Interesting statistics about our roster and the comparison to the top teams (1 Viewer)

bergeaux

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OK, so many people have us giving up draft picks to move up or get players, that I thought I would throw out a topic of discussion:

How valuable are draft picks?

Some food for thought on that.

Teams field 52 players (They are removing inactive list I think)
The draft is 7 rounds.
27% of teams are made up of UDFA (14.04 players) LINK
15% of teams are made up of 1st round draft picks (7.8 players)
13.1% of teams are made up of 2nd round draft picks (6.8 players)

On our team right now (the depth chart on Yahoo! since they don't have one on the Saints site right now) We have:

8 players (15%) that are 1st round draft picks (4 offense, 4 defense)
O - Deuce McAllister, Reggie Bush, Jammall Brown, Robert Meachem
D - Charles Grant, Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, Dan Morgan
5 players (9.6%) that are 2nd round daft picks (3 offense, 2 defense)
O - Drew Brees, Devery Henderson, Jon Stinchcomb
D - Roman Harper, Josh Bullocks
6 players (11.5%) that are 3rd round draft picks, (1 offense, 4 defense)
O - Andy Alleman
D - Mike McKenzie, Kendrick Clancy, Mark Simoneau, Usama Young
3 players (5.7%) that are 4th round picks (2 offense, 1 defense)
O - Jermon Bushrod, Jahri Evans
D - Jason David
7 players (13.5%) that are 5th round draft picks (4 offense, 3 defense)
O - Mike Karney, Jonathan Goodwin, Mark Brunell, Matt Lehr
D - Brian Young, Scott Fujita, Jason Craft
7 players (13.5%) that are 7th round draft picks (4 offense, 2, defense, 1 ST)
O - Marques Colston, Eric Johnson, Zach Strief, Billy Miller
D - Scott Shanle, Marvin Mitchell
ST - Kevin Houser
20 players (38.5%) that are UDFA (10 offense, 9 defense, 1 ST)
O - Lance Moore, David Patten, Terrance Copper, Tyler Palko, Pierre Thomas
Kevin Dudley, Jamar Nesbit, Tim Duckworth
D - Randall Gay, Hollis Thomas, Josh Savage, Chris Reis, Kevin Kaesviharn
Antwan Lake, Troy Evans, Josh Cooper, Anwar Phillips
ST - Steve Weatherford

Now let's look at starters only according to the Yahoo depth chart.

5 players that are 1st round picks
4 players that are 2nd round picks
2 players that are 3rd round pick
1 player that is a 4th round pick
4 players that are 5th round picks
3 players that are 7th round picks
5 players that are UDFAs

Finally, here is an interesting statistic. Of the players on our team:

Whole team:

17 picks BY THE SAINTS
2 trades
27 free agents (meaning they played with another team before us regardless of draft status)
14 UDFA that we picked up first and have kept

Starters (including ST)
10 picks BY THE SAINTS (4-1st, 3-2nd, 1-4th, 1-5th, 1-7th)
2 trades
9 FA (1 ST)
3 UDFA (1 ST)

Those same number broken out by offense and defense:

Offense
6 picks
3 FA
2 UDFA

Defense
4 picks
2 trades
5 FA
0 UDFA

Lastly, let's compare the starter list (including ST) to the best in the NFL. The two superbowl teams, two NFC/AFC losers and the Indianapolis Colts

NY Giants
13 picks
8 free agents (some might be trades, but I don't know)
3 UDFA
(Picks include 4-1st, 4-2nd, 1-3rd, 2-4th, 1-5th, 1-7th)

NE Patriots
15 picks
1 trade (Randy Moss)
6 free agents
2 UDFA
(Picks include 6-1st, 1-2nd, 3-3rd, 2-4th, 1-5th, 1-6th, 1-7th)

GB Packers
16 picks
5 FA
4 UDFA
(Picks include 3-1st, 3-2nd, 1-3rd, 1-4th, 2-5th, 3-6th, 3-7th) 3 first rounders???

SD Chargers
16 picks
2 FA/T
4 UDFA
(Picks include 5-1st, 5-2nd, 2-3rd, 4-4th, 1-5th, 1-6th, 1-7th)

Indy Colts
18 picks
2 free agents (one almost doesn't count, never played for another team)
4 UDFA
(Picks include 7-1st, 3-2nd, 1-3rd, 1-4th, 2-5th, 2-6th)

These teams show a long history of good drafts, so we need to be patient to get here obviously. But I think we can see a trend that teams are built through the draft. We had to restart some of our roster when Payton came in... so we are still rebuilding.
 
These teams show a long history of good drafts, so we need to be patient to get here obviously. But I think we can see a trend that teams are built through the draft. We had to restart some of our roster when Payton came in... so we are still rebuilding.


We compare favorably with the Giants, but you're right, the other teams show a much longer term commitment to building their rosters. We essentially blew up our entire roster when Sean Payton arrived in 2006. Remember we lost numerous draft picks that year (Darren Howard, Lecharles Bentley, Donte Stallworth, as well as the scrub picks like Bockwoldt, Allen, Hodge, etc). So we're really only in year 3 of this rebuilding project while teams like the Colts and Patriots have had stability for over half a decade.

That said, doing well in the draft still doesn't make you impervious to ups and downs. Baltimore, without doubt, has pretty good "draft numbers" as well. Or maybe it's just a good quarterback makes all the difference :9:
 
That is a tremendous amount of work! :9: The only problem is that it's strictly quantitative. The fact that guys like Meachem, Alleman and Bushrod are on the roster is s bit meaningless since they have contributed absolutely nothing so far. All that said, interesting post!
 
We compare favorably with the Giants, but you're right, the other teams show a much longer term commitment to building their rosters. We essentially blew up our entire roster when Sean Payton arrived in 2006. Remember we lost numerous draft picks that year (Darren Howard, Lecharles Bentley, Donte Stallworth, as well as the scrub picks like Bockwoldt, Allen, Hodge, etc). So we're really only in year 3 of this rebuilding project while teams like the Colts and Patriots have had stability for over half a decade.

That said, doing well in the draft still doesn't make you impervious to ups and downs. Baltimore, without doubt, has pretty good "draft numbers" as well. Or maybe it's just a good quarterback makes all the difference :9:

I think if Baltimore had Steve McNair healthy like 2006, they would have faired a LOT better in 2007. Put Drew Brees on that team and what happens? I think they challenge for a SB.
 
Goodness, thanks for putting up the effort to do the research. I agree that rebuilding a team through the draft is highly important base on the statistics provided.
 
Wow, no 6th round picks eh? I'll keep that in mind when we draft our 6th rounder later this month...Who was our 6th rounder last year? Did we have one?
 
The other conclusion that jumped out at me (thanks for doing this) is that it's not only the first rounders that are important. Every team has at least 1 7th rounder STARTING for them, except the Colts and they have two 6th rounders starting.

I knew Payton said the other day that the entire draft is important, but I didn't think that many 6th and 7th rounders were starting for these teams.

Great job, bergeaux!
 
Almost 40% of our roster went undrafted. I don't know whether to be impressed or depressed.
 
You can only get depressed if it is that way in 3 years or so. Spam's points about the coaching change in 2006 being the reason that the saints are this way right now were totally correct.

Most of the teams in the original post (besides the saints) have had stable coaching situations for several years. With the notable exception of the Chargers.
 
This is in line with research I was doing. Thank you. Looking at the Chargers and Colts shows me that you really want to get a starter in the first 2 rounds. This kinda debunks the "reaching for a player" myth. If you can get a guy in the first two rounds and you think he can come in and start right away, grab him up! 10 starters from the 1st two rounds. Wow. Also puts a crimp in the BPA idea. You need a DT? Grab the best on available when you pick, or press your luck and trade down. The BPA idea is a cop out for teams who didn't get who they wanted.
 
I give you the biggest POTB available, like 10 out of 10 for this post. Great job. For all the doom and gloom around, Payton and Co. are doing a very good job. It happens incrementaly each year and as long as half a of your draft starts or provides depth and special teams play for 3 or 4 years, then you have a good draft. I don't believe in devaluing draft choices and giving them away like candy, but I like the idea of getting players with 4 or 5 years of experience for day two draft choices, and I don't mind giving away an extra draft choice to move up and get a guy I feel will be very good for a very long time like Dorsey of Ellis. I am not saying do this every year becuase you certainly need to bring in youth and depth and the draft can be a crapshoot so the more picks the better; but when someone good is available, I lose no sleep trading up to get him, like Jamal Brown.
 

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