The Gipper Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 The question came up elsewhere about who may become the biggest impact player of this past draft. Of course, the totally remains to be seen. However, here document those players whom I believe to have been the 3 or 4 biggest impact players of each draft, going back to the beginning of the common draft in 1967. So, here they are, top impact player first....then 2-3 runnersup for each year: 1967 Alan Page ....Gene Upshaw, Bob Griese 1968 Ron Yary...Ken Stabler, Art Shell 1969 Ted Hendricks....Mean Joe Greene, OJ Simpson 1970 Terry Bradshaw...Mel Blount, Lemar Parrish 1971 Ken Anderson...Jack Ham, Jack Youngblood, John Riggins 1972 Franco Harris...Lydell Mitchell, Cliff Branch, Brian Sipe 1973 Dan Fouts...John Hannah, Joe Dellamelleure 1974 Mike Webster...Jack Lambert, Too Tall Jones 1975 Walter Payton...Randy White, Steve Grogan 1976 Mike Haynes...Steve Largent, Harry Carson 1977 Tony Dorsett...Stanley Morgan, Bob Baumhauer 1978 James Lofton...Earl Campbell, Mike Kenn, Clay Matthews II 1979 Joe Montana...Dan Hampton, Phil Simms 1980 Anthony Munoz...Art Monk, Steve McMichael 1981 Lawrence Taylor...Mike Singletary, Ronnie Lott, Ricky Jackson, Howie Long 1982 Marcus Allen, Mike Munchak, Andre Tippett 1983 Dan Marino.....John Elway, Jim Kelly, Bruce Matthews, Darrell Green, Eric Dickerson 1984 Boomer Esiason...Wilbur Marshall, Ernest Byner (pick #280) 1985 Jerry Rice...Bruce Smith, Chris Doleman 1986 Pat Swilling....Jim Everett, Charles Haley 1987 Rod Woodson....Rich Gannon, Vinny Testaverde 1988 Randall McDaniel...Thurman Thomas, Michael Irvin 1989 Barry Sanders.....Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Troy Aikman 1990 Emmit Smith....Junior Seau, Cortez Kennedy 1991 Brett Favre...Aeneas Williams, Ricky Waters 1992 Jimmy Smith...Troy Vincent, Levon Kirkland 1993 Michael Strahan... Will Shields, Willie Roaf, Drew Bledsoe 1994 Marshall Faulk....Kevin Mawae, Isaac Bruce 1995 Derrick Brooks.....Warren Sapp, Steve McNair, Curtis Martin 1996 Ray Lewis...Marvin Harrison, Terrelle Owens, Jonathan Ogden 1997 Jason Taylor (ZIP!!) Ronde Barber, Orlando Pace 1998 Peyton Manning...Randy Moss, Charles Woodson 1999 Edgerrin James...Champ Bailey, Donovan McNabb 2000 Tom Brady...Brian Urlacher, John Abraham 2001 Drew Brees...Ladanian Tomlinson, Reggie Wayne 2002 Julius Peppers....Ed Reed, Dwight Freeney 2003 Carson Palmer...Terrell Suggs, Kevin Williams 2004 Phillip Rivers.....Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning 2005 Aaron Rodgers...Logan Mankins, Demarcus Ware 2006 Jahri Evans...Haloti Ngata, Andrew Whitworth 2007 Patrick Willis, Adrian Peterson, Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas 2008 Matt Ryan.....Joe Flacco, Calais Campbell 2009 Matt Stafford...LeSean McCoy, Clay Matthews III 2010 Antonio Brown...Ndamakong Suh, Geno Atkins 2011 Cam Newton...JJ Watt, Von Miller 2012 Russell Wilson...Luke Kuechley, Bobby Wagner, Andrew Luck 2013 Leveon Bell....David Bakhtari, Travis Frederick stoppin here as too soon to telll past this Those in Bold were #1 overall picks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted June 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 Notes on this list: 1. There are 17 QBs here listed as most impactful player.....there are 9 RBs (including 3 since 1999...when supposedly the RB position was de-emphasized); there are 6 linebackers, 5 offensive linemen; 4 defensive linemen; 4 WRs, and 2 DBs. 2. There were a few very low picks that made impact: Brady of course, Sipe, Byner (#280), Antonio Brown...6th round. 3. As you might expect 1983 and 2004 had 3 QBs among the top 3-4 impact players of those drafts. 4. Two of the top three impact players in the 1973 draft were OGs...which has to be unusual. (Hannah and Joe D.) Browns players included Sipe, Joe D. (for half of his career), Clay Matthews, Byner, Vinny T. for a bit of his career, and Joe Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjp28 Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 NFL Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of team sports. The feature RB has kind of kind of diminished in value over recent years and that will probably continue in years to come. Even starting pitchers in MLB as individuals can't really compare one on one with a starting quarterback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Oven Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 3 hours ago, mjp28 said: NFL Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of team sports. The feature RB has kind of kind of diminished in value over recent years and that will probably continue in years to come. Even starting pitchers in MLB as individuals can't really compare one on one with a starting quarterback. Even going back a few generations the feature RB wasn't as important as the QB. The 50s and 60s were dominated by teams with Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Johnny Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin, Y.A. Tittle, Bart Starr, etc at QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasAg1969 Posted June 28, 2018 Report Share Posted June 28, 2018 Von Miller owned Cam Newton in their Superbowl faceoff and walked away with the SB MVP trophy for it to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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