Welcome back. Today’s question comes from Lorens Knudsen:
Q: You made a comment in your analysis (9/1/10: “Broncos have few players left from recent drafts”) that of the 36 players drafted from 2004-08, only nine remain — and that is low compared to the successful teams. Can you give a few examples?
A: Lorens, this is always a touchy subject among NFL coaches and personnel people because the pressure is always to win now. Some say player development can’t always be done as well as folks would like, given the environment to win or get fired.
And because there are only 53 spots on the roster, simple mathematics dictates that not all of the draft picks can make it every year.
That said, the teams that do well often sustain success better than their peers if they have done it with homegrown players.
No better example exists than the Colts. Building around franchise quarterback Peyton Manning, they have consistently brushed aside the free-agency gymnastics most years and built from within.
On their current 53-man roster, they have 34 of their own draft picks, including Manning. They have also won at least 12 games in seven consecutive seasons, and at least 10 games in eight consecutive seasons.
They have one Super Bowl win in that period and a Super Bowl loss in February. Argue they should have done more, title game-wise, over that span, but only the Patriots won more games from 2000-09 than the Colts.
Those Patriots, for whom Broncos coach Josh McDaniels worked eight seasons before coming to Denver, would not approach those numbers most seasons, but there is no question the guts of three Super Bowl winners came off the New England draft board via the likes of: Tom Brady (Michigan), Richard Seymour (Georgia), Vince Wilfork (Miami), Ty Warren (Texas A&M), Stephen Neal (undrafted free agent from Cal State Bakersfield), Asante Samuel (Central Florida), Tedy Bruschi (Arizona), Dan Koppen (Boston College) and Matt Light (Purdue).
And the Broncos need the four first-round picks they’ve had in the last two drafts — Robert Ayers, Knowshon Moreno, Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas — to be core players to have extended success.
If those players don’t succeed, the Broncos will then be in a position of trying to use Pat Bowlen’s money to buy them out of draft difficulties, and that’s a shaky proposition — at best — for all involved. The legitimacy of the second round of the 2009 draft is already teetering, with Alphonso Smith having been traded, tight end Richard Quinn in a role position behind Dan Gronkowski, who has been with the team for less than a week and safety Darcel McBath, who has played the most, by far, of the three.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
