Results of Drafting Same Positon with 1st 2 Picks

I thought this was intersting on how teams have faired in taking the same positon with there first two picks. There were several different examples but only one where  a team took 2 wr's with the first 2 picks. I hope it turns out as well for us as it has for this team with there WR's. Here is the article read to find out.

Were The Redskins Swimming in Uncharted Waters?

By Greg Trippiedi | May 9th, 2008

What I wanted to know about this is whether or not teams had used this strategy in the past, and if the results were favorable.  Should more teams attack an area of need multiple times in the off-season?  This is what history told me:

One current NFL coach is a fan of the drafting multiple players at a single position strategy, and that would be Denver’s Mike Shanahan.  Shanahan drafted Defensive Ends Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder in the first two rounds of the 2007 draft, and he drafted three Cornerbacks with his first three selections in 2005:  Karl Paymah, Dominique Foxworth, and the late Darrent Williams.

The results on Denver’s strategies have been sort of a mixed bag.  Paymah and Foxworth are both still key contributors for the Broncos, and Williams was clearly the best of the three before he was tragically gunned down on the final night of the 2006 season.  Neither Jarvis Moss or Tim Crowder has made a dent in Denver yet.

The Cincinnati Bengals have twice drafted multiple linebackers with their top two picks.  The first time, they landed Takeo Spikes and Brian Simmons in 1998, and those two created a pretty nice LB duo until they both left Cincinnati following the 2003 season.  A year later, the Bengals tried to replace both of them in the 2005 draft, selecting David Pollack and Odell Thurman.  That didn’t work out well for them for fluky reasons:  Pollack sustained a career ending neck injury, and Odell Thurman has not played since 2005, he’s been suspended and just recently reinstated.

One of the more disheartening examples I found had to be the 1998 Carolina Panthers.  In that draft, the Panthers invested their first three picks, all day one selections, in Defensive Ends Jason Peter, Chuck Wiley, and Mitch Marrow.  None of those three ever got to play with 2001 First-rounder Julius Peppers, and the Panthers wasted an entire draft.

The 2004 Chicago Bears drafted Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson with their first two selections.  Johnson is in Dallas now, but appears to have been a good value pick, off-field issues aside, and Tommie Harris is one of the very best DTs in the NFL.

But only one comparison I found really hits home as a similar situation to the Redskins drafting multiple receivers in the first two rounds this year.  I’m talking about the 2003 Cardinals, and their draft that year.  In the first round, the Cards called for Wide Receiver Bryant Johnson, and supplemented him in the second round with WR Anquan Boldin.  Like the Redskins, the Cardinals had a clear need at receiver that year, and it was Bryant Johnson who was supposed to fill the void.  But it didn’t take the Cardinals very long to find out that the real gem in that class was Boldin.  5 years later now, Anquan Boldin is one of the top receivers in the NFL, and Bryant Johnson just finished a mediocre career with the Cardinals and signed a one year deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

The lesson to be learned here from all those cases is that very rarely are both players brought in to start.  More accurately, this strategy seems to be used to bring in players to compete.  For Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, history shows that this competition could decide which of them will be a successful starter for the Redskins the next ten years, and which one will make a nice backup for another team down the road.

For the team, it’s clear they are taking the road less traveled here, but in most historical cases, the team was successful in fulfilling their need, moreso than if they had simply selected only one player and hoped for the best.

This was a very well put together piece of work here. I comend you on your research. I too hope that we get a great deal as the Cardinals did. Bryant Johnson may have never turned out to be an elite receiver, but he is a decent slot receiver, so i still don't think it was a wasted pick. He may even be a quality starting receiver for a team with less talent at the position. It is hard to get any shine over Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.

Draft picks are hit & miss in general, and at wide receiver in particular. I am totally cool with picking both Thomas & Kelly. If we get one quality Wide Receiver (a la Anquan Boldin) then the picks were worth it.

The pick that was questionable was the Fred Davis pick. We passed up a chance to address a clear need (for example Defensive End) to add a position that was not in need.