TheOak

In my best Cartman voice....



Um you guyyyysss... Off-season is OVAH!

xan

Name a 1st round pick that worked out. Much easier.

lee909

1971 Archie Manning Quarterback Mississippi

frydaddy

Deuce Mcallister. In my 15 years of hardcore fandom, he is far and away the best first round pick.. and to think, I hated the pick at the time!

Honorable mention: Will Smith, Charles Grant (he was solid, mostly), Jammal Brown.

Then there's Cam Jordan, who I believe can and will be better than Smith or Grant ever were.. and of course, Mr. Vaccaro, who I really and truly think may end up being an elite playmaking safety

jeanpierre

Reggie Bush was the right pick but unreal expectations and his USC-enabled immaturity were contrary to the personality of this team and Saintsland...

Meachem was an absolute joke - a college wide receiver who was out-of-shape at the start of his career...

Sedrick Ellis has been the biggest bust selection compounded by the Front Office Mental Fart failing on Dorsey and should have stayed patient...

Malcolm Jenkins has shown flashes and has been willing to move positions, but has disappointed in his lack of consistency...

Patrick Robinson was post Superbowl-hangover and the front office mailing it in...

Cam Jordan has played like a solid third round pick to date...

Mark Ingram has been a huge disappointment and though I've said it's not all on him due to the coaching/playcalling, have picked up subtle clues by Coach Payton regarding comments that he's "in shape" - so has he NOT been in shape his first couple of offseasons?!? That would move him into Robert Meachem territory...

Kenny Vaccaro, let's not put him in the HOF just yet, but do expect this kid to be starting and having an impact as a mid-first round pick early in this season; to his credit, he's earning teammates respect and saying the right things (so did Cam Jordan) and many would like to see him replace Harper or allow Jenkins move over to replace Harper...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

TheOak

Those are fairly bold statements.

jeanpierre

Agreed. Best First Round Pick we've ever had...

ProMallNinja

Guys, a quick Google search on the subject of first round NFL draft success rates will find you lots of information and studies on the subject. The fact of the matter is that most fans have vastly unrealistic expectations. Bill Polian (among other former and current GMs) is quoted as saying that a 64% (4.5 out of 7 players picked) "hit rate" on serviceable players over an entire draft is considered HIGHLY successful by most GMs. One writer, after much research and study, wrote that, by his judgement, over a particular five year period "hit rates" on serviceable players in the first round is around 54%. A large number of the successes were at offensive line, too. What he also found (good news for us) is that there is a much higher rate of success in selecting safeties in the first round (among a few other positions). The point is that, although we fans want every pick to be our next Hall of Fame player, it is about a 50/50 shot that any pick will even be a playable option in the regular season. Now that the new CBA has rookie contracts becoming much more reasonable, it should be acceptable to ask fans to be a little more reasonable in their expectation of a team's draft.

jeanpierre

Glad to see that they set the bar so low for themselves...

Considering what most underpaid heroes do on a daily basis, and for what GM's make as NFL executives - we should all expect better...

So I respectfully disagree that we have 'vastly unrealistic expectations'...

Sure 32 team fan pools are hopeful this time of year, managing a franchise isn't rocket science...

The fact of the matter is that nepostism and insulated job security contributes to recurrent team failures...

rezburna

Managing a franchise isn't easy either. Scouting talent can be the trickiest thing to do.