Anyone wondering what all the
fuss about the NFL draft is
only has to
take a look at players named to this year's Pro Bowl teams. Granted,
the
Pro Bowl voting isn't a pure science with players popularity and
reputations sometimes
counting
as much, if not more, that actual on-field production. That may be
especially true this year with very unscientific fan polls - where
anyone can vote early and vote often - counting for a third of the
final totals. Still, the Pro
Bowl
can be a reasonably accurate barometer of who the best players in the
league
are at this time. And what that barometer tells us is that just about
all
the top players in the league were indeed drafted and the
majority came to
their teams as premium picks.
<>Overall, 70 0f the 76 the
positional players selected
to this
year's Pro Bowl teams, or 92%, were drafted. In fact,
over half of this year's AFC and NFC Pro Bowl positional players - 42
of the 76 or 55% - were first round picks, while almost 80%
were selected in the opening three
rounds. On the other hand, just 6 players players who were
not drafted coming out of college - 8% of the total - made this year's
Pro Bowl rosters, a figure that is consistent with numbers in the
2000s, although there has been some fluctutaion.
Also of note is the fact that all of this year's undrafted
Pro Bowlers - New England WR Wes Welker, Tennessee RB Arian Foster, San
Diego TE Antonio Gates, Philadelphia OT Jason Peters, New England OG
Brian Waters, and Green Bay FB John Kuhn - play on offense. In
contrast, 26 of this year's 34 defensive Pro Bowlers - over 75% - were
first-round draft picks coming out of college.
In terms of speciic positions, 5 of 6 players selected to this year's
Pro Bowl at each CB, DT and OLB were former first round draft picks,
while the figure was 4 out of 6 for QBs, OTs and DEs. And the old adage
that star RBs can be found outside the first round gets some support
from this year's Pro Bowl squads as not one of the 6 backs named to
this year's event were first-round picks coming out of college,
although 4 were second rounders and a 5th was selected in the third. In
contrast, all 4 Pro Bowl MLBs, a position which is often an
afterthought on
draft day, were first-round picks.
Breakdown
of 2011 Pro Bowl positional players, by
draft status
Position
Total
Rd 1
Rd 2-3
Rd 4+
Total drafted
Total % drafted
Not drafted
QB
6
4
1
1
6
100%
0
RB
6
0
5
0
5
83%
1
WR
8
3
3
1
7
88%
1
OT
6
4
0
1
5
83%
1
OG
6
2
1
2
5
83%
1
C
4
2
1
1
4
100%
0
TE
4
1
2
0
3
75%
1
FB
2
0
0
1
1
50%
1
DE
6
4
0
2
6
100%
0
DT
6
5
0
1
6
100%
0
OLB
6
5
1
0
6
100%
0
MLB
4
4
0
0
4
100%
0
CB
6
5
1
0
6
100%
0
S
6
3
3
0
6
100%
0
Total
76
42
18
10
70
7%
6
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