Developing consistency in acquiring good players from the annual NFL Draft process isn’t easy. Men like Bill Polian and Ozzie Newsome - widely regarded as the preeminent drafting authorities in the league - have come up with some clunkers; you’ve just got to do a little digging, and a lot of rationalizing, to find them. Those men make a very difficult business look easy, but they are clearly the exception to the rule.
Five NFL Rookies In Ideal Situations
Turning high-profile rookies into star players isn’t easy. These five NFL rookies, and their respective franchises, are so perfectly matched that each has a shot to make it look easy.
Plenty of immensely talented college football players have flamed out upon reaching the big leagues, for a myriad of reasons. Ranging from personal to psychological to practical to a sheer miscalculation of talent - and lots of reasons in between - it’s tremendously difficult to know which player is the right player for your franchise. Once that decision is made, the process is complicated by knowing how to cultivate the talent you’ve just staked your future on.
There’s a reason the NFL Draft is referred to as a crap-shoot. A lot has to go right, from the moment the pick is made onward, for a player to pan out for your franchise. Fans in Indianapolis and Baltimore shouldn’t take men like Polian and Newsome for granted; what they do is an incredibly unique gift.
This process is about more than the age-old debate of drafting to fill a need versus drafting to acquire the most talented players possible. It’s not about filling holes, avoiding character risks, gambling on upside, or finding immediate contributors. Being successful in the NFL Draft is simple philosophically, but extraordinarily difficult in execution: you just need to find the right player - the right fit - for your team. That requires knowing for certain the identity of your team, both schematically and philosophically. It requires knowing the men that the player will be working with - coaches, trainers, even executives in some cases - on a very intricate level.
In short, it’s about fit. You have to find the right fit for your team. If that best-fit fills a need area or can come in and play right away, all the better. But you’re taking a big risk if you try to fit even an elliptical peg into a round hole; the slightest detail could derail a promising on-paper fit.
The first few rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft were chock-full of good-fit selections. Here’s my take on the five best player-franchise fits from this past April’s festivities.
5. Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots. New England has been attempting to replace former star tight end Ben Coates since 1998. During the 1998 NFL Draft, and in all drafts since then, New England has selected five tight ends within the first four rounds of the draft. Here's that illustrious list:
Rod Rutledge: 27 career receptions
Jabari Holloway: 15 career receptions
Daniel Graham: 204 career receptions
Ben Watson: 167 career receptions
David Thomas: 56 career receptions
There are good players on that list. There are bad players on that list. None of them came close to resembling what Coates embodied in New England during some very lean years; now they’re starting again with Gronkowski.
Gronkowski is anything but a safe bet. He missed the entire 2009 season - which would have been his junior season at Arizona - after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated lumbar disc and nerve damage in his back. That type of injury can derail a promising career, as it’s the type that lingers and can have severe long-term ramifications.
If Gronkowski can stay healthy, however, he is a perfect fit in New England, particularly as a high-value second-round selection. He’s polished enough as a blocker to become the Patriots’ starter immediately. He’s got elite-level size and good enough speed, meaning he’ll be able to hurt defenses in the deep portions of the middle of the field. He’ll be an ideal red zone threat thanks to his length and hands. Nothing in particular stands out about Gronkowski’s game, but he’s an excellent all-around player that should flourish with his new team. He’s a great fit for the Patriots, both as a person and a player, and there’s enough skill talent in New England to allow for some rookie growing pains. He’s got a shot to be a star with his new team.
4. Sergio Kindle, OLB, Ravens. Mr. Newsome re-enters our conversation here, as once again, he happened upon an excellent talent deep into an NFL Draft; Kindle, considered by many a lock for the first round, fell to the Ravens with the No. 43 overall pick. We'll also continue the theme of injury risk here, as Kindle's knees were the underlying cause behind his slide into the second round, and could complicate his NFL development should he not be able to stay healthy.
Baltimore is a bit of a unique situation, because it's one of a highly select group of NFL franchises with an established locker room culture, and proven identities on both sides of the football. Character concerns are rarely an issue in Baltimore, because no self-respecting player is going to walk into that locker room and do anything to irritate the likes of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and several other well-established veterans.
Many teams were looking at Kindle as a 3-4 pass-rushing prospect, but the simple truth of the matter is that Kindle isn't a good fit for all 3-4 alignments. He's not an instinctive pass rusher with a polished repertoire of moves, and he isn't particularly long, so he'd have been a poor fit for a more traditional 3-4 front, such as New England's or Miami's. Baltimore's defense is anything but traditional, however. Kindle will be used as a blitzer, rather than as a pass rusher, in that scheme. He'll be protected by a massive defensive line, and he'll be asked to shoot gaps, rather than defeat blockers. The scheme he's in will mask some of his deficiencies, and if he gets an early opportunity to play (and stays healthy), he could turn into a slightly more athletic version of what Adalius Thomas brought to that defense.
3. Gerald McCoy, DT, Buccaneers. Tampa Bay, at the moment, is the exact opposite of Baltimore - they lack overall franchise identity. They're working toward one, however, building from the ground up behind youthful head coach Raheem Morris and an extremely green roster.
Morris has done one thing right to this point in his tenure as Bucs head coach - he brought back the Tampa 2 defense. When there’s an entire defensive philosophy named after your team, you’d best be playing that alignment; Tampa, however, had gotten away from that scheme in recent seasons, and in particular under former defensive coordinator Jim Bates, whom Morris fired during the ‘09 season. The Tampa 2 is back where it belongs, and the Bucs have done a nice job in starting to fill some holes there.
Ndamukong Suh got all the pre-draft hype - and with good reason; he is the better prospect - but McCoy is a phenomenally talented player in his own right, and he's a good person to boot (if still slightly immature). He's an excellent building block for a franchise that is desperate for young roster leadership, and he just happens to be a perfect fit as a defensive tackle in that aforementioned Tampa 2. Great scheme fit, great franchise fit - but unlike some of the other players on this list, there is a great deal more pressure on McCoy, as he's being asked to help create a culture, rather than walking into one that's already established. That comes with the territory of being the No. 3 overall pick.
2. Anthony Davis, OT, 49ers. Don't mess with Mike Singletary. Just ask Vernon Davis, the former sure-bet draft prospect that had bust written all over him before getting verbally undressed by his new coach. Davis bought into Singletary's program and rebounded in a huge way, bettering his previous career high in receptions by 26 (up to 78), yards by 456 (up to 965), and touchdowns by nine (up to 13). Given an ultimatum - the Singletary Way or the highway - Davis chose the path to NFL stardom.
Mike Singletary is a culture unto himself, and he’s molded his 49ers team in his image. This is one of the brightest young teams in the league, and they play hard, they play physically, and they’re going to win a lot of games in the very near future.
Singletary's presence, and the culture he's quickly established in San Francisco, was really driven home when the team made Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati and Taylor Mays its first three draft picks this past April. Iupati is a road-grading guard that will start immediately and will have an instant impact on the team's rushing attack. Mays is the most uniquely gifted and physical defensive back to emerge in quite some time, and at a bare minimum adds explosive hitting to a defense that could use more physicality.
But that culture means the most when talking about Davis, the No. 11 overall pick out of Rutgers. No one questions Davis’ talents, as many scouts believed that Davis was the most gifted offensive lineman available this past year. Despite serious questions about his maturity (he’s only 21 years old) and work ethic, he was still the third lineman off the board. He’s in a fantastic situation. Singletary is the perfect coach to get the most out of Davis between Sundays. The rookie enters an offense that made serious strides during the 2009 season behind quarterback Alex Smith.
There is a lot of talent offensively in San Fran, but better line play - and more consistency from Smith - are required. Davis will get a chance to start right away. Under Singletary, he'll have an opportunity to develop alongside some of the league's best young skill players (Davis and Michael Crabtree come to mind). Things are looking up in San Francisco, and this young tackle could really solidify a promising young team's offensive fortunes.
1. Dez Bryant, WR, Cowboys. Arguably, there was not a more explosive playmaker available in this draft class than Dez Bryant. C.J. Spiller and Jahvid Best might take offense to that, but it's much more difficult for a college wide receiver to be special than it is for a running back to be elite. Dez Bryant is a special talent. He's got outstanding athleticism, big, soft hands, and is an elite deep threat. He's got all the makings of being a game-breaking NFL wide receiver.
And boy, does he know it. His 87-catch, 19-TD sophomore season put him in the spotlight, and got him associated with the likes of Deion Sanders. He’d already arrived. That exposure made him susceptible to “I’mATalentedYoungReceiverItis” - an acquired sense of entitlement that negatively affects team-centric attitude, work ethic, and perceived intelligence.
Some might say that's precisely why Dallas isn't a good fit for the 21-year-old. I couldn't disagree more. Jerry Jones is a unique figure in the NFL, in that he welcomes pure talent onto his roster, regardless of perceived character risk. Jerry Jones is a risk-taker. But he's not stupid, either. He knows how to manage egos. At their best in the early '90s, Dallas was a team full of high-profile, difficult-to-manage personalities, and boy, did that group of players win a lot of football games.
Bryant is in a great situation. It's not an absolute necessity that he contribute immediately, because Tony Romo already has two targets with which he's developed excellent rapport in Jason Witten and Miles Austin. The Cowboys have plenty more in the way of offensive weaponry, including a deep stable of running backs, two more capable tight ends, and Roy Williams at receiver. There is considerable talent in that group, and if Bryant wants to play - trust me, he wants to play; he can't shine unless he's on the field - he'll need to work to gain Romo's trust.
Dallas isn’t being shy with their new star receiver, giving him Hall of Fame receiver (and enigmatic ego extraordinaire) Michael Irvin’s No. 88 jersey the moment he was selected. Bryant is immature and something of a diva, but that’s where his character flaws end. Jones can keep this young man’s ego in check just enough where production won’t be a problem, and as long as he makes plays for Romo and the Cowboys, he’s in line for a long, highly productive career in Big D. Rookie receivers typically don’t make a big impact, but Bryant has a very real shot at winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
This sort of topic is, of course, open to some interpretation. So we’re opening the comments section up for you - who do you believe is the best rookie/franchise fit in the league?
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