Thread: JA Draft History

Which thread?

Merged.

Originally Posted by chisportsfan

With all the "debate" going on about JA, I thought I would go back and look at all the Bears Drafts from 2001. I'm not 100% positive that JA was in charge of the 2001 draft, but it works in his favor with regard to drafting O lineman, so I'm including it in this assessment.

This is not an indictment on JA one way or the other. My opinion on the draft is included at the end.

I also looked up JA's history via Wikipedia. While many claim wikipedia is not factual, in this case, the facts are undeniable.

Here is JA's work history:

1972: Colorado State Rams (defensive line coach)

1973-1974: Tampa Spartans (defensive line coach) (recruiting coach)

1975-1979: Syracuse Orange (defensive line coach)

1980: Dallas Cowboys (scout)

1981: Calgary Stampeders (linebackers coach)

1982-1986: New York Giants (regional scout)

1987-2000: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (director of player personnel)

2001-present: Chicago Bears (general manager)

Here's a good link to the Bears draft history:

http://www.drafthistory.com/teams/bears.html

Here's some of the breakdown:

Rounds 1 - 3:
- 14 Defensive players taken*
- 15 Offensive players taken
* I put Hester on defense because at the time he was a returner/DB

Rounds 4 and beyond(there's supplemental picks included)
- 29 Defensive players taken (9 linemen)
- 25 Offensive players taken (9 linemen)

Lineman taken in rounds 1 - 3
- 7 Defensive: M. Haynes '03 (1st), T. Harris '04 (1st), T. Johnson '04 (2nd), D. Dvoracek '06 (3rd), M. Harrison '08 (3rd), D. Bazuin '07 (2nd), and J. Gilbert '09 (3rd).

- 4 Offensive: M. Gandy '01 (3rd), M. Columbo '02 (1st), T. Metcalf '02 (3rd) and C. Williams '08 (1st)

Those are the facts.

Now for opinions...lol.

I split up the numbers the way I did because I feel you can get bona fide starters in rounds 1 - 3, whereas in the later rounds, you are drafting for depth. After the 3rd round, the chances of a player making the team get much slimmer. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I THINK PLAYERS DRAFTED AFTER ROUND 3 CANNOT OR DO NOT MAKE NFL TEAMS! All I'm saying is that the odds go down. Some players drop, some are taken as a reach. Some are just good finds and/or bloom late. All I'm saying it that by the end of the 3rd round, roughly the top 100 players in the talent pool are off the board.

It's interesting to see a couple things after looking at the numbers.

- In 10 years of drafts, the Bears have only drafted 3 more D lineman than O lineman. I thought that gap would be greater.

- The split between offense and defense is ALMOST 50/50, with a slight edge to the defense.

- In the last 8 drafts, the Bears have only spent 1 high draft pick on O line. Yet they consistently draft D line.

We can all debate about the quality of the player and whether he was drafted in the appropriate slot because hindsight is 20/20.

I did not post this to praise or condemn JA. I thought that would follow...lol. I simply wanted to post the facts.

And if want More facts and to be "fair and even handed". You also need to take into account the Free Agents a team signed, that if a GM has spent alot filling by F/A.. The team obviously would be using the draft LATER to fill as you said 'depth" than starters, you got in Free agency. So that will "skew" the picks used in draft, if addressed in free agency

F/A Olineman:( starters talking)

2003- john Tait - left/right tackle

2004 -Ruben brown - guard

2005- Fred miller Right tackle, Roberto garza guard

2009- framk omiyale, Orlando pace

D-line:

2004- ogunleye DE

2007- darwin walker DT

2010- julius peppers

Originally Posted by chisportsfan

I didn't include the FA's because of time. I'm glad you included them. Thanks. I wanted to get the draft stuff posted asap.

It is still clear to me though that JA helped build the line prior to our '06 SB appearance, but has not done nearly as much after to replace the aging veterans. That's just my opinion. The facts bear that out to, IMO.

Agreed. it was obvious the "plan" on the o-line early was Free Agents and build the "D" in Draft.. And nothing wrong with that. Just Dont like how because whether agree or not, the "o-line" was addressed, but because successfully addressed with tait/r brown/miller/garza, they didn't also use draft picks, people 'forget" about the Free agents and try and "pretend" the GM just an idiot and never addressed the line because didn't have top picks- and to me that is very faulty thinking and more a bias and silly 'score mentality" stuff

Think Angelo failed and went "back to the F/A well" in 2009 and unlike 2003-06 where worked, it did not the 2nd time and now we are paying for that Failure. And do think we will be Going Draft this time around in 2011 for the Oline and "maybe" one top F/A, because will be alot of the RFA's back on Market after season.