the 4th)
2007: Alan Branch, Amobi Okoye, Quinn Pitcock, DeMarcus Tyler, Justin Harrell, Brandon Mebane, Kareem Brown, Ryan McBean
Talent: slight edge to 2007
Depth: 2007
Overall Advantage: 2007
OLB
2006: AJ Hawk, Ernie Sims, Chad Greenway, Bobby Carpenter, Manny Lawson, DeMeco Ryans (drafted as OLB), Rocky McIntosh, Thomas Howard, Jon Alston, Clint Ingram, James Anderson
2007: Paul Posluszny, Lawrence Timmons, Jon Beason, Earl Everett, Rufus Alexander, Tony Taylor
Talent: easily 2006
Depth: 2006
Overall Advantage: easily 2006
ILB
2006: D'Qwell Jackson, Abdul Hodge, Anthony Schlegel, Freddie Keiaho, Gerris Wilkinson
2007: Patrick Willis, Buster Davis, David Harris, HB Blades, Brandon Siler, Anthony Waters, Jon Abbate
Talent: 2007
Depth: 2007
Overall Advantage: 2007
CB
2006: Tye Hill, Antonio Cromartie, Johnathan Joseph, Kelly Jennings, Jimmy Williams, Devin Hester, Cedric Griffin, Richard Marshall, Tim Jennings, Ashton Youboty, David Pittman
2007: Leon Hall, Darelle Revis, Chris Houston, Marcus McCauley, Aaron Ross, Daymeion Hughes, Eric Wright, Fred Bennett, Josh Wilson, Tarell Brown, Tanard Jackson, Jonathan Wade
Talent: arguable but I'll give a slight edge to 2006
Depth: probably 2007
Overall Advantage: close, maybe slight overall edge to 2007
S
2006: Michael Huff, Donte Whitner, Jason Allen, Daniel Bullocks, Roman Harper, Danieal Manning, Bernard Pollard, Eric Smith, Anthony Smith (Ko Simpson in the 4th, Dawan Landry in the 5th, Antoine Bethea in the 6th)
2007: LaRon Landry, Brandon Meriweather, Reggie Nelson, Michael Griffin, Eric Weddle, Aaron Rouse, Josh Gattis, Michael Johnson
Talent: edge in top end talent goes slightly to 2007
Depth: 2006
Overall Advantage: probably slight edge to 2006