Johnathan Sullivan pick cost us a SB (maybe) (1 Viewer)

I know hindsight is 20/20 but I just can't help it. We had a legit shot at winning the SB in 2006. Maybe just a few pieces away. As you all know, in the 2003 NFL Draft we traded the number 17 and 18 overall picks to trade up to 6. Now let's look at the Pro-Bowlers we could've had with that 6th overall pick:
Kevin Williams, DT
Terrell Suggs, LB
Marcus Trufant, CB
Troy Polamalu, S

Now here are guys taken after 16 that could've been valuable (and remember we could've had two of them!!):
Willis McGahee, RB
Dallas Clark, TE
Larry Johnson, RB
Nnamdi Asomugha, CB
Rashean Mathis, CB
Ken Hamlin, S (had a chance in free agency last year as well)
Anquan Boldin, WR
Usi Umenyiora, DE
Lance Briggs, LB
Jason Witten, TE
Terrence McGee, CB
Asante Samuel, CB
Cato June, LB

Oh yeah and some of the undrafted players:
Antonio Gates, TE
Tony Romo, QB

There were a lot of good players in that draft and a lot of teams passed on them, including us. But we really missed that year (Stinchcomb is the only guy still on our roster or possibly on a roster at all). A lot of the players I listed are positions that we desperately need this year (CB, DT, LB, TE). And a lot of them are guys we have specifically been after this offseason.

Oh yeah, and sorry for being Debby Downer...

No way.

Doesn't matter what would have transpired with that pick.

Haslett as HC refusing to cut bait with Aaron Brooks is what cost us the chance to compete in the post season for a few years there.

Also a factor was Haslett's refusal to cut bait with Venturi and shore up the defense.
 
Sullivan's pick probably didn't cost us anything, those players probably would've lead to at least one more win in 2003, 2004, & 2005 . That would've meant playoffs, Haslett probably would've kept his job after 2005. So that would have meant no Peyton, no Brees, no Bush, possibly no Colston. Jonathan Sullivan saved the franchise.

+1

Look at the silver lining, man. I would MUCH rather have the team we do now.
 
I know hindsight is 20/20 but I just can't help it. We had a legit shot at winning the SB in 2006. Maybe just a few pieces away. As you all know, in the 2003 NFL Draft we traded the number 17 and 18 overall picks to trade up to 6. Now let's look at the Pro-Bowlers we could've had with that 6th overall pick:
Kevin Williams, DT
Terrell Suggs, LB
Marcus Trufant, CB
Troy Polamalu, S

Now here are guys taken after 16 that could've been valuable (and remember we could've had two of them!!):
Willis McGahee, RB
Dallas Clark, TE
Larry Johnson, RB
Nnamdi Asomugha, CB
Rashean Mathis, CB
Ken Hamlin, S (had a chance in free agency last year as well)
Anquan Boldin, WR
Usi Umenyiora, DE
Lance Briggs, LB
Jason Witten, TE
Terrence McGee, CB
Asante Samuel, CB
Cato June, LB

Oh yeah and some of the undrafted players:
Antonio Gates, TE
Tony Romo, QB

There were a lot of good players in that draft and a lot of teams passed on them, including us. But we really missed that year (Stinchcomb is the only guy still on our roster or possibly on a roster at all). A lot of the players I listed are positions that we desperately need this year (CB, DT, LB, TE). And a lot of them are guys we have specifically been after this offseason.

Oh yeah, and sorry for being Debby Downer...

no..
 
It wasn't just trading the two picks that cost us.

Immediately, they gave away Norman Hand to Seattle for little of nothing. Then, a few weeks into the season, they cut Grady for "being a bad influence on Sullivan". Looks like they may have had that one backwards.

So, not only did we get a flop for a DT which cost us 2 #1's, but we also lost 2 starters from the year before. That's like drafting Ellis, and then cutting both Thomas and Young. This goes to show how sharp the front office and coaching staff were at the time.

Norman Hand was on his last legs... Seattle got little or no use out of him, so it didn't impact us at all. He would finish his career with the Giants.

Grady Jackson ballooned up to nearly 400 lbs while with Green Bay and Atlanta. His problem is self-motivation. Haslett even stated when Jackson wants to play he is unblockable... problem is you can't count on him to play every down.

Jacksonville just let him go... he's a career journeyman who has shows flashes of his potential for a game or two. Even when he was effective in Atlanta (in no small part to having Rod Coleman next to him), there were games where he didn't do much of anything.

If you want to talk about defensive tackles losses that still haunt the Saints, it begins and ends with La'Roi Glover. Although he is past his prime now, the Saints have struggled to find a replacement for him since he left for Dallas as a free agent.

And as far as that list goes, that's 20/20 hindsight... there were a bunch of bust defensive linemen taken in that draft. Corner was never an option in the first... and even if it was, people here would be calling Trufant a bust because he lacked the talent around him (namely safety help) to make him as an effective a player here as he is in Seattle.

That's something else that rarely is considered in these "what if" senarios.
 
Interesting facts;

- The saints wanted to trade up for Robertson, currently on the trading block.
- Saints instead got Sullivan for their two first rounders
- Those two first rounders, Pace and Johnson, are no longer part of the cardinals

Even more interesting, the saints switched seconds with the cards to finalize the trade,

Saints got Jon Stinchcomb
Cardinals got Anquan Boldin

Only one of the players involved became a true star, the last one taken of this trade.
 
Interesting facts;

- The saints wanted to trade up for Robertson, currently on the trading block.
- Saints instead got Sullivan for their two first rounders
- Those two first rounders, Pace and Johnson, are no longer part of the cardinals

Even more interesting, the saints switched seconds with the cards to finalize the trade,

Saints got Jon Stinchcomb
Cardinals got Anquan Boldin

Only one of the players involved became a true star, the last one taken of this trade.

You bring up some interesting points. First, why trade up when the player you really wanted wasn't avaiable? Second, we wouldn't have been much better off with Johnson and Pace...neither of them were any good before they had to play for their next checks. Finally, Arizona's WR coach had to stand up on the table at the draft and beg the team to take Boldin because he ran a terrible 40 (4.7) at the combine and he was the best of the bunch.
 

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