Vintage draft

Five years of perspective offer a unique view of 1997

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that five years from now I'm going to back and evaluate myself as a draft evaluator based on the grades I gave the teams for this year's selections. This seemed to draw a fairly heavy reaction, and the feeling was, Why wait? Evaluate the grades you gave five years ago.

Sure, why not? So I looked up the stuff I wrote and guess what? The magazine did not call on me to evaluate the draft that year. All I did was handicap it ahead of time.

"So evaluate it now, based on the five years that have gone by," Jimmy told me. "People are interested in that, too."

OK, fine, if that's what you want. I'll tell you what I won't do, though. I won't hand out the cheap shot so many writers love to deliver, that is the "look who they drafted when they could have taken so and so ..." Then they proceed to hunt through the draft list for everyone who was picked later on and did something special. It's the worst example of 20-20 hindsight. If you've got something to say, say it at the time. And if you didn't criticize the pick when it was made, don't go back and rip it later.

I thought this project would be a piece of cake. Go down the 1997 draft list and rate it, based on performance. But enter the dreaded trades. These took some tracking down, and all of a sudden I found myself lost in a swamp of trades that spawned further trades and future choices and whatall. Odd questions arose. Why, for instance, did the Packers trade a No. 6 to the Raiders for a No. 7 straight up? Ron Wolf doing a favor for his old boss, Al Davis? I probably asked this at the time, and I'm sure I've got it in some old notebook, but gosh, there were a lot of things like this. All the Raiders got out of that sixth-round choice from Green Bay was DT Grady Jackson. The Pack got a wideout named Chris Miller .

But trades have a bearing on the grades I'm going to give out because usually when a team trades up it has a particular player targeted, and when the choice turns out to be on the money, then it's more than blind groping. So my grading of the successful traders will be more favorable. OK, here is my evaluation of the 1997 draft, and if a guy departed subsequently because of salary cap constraints, there's no way the team could have been held responsible on drafting day. In alphabetical order:

ARIZONA

Highly productive draft. Tommy Knight, a starting CB on the first round; Jake the Snake one round later; Chris Dishman, who has started at three different O-line positions in Round 4. And with the last pick, DT Mark Smith, who had some good moments as a sometime-starter. Grade ... A-

ATLANTA

Gave Houston (Oilers, not Texans) a No. 4 for Chris Chandler, their Super Bowl XXXIII QB. First round not so good. Traded out of the third pick on the board and wound up with CB Michael Booker; they cut him three years later. No one else remains from that draft except center Calvin Collins, a sixth-round product of a trade-down with Washington and a Super Bowl starter. Grade ... B

BALTIMORE

Blue chip LBs Peter Boulware and Jamie Sharper came in the first two rounds. Tackle Tony Jones was traded to Denver for another No. 2, which became Kim Herring, the starting SS in Super Bowl XXXV. The rest of the draft was a wash. Grade ... B+/B

BUFFALO

DE Marcellus Wiley in the second round was their best pick and he left via free agency. No one else remains, including their No. 1, RB Antowain Smith, who never quite cut it with the Bills, and a couple of linemen who were occasional starters but not very effective, Jamie Nails and Marcus Spriggs. Grade ... D

CAROLINA

Their No. 1, WR Rae Carruth, is in prison. In three seasons he caught 62 passes. Second-rounder Mike Minter has been a regular at both safety spots. The rest of the draft offered a touch of backup help and that's it. Grade ... D

CHICAGO

They did a lot of trading, and the bottom line is that they gave up their No. 1 and wound up with QB Rick Mirer, who started three games. TE John Allred (second round) and RB Darnell Autry (fourth), other products of those trades, are no longer present. Actually, the only draftee still on the roster is WR Marcus Robinson (fourth round), but he's a budding star. Grade ... D+

CINCINNATI

The gem was RB Corey Dillon in the second round. The team's top draft pick, LB-DE Reinard Wilson, started in his second year and then was benched, started again for half a dozen games last season and then was benched (again) for rookie Justin Smith. Elsewhere, there was a sprinkling of backups, plus fourth-rounder Tremain Mack, who made the Pro Bowl one year as a kick returner. He ran into personal problems and was cut last season. Grade ... B-

DALLAS

They traded up for their No. 1, TE David LaFleur, who never really made it. Then they traded out of the second round and picked up Dexter Coakley, a Pro Bowl linebacker. You win some, you lose some. The rest of the draft is a zero. No one's left. Grade ... D+

DENVER

Tony Jones cost them a second-round choice but he was a starting tackle in both Super Bowls and a Pro Bowl selection. Ditto the No. 1, DT Trevor Pryce. They gave away four picks to get the Jets' No. 3, who turned out to be Dan Neil, their starting RG. The Broncos only had three draft choices, total, but clearly, they knew what they were doing. Grade ... A- (counting the pickup of Jones as part of the draft haul)

DETROIT

Top choice Bryant Westbrook has been on the verge of greatness, but they can't keep him healthy. The Lions had nine other picks. None remain. Grade ... D

GREEN BAY

No. 1 pick Ross Verba was a starting tackle for four years; he then free agented to Cleveland. The second-round pick, Darren Sharper, is a Pro Bowl safetyman. And that's it. No more help anywhere. Is this getting to be a trend or what? Grade ... B- (and I'm basing my grades on quality now, not quantity, since there doesn't seem to be any)

INDIANAPOLIS

Well, let's start off by giving them a pair of starting tackles in the first two rounds, Tarik Glenn (Pro Bowl) and Adam Meadows. And then ... and then ... gosh, there isn't anything else. Grade ... B-

JACKSONVILLE

Free agency and salary cap woes have wiped out this entire draft, which was a highly productive one. Five players all contributed: DE Renaldo Wynn in the first round, DB Mike Logan in the second, DT Seth Payne in the fourth, TE Damon Jones in the fifth (OK, four out of five were productive ... at least Jones played) and FB Daimon Shelton in the sixth. Grade ... B+/B

KANSAS CITY

One player remains and the Chiefs had to trade up five spots in the first round to get him. But he's been the league's best tight end for five years -- we're talking about Tony Gonzalez, of course. A fifth-round pick went to Miami for Pete Stoyanovich, who kicked for K.C. for four years and part of a fifth. Grade ... B-

MIAMI

Jimmy Johnson wheeled and dealed and wound up with 14 picks, the most crowded roster on the board. It started off badly with wideout Yatil Green in the first round, but then it got good. CB Sam Madison in the second round, DE Jason Taylor in the third. Pro Bowl. Pro Bowl. More third rounders -- LB Derrick Rodgers, T Brent Smith, two starters. That's about it until you get to the sixth round and Ed Perry, who saw action for four years in the two- and three-tight end packages. Grade ... A

MINNESOTA

Top draft Dwayne Rudd was a fine open-side linebacker for four seasons. Then free agency took him to Cleveland. A common theme runs through this draft. Promising young players who somehow drifted away, either through free agency or lessening of ability, or something. Every draft choice played, some started, a few seemed on the verge of something special. Here's the roster: No. 2 FS Torrian Gray, No. 3 DE Stalin Colinet, No. 4 S Antonio Banks, No. 5 DT Tony Williams, No. 6 CB Robert Tate, No. 7 LB Artie Ulmer and WR Matthew Hatchette. Only Tate, a wideout converted to corner and a sometime starter last season, remains. Grade ... A-

NEW ENGLAND

They wound up eventually cutting their No. 1, CB Chris Canty. DT Brandon Mitchell, the No. 2, has been a fairly functional veteran for four years. Third-rounder RB Sedrick Shaw, has been a career backup. Elsewhere? Zip. Grade ... D

NEW ORLEANS

The second pick on the board was theirs for the taking, and they could have had ... no, I won't get trapped into playing that game ... but they traded it to Oakland and wound up with G Chris Naeole, who was starting to come around during the last two years when he heard the siren call of free agency and wound up with the Jaguars. Second-rounder Jared Tomich, a four-year reserve at DE, was part of the trade-down, and he has likewise departed. The other No. 2, FS Rob Kelly was a sometime starter for four years. There is no one left. Grade ... C-/D+

NEW YORK GIANTS

Seven of the eight draft choices made the roster. Five became starters (No. 1 WR Ike Hilliard, No. 2 RB Tiki Barber, No. 3 LB Ryan Phillips, No. 3 P Brad Maynard and No. 5 SS Sam Garnes). Barber, who became a star, and Hilliard, who has shown flashes, still remain. Grade ... B+/B

NEW YORK JETS

Richie Kotite's 1-15 legacy gave them the first pick in the draft, and Bill Parcells pulled the double-dipper, trading down twice and winding up with LB James Farrior, who showed encouraging signs last year and then waved goodbye this offseason. Anyway, they wound up with a 12-player draft, and No. 3 Dedric Ward was a backup wideout for a while, and Leon Johnson (fourth round) was a promising-but-oft-injured return man and backup runner. They're gone now, along with everyone else except for a seventh-round throw-in from a deal with Denver, DT Jason Ferguson, who is being counted on to firm up the defense. Grade ... B-

OAKLAND

The trade-up with the Saints got them Pro Bowl DT Darrell Russell, who is sitting out a year on a substance-abuse rap. They traded up with the Dolphins and got fullback Chad Levitt, an occasional starter, in the fourth round. The third round produced Adam Treu, who stepped in and did a pretty good job when center Barret Robbins went down last year. They hit in the sixth round, too, with Calvin Branch, a four-year special teamer, and starting DT Grady Jackson in that strange sixth-for-a-seventh deal with Green Bay. Grade ... B+

PHILADELPHIA

Dallas moved up to Philly's first-round spot but the Eagles got the guy they had ticketed all along, DE Jon Harris, who still is cited as an example of loony drafting. But they somewhat redeemed themselves when they gave Arizona a three and a six to get RB Duce Staley in the Cardinals' third-round spot. Fifth-rounder Ndukwe Kalu was a promising pass rusher who got cut, made it with Washington, and then came back to Philly on the free-agent express. Forget the rest of the Eagles' board. Grade ... C-/D+

PITTSBURGH

Only one starter came out of this rather slim draft, CB Chad Scott, the No. 1 pick. WR Will Blackwell (second round) and LB Mike Vrabel (third) were backups who are now gone. And so is everyone else, except Scott. Grade ... D+

ST. LOUIS

The Rams, two years removed from greatness, traded like crazy ... too many to list ... but they did get the Jets' pick, which was No. 1 overall, and that was Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Pace, who became the solid man on two Super Bowl O-lines. From Chicago they got a No. 2, starting CB Dexter McCleon. Starting tackle Ryan Tucker, who's gone now, was a fourth-round choice courtesy Miami. Taje Allen, the nickel back on their first Super Bowl team (gone now), came on a fifth-round choice from Denver. And finally, toward the end of Day 2, when everyone begins to doze off, they gave their own No. 5 to San Diego for a No. 7 and a No. 4 the following year, and that turned out to be wideout Az-Zahir Hakim. Grade ... A

SAN DIEGO

The Chargers had given their No. 1 choice to Tampa Bay the year before for wideout Bryan Still, so their top pick was second-round TE Freddie Jones, who has been highly productive for four years and now will be producing for the Cardinals. Elsewhere, their draft supplied a couple of backups and one starter, G-T Raleigh Roundtree (fourth round). Grade ... B-/C+

SAN FRANCISCO

The Jim Druckenmiller draft. Clunk. In the second round it was FB Marc Edwards, who started 12 games in two years and then left for Cleveland. Then they traded up to get TE Greg Clark in the third round. Promising, but injuries forced his retirement. And that's all the picks they had, folks, three, count 'em. Grade ... D

SEATTLE

Traded themselves into the chance to get two first-round Pro Bowlers, both extremely high on the board, CB Shawn Springs with the third overall pick, T Walter Jones with the sixth. They cost the Hawks Rick Mirer, plus second, third and fourth choices. They hit it with their sixth-rounder, too, TE Itula Mili, the heir apparent to Christian Fauria's spot. Grade ... A/A-

TAMPA BAY

They traded down twice and still wound up with the guy they wanted in the first round, RB Warrick Dunn. The San Diego trade brought them WR Reidel Anthony, who caught the passes of assorted QBs for four years. Their current RT, Jerry Wunsch, came in the second round, and Frank Middleton, an off-and-on starter at guard for three years, was a third-round throw-in on one of their trade-downs. Their own No. 3 produced this year's starting Pro Bowl CB, Ronde Barber; LB Alshermond Singleton, a valuable special teamer, came in Round 4; Patrick Hape, a three-year TE-blocking back was a fifth-round choice. This, my friends, is drafting. Grade ... A

TENNESSEE (then Houston)

Yes, they traded away Chris Chandler to make room for Steve McNair, but that fourth-round pick turned out to be Derrick Mason, who's been a terrific wideout and return man. No. 1 pick DE Kenny Holmes had some decent moments and then free agented to the Giants. The third round produced starting corner Denard Walker, who's now with the Broncos. Two other draftees made the roster as backups, but they're gone. Grade ... B/B-

WASHINGTON

I've just noticed something. I said at the top of the show that I wouldn't harp on players who left because of free agency because this phenomenon didn't really reflect on the draft, and darned if I haven't been doing it all along. Sorry. I guess it's just for the sake of completeness. Which brings us to the Redskins, whose draft had its share of starters, all of whom became either cap casualties or free-agent departures. They're actually five of them and here they are: No. 1 DE Kenard Lang, No. 2 LB Greg Jones, No. 3 MLB Derek Smith, No. 4 WR Albert Connell, No. 5 G-T Brad Badger. The cupboard is bare now, but it really was a good draft. Grade ... B+

Sports Illustrated senior writer Paul Zimmerman covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. To send a question to Dr. Z's Mailbag, click here.

 

Related information

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video