Looking Back - 2005 NFL Draft

Paully D

After looking back at the 2008 (Frostie's thread) and 2007 NFL draft, I thought we'd push it back a bit further and have a look over the 2005 NFL Draft.

Obviously the big story here is Alex Smith going #1 to the 49ers with Aaron Rodgers the next QB taken in the draft at #24, which lead to this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Kn7YRpws0

What do you think of the hits and misses in the draft 8 years later?

How did your team do?

If you were to do the first round over again (or a select few picks if you are short on time) what way would you go?

Here's the first round to refresh and a link to all 7 rounds:

Paully D

From a Ravens point of view, 2005 was one of Ozzie's poorest drafts.

WR was the main need and we took Mark Clayton with #22 in the 1st round. He showed flashes but overall was very average and when you consider Roddy White went 5 picks later it's harder to take.

DE depth was another need as we changed schemes that offseason so Dan Coady was taken with the 2nd round pick #53. Unfortunately he was a walking injury and couldn't stay fit. Adam Terry OT was also taken in round 2 with the #64 pick. In fairness to him he was part of a franchise record offensive line effort in 2006 in giving up just 16 sacks during the regular season, but again another who couldn't stay fit after that. Two wasted second round picks really.

Jason Brown did well for two seasons after serving as back up for his rookie and sophomore years before becoming the highest paid center in the NFL for the Rams during free agency in 2009. Not a bad pick at all.

Justin Green FB in the 5th, meh.

Derek Anderson (QB) in the 6th was good value, however, he didn't play a snap for us and ended up becoming a Pro Bowler for the Browns.

Mike Smith LB in the 7th. Another who struggled with injuries.

From a Ravens point of view it was arguably the worst draft in our history.

Other things that stand out to me is the fact that 3 RB's were taken in the top 5 in 2005, very unusual thing to happen.

As for the Vikings draft, wow. Troy Williamson at #7 as Randy Moss' replacement, looking back an awful pick especially when Roddy White went at #27. The Vikings also took Erasmus James at #18. Safe to say it wasn't a good first round for them (or any other round actually).

Justin10

Chargers

1st.Merriman
1st.Castillo
2nd.VJ
3rd.Sproles

God I miss them sort of drafts

JaMarcus Hustle

On the subject of Merriman, he announced his retirement this week. Living proof of how good steroids can make you, and how bad you'll look afterwards when you're off them. Still can't believe how much the Bills gave him. One of the dumbest contracts in recent years.

Chucky the tree

From 2007 to 2005, ffs. As a Raiders fan I think these threads should be banned tbh.

Justin10

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

On the subject of Merriman, he announced his retirement this week. Living proof of how good steroids can make you, and how bad you'll look afterwards when you're off them. Still can't believe how much the Bills gave him. One of the dumbest contracts in recent years.

I do think part of that was due to injury too.

JaMarcus Hustle

Rochey18 wrote: »

I do think part of that was due to injury too.

And for that, you can again blame steroids.

Not a bad eagles draft herrimans and cole were steals in round 4 and 5
Cole was one of the better ends in the game for years until last year

And herrimans is a damn good rt although I still think he's a better guard

Patterson in the first has just been released by us so while he was not a star he's been an important starter for years

Sean Constantine in round 3 played ok for us but I think he benifits from playing with dawk more than anything

UnitedIrishman

Rodgers and Nick Collins in the first two rounds - not bad going!

Still though, a lot of misses afterwards.

Marviel Underwood - did nothing. Free agent.
Terence Murphy - seriously injured. Released.
Brady Poppinga - was progressing well until ACL tear. Came back and did ok. Released in 2011. Now with Dallas.
Junius Coston - did nothing.
Mike Hawkins - ditto.
Michael Montgomery - average player.

Red Crow

Corey Webster - 2nd Round
Justin Tuck - 3rd Round
Brandon Jacobs - 4th Round
Eric Moore 6th Round

Jacobs, Webster and especially Tuck all made huge contributions in our SB runs. That was a good as it gets with 4 picks and no first rounder.

Xavi6

Chiefs

1st: Derrick Johnson
3rd: Dustin Colquitt
4th: Craphonso Thorpe
5th: Boomer Grigsby
5th: Alphonso Hodge
6th: Will Svitek
6th: Khari Long
7th: James Kilian
7th: Jeremy Parquet

Two crackers in Johnson and Colquitt who were Pro Bowlers in 2012. The rest did little or nothing NFL wise except Parquet who managed a ring with the Steelers.

LuckyLloyd

On the whole, that top 10 didn't amount to much really relative to top 10's from other Draft years.

D3PO

Sonny Zealous Stitch wrote: »

Not a bad eagles draft herrimans and cole were steals in round 4 and 5
Cole was one of the better ends in the game for years until last year

And herrimans is a damn good rt although I still think he's a better guard

Patterson in the first has just been released by us so while he was not a star he's been an important starter for years

Sean Constantine in round 3 played ok for us but I think he benifits from playing with dawk more than anything

totally agree we got some very solid guys without getting any superstars. Not a bad Eagles draft at all, althought not spectacular

adrian522

Round 1, Pick 1: Alex Smith

Well you really know how to pick them. 2007 probably 49ers best ever but in 2005 the decision what to do with the first overall pick was one that would define the franchise for years to come.

The 49ers were looking for a QB, and the choice was there between Utah QB Alex Smith and Cal QB Aaron Rodgers.

In their mock draft Walter Football had this to say

For months, this mock draft has disregarded the possibility of San Francisco drafting a quarterback, based on the fact that the 49ers are very stingy with their money. Another reason was San Francisco wanted Matt Leinart, who decided to stay in school.

Things have changed. Talks between the 49ers and Aaron Rodgers' agent have been going smoothly, while head coach Mike Nolan has his eyes set on drafting Alex Smith. If San Francisco can agree to terms with Smith prior to this weekend's draft, they will select the quarterback out of Utah. However, Smith wants more money than Eli Manning was paid last year, while the 49ers organization is stingier with cash than George Costanza. A deal will probably not be completed, meaning Nolan will have to settle with Rodgers, who is willing to take less money to stay in the Bay Area.

Saturday Update: Sources have reported that the 49ers will indeed draft Alex Smith, but they will try to trade him to the team that drafts Aaron Rodgers for the California quarterback and a few draft picks. Tampa Bay wants Smith, so they may draft Rodgers and orchestrate a trade with San Francisco.

All of this backfired when Tampa passed on Alex Smith and Rodgers fell all the way to Green Bay at 24. It would have been some coup to select Smith and then trade him for Rodgers + and another few picks. In the end I think the 49ers outsmarted themselves and ended up with the wrong choice at QB. The OC/HC changes over the next few years obviously didn't help, neither did the injuries Alex suffered, while Aaron Rodgers is now recognized as one of the best QB's in the game. The Alex Smith experiment in SF reached an all time low with Mike Singletary constantly changing QB's, benching Smith mid-game, having screaming matches with Smith and then putting him back in. By the end of that season pretty much everything he did was met with a chorus of boos. Once Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman arrived things improved considerably with Alex becoming a very competent QB and culminating in the excellent performance against the Saints in the divisonal round of the 2012 playoffs. Smith looked to have improved further before losing his starting job due to injury last season.

As of mid 2012 the 49ers have finally moved on from this and will now trade Smith for the first pick of the second round in 2013 and a conditional pick in 2014. I really hope Smith does well in KC as he has really been through the mill in SF and has come out the other side.

The rest of the 49ers draft is not talked about nearly as much but we made some good picks and one that has served the franchise so well in the years since.

Round 2, Pick 1: David Baas

I think this was a solid pick, he did well in SF and has since done well in NY.

Round 3, Pick 1: Frank Gore

The 49ers were blessed Gore fell this far (due to his injury history) and he has since carried the franchise through good times and bad. He's now the 49ers leading rusher of all time and has the most rushing TD's of any 49er in history.

Round 3, Pick 31: Adam Snyder

I guess a decent pick, you can't argue with getting a starter in the 3rd round even if he never set the world alight.

Round 5, Pick 1: Ronald Fields
Round 5, Pick 38: Rasheed Marshall
Round 6, Pick 31: Derrick Johnson
Round 7, Pick 1: Daven Holly
Round 7, Pick 9: Marcus Maxwell
Round 7, Pick 34: Patrick Estes
Round 7, Pick 35: Billy Bajema

Not much to say on the rest of the draft, Bajema was a solid backup and decent pick in the 7th round.

Interestingly Nate Washington and Josh Cribbs both went undrafted in 2005 and have forged out solid carreers.

Matt Cassell and Ryan Fitzpatrick were 7th round pickups that provided excellent value.

TaosHum

Probably the last time you will ever see three running back's taken in the top 5. That draft really aids the argument of not picking RB's until late in the first round, when you see players such as Gore and Sproles (taken much later in that draft) have much more polished careers than the three that went in the first five picks.

Average enough draft for the Fins. None of the players taken are still with the team, but Brown, Roth and Crowder did go on to have solid careers with the Fins up until two years ago. I'll always love Ronnie for that massive day he had vs the Pats in Foxboro, when the Fins unveiled their wildcat offense.

Adrian I think if the 9ers got rogers he would have been a bust and smith could have been a far better player with the packers

Rogers needed to work on some things if he was thrown in a a starter day 1 he would have been decent at best in my opinion a it stands he went to one of the best organisations in football got to learn off great coaches for years an only started when he was the finished article.

Smith on the other hand has possibly had less stability than any other starting qb in the league and when he finally got a good coach late in hi career unfortunately he has become a decent qb (I know you pointed out smith has been through the mill just agreeing with you there)

Alfred Borden

Marlin Jackson looked a good pick for the Colts in his first few years but injuries slowed down his progress. Kelvin Hayden in the second was decent just never met his full potential for the Colts.

adrian522

Sonny Zealous Stitch wrote: »

Adrian I think if the 9ers got rogers he would have been a bust and smith could have been a far better player with the packers

Rogers needed to work on some things if he was thrown in a a starter day 1 he would have been decent at best in my opinion a it stands he went to one of the best organisations in football got to learn off great coaches for years an only started when he was the finished article.

Smith on the other hand has possibly had less stability than any other starting qb in the league and when he finally got a good coach late in hi career unfortunately he has become a decent qb (I know you pointed out smith has been through the mill just agreeing with you there)

I agree with you up to a point. Green Bay obviously handled Rodgers very well but I don't think I'd agree he would have been a bust in SF. He probably wouldn't have developed into the QB he is today though.

For Smith I don't think he would have been a top 3 QB had he gone to Green Bay either.

Having said all that Nolan and Singletary could not have handled Smith worse. Nolan stuck Smith in during his rookie season and made him the starter the year after. He played behind one of the worst offensive lines in football and was sacked 15 times (on about 15% of all his dropbacks) during that first year. He suffered some serious injuries including a major shoulder injury. The 49ers made him do heavy weight during his rehab which made things worse.

Smith went to Nolan and told him that he didn't think he could contribute due to his weak arm as a result of the botched rehab. Nolan went public saying that Smith was medically cleared and that any issues he was having were not injury related. Smith and Nolan then started sniping through the media. In other words Nolan was a complete disaster for Alex Smith. When Nolan was finally fired he was replaced by an even more inept coach who further damaged Smith. If the roles were reversed God only knows way things would have worked out but as it was Smith was in an impossible situation.

You've put that very well i agree with you bar the smith not being a top 3 qb obviously well never know but I think if you put him in a good situation he ha some serious potential. The injuries he suffered are a good point as well I think he's been affected by them more than we realise

Also I do believe and it seems silly given how great a player he is now but if rogers is in that position with bad coach after bad coach and getting hit/injured that much he would have fizzled out quickly it's hard to think of any qb that would work out in that situation unless you look at maby an early Vick/elway

JaMarcus Hustle

Jay Ratliff in the 7th round, surely the steal of the draft. Had never realised we was taken so late.

HigginsJ

Eli Manning wrote: »

Corey Webster - 2nd Round
Justin Tuck - 3rd Round
Brandon Jacobs - 4th Round
Eric Moore 6th Round

Jacobs, Webster and especially Tuck all made huge contributions in our SB runs. That was a good as it gets with 4 picks and no first rounder.

What a smashing draft. 1st rounder was part of the Eli deal so it's pretty stellar overall

Lionbacker

Oh god, Mike Williams.
Another name in the long list of Matt Millen draft busts:mad: