Draft Countdown: 32 Days Until No. 1 pick; History of Bargain No. 1, Second-Round Flops
NFL Picks | by Mike O'Hara | 03.24.2009/10:50AM
The Lions are doing the right thing by having preliminary talks with agents representing the top prospects in next month’s draft.
If signing their top prospect is going to be a hangup – as the Houston Texans found out before the 2006 draft – this is the time to find out. Better than having an extended holdout, as the Oakland Raiders did when they drafted JaMarcus Russell first overall in 2007.
There is precedent for a team signing the top pick at a cut—rate discount – and it never will be duplicated.
In 1991, the Dallas Cowboys traded with New England to get the first pick overall. The Cowboys used it to draft defensive tackle Russell Maryland – and had him signed to a contract before the draft.
It came out later that the Cowboys had done some pre-draft negotiating with Maryland. No team – including the Cowboys – had Maryland rated as the No. 1 prospect in the draft.
However, the Cowboys needed a defensive tackle, and their head coach, Jimmy Johnson, had a history with Maryland. Maryland played for Johnson at Miami (Fla.). Johnson left the Hurricanes for the Cowboys in 1989.
Based on those who knew the inner workings of the Cowboys’ dealings in 1991, the Cowboys made a smart business deal with Maryland. Both sides knew that Maryland wasn’t the No. 1 prospect in the draft. He was rated somewhere on the fringe of the top 10.
To get his name on a contract before the draft, the Cowboys promised Maryland more money than he would have gotten in his projected draft slot, but not as much as the legitimate No. 1 prospect would have commanded.
No wonder Maryland and the Cowboys’ hierarchy were smiling broadly on draft day. Both sides were winners in negotiations.
Maryland had a decent career. He played 10 pro seasons – the first five in Dallas – and was a full-time starter. He was on the Cowboys’ three Super Bowl champions. He signed with Oakland in 1996 and finished his career with one season in Green Bay in 2000.
There is an unofficial slotting process for rookie contracts—- from the first pick through the last. That was never more evident than in the 2001 draft, when the Lions took quarterback Mike McMahon and wide receiver Scotty Anderson on consecutive picks on the fifth round. McMahon’s signing bonus was $500 more than Anderson’s – just for being drafted one pick higher.
As I recall, there was a furor – not surprisingly – when word leaked out on how the Cowboys’ low-balled the top pick in 1991.
The Players Association and the NFL made sure that in the future, teams couldn’t sign draft picks to contracts below market value by drafting them higher than their projected slot.
Roster rot: I doubt if I coined the phrase “roster rot,” but I’ve used it – and probably overused it – to describe the gaping holes in the Lions’ roster created by high draft picks who failed to live up to their draft status.
Defensive tackle Shaun Cody is the latest example. He signed with Houston on Monday as a free agent. Cody was a second-round draft pick out of Southern Cal in 2005.
The Lions traded up four spots on the second round to get Cody. They gave Tennessee a fourth-round pick.
In four years, Cody started 11 games – four of them in 2008. He had 1.5 sacks, but none since his rookie year. A toe injury sustained early in 2006 limited him to six games that year, but it certainly can’t explain his lack of production.
The Lions’ string of second-round failures began long before Matt Millen’s arrival as president in 2001.
For a history lesson in how to wreck a franchise with bad draft picks, grit your teeth and consider the last dozen years of second-round stink-outs – with few exceptions:
1997: Offensive tackle Juan Roque and defensive back Kevin Abrams, One was big and stiff. The other was small and injury prone.
1998: Wide receiver Germane Crowell and quarterback Charlie Batch. Crowell had one 1,00-yard receiving season but was inconsistent and injured. Batch had a strong arm, leadership and was a winner, but he quickly fell out of favor with new head coach Marty Mornhinweg in 2001. For some reason, Mornhinweg preferred Ty Detmer and Mike McMahon.
Batch is still in Pittsburgh, with two Super Bowl rings, as a valuable backup.
1999: Second-round pick traded to Miami. That’s how you avoid failing. Don’t have one.
2000: Linebacker Barrett Green. Under-sized, injury-prone, full-time starter in 2002-03. Out of football after spending 2004-05 with the Giants.
2001: Center Dominic Raiola and defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. Millen struck it big his first year, with a starting center and three Pro Bowls for Rogers. No. 3 came in Cleveland last year.
2002: Defensive end Kalimba Edwards. More potential than production. After six seasons in Detroit, he signed with Oakland last year. Not a flop, but never lived up to potential.
2003: Linebacker Boss Bailey: Signed with Denver last year after five seasons in Detroit. A full-time starter, except for 2003, when a knee injury put him out for the entire season.
2004: Linebacker Teddy Lehman: He showed promise as a rookie, starting every game and playing more plays than anyone on the Lions’ defense. He hasn’t started a game since ’04, and he was released last year by Tampa Bay and Detroit before landing with Buffalo, where he played four games without a start.
2005: Shaun Cody: The tradition continues – Flop City.
2006: Safety Daniel Bullocks: A promising rookie year, missed all of ’07 with a knee injury, and was up and down last year. He still might pan out.
2007: Trading gave the Lions three second-round picks. So far, it’s a game of Three-Card Monte – and the Lions were skinned all three times.
In order:
Quarterback Drew Stanton, who was out of favor with two offensive coordinators and does not figure to be the starter or primary backup in year 3.
Safety Gerald Alexander, who started all 16 games as a rookie but missed most of last year with a serious neck injury, and did not play well before the injury.
Defensive lineman Alama Ikaika—Francis. Is he a tackle? Is he an end? Is he neither? Two starts, one sack, in two years means it could be Door No. 3.
2008: Linebacker Jordon Dizon: He’s under-sized and suited to a 3-4 defense – and didn’t do much as a rookie. That’s a bad combination on a team that’s getting bigger and committed to a 4-3.
The balance sheet: 12 years, 16 second-round picks, and only two remain who are starters – Raiola and Bullocks.
That’s roster rot.
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