Rethinking the 2007 draft (1 Viewer)

[bergeaux]

So the conventional thought was that the 2007 draft was pretty much a waste. Here was the draft:

1-Robert Meachem WR
Made team (never got activated)
2-NO PICKS (traded)
3a-Usama Young
Made the team and played some in nickel and then when MM was hurt.
3b-Andy Alleman OG
Made team, didn't play much (if at all?)
4a-Antonio Pittman RB
Cut at the end of training camp
4b-Jermon Bushrod OT
Made team, didn't play much (not sure how much)
5-David Jones CB
Cut and attempted to put on the Practice Squad. We lost him to another team
6-NO PICKS (traded)
7-Marvin Mitchell ILB
Played mostly on special teams in more than half the games of 2007

UDFA
Pierre Thomas RB
Tyler Palko QB
Walter Thomas DT (had to put him in!)

When you look at this, you wonder how bad that draft was. But I actually see some potential there.

-Meachem I think will do well now that he's healthy. They basically red-shirted him last year.
-Both of the O-lineman have potential and I believe Bushrod is going to be a diamond find for us...
-I really liked how Young was making progress. He struggled a bit, but that's to be expected as a rookie CB.
-Pierre Thomas looks like a find and a half. He may not ever be the value that Colston was from the 7th round, but I think he will be a solid player for us. A good change of pace to Reggie until Deuce is 100%. Maybe even being the long term answer. Probably not, but maybe.

When I look at these positions the only one that is an "immediate impact" position is the RB position. Sure Meachem should have come in and made some impact last year. But he wasn't even activated. I think he will be a "rookie" this year and hopefully be like an extra 1st round pick. O-lineman in later rounds take time to prepare for play and CB always takes time.

So if we draft in more immediate results positions in the 1st and 2nd (like LB and DT), we might end up with the results of two drafts hitting in one season. That might really take some teams by surprise. Am I just dreaming this up because I want it to be true, or is there some meat to this?

 

[chad_moore]

It's really tough to judge the success or failure of a draft on just one season of play. I can see your point on being dissapointed with the Meachem pick, since he never saw the field. Looking at the others, you have to remember that they were Round 2 through UDFA siginings and the need for an immediate impact to the team is too much to ask for and often not what is expected. Colston was a diamond in the rough and came in at a time when we had a need and he was able to step up. Looking at the rest of our picks, they have done what can only be expected for the slot they were picked. They contributed in a small amount, got some playing time and now have a full season underneath their belt. This will be the season to judge how the Saints really did in that draft. I think we'll see the guys that are still on the team (remember, the Patriots cut all but one or two of their draft picks) fight for starting spots and provide adequate rotation and fresh legs to our team.

Could we have drafted other players that would have made a bigger impact? Absolutely, but hindsight is always 20/20 and each year we get excited for the draft because of this very reason....you just never know how the success at the college level will show on the NFL field.