The Dropouts

Every draft there seems to be one or two players that drop out of the top 10 into the late first round or even the 2nd round.  First let's go into recent history and see some of these players and how they panned out:

                                                                       via chronicle.northcoastnow.com

2006 NFL Draft:

Matt Leinart - Yes he didn't drop "out of the top 10" but he did fall pretty far...some thought he could have been the top pick in 2005 (if he would have left early), and even the top 3 for 2006, but he had to sit though 6 more than that until he was chosen by the Arizona Cardinals at #10. He was passed over by at least 6 teams that needed and/or drafted a QB. Two other QBs were chosen ahead of him (Vince Young and Jay Cutler).

So how'd he turn out?:

Matt Leinart was drafted to a team that had an aging QB and was in the perfect situation to "sit and watch then take over" (ala Aaron Rodgers), but when he got his chance he stunk it up.  So he was demoted back to the bench and Kurt Warner took over again.  Eventually Kurt Warner retired (after making it to the Super Bowl) and Matt was finally going to get his second chance...and he failed...so much so that he was cut...after the team brought in Derrick Anderson and TWO rookie QBs. Both him and Anderson were cut and replaced by these relatively unknown rookies.  I actually had to look up where Leinart is right now...and he's actually on the Texans (one of the teams that passed on him) and backing up Matt Schaub.  

Career Grade: D- (hey he went to the big game right...that counts for something and nothing)

2007 NFL Draft:

Brady Quinn - Yet again another QB falls, this time even farther down the list, and he got picked up by the...Browns. Some predicted he might go to the Browns, but maybe with thair 3rd (overall) pick in the draft, instead they traded up to snag him at the number 22 overall pick.

So how'd he turn out?:

Quinn had to fight Derrick Anderson (him again??) for a starting job, which kept going back and forth for who knows how long.  Cleveland gave up on him after a couple years and traded him for a quality player in Peyton Hillis from the Broncos. The same year the Broncos also drafted Tim Tebow and still had Kyle Orton at the starting QB leaving Quinn at the 3rd string and it's not a good outlook for the future.

Career Grade: F+ (is there such thing? I didn't wanna be too harsh on him)

2008 NFL Draft:

Almost every WR- 2008 was not a year to be a receiver coming out of college. Not one receiver was drafted in the 1st round, I am not sure that is a first, but it's quite amazing. Donnie Avery was the first one taken off the board and it didn't get much better than him after that. 6 receivers later came probably the best WR in the draft in DeSean Jackson. but that was it.  The rest of the WR class highlights include (later in the draft): Pierre Garcon and Steve Johnson (who didn't really do much til this past year).

So how'd they turn out?:

Like I said, Jackson was really the only great WR in the entire draft class, the GMs and scouts were pretty on the money about this class. Not many individual players really dropped this year so the whole WR group is the only one I could really find.

Accumalative Career Grade: C- (Jackson saved them from dropping to a D-)

2009 NFL Draft:

Chris "Beanie" Wells- The Saints were thought to have possibly tried to get Beanie, but it didn't happen.  Instead he dropped down to the 2nd to last pick in the 1st round and was picked up by the Cardinals (again). Going into Arizona he had the starting job almost given to him, but ended up sharing duties with Tim Hightower (a 5th round pick)

So how'd he turn out?:

Wells still has time to get better, and has been plagued by injuries so far...he's had a decent career average wise with a 4.1 YPR. It's hard to grade him because he's only been in the league for 2 years, but if I had to...

Career Grade: B- (needs more time, but he could bump that up to an A)

2010 NFL Draft:

Bruce Campbell- Man, we knew the Raiders were going to take him, we just thought Al Davis was kookie enough to take him in the 1st round...instead he dropped...way down...to the 4th round. And somehow...the Raiders not-so-surprisingly drafted him! He was one of those physical beasts that Davis loves. Instead they took Rolando McClain in the first (Al must have been sleeping in his sarcophagus at the time because I know he would not allow this to happen).

So how'd he turn out?:

One year is way too soon to tell how a player "turned out", but so far he's a backup guard for the Raiders and played in 10 games in his young career. He's the definition of a "project" player and we'll just have to wait and see how he does later.

Career Grade: C (Can't grade him any higher or lower, seeing as: How much more (or less) can you expect from a 4th round pick?

And there you have it, as you can see sometimes scouts and GMs just know when these players aren't NFL material, and "experts" (journalists) or "amatuers" (bloggers) sometimes have horrible "big boards" and mock drafts.  Not to say it isn't fun, just sometimes when a team passes over a player and you're yelling at the TV...just think we could have had some of these players.