Evaluating a player by his draft slot is foolish. He is much more worth the #1 pick than Alex Smith, David Carr, Courtney Brown, Tim Couch, Ki-Jana Carter, or Dan Wilkinson just to name a few of the amazing busts drafted at #1 over all. So yes, he was worth it. In his Prime he was the best receiver on the teams he played for. He was great over the middle. Your vastly under rating him. The bias in your posts because you did not like his is all to evident.
Great point of general application. Picking in the draft can be seen as a good result if a high pick turns into a solid contributor. It's not like every team's first round pick soon becomes the best player on the team, let alone in the NFL. That's not the standard for a good pick. Picking high in the draft merely raises the odds of getting that solid contributor. It's not a guarantee of getting a spectacular player. That's not the standard. Take Ellis - is he the best defensive lineman on the team? Has he always made every play, played at a consistently high level, created no other problems? No, he has not met that standard. Have the Jets gotten a solid contributor, a starter who gets it done, is a team leader and has been doing it for year after year? Yes, and by that measure he was a very good first round pick. Yet some complain about him because he's not a superstar. That's not the standard.
The best part about your argument is that we got Ellis and another 1st round player by trading Keyshawn to Tampa, making the #1 overall pick more worth the investment than it had been.
He may have been worth the #1 pick when the number 1 pick got a rookie contract of 13 million dollars (which is what his was). Today the number 1 pick gets at least 60 million and there is no way he would have been worth that. The point being that I don't think any WR is worth a top 10 pick anymore and neither do most GMs. Actually I don't think he even got 13 million..trying to find it now.
While I agree with you in gerenral about wideouts not typically being worthy of a very high pick, there are exceptions. Calvin Johnson is one. He was much more worthy of a #1 overall pick than JaMarcus Russle of that year. Wideout, in my opinion, is the most over rated position by most fans. With that beign the case most fans vastly over rate ourt need to upgrade in that area. We are fine as is. Depth in the trenches should be more of a priority. All one has to do is look back to 2007 to see how quickly a weak O-line can derail a franchise.
Was Eli Manning a head case when he wanted to be drafted to the Giants??? Maybe he doesnt want to play for SF.. If we had the chance to get him we shouldnt hesitate the least bit you need a receiver with some attitude. Michael Irvin was the same way and he turned out alright..
so was Michale Williams, how'd that turn out? you can't simply point to receivers that support your position and ignore the ones you don't as if the attitude has never failed.
