I decided to check out the 2002 Draft after watching a few decent to good plays by Bryan Thomas on Thursday night. It surprised the hell out of me when I looked at the 2002 1st Round picks that we really didn't do that bad in getting Bryan Thomas. I know we've always compared him to Ed Reed since he was picked later and it sure would have been nice to have Mr. Reed roaming the middle of the field for the last 9 seasons but all things considered we could have done much worse, especially considering where we picked. Here is my breakdown of the 2002 First Round broken into 4 categories (Stud, Solid, Serviceable, Shitty). Done means currently out of NFL football with one of the 4 categories assigned based on their time in the NFL. 1. Houston David Carr Shitty 2. Carolina Julius Peppers Stud 3. Detroit Joey Harrington Done (Shitty) 4. Buffalo Mike Williams Shitty 5. San Diego Quentin Jammer Serviceable 6. Kansas City Ryan Sims Done (Shitty) 7. Minnesota Bryant McKinnie Solid 8. Dallas Roy Williams Solid 9. Jacksonville John Henderson Stud 10. Cincinnati Levi Jones Serviceable 11. Indianapolis Dwight Freeney Stud 12. Arizona Wendell Bryant Done (Shitty) 13. New Orleans Donte Stallworth Shitty 14. Giants Jeremy Shockey Solid 15. Tennessee Albert Haynesworth Solid 16. Cleveland William Green Done (Shitty) 17. Oakland Phillip Buchanon Serviceable 18. Atlanta T.J. Duckett Done (Shitty) 19. Denver Ashley Lelie Done (Shitty) 20. Green Bay Javon Walker Done (Solid) 21.New England Daniel Graham Solid 22. NY Jets Bryan Thomas Solid 23. Oakland Napoleon Harris Done (Serviceable) 24. Baltimore Ed Reed Stud 25. New Orleans Charles Grant Done (Shitty) 26. Philadelphia Lito Sheppard Solid 27. San Francisco Mike Rumph Done (Shitty) 28. Seattle Jerramy Stevens Done (Serviceable) 29. Chicago Marc Colombo Solid 30. Pittsburgh Kendall Simmons Done (Serviceable) 31. St. Louis Robert Thomas Done (Serviceable) 32. Washington Patrick Ramsey Shitty By my count there are 12 Solid/Stud players still playing decent to good NFL football 9 seasons later and we have one of those. It just surprised me as I've always viewed BT as somewhat of a bust being that he's a former first-round pick that hasn't become a sack artist. To have someone playing at a relatively high level 9 seasons in without a noticeable dropoff in skill level we should be somewhat satisfied.
I wouldn't call Joey Harrington Shitty persay, more unlucky. He played shitty because the Lions ruined him...
not everyone can be a superstar. if i remember correctly there were people wondering wtf we were doing because we had abraham and ellis. the guy was viewed as a freak who needed to learn the game. similar to how they talk about pierre-paul of the giants. so everyone figured he would be a pass rush specialist. he had a number of tough years where he played poorly and like a bit of a pussy. however he has definitely become a pretty solid player and you cant complain about his production the past 4 or 5 years.
The NFL has changed. Turnover is much, much worse then it was for a number of reasons. He has been serviceable without being a star. But at the same time it looks better bc he is the only guy on the same team! That's blasphemous!
Thomas has had an up and down career. There have been seasons where he's looked like a superstar then there have been seasons where he was absolutely awful. But I'm really glad we have kept him here.
He definitely was not shitty. He started for 7 years for the Saints and had two double digit sack seasons.
He had some good years for the Eagles (pro bowl) Charles Grant had some good years as well Both dealt with alot of injuries still I remember that day..... I was at a wedding, and checked a TV before the JETS picked before the ceremony started. "Ed Reed is still on the board? sweet." To See the TV a little later and say "WTF??!" hey at least we got Jon McGraw
Thomas strikes me as solid. One of the more consistent guys on this team over the past couple of years. He does seem to have a knack of making an impact play toward the end of games.
Then I would change him from solid to serviceable. He was drafted as pass rusher, but in 9 years he has 28 sacks and got 6 or more sacks once. He is averaging 3 sacks a year, or one every 5 or 6 games. He started and did not get hurt and was not a liability. That is not solid. It is serviceable. I sure wish the Jets kept John Abraham instead of Ellis because he is just what this defense is missing.
Abraham has 97.5 sacks in 11 seasons. He has not missed a game since 2006. That is one of Tanny's few blunders. The Jets had an elite pass rusher and let him go. Can you imaginge what Ryan could do with him? He was let go back in the Mangini "character player' days. Since then he has had some great years with Atlanta and stayed out of trouble while Ellis has been caught smoking pot and has been pedestrian. I would call Abraham a stud, Ellis solid, and Thomas serviceable.
Dude before you think Abraham is a blunder if we didnt trade him our run game sucks now. Dont you enjoy playing the Patriots and not having Wilfork run through the middle like he easily can. If we dont trade Abraham then we dont get Nick Mangold. The Falcons werent going to take Ellis either. They specifically wanted a pass rush, we wanted to rebuild a young offensive line because Bradway ignored it for years. You have to give some to receive some and we sacrificed a pass rusher who was injury prone at the time but also selfish in order to get the base of our solid offensive line. I think the deal worked out for us since we gave up a very good pass rusher and in return got the best center in the league.
