1999-2001 Draft Grades: Bengals and Browns = F-

A favorite past time of Monday Morning Quarterbacks is to "grade" draft classes the next day.  Others love this, while I think it is incredibly stupid.  It usually takes 6-10 years to fully evaluate the success of an NFL Draft.

But while researching some other articles, I noticed how truly awful the state of Ohio was in drafting talent from 1999-2001.  The Bengals and Browns each had top 4 picks in each of those three draft years.  Looking at the Top 6 picks in each draft (18 players total), 12 of the 18  selections have made at least one Pro Bowl.  The 6 players who have NEVER made a Pro Bowl are the 6 players drafted by the Bengals and Browns.  This is truly a remarkable accomplishment in futility. 

One bad draft pick is acceptable, but 3 straight years of ruining a top 4 pick, when no other NFL team (outside the Browns) does the same, is just mind blowing. 

Full details after the jump.

1999 Draft:  Maybe the most in?famous draft of all time.  We will not discuss the Bengals turning down the entire Saints draft, and focus on the top 6 picks. 
1. Browns - Tim Couch (oops)
2. Eagles - McNabb (5 Pro Bowls)
3. Bengals - Akili  (Milk was a bad choice)
4. Colts - Edge James (4 Pro Bowls)
5. Saints - Ricky Williams (1 Pro Bowl)
6. Rams -Torry Holt (7 Pro Bowls)
and just for fun
7.  Redskins - Champ Bailey (8 Pro Bowls)
8.  Cardinals - David Boston (1 Pro Bowl)

2000 Draft:
1. Browns - Courtney Brown (seriously)
2. Redskins - LaVar Arrington (3 Pro Bowls, oh yeah this is part of the Saints trade)
3. Redskins - Chris Samuels (6 Pro Bowls)
4. Bengals - Peter Warrick (had a nice play or two)
5. Ravens - Jamal Lewis (1 Pro Bowl and a history of bitch slapping the Bengals)
6. Eagles - Corey Simon (1 Pro Bowl)
and again for fun
7. Cardinals - Thomas Jones (1 Pro Bowl)
8. Steelers - Plaxico Burress (zero Pro Bowls, but is better than Peter Warrick)
9. Bears - Brian Urlacher (6 Pro Bowls)

2001 Draft:
1. Falcons - Michael Vick (3 Pro Bowls and nothing else important happened in his life/NFL career)
2. Cardinals - Leonard Davis - (2 Pro Bowls)
3. Browns - Gerrard Warren (he was the 3rd pick?  Wow)
4. Bengals - Justin Smith (At least he tries hard, right?)
5. Chargers - LaDainian Tomlinson (5 Pro Bowls)
6. Patriots - Richard Seymour (5 Pro Bowls)

Now I know not every pick was great.  Some guys may have caused more harm than good (Vick, Arrington) or the guy only made the Pro Bowl after he left his original team (Thomas Jones and Leonard Davis).  But you can not argue with the results.  The top 6 players in the 1999-2001 draft have collectively made 43 Pro Bowls.  Bengals draft picks, zero.  Browns picks, zero.  I know this is pre Marvin Lewis, but the decider(s) are still the same.

Comments

[Zeek]

hindsight is always 20/20...

[Scott @ WFNY]

So you're saying that there may be a reason why we're in the top of the draft yet again?

[DP@WFNY]

All of the Browns' scouts wanted Seymour in 2001. They thought he was going to be the pick. Butch Davis took Warren because (this always slays me) he recruited him out of high school.

Oh, and that LT guy has done OK for himself from that draft, too.

Also, for what it's worth, Courtney Brown would have been a good player in the Paper Mache Football League. He was always a good run stopper. It's just that doing so caused various pieces of his body to disintegrate.

[Kerri]

The Tim Couch debate isn't 100% fair. The complete and total lack of an offensive line and running game painted one of the largest "TARGET" signs I've ever seen on a rookie's back. Everyone wants to say how we screwed up with Couch and not taking McNabb, but, let's face it, it's Apples to Oranges. One team had an OL, one didn't.

Without Thomas & Steinbach, even Payton would be planted on the ground more often than not.

[BrownsFan]

More quality content. Excellent work, WDR.

[Flash]

Well, that was a depressing read.

1999 was brutal, but they did pick Kelly Gregg in the 6th round. He turned out to be a hell of a player...for Baltimore.

2000 was awful, but the did pick a pro bowl kicker...Neil Rackers. Unfortunately he went to the pro bowl as a Cardinal. Look on the bright side, they found a long snapper in Brad St. Louis in the 7th.

2001 arguably the best draft in the history of the franchise; Smith (high motor!!); Chad (we know his story); Sean f**king Brewer (so he smoked cigarettes...how could you expect a scout to know that?); Rudi and Housh. That's three pro bowlers in one draft.

Imagine what they do with actual full-time scouts on the payroll.

[PR]

After the 2000 draft I remember saying it was going to take 10 years to recover from the past 2 drafts. Well that's right around the corner, so we got that going for us....which is nice.

[deepak]

plaxico burrerss is not obviously better than peter warrick. they do different things and neither one of them are doing them now and you can't give it to plax because he has a ring - that takes a lot more than one receiver to do.

what's your all's deal with players who get hurt? that's what happens in tackle football. of course great scouting would be a nice improvement so we can overcome injuries like most good teams, but the individual player really can't be faulted unless he refuses to take care of himself and/or behaves in reckless activities endangering his health.

and out of curiosity, as there really isn't a sure-fire answer to this question: would you rather see this team draft for need or best player available? in a year you're crying for defensive line help, do you fault a team for not taking a running back like LT and taking him high which a lot of folks on here seem to be blatantly against? also, do you really know which player will pan out as far as the difference between someone like smith and seymour? go back and look at the info on both of these players at the time of the draft. was there that big of an obvious difference? it's easy now to say 'the signs were there', or 'i knew it all along', but the draft is really a crap shoot thats risk can be diminished by prudent and shrewd decision making and overall strategy. that's why i support the manifesto section on making offensive/defensive line depth the number one priority. that´s the better approach. leave the wr's and rb's out of it in those top picks.

here's hoping we get less flash and more substance with such a pick this year, but again, with the top 3-4 o-linemen and a couple of a few de's and lb's there, can you really pin it on the management if they go one of these routes and the player winds up hurt or not making as many pro-bowls as the others. will it be another, 'i told you so', out of the pissers-and-moaners? take this as the opportunity to make you case here, wdr, on which o-lineman is the best of the 4 that will be there at no.6. are there only two worthy and if neither are there should we pass? should we take a de or lb instead in that case? you say the scouting dept. is incompetent and small, so you should be on at least their same par and able to read these things. but seriously, whatever you say, is a crap shoot. the only thing that really makes sense is what you've promoted - make linemen priority no. 1.

[Dan]

I agree with the fact that nobody really knows how a player will turn out on draft day making it tough to truly fault a pick. However, let's say that 2 players come into draft day and both appear to be about equal, then what happens? Player A goes to the Pats and player B goes to the Bengals. Which player do you think is going to have a better career? Which one has a better chance to succeed? The one that goes to a professional organization like the Pats or the player that goes to the dysfunctional organization? Player development, player development, player development. Which again is the reason for this site. Just like in any business, it starts at the top. And Mike Brown is a BOOB!

[URSULA18Farmer]

People in the world receive the business loans from different creditors, just because this is comfortable.