Who's The Best Draft Pick In The Gibbs 2.0 Era

Just to pile on - Let's look at just the top 10 picks from 2005 (2006 still kind of early to call anyone a bust) -

1 Alex Smith San Francisco 49ers BUST
2 Ronnie Brown Miami Dolphins
3 Braylon Edwards Cleveland Browns
4 Cedric Benson Chicago Bears BUST
5 Cadillac Williams Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6 Pacman Jones Tennessee Titans BUST
7 Troy Williamson Minnesota Vikings BUST
8 Antrel Rolle Arizona Cardinals BUST
9 Carlos Rogers Washington Redskins
10 Mike Williams Detroit Lions BUST

You might dispute a couple of those, but even if you take just the certifiables (Smith, Benson, Williamson, M. Williams) - that's a 40% failure rate in the TOP TEN. Number 1 picks are no gimmes - and while I agree that depth is built by finding serviceable players in later rounds, successful teams find successful number 1's.

In one of my preseason mags they broke down the league wide "success" rate of picks made after round 1 and it was pretty low. We are talking players still playing for the team that drafted them more than 3 years after the draft. It was less than 20%.

Alex Smith is looking like a bust. Think about this. The 49ers gave NE their 08 1st rounder and last years 4th rounder to NE (who then traded it for some guy named Randy Moss). NE has the 49ers 1st rounder (which will be a top 5 pick most likely) and their own (which they lost because of cheating). Now that's a deal that looks real bad right about now.

Wasn't Rock a Spurrier pick?

Dammit GTripp - You are only allowed to use facts when they agree with my world perspective.

Alex Smith is looking like a bust. Think about this. The 49ers gave NE their 08 1st rounder and last years 4th rounder to NE (who then traded it for some guy named Randy Moss). NE has the 49ers 1st rounder (which will be a top 5 pick most likely) and their own (which they lost because of cheating). Now that's a deal that looks real bad right about now.

Man, the rich getting richer. I wonder who in the world they'd take. Honestly, I could see them taking the top QB so that when Brady (finally) retires, they'll have someone waiting in the wings.

Taylor hands down. Almost a no brainer. Landry is a rook and hasn't had the immediate impact as ST did his rookie year. Jury will be out on JC til the end of '08 in my mind. Someone in here compared his stat with Ramsey's after the same # of games played and they were pretty close, so can't say JC. Cooley would be #2 in the best pick Coach has made.

cooley hands down... did anybody even know what the hback was before cooley hit the field here. Yea Taylor, Landry, and Campbell have been solid but there all first rounders. Cooley is captain chaos because gibbs drafted him and put him in position he is now to be one of the faces of the redskins...

I guess a lot of NFL execs don't watch college ball, because your take certainly doesn't take into account first round busts which there are always a few per each draft.
Ryan Leaf? Charles Rogers? Pacman Jones? etc.

Captain Chaos-#47 was the best pick in the Gibbs era.

I agree 100%. I actually agree with Irish said, that anyone can really make a good top 10 pick (which by the way, our last 3 top ten picks have all been in the secondary, which is kind of scary). Gettinng Cooley in the 3rd round, in my opinion is the best pick of Gibbs 2.0.

Cooley was a 3rd rounder and McIntosh was a 2nd rounder. They're both solid. Unfortunately, Gibbs traded a 3rd and a 4th for Lloyd, and the same for Duckett. I agree that you must hold onto those middle picks and draft well to provide solid, inexpensive depth.

As for 1st round picks, there are huge busts every year.

We are talking about the best picks in relation to all conditions, not just the quality of the player, right? If so, Cooley and Campbell were the best picks. Cooley's a top NFL TE pulled from the 3rd round and Campbell was a huge gamble that looks like its paying off. The other picks were essentially no-brainers.

Cooley looks to have been a great trade up, even though we gave up a lot to get him. I am inclined to agree with Schneed on Montgomery though. The best teams are able to find legit starters on the second day of the draft and we found two pretty solid DLmen that year in I believe the fifth and sixth.

Man, the rich getting richer. I wonder who in the world they'd take. Honestly, I could see them taking the top QB so that when Brady (finally) retires, they'll have someone waiting in the wings.

Brady is only 30 though. And with how clean his uniform is at the end of every game, he might as well wear friggin tuxedo to work. He could play at a high level for at least another 6 or 7 years at this rate. If they're smart they think LB in the draft. Vrabel, Seau, and Bruschi aren't gonna be around much longer.