2011 Draft Grades

How could the Packers have known Sherrod was going to suffer the injury he did?  It's not like picking a guy with a previous injury.

Seems like a very fair grade to me. Might be inclined to go a bit higher had Sherrod showed anything prior to the injury, but he really didn't. Cobb was an excellent pick, but other than that the draft class was largely a bust.

As much of a homer Packer fan I am, it was a bad draft sitting here today. Now IF Sherrod turns out to be the next Mike Flanigan then we can re-visit that grade but D IMO is a fair grade.

 

6 of these picks aren't even on the team. House shows flashes at times but also plays small and will now have serious competition with Demetri here and Hayward back. He may not even make the make the 53.

 

 

 

New Orleans 

First-round DE Cameron Jordan has become one of the elite defenders in the game. First-round RB Mark Ingram has been stuck in a job-sharing situation, but came on strong at the end of 2013 and could be the No. 1 RB in 2014. The rest of the class did little.

 

Saints grade was a C. Not sure how that's any different than Cobb and House. In 3 years Ingram has put up the same numbers as Lacy's rookie season. 

 

If Sherrod can contribute its a solid C. House looked promising but it seems he never really bounced back from the shoulder injury against SD. 

 

House has contributed.  I think the production of Cobb coupled with House would push this to a C minus grade.  The other picks were just a whole lotta nothin'.

1st and 3rd rounders had their careers derailed by brutal leg injuries, but the grade is fair if you're judging production from the class vs player evaluation.

Funny thing is, while it was Ted's worst draft, the rest of the North laid total stinkers. Cobb still the only difference maker for the North in that class.

It could shed some light on 2011 by looking at the whole draft class.  Was it a down year in general for them across the league?

Go back & look at previous drafts before 2011. It's shocking how many players aren't in the league anymore

It was definitely a bad draft. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I can only see a handful of players that might have been clearly better selections. I looked within 15 spots of each pick to try and gauge what league consensus was, and only used R 1-5 since 6-7 are kind of a crapshoot.

R1
Orlando Franklin and Kyle Rudolph are the only two players that have clearly established themselves as impact players. Obviously anyone with more than 50 snaps would provide more value, but trying to look at difference makers.

R2
Cobb will finish as one of the 15 best players from this draft and was snagged at 64.

R3
Jordan Cameron was picked shortly after Green, and he'd be nice to have right now.

R4
Don't know that anyone between House at 131 and DJ Williams at 141 is still in the league. And while it was only preseason, House was looking great prior to the leg injury summer of 2012.

R5
Richard Sherman went 13 picks after Williams, but 31 teams would like another shot on that one. I guess Jacquizz Rodgers has done more in the change of pace role than they planned for Alex Green 2 rounds earlier, but they'd probably be a wash if Green stayed healthy.

That makes 5 guys in the first 5 rounds you might consider upgrades basses on projected draft position and with the benefit of 3 years' hindsight.

My 10 minutes of Wikipedia research is far from a scientific study, but it's enough for me to cut Ted some slack on what he managed to make out of a very underwhelming class.

Great post and thanks for pulling together some context for us

 

Each year is a little different and while TT deserves a D grade

(until Sherrod's fate is known) -

there's a chance that a C grade was the best he could possibly do drafting so late in 2011. ..Remember; GB was at slot # 32 

 

This site has tons of draft info going way back and you can sort it by team/position etc

http://www.drafthistory.com/index.php/years/2011

 

 

That's really the bottom line and a pretty good indication of how bad the draft was. If you look at the Seahawks and 49ers most of their picks are still on the roster. Need to hit in the middle rounds and TT missed on both Green and Williams.

 

AJ Jenkins, LaMichael James, Joe Looney, Darius Fleming, Trenton Robinson, Jason Slowey, Cam Johnson. 

 

SF's 2012 draft class. Two players still on the roster 2 years later. SF tried to trade James before the draft and think so highly of him they drafted Lattimore last year and Hyde this year. 

 

Draft is a crap shoot. You hope to find a few solid starters each year and maybe hit a star. Every team craps the draft bed though. 

Or it could be an indication of the state of SF's roster before the 2011 draft.

I think the state of the SFO and SEA rosters versus where the GBP roster was before the 2011 draft/season factors in to which draftees make the respective 53's. With the benefit of hindsight, SEA and SFO hit on a couple of players that would look good in G&Y.

 

 

State of the rosters is worth considering, but did any of the guys that washed out in GB catch on elsewhere ?

 

Alex Green recently tweeted that his time in NYJ is over

TE DJ Williams is in NE after Gronk and Hernandez were sidelined

Lawrence Guy had a tryout with another team, but I don't think he made it

Same with Ricky Elmore

Schlauderhoopensniffer is a back-up Jet after being traded

 

None of those guys went on to become "players" elsewhere so I don't think the roster quality made much of a difference. Just not a lot of talent available in 2011

 

Packers will be fortunate to get out of there with Sherrod, Cobb, House and STs guy Ryan Taylor

 

That is so G&Y.

Valid point Satori.

Good points, Satori.

 

BTW, that was the year we all bashed the Falcons for trading up for Julio Jones. Looks like a great move now, with all the crap that was available later in the draft.

If memory serves, Cam and the 2011 draft class were the first to face the new slotting limits based on the CBA. I'm sure there was a mad dash to get into the 2010 draft which quite possibly left the cupboard bare the next year.

Excellent observation, IL Pack.

Hadn't thought about that, but it's a great point. Looked it up just for grins, and found this recent article:

 

Browns down to one player from Julio Jones trade.

 

I'm sure the Browns being the Browns hasn't helped matters, but still.

Gabe Carimi, Javier Arenas, Devin Hester, Tyson Jackson, Paul Soliai, Jon Asamoah. 

 

Those are the 6 free agents signed by the Falcons in March coming off a 4-12 season. 

 

There are no short cuts in the NFL. 

Jackson and Soliai were the guys they needed to transition to a 3-4, so it's hard to knock them for getting those guys (though why the transition is the question).

Yes and no and sort of

 

Remember: the picks they traded spanned two drafts...and the 5-6 guys they would have picked might have helped when Julio was hurt. When Julio sits out, that means 5 guys are sitting out. Falcons cratered to 4-12 because they had no depth and as CJ noted, they were forced to spend heavily in FA...because they didn't have youngsters coming up through the system.

 

I'll always push back on that trade because its a non-premium position. Julio is a super talented elite WR, but he won't take the falcons to the SB, no WRs are capable of that imo.

The Washington team paid a draft ransom for their QB; that's at least justifiable in terms of winning in the modern NFL.

 

I agree in theory, but in this case I may give the Falcons the benefit of doubt, deserved or not.As ****ty as this draft was, it does appear that many teams improved their depth from it, including the Packers. At least, the got a potential superstar. Of course, so did the Packers in Cobb, and they didn't have to mortgage the next year's draft to do so.

Having a superstar is freaking pointless if the rest of the roster blows ass.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Adrian Peterson. 

 

PS. We've never won a Super Bowl. 

Who is the last elite $10m+ WR to win a Super Bowl?  Seahawks, Ravens, Giants, Packers, Saints and Steelers all made due without a Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, AJ Green, etc.  I guess you could say Harvin but I'd argue that he wasn't even in the top 5 players on the team when they won (and that he is way overpaid).  

See, you're a better person than I .

I'll never give those dirty birds any benefit

But but, they are so much fun to beat on.