Just from the linemen from that list: Stephenson- HOF center for two Dolphins Super Bowl teams Mack- guard on Rams from 1966-78 (playoffs- 8 years; only 1 losing season) Boselli- All-Pro tackle for Jacksonville playoff teams Munoz- tackle for two Bengals Super Bowl teams Ogden- Super Bowl winner; say what you want they still ran the ball well with Lewis and Holmes; it wasn't 100% defense Webster- starter for four Super Bowl winners Slater- one Super Bowl Hannah- one Super Bowl; was #1 lineman on the 1978 Patriots who hold the all-time single season rushing mark (3,165 yards) Elliott- one Super Bowl victory Jones- one Super Bowl appearance
E. Smith, M. Irvin, and T. Aikmen were all first round selections. None of their offensive lineman were yet look at their Superbowl rings.
We can go on for years presenting both sides. All I am trying to get across is that no team needs to draft a o lineman that high in order to have success in the NFL.
The Cowboy team you're referring to was built before free agency. It was a lot easier to keep great players on your team then. They also had a great offensive line. IMO Emmit was not THAT great, his offensive line takes credit for A LOT of what he and his team accomplished.
Man this is a dumb thread. Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace, Walter Jones were all selected in the top 8 and all of them have played in the superbowl. Willie Anderson and Tarik Glenn block for some of the best offenses in the NFL today. I think Willie Roaf was a first rounder and he has turned out awesome...
WTF does that have to do with anything? Great football teams generally have great offensive lines. How you build that offensive line is irrelevant. Our FO is trying to build a great offensive line and the draft is one way to start doing that.
That's your belief, at the same time you can look at the Patriots run with a 6th round QB, a vagabond combo of Antowin Smith/Kevin Faulk at RB, a 2nd rounder in Branch, 7th rounder in Givens, and an undrafted free agent in Troy Brown as the offensive skill players. Using 1st rounders on skill position players is not the only way you can win or else the Lions would be the class of the NFC right now.
There are examples of Super Bowl winning teams with low draft picks at every position. Hell, Patriots in the last few seasons had low draft picks at most of the impact positions except D-line. One question you haven't answered is who you would rather had the Jets pick. Assuming your answer is Leinart, I would suggest you go back and watch every Texans game for the last 3 years because that is what you could expect. Leinart/Young/Cutler would all have looked about as good as David Carr has, that is assuming they weren't knocked out by an injury. No one is suggesting O-line needs to be built through high draft choices specifically, just that a good O-line is a prerequisite for offenensive success. With as atrocious a line the Jets had it made sense to spend the two first rounders to immediately upgrade the offensive line. The only other route would be via free agency...should the Jets have handed out a few Hutchinson/Vikings type deals?
OK look at it this way then. How many first round picks actually succeed in getting the the team who drafted them to the SuperBowl? I swear you guys all put your entire faith and hope into a bunch of 22 year olds. The fact of the matter is that good players come from ALL rounds of the draft. If we had some magic crystal ball for this stuff wouldn't the Jets have grabbed Marino? Who after his first year never brought his team back to the dance. Would NE been able to draft Brady if he was slotted as a first rounder? It takes a team. Know why I love getting the 2 top O linemen in this draft? Because WE GOT CRUSHED LAST YEAR FOR HAVING NO O LINE. You think CMoney just suddenly realized he's getting old and had a sucky year? You think getting 2 QBs knocked out of a season in a ten minute span would have happened with a solid line? Think we MIGHT still have Wayne Chrebet? And really we had FOUR first rounders in 2000. 2 skill positions did crap. Who were the stars? THE LINEMEN. Who are we pissing and moaning about not replacing? A LINEMAN. Stop whining - we picked up almost every position this draft. Scenario: We trade the house to move up to get Reggie Bush. We have no O-line, and Bush, having to go out and fight extra hard for yardage because he has no blockers gets hurt in the first game. Would THAT have been better than signing a young strong line? Take a good look at Denver. See them turn ANY RB into a star. Watch it every year. Why? Because Shanihan builds a terrific line. I don't care where it comes from, first, 4th, 7th round. The fact is they get good players. There were two GREAT players available and ready to start. YOU GRAB THEM. If Penny comes back and has a great year (or Ramsey or Bollinger) and Martin rushes for 1000 yards again. It won't have anything to do with this year's draft, right?
^There's a team that had no 1st rounders on the offensive line. But on the other hand, some teams won titles with no 1st rounders at the "playmaking" positions. I'll give you the 1984 49ers as an example. 1984- QB- Joe Montana, 3rd round RB- Wendell Tyler, 3rd round FB- Roger Craig, 2nd round WR- Dwight Clark, 10th round WR- Freddie Solomon, 2nd round Can I conveniently not list the tight end because he was drafted by New England nine years earlier and only caught 23 passes in 1984? TE- Russ Francis, 1st round in 1975 with NE
Funny Carson Palmer and Peyton Manning have been to exactly ZERO Super Bowls. Answer this for me, how many QB's taken in the first round have won the SB? Rothlisberger and ?
You must not have seen the highlights of of first pick. He might be two years away from making an impact, he will get burned if they start him this year.
You're right, he likely won't have a big impact year one. Not many rookies do. Hopefully Ferguson and Mangold will be the foundation of a solid offensive line for years to come though and that will be a HUGE impact on the future sucess of this team.
Funny how all the experts/former players/gurus said Ferguson will step in as the starter from day 1. The funny thing is Leinart/Young/Cutler all won't be starting barring injury in their first year either.
I saw the highlights and listened to all the analysts say that he goes into the starting line-up DAY 1, takes the reps in all the practices, and is a starter. Funny this is all you can come back with
The Bengals actually picked there tackle in 1996 in Willie Anderson (10th overall). Odgen (ravens) was picked in the same year (4th overall). Pace (Rams) was picked (this is gonna shock you) 1st overall. Walter Jones (seattle) was picked the same year (1997) 6th overall. Also that year Tarkin Glenn (colts) was picked 19th overall. Tra Thomas (EAgles) in 1998 was 11th overall. Should I continue? All of these teams have either been in the Super bowl in recnet years or won the Super bowl with the exception of the Bengals. But you brought the Bengals up so I included it for you.
