The Athletic ranks each teams quality of drafting

[ganesh]

Do they consider Knox, Bernard and Kincaid as success stories?   

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

15 hours ago, transient said:

Without looking in too much depth, what these numbers say to me is that with more than twice as many top 50 picks (9 to the Bills 4, which is a marker of NE sucking and drafting in the top half of the league in all but 1 of the 5 drafts) they managed to get 1 more pro-bowl (a truly pointless award nowadays) but fewer starting seasons (despite being a less talented roster over that timeframe). Seems like worse stats to me.

 

OK so it's actually Top 50 picks.  I was thinking it meant players who ended up being top 50 players afterwards a couple years down the road.  Duh!!

[smward8]

18 hours ago, Einstein said:

Bills came in at #8 over the past half decade. Lions were #1 and Chiefs were #2.
 

8. Buffalo Bills (8.46)

Top 50 picks: 4
Pro Bowls: 1
Starting seasons: 33
Best pick: edge Gregory Rousseau (No. 30, 2021); Worst pick: CB Kaiir Elam (No. 23, 2022); Best value: WR Khalil Shakir (No. 148, 2022)

Like the Chiefs, the Bills have done a terrific job maxing out the draft, despite spending most of the last five years near the bottom of the first round. The Elam miss hurts, but picks such as Shakir, James Cook, O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown have been huge — and a testament to Buffalo’s scouting department.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6284249/2025/04/20/nfl-draft-power-rankings-lions-chiefs-ravens/

Don't forget Christian Benford

 

[chris heff]

14 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Benford is awesome. But he doesn’t excuse missing so badly on a 1st rounder.

The 2022 draft on the whole was pretty successful. It produced four solid starters, Cook Bernard, Shakir and Benford. Braylon Spector is still on the roster and Araiza would probably be the punter if he hadn’t lied to them. That leaves two guys from that draft that didn’t work out, Elam and Tenuta. That’s a pretty solid draft. Also look at the guys drafted in the first round after Elam, nobody really jumps out. Only about 50% of first rounders turn into solid starters and it drops by round from there. Producing four starters is really good.

[Don Otreply]

18 hours ago, YattaOkasan said:

Weird they only went back half a decade cause most draft classes take three years to be evaluated. 
 

also no mention of Christina benford lol. Easily the best value. 

That they missed on our CB 1 shows a lack of detailed investigation on their behalf, that’s a pretty big whiff,