THE CLASS CLOWNS
Denver (D)
Pro Bowlers: 5 (t-21st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 34 (26th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 1 (t-23rd)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 14 (t-24th)
Best Pick: WR Brandon Marshall (4th round, 2006)
Worst Pick: DE Jarvis Moss (No. 17 overall, 2007)
Summary: Not only did Denver make very few good picks in the decade, many of their good ones are succeeding elsewhere (Peyton Hillis, Jay Cutler, Chris Myers, Brandon Marshall, Clinton Portis). Mike Shanahan was a hell of a coach in Denver, but he wasn't a great general manager – and shaky-looking drafts in the brief Josh McDaniels era didn't help much either.
Kansas City (D)
Pro Bowlers: 5 (t-21st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 36 (t-24th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 2 (t-17nd)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 13 (t-27th)
Best Pick: DE Jared Allen (4th round, 2004)
Worst Pick: DE Tyson Jackson (No. 3 overall, 2009)
Summary: The Chiefs deserve a lot of credit for great drafts in 2008 and 2010, but Scott Pioli's good work doesn't undo what Carl Peterson did in the front half of the decade. The drafts from 2001-07 produced a very small handful of good contributors and a slew of busts, which clearly caught up to the Chiefs prior to Pioli's arrival.
Miami (D)
Pro Bowlers: 4 (t-27st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 39 (t-15th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 1 (t-23rd)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 13 (t-27th)
Best Pick: S Yeremiah Bell (6th round, 2003)
Worst Pick: QB Pat White (2nd round, 2009)
Summary: They did well picking Jake Long No. 1 overall in 2008, and that's about the end of the good news for the Miami drafts of the 2000s. They drafted 27 players for the front seven, only one of whom has more than 10 career sacks (Matt Roth, who got most of them in Cleveland). Miami has done a pretty good job of instilling toughness in the trenches, but when you don't come up with talent on draft day it leads to the type of consistent mediocrity that haunts this franchise.
Cleveland (D)
Pro Bowlers: 5 (t-21st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 33 (28th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 1 (t-23rd)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 17 (t-14th)
Best Pick: CB Anthony Henry (4th round, 2001)
Worst Pick: QB Brady Quinn (No. 22 overall, 2007)
Summary: The Browns drafted a few good players, but considering their draft power (59 wins in the decade, third least) they should be sitting on a dynasty. None of their picks from the 2001-06 first two rounds are still with the franchise, although Braylon Edwards, Kam Wimbley, Kellen Winslow and Brodney Pool were all contributors for better teams elsewhere. Add in the presence of the Ravens and Steelers in the AFC North, and it's easy to see why the Browns are still two or three more good drafts away from being competitive.
Oakland (D)
Pro Bowlers: 4 (t-27st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 39 (t-15th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 1 (t-23rd)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 14 (t-24th)
Best Pick: CB Nnamdi Asomugha (No. 31 overall, 2002)
Worst Pick: QB JaMarcus Russell (No. 1 overall, 2007)
Summary: The only thing surprising about Oakland's drafts from the 2000s is that there are actually other teams that did worse. Like Cleveland and Kansas City, they drafted better in the tail end of the decade, but did so much damage earlier on that they're still digging out from under. Asomugha was their only strong player from the first half of the decade, and picks in later years that look like winners (Rolando McClain, Darren McFadden) have been neutralized by ones like Darrius Heyward-Bey and Russell.
THE DEAD-END GANG
Detroit (F)
Pro Bowlers: 4 (t-27th)
Draftees Active in 2010: 36 (t-23rd)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 2 (t-17th)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 12 (31st)
Best Pick: DT Shaun Rogers (No. 61 overall, 2001)
Worst Pick: WR Charles Rogers (No. 2 overall, 2003)
Summary: Congratulations, Lions! You flunked the decade, but you're not dead last on our list. They had eight picks in the top 10 overall, most of any team, and whiffed badly on half of them (Charles Rogers, Joey Harrington, Mike Williams and Ernie Sims). Taking Rogers No. 2 in 2003 a pick ahead of Andre Johnson goes down as one of the worst decisions in NFL history – imagine the Colts taking Ryan Leaf and passing on Peyton Manning and you're in the ballpark of how bad that was. We're fairly
high on Detroit's future these days, though, on the strength of drafting Ndamukong Suh, Gosder Cherilus, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson in the last four first rounds. That said, when you're drafting at 2, 1 and 2 overall, it's not exactly rocket science to pick winners (unless you're Matt Millen).
Tampa Bay (F)
Pro Bowlers: 1 (t-31st)
Draftees Active in 2010: 34 (t-26th)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 0 (t-31st)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 13 (t-27th)
Best Pick: QB Josh Freeman (No. 17 overall, 2009)
Worst Pick: T Kenyatta Walker (No. 14 overall, 2001)
Summary: The Bucs' complete ineptitude on draft day has flown under the radar, but it's pretty shocking when you really look at what they did. Their only Pro Bowl draftee was guard Davin Joseph in 2008, and they didn't have a single player that really produced from the first half of the 2000s – linebacker Barrett Ruud was their top scorer in Approximate Value, and he's not exactly burning up the league. Despite it all, they were 79-81 for the decade – a tribute to three strong coaches in Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Raheem Morris.
Washington (F)
Pro Bowlers: 3 (29th)
Draftees Active in 2010: 26 (32nd)
Players with 50+ Career AV: 0 (t-31st)
Players with 20+ Career AV: 11 (32nd)
Best Pick: TE Chris Cooley (3rd round, 2004)
Worst Pick: WR Malcolm Kelly (2nd round, 2007)
Summary: Congratulations, Dan Snyder. You're the only constant in a franchise that has been absolutely terrible in all of their different war rooms of the 2000s. The Redskins, far and away, have got less out of their drafts than any other team – in fact, they might have done better in the 1970s when they were trading away all of their top picks for veterans every year. It's not that they've drafted acres of busts, like Detroit or Oakland, it's that they've traded up a lot, failed to get big hits, lost out on volume, and left themselves needing to overpay for underachievers in free agency. The Redskins had only 21 picks in the first three rounds, fewest in the decade, and missed on more than half. They're the poster boys for why trading up doesn't work – and this year, they finally figured it out, adding extra picks and moving down a lot. Maybe the 2010s will be theirs.
It's gotta be better than the 2000s, when Washington sat all alone at the back of the NFL draft class.
