I am back from my summer vacation, recharged and ready for this upcoming season. I'm excited; I think it has Super potential. However, before it starts (and judging by posts last night during the glorified scrimmage that was the pre-season game against the Seahawks, some of you apparently think it already has!), I thought a fun little thought experiment was in order.
While I was gone, I wrote down some ideas for articles. The below article represents the first of these ideas. Essentially, I was curious what was the IMMEDIATE opportunity cost of our first round draft picks over the last 30 years. The ground rules are simple: I just looked at the player selected immediately after our selection. I realize that we wouldn't have drafted certain players because of position played, etc. However, like I mentioned earlier, this was a lazy summer day thought experiment. In no way is it supposed to be statistically substantive. Rather, I hope that it is discussion provoking.
Two interesting thing came out of this: One, we selected one (1!) player in the first round of the draft from 1994-2000. (Thanks, Bobby Beathard. Can you even imagine if Twitter existed back then? BFTB would have crashed the internet!) Two, there are some choices that worked out well and some that worked out poorly. Essentially, I concluded that we get way too upset on draft day!
Below is the list of our first round draft choices over the last 30 years.
Year___________Actual Selection__________Following Selection
2013___________DJ Fluker_________________DJ Hayden
2012___________Melvin Ingram_____________Shea McClellin
2011___________Corey Liuget______________Prince Amukamara
2010___________Ryan Mathews______________Brandon Graham
2009___________Larry English_____________Josh Freeman
2008___________Antoine Cason_____________Steven Jackson
2007___________Buster Davis______________Greg Olsen
2006___________Antonio Cromartie_________Tamba Hali
2005___________Shawne Merriman___________Jamaal Brown
2005___________Luis Castillo_____________Marlin Jackson
2004___________Eli Manning_______________Robert Gallery
2003___________TRADED SELECTION*_________Troy Polamalu
2002___________Quentin Jammer____________Ryan Sims
2001___________TRADED SELECTION**________Leonard Davis
2000___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1999___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1998___________TRADED SELECTION***_______Charles Woodson
1997___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1996___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1995___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1994___________NO FIRST ROUND SELECTION
1993___________Darien Gordon______________Deon Figures
1992___________Chris Mims_________________Robert Jones
1991___________Stanley Richard____________Herman Moore
1990___________Junior Seau________________Mark Carrier
1989___________Burt Grossman______________Sammie Smith
1988___________Anthony Miller_____________Eric Kumerow
1987___________Rod Bernstine______________Terrance Flagler
1986___________Leslie O'Neal______________John Rienstra
1996___________James Fitzpatrick__________Gerald Robinson
1985___________Jim Lacey__________________Eddie Brown
1984___________Mossy Cade_________________Ricky Hunley
1983___________Billy Ray Smith____________Jimbo Covert
1983___________Gary Anderson______________Gabriel Rivera
1983___________GILL BYRD__________________Jim Jeffcoat
*traded down to select Sammy Davis
**traded down to select LaDainian Tomlinson
***traded up to select Ryan Leaf