I was thinking about draft order for the upcoming draft and realized we will end up in the dead zone again (14-20) unless we have a complete turnaround and run the table.
Over the past 7 years, 6 teams have had only 1 selection in the first 16 picks:
01 - Andrew Luck - IND
10 - Jerod Mayo - NE
12 - Haolti Ngata - BAL
14 - Chris Williams - CHI
15 - Lawrence Timmons - PIT
15 - Jason Pierre Paul - NYG
First, what seems pretty interesting is the fact that these teams represent 5 SuperBowl winners and 5 losers, totaling 10 Super Bowl appearances in the last 7 years. Now this would make sense because good teams pick in the 2nd half of the round, but I was surprised at the sustained success of all these teams compared to teams like STL and BUF who have picked 7 times in the last 7 years in the top half of the draft.
Looking at the names above, every team drafted an impact player except for the Bears. Now take that out to 10 years for the same teams:
04 - Phillip Rivers - NYG
04 - Cedric Benson - CHI
10 - Terrell Suggs - BAL
11 - Ben Roethlisberger - PIT
13 - Ty Warren - NE
14 - Tommie Harris - CHI
16 - Troy Polamalu - PIT
The Bears again tanked compared to the selections other than NE. The Giants turned Rivers into Manning, while Suggs, Roethlisberger, and Polamalu all have been franchise players since being drafted. I know the Bear's top picks have always been scrutinized, but it is hard to defend our picks when other teams have had success year in and year out without having good picks as well.