i think a fun way to sate all this draft fever is by looking back at last year's draft and evaluating how our favorite players fared. so, please use this as a forum to congratulate yourself, or eat your crow.

I looked a draft mag, i forget which one right now, and this is what they had to say about some of the players from last years draft. O, and i took the liberty to group them accordingly to how i see fit, so to breakup what would otherwise be a very long list. Also, i bolded the players that were thephins.com fan forum favorites from last year, just for fun.

ROOKIES OF THE YEAR
percy harvin - Off ROY, multipurpose star
brian cushing - Def ROY, 133 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 int

GIVE THEM A TROPHY TOO
hakeem nicks - solid while battling injuries, 790 yards, 6 td
jeremy maclin - dangerous speed wr, 773 yards 4 td
brian orakpo - solid while learning olb, 50 tackles, 10 sacks
clay matthews - fierce edge rusher, 49 tackles, 10 sacks
michael oher - outstanding at RT
jarius byrd - Def ROY contender, 9 int , 42 tackles

THEY'LL GET A NICE PLAQUE
mike wallace - great deep threat, 759 yards, 19.4 ypc, 6 td
mark sanchez - inconsistent, but stepped it up in playoffs
sean smith - steady as #1 CB, no int
austin collie - calssic Indy slot receiver, 60 catches, 676 yards
kenny britt - nice deep threat who came on late, 701 yards
lesean mccoy - good fill in for westbrook, 945 scrimmage yards
Brandon pettigrew - good starting TE, 30 catches, 346 yards
phil loadholdt - solid as starting RT
beanie wells - good time-share rb, 793 yards, 4.5 ypc, 7 td
Alex Mack - 16 starts, quality performer

REALLY NICE RIBBONS
Andy Levitre - showed promise, 16 starts
Vontae Davis - 9 starts 49 tackles, 4 int
Shonn Green - 540 yards, 5.0 ypc, but fumble problems
Rey Maualuga - solid starting SLB, 59 tackles, 3 ff
Mohammed Massoquoi - stepped up as top WR, 34 catches, 624 yards, 3 td
Eben Britton - decent in 15 starts at RT
Terrence Knight - 16 games started, solid run clogger, 45 tackles
Louis Vasquez - solid in 14 starts
david beuhler - KO specialist, 38% touchback (2nd in NFL)
johnny knox - decent big play threat, 527 yards, 5 td

HAND SHAKE FOR A JOB WELL DONE
matt stafford - hit often, 53.3% comp rate, 13 td 20 int
Sebastian Vollmer - solid in 8 starts for injured matt light
Brian Hartline - special teamer, surprise as WR (506 yards)
louis delmas - decent starting fs for a rookie, 2 int, 1 td
DeAndre Cory - won starting job midseason, 79 tackles
Derek Cox - started 16 games, serviceable #2 CB, 4 int
michael crabtree - long holdout, decent in 11 games, 625 yards
Mike Thomas - reliable slot, 48 catches, 453 yards
Louis Murphy - team's 2nd leading WR, 34 catches, 521 yards
malcolm jenkins - serviceable sub-package CB, 47 tackles

HONORABLE MENTION
john phillips - good blocker, active 16 games
Pat McAffee- good punter (44.3 average) and KO specialist
James laurinitis - average MLB, team leading 120 tackles
josh freeman - raw, but not a disaster, 10 td 18 int
bj raji - rotated in at NT, 25 tackles, 1 sack
Shawn nelson - 16 starts, 17 catches, 156 yards 1 td
glover quinn - serviceable cb, 68 tackles, 11 pds
knowshon moreno - mediocre starter, 947 yards, 3.8 ypc
al afalava - decent in 13 starts, 53 tackles, 7 pd, 1 ff

PARTICIPATION RIBBON
jerraud powers - solid when forced into lineup
pat chung - 23 tackles, 2 sacks, int as a sub-package DB
darius butler - nickleback, 3 int, td
paul kuger - active 9 games, key int in win over pitt
connor barwin - 4.5 sacks as a rotational de
zach miller - promising pass catcher, 21 catches, 212 yards
rashad jennings - good backup, 202 yards, 5.2 ypc, td
darcel mcbath - serviceable nickle, 15 tackles, 2 int
richard quinn - active 15 games as blocking te
william beatty - promising, but inconsistent in 4 starts at RT
asher allen - 24 tackles, 1 int, sub package CB

THANKS FOR COMING OUT
aaron brown - flashes as backup, 131 yards, 4.9 ypc
clint sintim - 14 tackles, 1 sack, in 11 games
robert ayers- 18 tackles as back up rush olb
Eric wood - 10 starts, but overmatched
michael johnson - versatile reserve
matt shaughnessy - serviceable as a rotational dt
jasper brinkley - 21 tackles in 4 games for injured ej henderson
chris owens - 26 tackles, 2 int, subpackage cb

BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR
everette brown - 2.5 sacks as backup de
ray millen - 33 tackles, 2 sacks as rotational dt
rashad johnson- 18 tackles, 1 pd in limited time
jamon meredith- picked off ps, 4 starts
travis beckum - ST contributer, 8 catches for 55 yards
fili moala - 7 tackles in limited time as dt
ziggy hood - rotational de, 8 tackles, 1 sack
pat white - 0 for 5 passing, 80 yards rushing
glen coffee - brutal, 226 yards, 2.7 ypc as #2 back
aaron curry - average slb, not a playmaker, 60 tackles, 2 sacks
tyson jackson - starting DE, minimal impact, 37 tackles, 0 sacks

MAYBE YOU'D LIKE WATCHING THE GAME INSTEAD
aaron maybin - non existent, 16 tackles, 0 sacks
patrick turner - inactive
ron brace - saw limited time despite wilfork injury
andre smith - underwhelming in 5 games
brian robiskie - dissapointing, buried on depth chart, 7 rec
david veikune - used sparingly despite injuries to lb core
kraig urbich - did not appear in reg season
donald brown - underwhelming part timer, 281 yards
terrance taylor - practice squad for carolina and detroit
eugene monroe - shaky in 13 starts at LT, 7 sacks allowed
SenDerrick Marks - little impact as reserve dt
jared cook - seldom used outside of st, 9 rec
alphonso smith - disatrious as sub-package CB
derrius heyward bey - far from contributing, 9 rec, 127 yards, td
mike mitchell - 13 tackles as reserve, struggled with injuries
jason williams - saw limited time in 5 games as reserve
ramses barden - active for 3 games, 1 catch
cornelius ingram - torn ACL in left knee for 2nd straight year
macho harris - 8 starts at fs, mediocre before losing job
jarron gilbert - moved inside, minimal action in 4 games
juaquin iglasius- active for 1 game
derrick williams - seldom used WR, fumble problems as KR
tj lang - overmatched in limited action at RT
peria jerry - ineffective in 2 starts before tearing ACL
duke robinson - played sparingly as backup G
jason Smith - shaky at RT, missed 8 games (concussion)
dorel scott - underwhelming at DT (18 tackles)
max unger - played G and C, below average at both spots

 

there are two things that strike me looking at this list

1. look at all those receivers who made an impact. WR is supposed to be a position that takes 3 years to be worth a moderate amount of salt, but looking at last years draft, WR was the most impactful position.

2. look at all those first round, read HIGH first rounders, who didnt do squat. wow. and i thought jason allen was a bump on a log.

 

1. theres a reason sean was the #1 and vontae the #2. going into this season, i dont see anything that has changed. there were threads on here somewhere with stats that backed that up too.

2. as for 'average' james laurinitis, that stuck out strangely to me too, but i copied all of those blubs word for word out of the magazine (i think it was profootball weekly or something like that) so none of those assessments are my own. i just like to make funny headlines.