Bona Fide or a Bust? Don’t Rush to Judgment
As soon as the N.F.L. draft ends Sunday, the judging will commence. Fans, the news media and all other self-proclaimed draft experts will grade teams on their selections, even though the picks will not play meaningful football for more than four months.
The Browns’ Braylon Edwards (80 receptions last season) is one of the stars of the 2005 draft.
The Best Picks May Not Be the Early Ones
Analysis and discussion of the coming N.F.L. draft and off-season news from around the league.
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Even then, many rookies will receive modest playing time as they learn offenses and defenses more complex than the ones they followed in college. Others will endure injuries, sit behind more experienced players or struggle to find roles during their first two seasons.
For all the immediate postdraft grading, the more fertile area for analysis may be the selections from three seasons earlier, which many N.F.L. talent evaluators believe is the necessary incubation period to pronounce a pick a boom or a bust.
“Three years is the time you need to see if a guy is going to develop into the player you thought he could be on draft day,” said Tim Ruskell, the president for football operations for the Seattle Seahawks. “If you find you got two starters out of that draft, you’re feeling good. If you got three or more, you’re above the curve.”
nytimes.com
4/24/08
Magnolia Tribune
