The NFL Draft’s seventh round exposed
The NFL’s famed for its spectacles, and the NFL Draft is one of its most renowned. In the weeks and months leading up to the day of the draft, there are countless pre-draft shows, mock drafts and insider reports about who may go first, second or third overall, as well as speculation about who may be available in the second or third rounds and what teams might trade up or down to get the players they’re looking for.
Even topics like how the fresh faces from college interact in interview with scouts and teams receive substantial play on message boards, in sports columns and on broadcasts during the offseason.
As expected, the hype, drama and pinnacle of the draft tends to surrounds the first overall pick and the first round. More often than not players drafted in the early rounds of the draft do see the field quicker and do make more of an impact for their teams. But once the publicity has died down, once the big contracts are all handed out, and once the commentators have overanalyzed the draft to death, the seventh round takes place.
Most of these college players have slipped in the draft due to factors such as injury, poor NFL Combine performances, weak programs or even simple obscurity. However, every so often, when the stars align just right, impact players and Hall-of-Famers are unknowingly drafted in the final round.
In the 1990, 1994, 1999 and 2006 Drafts, the heavens opened in the seventh round and the NFL was graced with game-changing talents. The final rounds in those drafts respectively produced a Hall-of-Fame record-setting and position-defining tight end, an NFC rushing champion who would set the record for most carries in a season and lead his franchise to their only Super Bowl appearance, a wide-receiver who is currently closing in on 10,000 receiving yards and 60 touchdowns (and holds the record for career receptions as a Green Bay Packer), and lastly a record-setting (most receptions in first two seasons) game-changing Super Bowl champion.
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Football fans will know the names Shannon Sharpe, Jamal Anderson, Donald Driver and Marques Colston. What many fans probably don’t know is that they were all drafted in the seventh round of their respective drafts, and their impacts generally weren’t felt immediately.
With the exception of Colston, who was forced into a starting role in Week 1 of his first season because of a surprise trade of Donte Stallworth to the Eagles, these players’ seventh-round status may have been what kept them off the field for the first few years of their careers. Sharpe, Anderson and Driver all took at least three years to become impact players, but they eventually made the transition from late-round picks to stars.
The seventh round isn’t generally as immaterial as its obscurity suggests, though. Sure, Sharpe, Anderson, Driver and Colston are the biggest names to come out of it recently, but many other players have gone from seventh-round picks to productive parts of NFL rosters.
Brandon Benson, manager of SB Nation‘s Green Bay Packers’ blog Acme Packing Company said the Packers in particular have placed significant value on their seventh-round picks lately.
“Nearly every seventh-round pick in recent years has made the roster, and I don’t think they would draft someone in the seventh-round without knowing there was a roster spot they could win,” Benson said.
Benson said the team carefully scouts prospects who may go as deep as the seventh round, and that was part of what helped them land Driver.
“They certainly saw something in him,” Benson said. “I’ve read stories of Packer scouts attending pretty remote pro days, and they’ve gone nearly everywhere to watch players.”
Finding a gem in the seventh round doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve had a great overall draft, though. Looking back at those draft classes of the Broncos (1990), Falcons (1994), Packers (1999) and Saints (2006), the players taken with their seventh-round picks were by far the most notable ones they selected.
That may have helped those seventh-round selections, as earlier-round picks washing out may have given them more opportunities than they would have seen otherwise. The seventh round may carry its own benefits, though. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, more seventh-round draftees (nine) have entered Canton, Ohio than fourth-(six), fifth-(six) or sixth-(one) round picks.
It’s also notable that the last selection from the final four rounds to go into the hall was Sharpe, drafted in 1990.
These numbers, while not staggering in volume , raise the question of if the seventh round is a product of good scouting, luck or self-motivation from players driven to prove themselves. Despite the success found by Sharpe, Anderson, Driver and Colston, most seventh-round selections aren’t going to be franchise-changing players. Many more are busts who never make the team or find their way out after a season or two. With those odds to face, approaching the seventh round isn’t a particularly easy task for any general manager.
Jason Kirk, editor of SB Nation Atlanta said Falcons’ general manager Thomas Dimitroff seems to follow the same guidelines for the seventh round that he subscribes to in the earlier rounds.
“The Falcons favor smart players who stay out of trouble, distinctions which certainly describe the team’s 2011 picks,” Kirk said.
Benson feels the Packers have a slightly different approach, electing to go for pure talent first and foremost while keeping other elements in mind.
“After last April’s draft, and their decision to draft Matt Flynn in the seventh round of 2008, it seems like they are looking for the best player available at that point,” Benson said. “But they also appear to be aware of their roster, and don’t draft anyone at a position at which they are overloaded.”
Whichever strategy you may subscribe to, the likelihood of drafting a true impact player still remains slim. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t find capable contributors.While we have yet to see an impact player of Colston’s level drafted in the seventh round since 2006, there has been some solid and emerging talent.
A fellow ’06 draftee, Tennessee Titans’ defensive back Cortland Finnegan, is showing he can be not only a No. 1 antagonist to opposing receivers, but also a No. 1cornerback for the Titans.
Stevie Johnson and Peyton Hillis were both drafted in 2008 and showed in 2010 that they may be on the verge of becoming elite-level talent for the Bills and Browns respectively. Johnson and Hillis are likely to become even more household names now, as Johnson was caught up in a “blaming God” controversy on Twitter and Hillis has been selected to be the face and cover athlete of the Madden 12 video game.
The 2009 seventh round saw some role players who actually got playing time, again due to injuries, including Julian Edelman, Captain Munnerlyn and Rashard Jennings. It may be too soon to judge the 2010 seventh-round draftees, but their early returns aren’t promising so far. In their first year in the league, the only one who made headlines was Giants’ punter Matt Dodge, who infamously kicked the ball to DeSean Jackson and squashed the team’s playoff hopes.
With the 2011 draft now in the books, one can only speculate as to if any of the players selected in the seventh round will be impact players.
The odds of finding the next Shannon Sharpe or Donald Driver may be scarce, but there are still plenty of promising players taken. One of the 2011 seventh-rounders to keep an eye on is Da’Rel Scott, a RB from Maryland drafted by the Giants. Scott showed that when healthy, he could carry a large load, racking up 209 carries as a freshman. Scott also has a fairly similar makeup to Panthers RB and 2006 first-rounder DeAngelo Williams. Scott is 5’11” and 211 pounds, and he runs with explosiveness, hits the right holes and can bounce the play to the outside. Scott also ran the 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds, fastest in the 2011 RB class.
Giants general manager Jerry Reese told the Associated Press he has high hopes for what Scott can bring to the team.
“We took a flyer on the guy because he is big and fast,” Reese said. “We hope this guy develops into a Willie Parker, one of those kinds of things.” Parker, of course, was an undrafted free agent who turned into a star with Pittsburgh.
We’ll see if Scott can follow in his footsteps, as well as those of famous seventh-round picks like Anderson or Colston, or if he’ll merely become another one of the forgotten final-round selections.
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