Grading the 2008 Bills draft

[Billsguy]

Here are my criteria for grading:

A 4.0 elite player

B+ 3.25 above average NFL player

B 3.0 avg starter

C+ 2.25 part time starter rotational player

C 2.0 depth player

D+ 1.25 borderline NFL player

F 0.0 out of the league, bust

 

Here is the 2008 draft with my grades (feel free to share your own thoughts)

 

 

Round Overall 2008 NFL draft Player Position Grade Number grade

 

1 11 Leodis McKelvin B 3.0

2 41 James Hardy F 0

3 72 Chris Ellis F 0

4 114 Reggie Corner C 2.0

4 132 Derek Fine F 0

5 147 Alvin Bowen F 0

6 179 Xavier Omon F 0

7 219 Demetrius Bell B 3.0

7 224 Steve Johnson B+ 3.25

7 251 Kennard Cox F 0

 

Overall GPA : 1.125 Grade D+

 

Conclusion: Steve Johnson kept this draft from being horrible. Even so, it was very bad.

[JPS]

Thank you for providing something other than an expert opinion of 200 prospects you've never seen play. That being said, Kennard Cox is still in the league.

 

Also, that draft was was part of the previous administration. We know they sucked.

[deep2evans]

awful draft. but there should a different standard than just grading each player straight up. grabbing a pro-bowl caliber player in the 7th round is unreal.

[CSBill]

Thank you for providing something other than an expert opinion of 200 prospects you've never seen play. That being said, Kennard Cox is still in the league.

 

Also, that draft was was part of the previous administration. We know they sucked.

 

Kennard Cox . . . we hardly knew you, where is he playing now?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Round Overall 2008 NFL draft Player Position Grade Number grade

 

1 11 Leodis McKelvin B 3.0

2 41 James Hardy F 0

3 72 Chris Ellis F 0

4 114 Reggie Corner C 2.0

4 132 Derek Fine F 0

5 147 Alvin Bowen F 0

6 179 Xavier Omon F 0

7 219 Demetrius Bell B 3.0

7 224 Steve Johnson B+ 3.25

7 251 Kennard Cox F 0

 

Overall GPA : 1.125 Grade D+

 

Nice post - thanks for contributing something other than prospect talk

 

Anyone have any idea how this stacks up against the 2008 draft of a "quality" team?

 

Edit: found in the Shoutbox --- go here Linky

Edited April 5, 2012 by Hopeful

[bladiebla]

Kennard Cox . . . we hardly knew you, where is he playing now?

 

 

Nowhere, free agent, was with the Seahawks see http://www.kffl.com/player/19449/NFL

[cage]

awful draft. but there should a different standard than just grading each player straight up. grabbing a pro-bowl caliber player in the 7th round is unreal.

 

No its not unreal... its straight luck. Anytime you "grab a pro-bowl caliber player" after the about the 4th round you got lucky. If you had any sense that the guy could be a starter, much less a pro-bowler you better grab him by then. Anytime you look at "re-drafts" of the a previous draft, by the time you reach the end of the first round you can barely find quality players.

 

My classic example is that the Patriots are the luckiest team on the planet having chosen Brady in the 6th round. Not giving them any credit for skilled drafting. They won the lottery. If they had any clue that Brady could be a legitimate starter, much less a first ballot HOFer, they would have picked him by the 3rd round.

[deep2evans]

No its not unreal... its straight luck. Anytime you "grab a pro-bowl caliber player" after the about the 4th round you got lucky. If you had any sense that the guy could be a starter, much less a pro-bowler you better grab him by then. Anytime you look at "re-drafts" of the a previous draft, by the time you reach the end of the first round you can barely find quality players.

 

My classic example is that the Patriots are the luckiest team on the planet having chosen Brady in the 6th round. Not giving them any credit for skilled drafting. They won the lottery. If they had any clue that Brady could be a legitimate starter, much less a first ballot HOFer, they would have picked him by the 3rd round.

 

lolol @ "straight luck" or "winning the lottery". we're not playing roulette here. the bills had a 7th round pick. i'm sure their logic was - "okay, let's take a flier here on a player we think could have a future". and they were right. fortunate? sure. 100% luck or whatever the hell you're saying? no. god no.

 

idk what planet you're on where you don't think the Pats deserve ANY credit for picking Tom Brady. It's not like they stood up at the podium and said "!@#$ all of you - we just got a hall of famer in the 6th round". obviously they had no idea he'd be this good. but i'm sure they saw SOMETHING that led them to making the pick.

[bladiebla]

Here are my criteria for grading:

A 4.0 elite player

B+ 3.25 above average NFL player

B 3.0 avg starter

C+ 2.25 part time starter rotational player

C 2.0 depth player

D+ 1.25 borderline NFL player

F 0.0 out of the league, bust

 

Here is the 2008 draft with my grades (feel free to share your own thoughts)

 

 

Round Overall 2008 NFL draft Player Position Grade Number grade

 

1 11 Leodis McKelvin C+ 3.0

2 41 James Hardy F 0 debatable may still be borderline, no team atm and gotten another injury settlement (dude making money of those)

3 72 Chris Ellis F 0

4 114 Reggie Corner C 2.0

4 132 Derek Fine F 0 debatable, would say D+ as he's been around a few teams but hasnt got a team atm http://www.kffl.com/player/18667/NFL

5 147 Alvin Bowen F 0

6 179 Xavier Omon D+ 0 see http://www.kffl.com/player.php/18742/nfl

7 219 Demetrius Bell B 3.0

7 224 Steve Johnson B+ 3.25

7 251 Kennard Cox D+ 0 see http://www.kffl.com/player/19449/NFL

[BigBuff423]

Here are my criteria for grading:

A 4.0 elite player

B+ 3.25 above average NFL player

B 3.0 avg starter

C+ 2.25 part time starter rotational player

C 2.0 depth player

D+ 1.25 borderline NFL player

F 0.0 out of the league, bust

 

Here is the 2008 draft with my grades (feel free to share your own thoughts)

 

 

Round Overall 2008 NFL draft Player Position Grade Number grade

 

1 11 Leodis McKelvin B 3.0

2 41 James Hardy F 0

3 72 Chris Ellis F 0

4 114 Reggie Corner C 2.0

4 132 Derek Fine F 0

5 147 Alvin Bowen F 0

6 179 Xavier Omon F 0

7 219 Demetrius Bell B 3.0

7 224 Steve Johnson B+ 3.25

7 251 Kennard Cox F 0

 

Overall GPA : 1.125 Grade D+

 

Conclusion: Steve Johnson kept this draft from being horrible. Even so, it was very bad.

 

How friggen depressing to see just how poorly the BILLS drafted that year....yikes!!! How can it be that the previous regime could "find" guys like Bell and Johnson and miss so very poorly on nearly every other player in that draft???? This, only makes me all the more resolved to be happy about how football is changing in Buffalo and hopefully their talent level since Nix came to town....let's hope the days of such dismal drafting is behind us!!

[boyst]

Imagine a productive James Hardy on this team? With Steve Johnson, two big targets and we could have found a small speedster. That'd been nice.

[rjg1993]

Nice post - thanks for contributing something other than prospect talk

 

Anyone have any idea how this stacks up against the 2008 draft of a "quality" team?

 

Edit: found in the Shoutbox --- go here Linky

 

Although they aren't a "quality" team like pitt, new england, or green bay, the Lions are my local team, so its easy. This is the last draft of the infamous Matt Millen and Co., and the draft that preceded the 0-16 season

 

1. Godser Cherilus 3.0

2. Jordon Dizon 0.0

3a. Kevin Smith 2.0

3b. Andre Fluellen 1.25

3c. Cliff Avril 4.0*

5a. Kenneth Moore 0.0

5b. Jerome Felton 1.25

7. Caleb Campbell 1.25

 

Final GPA=1.59

 

*depends what your definition of "elite" is. I took it to mean elite at his position as of last year, which is a very relaxed definition, but is much more reasonable.

Also, they had three 3rd round picks, so that may have given them an advantage

[rjg1993]

I'm bored, and this is a lot more fun than watching the MLB game, so here goes the Pats 2008 draft:

 

1a. Jerod Mayo 3.25

1b. removed due to spygate*

2. Terrence Wheatley 1.25

3a. Shawn Crable 0.0

3b. Kevin O'Connell 0.0

4. Jonathan Wilhite 2.0

5. Mathew Slater 2.25 going off your scale, but given how much he contributes, i'll give him a 2.75 for calculation's sake

6. Bo Ruud 0.0

 

GPA=1.32

[JPS]

Nowhere, free agent, was with the Seahawks see http://www.kffl.com/player/19449/NFL

Decent career for 7th rounder

[rjg1993]

Thought about how there are always instant "winners" and "losers" of the draft, the day after its over. So I went to yahoo's page in 2008 to see what the winners were. The first team mentioned was the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were praised for their multiple trades. Because of the trades, they only had 5 selections. Of those 5, ZERO are still on the roster!

 

1. Derrick Harvey 1.25 (extremely generous. still in an NFL jersey, so using your scale, I have to give him a 1.25, but he hasn't done anything in years)

2. Quentin Groves 1.25 (see above ^^)

5. Thomas Williams 1.25 (see above ^^ the kid has spent his entire career on various practice squads, including ours)

5. Trae Williams 0.0

7. Chauncey Washington 1.25 (perennial practice squadder, same as the rest)

 

GPA= 1.0, 0.0 if you are talking current value to Jags

 

This proves that all of those articles we are about to read about "winners" and "loser" are complete garbage.

 

Also, interesting to see that the Jags did a lot of trading in this draft. We all know Nix isn't a trader, and this might help back up his philosophy. But then again, the Pats always make a lot of trades, and you can't argue with that success.

[Pete]

2008 draft is one of the worst draft class's I can ever recall.

 

1. Miami - Jake Long, OT Michigan

2. St. Louis - Chris Long, DE Virginia

3. Atlanta - Matt Ryan, QB Boston College

4. Oakland - Darren McFadden, RB Arkansas

5. Kansas City - Glen Dorsey, DT LSU

6. NY Jets - Vernon Gholston, DE Ohio State

7. New Orleans (From 49ers through Patriots)- Sedrick Ellis, DT USC

8. Jacksonville (From Ravens)- Derrick Harvey, DE Florida

9. Cincinnati - Keith Rivers, LB USC

10. New England (From Saints)- Jerod Mayo, LB Tennessee

 

Busts aplenty and it gets much worse after that

[Rob's House]

awful draft. but there should a different standard than just grading each player straight up. grabbing a pro-bowl caliber player in the 7th round is unreal.

That's what I was thinking. If the draft order went:

 

Stevie

Bell

McKelvin

Corner

and then the scrubs

 

I think we'd view this a lot differently in retrospect. That said, it's still pretty sorry for McKelvin to be the best pick through 6 rounds.

[PDaDdy]

awful draft. but there should a different standard than just grading each player straight up. grabbing a pro-bowl caliber player in the 7th round is unreal.

 

I agree but not in the way you expect. The higher draft picks should be weighted more heavily since they are in theory projected as better talent and almost always have better measureables. Screwing up your early picks are much more egregious errors. Late round picks should be weighted more lightly as they are almost literally a "crap shoot". We got lucky on SJ and it took years for him to become the productive WR he is today. We didn't peg him as a future star and waited to get him in the 7th round. We got lucky.

[billsfan89]

Your grading method is flawed. 4th through 7th rounders aren't really as bad if they don't pan out. Even 3rd rounders don't always have a high success rate. You really have to be lax on late rounders and much more harsh on 1st and 2nd round picks.

 

I would grade them on a 1 through 10 scale. But late rounders bottom out at a 4 or a 5.

 

McKelvin 5 (Still on the team and decent but not having the impact a 1st rounder has to have)

Hardy 1 (Just a complete bust)

Ellis 2 (Complete Bust but as a 3rd rounder its a 2 instead of a 1)

Reggie Corner 7 (A decent depth player but you should be able to get those out of the 4th round)

Alvin Brown 4 (Not much out of the pick but it was only a 5th rounder)

Omon 5 (6th round pick not much there)

Bell 7 (Played decently and sometimes well but hurt a lot still good value for a 7th)

Stevie 10 (Near Pro Bowl caliber talent out of the 7th round can't complain too much)

Cox 5 (Late 7th not going to get much out of them)

 

They total out to a 46 which is about 4.6 per pick. A rather mediocre draft but Stevie is something that came from it and thus kept it from being a complete disaster.

[PNW_Bills_Fan]

I agree. I would break it up into Rounds 1-3 and then rounds 4-7... This will give a better picture of how a drafts is successful. But is would be fun to rate all the teams on the original scale to see if anyone had a good draft.