Out-Drafting Bonanza Part 1 - Philadelphia Eagles & Andy Reid

Welcome to part one of our Out-Drafting Bonanza, where we'll hope to compare a few different "successful" NFL regimes and discover who's good, who's bad and where the hell we'll put Andy Reid.

In case you don't remember, here's a look at our Scoring System again.

And here's the regimes we'll be looking at:

• Philadelphia Eagles (Andy Reid)
• Detroit Lions (Steve Mariucci/Dick Jauron/Rod Marinelli...all under Matt Millen and we'll use this is the baseline/epitome of crap)
• Seattle Seahawks (Mike Holmgren)
• New England Patriots (Bill Belichick)
• Jacksonville Jaguars (Jack Del Rio)
• Dallas Cowboys (Jerry Jones err Wade Phillips, though we'll be counting the Parcells years because of how involved Jones was regardless)
• Denver Broncos (Mike Shanahan)
• Chicago Bears (Lovie Smith)
• San Diego Charges (Norv Turner...but all the A.J. Smith era)

Want to read it from the beginning? Can you Out-Draft Andy Reid? and The Scoring Update.

So without further adieu, I give you the Andy Reid Drafts:

Year	Round	Name	Score (1-5)	Bonus	Note
2002	1	Lito Sheppard	5	0	Regardless of what you think of him, he's a two time all-pro, if you add up Brown and him, they're definitely a 9/10
	2	Michael Lewis/ Sheldon Brown	4	0	See Above. Lewis was another in the group of 3 very good/great Dbs
	3	Brian Westbrook	5	0	The guy's an all-pro and a top 3 RB in the league 3 years running
	4	Scott Peters	0	0	Never took the field as an Eagle, now a Cardinal
	5	Freddie Milons	0	0	A receiver I felt could be a real threat when drafted. Total bust, never took a snap with the Eagles
	6	Tyreo Harrison	1	0	Well, he suited up 12 games with the Eagles but only registered 6 tackles
	7	Raheem Brock	0	0	Brock is actually pretty good and was a nice piece of the Colts Super Bowl team. Yeah, the Eagles cut him before the 02 season
	During the 2001 draft the Eagles traded their 3rd and 6th round selections to the Dolphins for their 2nd round selection in the 2002 draft.

The 2002 draft was probably the best of Reid's post-Modrak years. His first four picks (Sheppard, Brown, Lewis & Westbrook) featured four Pro-Bowlers and three All-Pros at some point in each of their respective careers. The second day selections yielded nothing, not even a serviceable backup.

2002 Score: 14 Points. First Round Hit Total: 1/1. Quality Players Selected (total): 4/8

Year	Round	Name	Score (1-5)	Bonus	Note
2003	1	Jerome McDougle	2	0	This really should merit a loss of points. McDougle was a real flop. Worst of all, they traded up to get him
	2	L.J. Smith	3	0	I was stuck between giving Smith a 3 and a 4, but the guy's certainly a starter
	3	Billy McMullen	2	0	McMullen was a real stiff. His only merit was he was traded for Hank Baskett
	4	Jamaal Green	1	0	He showed up for 8 games during the Eagles Super Bowl Run.
	5	Traded	0	0	This pick was traded for 2004 picks (6,7) which netted Andy Hall and Dominic Furio. Hall never played a down and is now in the AFL while Furio never played and is now in the AAFL, whatever that is
	6	Jeremy Bridges	0	0	Never played a down for the Eagles, but is a nice backup for the Panthers
	7	Norman LeJeune	1	0	LeJuene was a practice squadee his rookie season but suited up once. He was cut the next year and is now in the AFL
	Technically the 6th and 7th rounders were acquired via trade, but since the Eagles took picks in each round, we'll count them for simplicity's sake

From good to bad. This draft yielded little more than L.J. Smith, a starting quality Tight End and nothing more (as it stands right now), with stone hands to boot.

2003 Score: 9 Points. First Round Hit Total: 1/2. Quality Players Selected (total): 4/14

Year	Round	Name	Score (1-5)	Bonus	Note
2004	1	Shawn Andrews	5	0	Hard to argue with a pro-bowl guard, even if he's a little crazy right now
	2	Traded for Andrews	3	0	Since Andrews is an All-Pro, I figured I'd consider the trade a good move.
	3	Matt Ware	2	0	He played with the team, but really sucked ass
	4	J.R. Reed/ Trey Darilek	2	0	Reed was a kicker returner who suffered a freak knee injury. He resigned years later (after stints with other teams) and started to suck. Darilek also saw spot duty and is now in the CFL
	5	Thomas Tapeh	3	0	Tapeh was a serviceable FB
	6	Dexter Wynn	2	0	Serviceable backup, but when you're waived for William James, you must suck
	7	Adrien Clarke /Bruce Perry	2	0	Clarke was a reserve guard who dressed, while Perry showed flashes at RB and PR and even started once. He was converted to CB and ironically released for Dexter Wynn.

The irony of this draft can be seen today, as Reid actually traded away a 2nd round pick to move up rather than trade a first to move down/get more picks. Andrews is an All-Pro for sure, beyond this, the draft was total crap.

2004 Score: 19 Points. First Round Hit Total: 2/3. Quality Players Selected (total): 5/22

Year	Round	Name	Score (1-5)	Bonus	Note
2005	1	Mike Patterson	3	0	Patterson is a solid starter at DT and is a tough dude, regardless of his transgressions
	2	Reggie Brown/ Matt McCoy	3	0	The Brown pick is actually from the A.J. Feeley trade – Its plausable to say that was smart but Brown has been a starter/serviceable backup. McCoy on the other hand sucked total ass even though he started a few games.
	3	Ryan Moats	2	0	Moats was expected to spell out Brian Westbrook and even started in his spot after an injury, but never stuck after a good game or two.
	4	Sean Considine	2	0	Considine has started, fans are unsure why
	5	Todd Herremans	3	1	Herremans is a competent starter and was a rare project that worked out
	6	Trent Cole/ Scott Young/ Calvin Armstrong	3	2	Y'all know Cole was a pro-bowler, Young was a serviceable backup and Armstrong never played a down. For the sake of the score, I assumed Cole will be a 4
	7	Kenyota Marshall/ David Bergeron	0	0	Neither played an NFL down.

Right now, its hard to argue this draft as total crap because they acquired five current starters on the roster (Considine started the season). Cole was an absolute phenom and great late round pick (a rarity for Reid, actually). Beyond that, Patterson is a quality starter in a group of otherwise much maligned players (such as Brown or Considine).

2005 Score: 19 Points. First Round Hit Total: 3/4. Quality Players Selected (total): 6/33

Year	Round	Name	Score (1-5)	Bonus	Note
2006	1	Brodrick Bunkley	3	0	As is, Bunk is just a regular starter.
	2	Winston Justice	2	0	Justice is currently a backup at best
	3	Chris Gocong	3	0	Gocong is a 2 year starter, but the jury is out
	4	Max Jean-Gilles	3	0	MJG appears to be primed as a solid starter, but again, the jury is out. I didn't award any bonus points because of this
	5	Jason Avant/ Jeremy Bloom/ Omar Gaither	3	0	Avant is part of the Eagles WR rotation and a decent slot receiver, Gaither is a starter at the WILL, though Akeem Jordan has been after his spot and Bloom was a waste
	6	LeJaun Ramsey	0	0	Never played a down, went back to skiing
	7	Traded to get Gocong	1	0	I gave one point because the Reid acquired a starter for a 3rd and 7th round pick which seems reasonable to me

This draft was almost marquee, with Bunkley expected to be the all-world DT the Eagles needed, Justice and Jean-Gilles to be cornerstone OLs, Gocong primed to be a fine LB replacement and Jeremy Bloom to cure all the punt return issues plaguing the Eagles. It never materialized. Bunkley is a good starter at best, Jean-Gilles is a nice player and could start next year and Gocong appears to be a decent LB at SAM. Beyond that Justice has been pure crap and Bloom was the most overhyped Eagle since Mike Mamula. Perhaps between Avant, Gaither, Gocong, Bunkley and Jean-Gilles this draft could work out, but I just dont see it.

2006 Score: 15 Points. First Round Hit Total: 4/5 (3 or better). Quality Players Selected (total): 6/41 (4 or better)

And there you have it. Andy Reid/Tom Heckert scored a 76. Our next stop will be the Detroit Lions to set the baseline for draft crapiness. Questions, concerns, comments, errors, Omissions? Please leave in the comments for send to Justin@badnewsbloggers.com

Outdrafting Andy - Scorecard Update

Just a quick update about our Outdrafting Andy Reid Spectacular: I've still been toying with the draft scoring, but here's a basic outline (again, input is appreciated, Justin@badnewsbloggers.com):

• Players will be scored on quality or presumed quality (for players only in the league a few years)
• They'll be graded on a 5 point system, meaning that a 0 would be never playing an NFL game to a 5 being roughly a pro-bowler (multiple times). I may award bonuses to drafting of all-pros, potential hall of famers and the like.
• I've been debating the use of another score with respect to finding diamonds in the rough and draft busts. I may either apply this to the score of the player or make it a separate score (i.e. Tom Brady is worth more than say Richard Seymour because Brady was found in the 6th round. My issue with this is that judging coaches' drafting ability also needs to take in account the ability to hit on first rounders due to the cap/money implications).
• The same time period will be considered for each coach/regime
• Trades will be considered, but (most likely) judged on a case-by-case basis. For example, the Randy Moss for a 4th rounder trade may appear as though the Patriots hosed the Raiders, but let's be honest here, what were the Raiders going to do? Still, the Patriots certainly deserve some points for getting a potential hall of famer with a few gallons in the tank left to construct one of the best offenses ever.
• I'll do my best to maintain some consistency with my scoring, but if said player was a flash in the pan, but propelled his team to the title, his is indeed more valuable than a similar player suffering on a craptastic team.
• Scores per draft will be adjusted for number of picks and/or things out of his control (I might make the Patriots' loss of a pick in 07 a push). Again, trades will probably be taken as a total package (using the Moss example, I might simply grade the Raiders combined 4th rounders and average the score...though I have no intention of using the Raiders).
• I will utilize an average draft score so that we can compare coaches who didn't have similar lengths in tenure (for example, Tony Dungy's only been at Indy since 2002...its unfair to not give him three years, though we could count his Tampa time)
  
• And of course, I'm going to use an unbiased and fairly knowledgeable (equally knowledgeable) as a check to remove my possible bias.

So hopefully we'll have Big Andy's draft up shortly (I've been having lots of fun scouring draft boards and old trade articles). That being said, here's the list of regimes I will be pulling from:

• Philadelphia Eagles (Andy Reid)
• Seattle Seahawks (Mike Holmgren)
• New England Patriots (Bill Belichick)
• Jacksonville Jaguars (Jack Del Rio)
• Dallas Cowboys (Jerry Jones err Wade Phillips, though we'll be counting the Parcells years because of how involved Jones was regardless)
• Denver Broncos (Mike Shanahan)
• Chicago Bears (Lovie Smith)
• San Diego Charges (Norv Turner...but all the A.J. Smith era)

So hopefully it'll prove some point and we'll have a lot of fun.

Can You Out-Draft Andy Reid?

If you haven't noticed, lately there's been a bit of contempt amongst Eagles fans over the fate of Andy Reid. Most notably, the fire Andy Reid movements have driven up a lot of interest, especially after last Sunday's debacle to the Bungles.

Out of this came a debate between myself, some friends and a resulting message board conversation amongst some Eagles fans. Many of them believe Andy Reid should be fired. I'm not an apologist, but amongst the reasons for firing him: He can't draft, he's a terrible game day coach, his game plan sucks and he cannot adjust. This may or may not be true, but if he can't do any of those, then I fail to understand how he's a mediocre coach (his record is 1 game above .500 since the Super Bowl run of 2004). Assuming that between the seasons of 1999 (his first year) and 2004 (his best year) he was only partially responsible (between the Ray Rhodes Era and the Tom Modrak era, the latter of which ended in 2001 and left Reid essentially in total control) for the quality of players on his team.

Now the debate has shifted to Donovan McNabb, who didn't know you could tie an NFL game. The Eagles front office appears to be exacting revenge on McNabb and setting him up as the scape goat and even some fans have turned on him. But who's really to blame? After all, Reid called the plays, kept his quarterback in, prepared the game plan, so on and so forth.

So after much debate, I'm curious as to how good of a drafter Andy Reid and Company really is. And while its easy to point strike down the drafting of the likes of Quinton Caver or Jerome McDougal, its unfair to say that he missed without comparing it to the hit rates of other long term, successful head coaches.

So over the next week or so, BNB will be examining the drafts of certain comparable NFL regimes over the last decade or so. We will be scoring them based on quality of player, hit rate of draft position and value. We're still considering certain NFL regimes to compare but the following could be considered an incomplete list:

• New England Patriots
• Denver Broncos
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Dallas Cowboys
• Chicago Bears
• Atlanta Falcons
  

I'm still tweaking a scoring system, so your input is appreciated if you'd like to have a say (Justin@badnewsbloggers.com). We'll try to score one draft per day and provide a composite comparison sometime next week. Who knows, maybe we can even discover the true "Gold Standard" of draft experts.