via i.a.cnn.net

Many Colts fans would agree that staying healthy has been one of the biggest thorns in our side for a while now. Looking back, some of our biggest playmakers - Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, Marlin Jackson and several more have caught the injury bug.  As a result, the Colts' roster is beginning to look like an annual defensive backs and defensive tackles convention.  This started a line of questioning that I began to ask myself.  Why are so many players getting hurt?  Is it something our trainers are doing? Is it our practice schedule?  These are all questions that I am in the process of researching, but while doing the research, I came across a list that I though might be interesting: our most durable players.  Note: This list will not include players who are no longer with the Colts. (Marvin Harrison, Hunter Smith, etc.)

Durability is a key component to success.  If you can't play the game, you can't contribute, it's as simple as that. Of course with the season getting longer and longer, it's more difficult to judge how much is attributed to "fragility" and how much just comes from bad luck or extended bouts of abuse. To judge who would be deemed most durable, I calculate the games started and divide it by the number of games that was possible for them to start.  I also do not count seasons in which they have not earned the starting spot (for example, Reggie Wayne playing as a replacement for Ismail or Jeff Saturday playing at OG in place of other injured players). [X divided by X] = appearance rate. Most durable status would require that you have at least a 90% appearance rate with at least four seasons as the full-time starter. So without further ado, I present to you...the durables!

Continue reading this post »

Here's the draft order! Picks are based on typical scoring rules. We will assume two spots for QBs, two for RBs, three for WRs, one TE, and a defense.  We will also have four extra roster spots. If you rec this article, it'll stay at the top for easier access.

1. Kanadianhoser
2. KingRichard
3. BROWNdude
4. shake n bake
5. Colteyes
6. stuart0908
7. fpacheco
8. LukeNukem

Good luck! Post em here, and we'll see how quickly we can through these.

Kanadianhoser, you're up!

First Round Results (I will update these with each person's picks as often as possible).

1. RB Adrian Peterson (KH)
2. RB Michael Turner   (KR)
3. RB Brandon Jacobs (Bd)
4. RB Brian Westbrook (SnB)
5. RB Maurice Jones-Drew (CE)
6. RB Steven Jackson (stu)
7. WR Larry Fitzgerald  (fpac)
8. RB Matt Forte   (LNM)
9.  RB DeAngelo Williams (CH)
10. RB Chris Johnson (Bam)
11. RB Frank Gore (FC)
12. RB LaDainian Tomlinson (CFAW)

Second Round Results

13. WR Andre Johnson (CFAW)
14. RB Clinton Portis (FC)
15. WR Randy Moss (Bam)
16. RB Steve Slaton (CH)
17. WR Calvin Johnson (LNM)
18. QB Drew Brees (fpac)
19. RB Marion Barber (stu)
20. QB Peyton Manning (CE)
21. WR Reggie Wayne (SnB)
22. QB Tom Brady (Bd)
23. WR Steve Smith (KR)
24. WR Marques Colston (KH)

Third Round Results

25.  WR Anquan Boldin (KH)
26.  WR Roddy White (KR)
27. WR Anthony Gonzalez (Bd)
28.  QB Phillip Marmalard Rivers (SnB)
29.  RB Kevin Smith (CE)
30. RB Ronnie Brown (stu)
31. RB Knowshon Moreno (fpac)
32.  WR Greg Jennings (LNM)
33.  WR Wes Welker (CH)
34. QB  Kurt Warner (Bam)
35. WR Brandon Marshall (FC)
36. TE Jason Witten (CFAW)

Fourth Round Results

37. WR Dwayne Bowe (CFAW)
38.  QB Aaron Rodgers (FC)
39. TE Dallas Clark (Bam)
40. QB Matt Ryan (CH)
41.  RB Pierre Thomas (LNM)
42.  RB Darren McFadden(fpac)
43. WR Braylon Edwards (stu)
44. WR T.J. Houshmanzedeh(CE)
45.  QB Donovan McNabb (SnB)
46.  WR DeSean Jackson(Bd)
47.  RB Ryan Grant (KR)
48.  QB Tony Romo (KH)

Fifth Round Results

49.  WR Vincent Jackson (KH)
50.  QB Jay Cutler (KR)
51. TE Tony Gonzalez (Bd)
52.  WR Terrel Owens (SnB)
53. RB Larry Johnson (CE)
54. QB Carson Palmer (stu)
55. WR Roy Williams (fpac)
56. QB Matt Schaub (LNM)
57. WR Bernard Berrian (CH)
58.  RB Willie Parker (Bam)
59. QB Eli Manning (FC)
60. RB Marshawn Lynch (CFAW)

Sixth Round Results

61. QB Kyle Orton (CFAW)
62. WR Antonio Bryant (FC)
63. WR Santonio Holmes(Bam)
64. QB Matt Hasselbeck(CH)
65. WR Lance Moore (LNM)
66. QB Matt Cassel (fpac)
67. WR Chad Ochocinco
68. WR Hines Ward (CE)
69.  RB Joseph Addai (SnB)
70. RB Felix Jones (Bd)
71.  RB Jonathan Stewart(KR)
72. RB Thomas Jones(KH)

Seventh Round Results

73.  RB LenDale White (KH)
74.  WR Devin Hester (KR)
75. QB Brett Favre(Bd)
76.  WR Eddie Royal (SnB)
77. QB Trent Edwards (CE)
78. WR Derrick Mason (stu)
79. RB Reggie Bush(fpac)
80. RB Derrick Ward (LNM)
81. TE Antonio Gates (CH)
82. QB Chad Pennington (Bam)
83. TE Owen Daniels (FC)
84.WR Earl Bennett

Eighth Round Results

85. QB Ben Roethlisberger
86. (FC)
87. (Bam)
88. (CH)
89. (LNM)
90. (fpac)
91. (stu)
92. (CE)
93. (SnB)
94. (Bd)
95. (KR)
96. (KH)

Each year we have a new class of rookies entering the NFL through the draft and through free agency, and some picks are busts and some are not.  Usually within a few years we know whether they are a real contributor to their team or not.  So I got an interesting idea.  What if the NFL could not come up with a new collective bargaining agreement  and the NFL was ended?  What if every current NFL player got put into a pool and there was a new draft. Who would be the first 25 players drafted?

I'm just really interested to hear people's opinions about this.  I think there are several obvious choices, but then there are some choices that might be a little controversial.  Here is my list of the top 25 players drafted in no specific order

Quarterbacks - Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers

Runningbacks - Adrian Peterson, LaDanian Tomlinson, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams

Wide Receivers - Larry Fitgerald, Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith, Calvin Johnson

Offensive Linemen - Joe Thomas, Walter Jones, Michael Roos, Jason Peters, Ryan Clady, Jordan Gross

Defensive Ends - Dwight Freeney, DeMarcus Ware, Mario Williams

Linebackers - Patrick Willis, Ray Lewis

Defensive Backs - Ed Reed

Man, that was tougher than I thought. I REALLY wanted to put Bob Sanders on this list, and I think he would probably be #26, but I'm afraid his history of injuries would be enough to make him slide to #26.

I'm really intrigued to hear others' opinions on this.  You're the GM for the draft of a lifetime.  Good luck!

I am just going around trying to get people's impressions of who will be starting where for the 2009 NFL season come week 1.  Any information you can give about any position would be great, and it would be even better if you could break it down by all positions.   I am just curious to see how many positions are pretty much a lock and how many are still up in the air?  Here is my preliminary depth chart from what I've read.  Please let me know any errors I have in judgement or positions that are wrong.  There are still some big holes in this chart, but if there are people that need to be added, let me know and I will add them.

QB - David Garrard, Todd Bouman, Paul Smith
RB - Maurice Jones-Drew, Rashad Jennings, Chauncey Washington, Alvin Pearman
FB - Greg Jones, Montell Owens, Brock Bolen
WR - Torry Holt, Mike Walker, Dennis Northcutt, Jarrett Dillard, Nate Hughes, Tiquan Underwood, Maurice Dupree
TE - Mercedes Lewis,
LT - Eugene Monroe, Jordan Black
LG - Vince Manuwai, Uchu Nwaneri
C - Brad Meester, Cecil Newton, Drew Miller
RG - Tony Pashos, Drew Miller,
RT - Eben Britton, Tony Pashos
RE - Derrick Harvey, Jeremy Mincey
LE - Reggie Hayward, Quentin Groves
DT - John Henderson, Terrence Knighton, Attiyah Ellison
SLB - Clint Ingram
MLB - Justin Durant
WLB - Daryl Smith
CB - Rashean Mathis, Brian Williams, Derek Cox,
FS - Reggie Nelson, Sean Considine
SS - Marlon McCree, Michael Desormeaux
K - Josh Scobee
P - Steve Weatherford, Adam Podlesh

Looking back at the history of the Texans, there have been more bright spots than people give them credit for.  After season records of 4-12, 5-11, 7-9, 2-14, and 6-10, they quickly got a bad rep in the NFL as one of the worst teams.  I think that title has formally been reclaimed by the Detroit Lions, and how quickly people want to jump on the bandwagon now that they have finished two straight seasons at 8-8.  The 2009 regular season looks to be another season of promise for the Texans, in which they could finish with 9 or more wins for the first time in team history.  But back before the success that they are experiencing now, there were many players that were very good in the time they were with the Texans. 

Domanick (Davis) Williams was just one such player.  He is currently the Houston Texans' leading rusher in team history with 3,195 yards . He changed his name during the 2006 season from Davis to Williams for some strange reason.

"I just changed Davis to Williams. I wasn’t really a (Davis). It was my older brother’s Dad’s last name and whatever happened I ended up with Davis. So now that I have kids of my own, a little boy and a little girl, ‘Spike’ (Domanick, Jr.) and Liana, I have to change my name to what it really is, and it’s Williams."

Whatever that means.  Anywho, I will refer to him as Davis throughout the rest of this article because it's shorter and that's the only name I heard him being referred to in the NFL.

Continue reading this post »

I am just going around trying to get people's impressions of who will be starting where for the 2009 NFL season come week 1.  Any information you can give about any position would be great, and it would be even better if you could break it down by all positions.   I am just curious to see how many positions are pretty much a lock and how many are still up in the air?  Here is my preliminary depth chart from what I've read.  Please let me know any errors I have in judgement or positions that are wrong.

QB - Matt Schaub, Dan Orlovsky, Alex Brink
RB - Steve Slaton, Chris Brown, Ryan Moats, Arian Foster
FB - Vonta Leach, Boomer Grigsby
WR - Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Andre Davis, David Anderson, Jacoby Jones, Darnell Jenkins
TE - Owen Daniels, Joel Dreesen, Anthony Hill (R), James Casey (R)
LT - Duane Brown, Rashard Butler
LG - Chester Pitts, Kasey Studdard
C - Chris Myers, Antoine Caldwell (R), Chris White
RG - Mike Briesel, Antoine Caldwell (R)
RT - Eric Winston, Rashad Butler
RE - Mario Williams, Connor Barwin (R)
LE - Antonio Smith, Tim Bulman, Stanley McClover
DT - Amobi Okoye, DelJuan Robinson, Shaun Cody
NT - Travis Johnson, Frank Okam
SLB - Brian Cushing (R), Zach Diles
MLB - DeMeco Ryans, Buster Davis, Kevin Bentley
WLB - Zach Diles, Xavier Adibi, Cato June
CB - Dunta Robinson, Jacques Reeves, Fred Bennett, Antwaun Molden, Glover Quin (R), Brice McCain (R)
FS - Eugene Wilson, Troy Nolan (R)
SS - Dominique Barber, Nick Ferguson, Brandon Harrison
K - Kris Brown
P - Matt Turk

I have been reading some articles about Adrian Peterson and Pierre Thomas wanting to "bulk up" before next season so that they can punish their defenders.  While this idea is not a new concept by any means, I was really curious about the effects that running backs have endured by adding extra weight to their "natural playing weight". 

Looking back at some examples of players who have done this such as Deuce McAlister and Clinton Portis, you can see that there are mixed results.  Deuce McAlister fully regrets doing it after suffering two torn ACLs, and even Clinton Portis has admitted that he lost breakaway speed when doing this.

Continue reading this post »

This is just a random observation, but it seems to me that there are more people on this website who are merely readers than contributors.  I have tried to post interesting articles relating to different topics to try to add content to Niner's Nation, but it seems like more people are interested in criticising the works than enjoying it.  There have been several people who have been more than courteous and welcoming to Niner's Nation, but there have also been some I would like to see them try to contribute something in any depth rather than just knocking other's works. 

I'm not trying to be negative only, and maybe it's because of my Bob Sanders jersey avatar, and maybe its because its the offseason, but over at Stampede Blue, we try to be positive and everyone attempts to contribute fanposts worth reading every once in a blue moon. 

Again, like I said, it may not hold any water, but its just a random observation.  And all of your negative ninny's out there could be scaring off any new potential members with your hostility.

That is all.

 Now that some of you have read my article about the statistics of selecting a QB in the first round, you may have come up with other questions or comments.  (and yes I know some of you had very strong feelings about Jeff George, Daunte Culpepper, Kerry Collins, and Michael Vick, etc).  I actually thought to myself - Yes, the chance of you getting a great NFL QB are pretty low.  Yes the chance of you wasting millions of dollars on someone who will never even contribute to your team is pretty high.

But OH, when those picks do work out, it's a match made in heaven.  Not to mention, some of these QBs are the greatest of ALL TIME, which would never have been possible if you didn't select them in the first round, right?

WRONG!  I have now put in the time (several hours to be precise) and effort to going through and weeding out all the studs selected after the first round of the NFL drafts. This article will be breaking them down, and hopefully you'll gain a little perspective on how insane it seems to select a QB with lots of question marks in the first round, when there have been a lot of GREAT QBs selected later.

The way I determined whether or not the QB was a good deal or not was determined by his success in the playoffs, consistent performance, and his level of play, similar to how the first round quarterbacks were selected, just not with quite as high of standards.  For instance, if a QB had a few good years, but pretty much was never a consistent success, I pretty much did not put them on this list.  I tried to be as realistic as possible for statistics sake, and hopefully the people remaining on this list really are the BARGAIN QBs of the Draft.

 

via cdn2.sbnation.com

 

Doug Flutie knows what it's like to contribute to an NFL team after being drafted late, but unfortunately he didn't quite make this list.

So without further ado, here is our list of successful QBs selected after the first round since the 1970 merger.

 

Year	Name	Drafted By	Round	QB Rating	Comp. %	TDs	INTs	Pass Yards	PBs	SB Wins
1971	Ken Anderson	Bengals	3rd	81.9%	59.3%	197	160	32,838	4	0
1971	Lynn Dickey	Oilers	3rd	70.9%	55.9%	141	179	23,322	0	0
1971	Joe Theismann	Dolphins	4th	77.4%	56.7%	160	138	25,206	2	1
1972	Brian Sipe	Browns	13th	74.8%	56.5%	154	149	23,713	1	0
1973	Ron Jaworski	Rams	2nd	72.8%	53.1%	179	164	28,190	1	0
1973	Joe Ferguson	Bills	3rd	68.4%	52.4%	196	209	29,817	0	0
1973	Dan Fouts	Chargers	3rd	80.2%	58.8%	254	242	43,040	6	0
1974	Danny White	Cowboys	3rd	81.7%	59.7%	155	132	21,959	1	1
1975	Steve Grogan	Patriots	5th	69.6%	52.3%	182	208	26,886	0	0
1977	Steve DeBerg	49ers	10th	74.2%	57.2%	196	204	34,241	0	0
1978	Bill Kenney	Dolphins	12th	77.0%	54.7%	105	86	17,277	1	0
1979	Joe Montana	49ers	3rd	92.3%	63.2%	273	139	40,551	8	4
1981	Neil Lomax	Cardinals	2nd	82.7%	57.6%	136	90	22,771	2	0
1984	Boomer Esiason	Bengals	2nd	81.1%	57.0%	247	184	37,920	4	0
1984	Jeff Hostetler	Giants	3rd	80.5%	58.0%	94	71	16,430	1	1
1984	Jay Shroeder	Redskins	3rd	71.7%	50.8%	114	108	20,063	1	1
1984	Warren Moon	Oilers	undrafted	80.9%	58.4%	291	233	49,325	9	0
1985	Randall Cunningham	Eagles	2nd	81.5%	56.6%	207	134	29,979	4	0
1986	Mark Rypien	Redskins	6th	78.9%	56.1%	115	97	18,473	2	1
1987	Rich Gannon	Patriots	4th	84.7%	60.2%	180	104	28,743	4	0
1987	Steve Beuerlein	Raiders	4th	80.3%	56.9%	147	112	24,046	1	0
1988	Chris Chandler	Colts	3rd	79.1%	58.1%	170	146	28,484	2	0
1988	Stan Humphries	Redskins	6th	75.8%	56.9%	89	84	17,191	0	0
1990	Neil O'Donnell	Steelers	3rd	81.8%	57.8%	120	68	21,690	1	0
1990	Scott Mitchell	Dolphins	4th	75.3%	55.5%	95	81	15,690	0	0
1991	Brett Favre	Falcons	2nd	85.4%	61.6%	464	310	65,127	10	1
1992	Jeff Blake	Jets	6th	78.0%	56.4%	134	99	21,711	1	0
1992	Brad Johnson	Vikings	9th	82.5%	61.7%	166	122	29,054	2	1
1993	Mark Brunell	Packers	5th	84.2%	59.6%	182	106	31,826	3	0
1993	Elvis Grbac	49ers	8th	79.6%	59.1%	99	81	16,775	1	0
1993	Trent Green	Chargers	8th	86.0%	60.6%	162	114	28,475	2	0
1994	Gus Frerotte	Redskins	7th	74.2%	54.7%	114	106	21,291	1	0
1997	Jake Plummer	Cardinals	2nd	74.6%	57.1%	161	161	29,253	1	0
1998	Brian Griese	Broncos	3rd	82.7%	62.7%	119	99	19,440	1	0
1998	Matt Hasselbeck	Packers	6th	84.5%	60.1%	147	94	23,549	3	0
1998	Kurt Warner	Rams	undrafted	93.8%	65.4%	182	114	28,591	4	1
1999	Aaron Brooks	Packers	4th	78.5%	56.5%	123	92	20,261	0	0
1999	Jeff Garcia	49ers	undrafted	87.5%	61.6%	161	83	25,537	4	0
1999	Jake Delhomme	Saints	undrafted	85.1%	59.7%	115	76	17,877	1	0
2000	Marc Bulger	Saints	6th	85.6%	62.6%	117	87	21,345	2	0
2000	Tom Brady	Patriots	6th	92.9%	63.0%	197	86	26,446	4	3
2001	Drew Brees	Chargers	2nd	89.4%	63.9%	168	99	26,258	3	0
2001	Sage Rosenfels	Redskins	4th	81.2%	62.5%	30	29	4,156	0	0
2002	David Garrard	Jaguars	4th	85.4%	61.2%	51	29	9,672	0	0
2002	Shaun Hill	Vikings	undrafted	90.5%	64.0%	18	9	2,547	0	0
2004	Matt Schaub	Falcons	3rd	86.2%	63.5%	30	25	6,317	0	0
2004	Tony Romo	Cowboys	undrafted	94.7%	63.6%	81	46	10,562	2	0
2005	Kyle Orton	Bears	4th	71.1%	55.3%	30	27	5,319	0	0
2005	Derek Anderson	Ravens	6th	75.1%	54.6%	43	35	6,195	1	0
2005	Matt Cassel	Patriots	7th	88.2%	62.9%	23	13	3,946	0	0
2007	Trent Edwards	Bills	3rd	79.1%	61.6%	18	18	4,329	0	0
2008	Chad Henne	Dolphins	2nd	74.0%	58.3%	0	0	67	0	0

 

After looking at this list, I was really AMAZED at the amount of high quality quarterbacks that were not drafted in the first round.  Everyone knows about the obvious picks - Tom Brady in the 6th round (because we're reminded of it about 50 times a season.  But there are 3 hall of fame quarterbacks from this list, and there are several more that probably should be in the hall of fame (Ken Anderson and Randall Cunningham), as well as one of the greatest to ever play this game (Brett Favre). 

The surprising thing to me is the amount of talent that is left over after the draft has settled.  Warren Moon was undrafted (yes, I know it's because everyone was afraid to have a black QB, but still) and so were Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia and Tony Romo and several others who have been a big reason their teams have been successful.

Combined, 10 QBs selected after the first round have helped their teams win a Super Bowl.  Yes, you may be thinking well of course, the sheer number of players selected after the first round is so numerous, of course you're going to have good players selected.  That's my point EXACTLY.  We need to stop guaranteeing QBs who have never even taken a snap in the NFL 40 million dollars!  It's rediculous when so many quality quarterbacks have been taken later and been so successful.      If you ask me, there is just too much pressure of being selected in the first round.

Getting down to it, if you do the math, and not including some of the younger QBs who really haven't proven themselves yet, these QBs have a success rate of about 20%.   I was a little surprised, but this number is lower than the success rate of first round quarterbacks.  Of course, these selections comes with a higher risk, but the reward seems to be higher too. The successful quarterbacks from this list have combined for 101 pro bowl appearances and 15 Super Bowl wins.  Are you kidding me!? That's more than the first round selections!

My point being is that teams who seek a quarterback for their team should do their research, and really dig deep and look at later round quarterbacks, you never know which one is going to shine, and they are going to cost you a lot less money too.

BREAKING DOWN THE DRAFTED QBs BY ROUND

2nd round -15%

3rd round - 25%

4th round - 15%

5th round -4%

6th round -13%

7th round -4%

later than 7th - 12%

undrafted - 12%

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• Only 7 nfl drafts have never produced a successful quarterback from later rounds.
• The six undrafted QBs on this list have combined for a total of 848 touchdown passes and a QB rating of 88.8%, which is higher than most nfl QBs ever see.
• 6 quarterbacks were drafted in the 8th round of the nfl draft or later
• Joe Montana, nuff said.
• Many of these QBs end up playing for a different team than they were drafted by.
• The Redskins have drafted 5 of the QBs from this list
• The Patriots, Dolphins, and 49ers all have selected 4 QBs from this list. You can tell who uses my philosophy.
• The Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, and Detroit Lions have none from this list.  Could this be why the Lions have never had much success with QBs?
• The Bengals drafted two of the best quarterbacks of all time after the first round.  Maybe they should stick to this instead of continually wasting using their first round picks on quarterbacks.