Ranking the last 10 years of all NFL First-round Draft Picks

[IDEXAN]

1. JJ Watt, Defensive End, Houston Texans, 2011

Three years into his career, JJ Watt looks like he might be the next Reggie White or Bruce Smith. Yes, he's that good. He earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2012 after collecting 20.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, 16 batted passes and 39 tackles for a loss. He also recorded 56 defeats, breaking Football Outsiders' previous record of 45. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips called it the greatest season by a defensive lineman in NFL history, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

Watt's 2012 season earned a plus-101.6 rating, the best in Pro Football Focus's six-year history. He broke his own record by rating plus-111.6 in 2013.
2. Ben Roethlisberger, Quarterback, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2004
3. DeMarcus Ware, Linebacker, Dallas Cowboys, 2005
4. Patrick Willis, Linebacker, San Francisco 49ers, 2007
5. Dontari Poe, Defensive Tackle, Kansas City Chiefs, 2012

Read more here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...t-round-pick-over-last-10-years#storylink=cpy
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Check it out because it's a pretty good evaluation of the first round over the last 10 years and will provide plenty of discussion about their choices.
As an example, I've entered the top 5 11th overall picks from the last 10 years.

 

[Lucky]

To be ranked ahead of Ben, Wade, and Willis is quite the compliment. And justified. Watt is on his way to becoming an all-time great.

 

[IDEXAN]

To be ranked ahead of Ben, Wade, and Willis is quite the compliment. And justified. Watt is on his way to becoming an all-time great.

I think surprising. I would rank both Ben & Ware ahead of JJ.

 

[Lucky]

Obviously, there's some projecting going on. Ben and Wade have had fuller careers.

 

[IDEXAN]

I'm not sure what their criteria is for ranking some of their choices ? Looking at the 2 Texans' picks at 27th, how is Hopkins a better choice than Babin ? And make that 3 or 4 places higher than Babin. That's a whole lot of projecting, huh ?

 

[leebigeztx]

I like pro football focus alot and this is not about this rankings in general,but their eyes are untrained. A lot of the stuff they talk about in terms of wins and losses,none of those guys have played college or pro ball nor were scouts. I've listened to polian and other ex football guys talk about this. Especially on block assignments,routes and coverage. I remember the kc fans calling into sirius using these stats of why kc was better than denver peyton 1st yr. Dude kept using pro football focs ranking about ol,dl,etc. As many said its a tool,but not the bible. Now if it had ex ol,dl,scouts,gms giving grades,then it would be a lot more credible to me.