Kansas City Chiefs: Five Year Draft Recap and Grades
Even though I personally don’t believe it’s never too early to grade a draft most experts will tell you it takes three to five years to get an accurate assessment of what a draft class can be. So I thought I’d take a look back at the five previous drafts (excluding 2011’s N.F.L. draft) to see how the players are progressing. I”ll assign a grade to each year and one overall.
2006
1st Round: Tamba Hali, DE, Penn State
2nd Round: Bernard Pollard, DB, Purdue
3rd Round: Brodie Croyle, QB, Alabama
5th round: Marcus Maxey, CB, The U
6th Round: Jeff Webb, WR, San Diego State, Tre’ Stallings, G Mississippi
7th Round: Jarrad Page, DB, UCLA
We’ll skip the first round pick for now since that’s clearly the prize of this draft. In the second round the Chiefs selected Bernard Pollard. While with the Chiefs Pollard had two pretty good years (number wise). Pollard had 90 tackles in one year and 98 in the next with 8 passes defensed and three interceptions. He departed from the Chiefs a year later, and went to the Texans where he’s had consecutive years of more than a 100 tackles. He’s not a great cover guy, but can really play the run. This past year with Houston 111 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles. Good pick, unfortunately he wasn’t long for the Chiefs.
Brodie Croyle still remains on the Chiefs as a backup quarterback. He’ll never be a big time starter in the league, but is an ok backup.
Neither Tre Stallings or Marcus Maxey made it past 2007 with the Chiefs. Jeff Webb didn’t make it past 2008. Jarrad Page the 7th round pick was another story though. He still remains on the Chiefs roster and even had a start this year. He’s no Nnadmi Asmougha, but is a great pick for a 7th rounder, the majority of players from that round aren’t on teams three years later and often not even more than a season.
Lastly, Tamba Hali was a great pick. He’s only had one season with less than 8 sacks being drafted by the Chiefs. And was a premiere pass rusher last year. Pass rushers are the third most important aspect of a football team behind quarterback and left tackle. Hali already has 41.5 career sacks. What more else you can ask for from your first round pick?
Overall: B-
An A draft will net three starters and one Pro-bowl caliber player. The Chiefs have one pro-bowl caliber player, and some depth. In my grading system a C is an average draft, so a B- is not a pretty good draft. Had the Chiefs and Pollard been a better match, this grade would even be higher. The Hali pick was an A, but that’s the only pick that really stands out here.
2007
1st round: Dwayne Bowe, WR, LSU
2nd round: Turk McBride, DE, Tennessee
3rd Round: Tank Tyler, DL, North Carolina State
5th round: Kolby Smith, RB, Louisville. Justin Medlock, K, UCLA
6th round: Herb Taylor, T, TCU
Again, the Chiefs nail their first round selection. Though Bowe has some inconsistencies in his game, he was a late first round pick and can be a touchdown machine in the league. Turk McBride is having a decent N.F.L. Career, the problem is it’s for the Detroit Lions and not the Chiefs. Turk McBride is also no longer on the Chiefs.
Kolby Smith has averaged about 3 yards per carry in his career, which is pretty awful, especially considering he only had 3 touchdowns. Justin Medlock attempted TWO kicks with the Chiefs. Herb Taylor started 2 games and didn’t make it to 2009 on the Chiefs roster, and Michael Allen appeared in zero games for the Chiefs in 2007 and wasn’t on their active roster after that.
Overall: C-
I really should give this a D+, but my love for Dwayne Bowe’s emergence as a top tier wide receiver pushes this grade up. Only one of the Draft picks from this year is still on the roster for years later. That’s pretty bad. The only other player still getting snaps in the league is Turk Mcbride.
The next two draft classes are continued on the next page