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Kiper's top ten top ten picks.

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Kiper's top ten top ten picks. Empty Kiper's top ten top ten picks.

Post  MULECHOPS Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:45 am

Ask any coach or GM: There are few things more bittersweet about the NFL than drafting high. On one hand, you have the chance to change your team with one pick, to add the kind of talent that can help preserve your job and allow you to drop down the draft order in the coming years. On the flipside, there's the pressure to get it right. Can this player help right away? Can you be patient with him? Can the franchise progress while breaking in youth?



Bottom line: Everybody wants the player, nobody wants the pressure of the pick.



So here is my list of the best teams have ever done with the top picks -- the greatest draft picks ever in positions No. 1 through 10. With some, it's almost impossible to decide. But, I had to pick somebody ...



Greatest No. 10 Pick: Rod Woodson, 1987
Runners-up: Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis



Allen and Bettis were extremely good players, and for a long time, but Woodson flat-out dominated at a crucial position. No cornerback has ever gone to as many Pro Bowls as Woodson (11), and he became a good safety, too. He finished with 71 career interceptions, 12 of them returned for touchdowns, and an absurd-sounding 1,473 career yards in interception returns. It was a remarkable NFL career for the two-sport star at Purdue.


Greatest No. 9 Pick: Bruce Matthews, 1983
Runner-up: Jerome Brown



You can see the Matthews family legacy on display to this day, but it'll be hard for any heirs to match what Bruce did. A member of 14 Pro Bowl teams, his record of consistency and longevity is the stuff of legends. Matthews was Peyton Manning before Manning ever arrived, starting 229 straight games and playing in 296 games before he finally retired in 2001. Brown was a gifted defensive player and a wonderful personality that we lost too soon.



Greatest No. 8 Pick: Ronnie Lott, 1981
Runners-up: Mike Munchak, Willie Roaf



One of the forgotten things about Lott is that while he has such a deserved reputation as a big hitter and an enforcer from the safety position, he started his career at cornerback and was a star there. He didn't even move to safety until the 1985 season, and by then he'd already been to several Pro Bowls. Overall, Lott played in 10 Pro Bowls, was a four-time Super Bowl champion and was truly the greatest safety of his era. He finished his career with 63 regular-season INTs and had nine more in the postseason.



Greatest No. 7 Pick: Phil Simms, 1979
Runners-up: Champ Bailey, Sterling Sharpe, Willie Buchanon, Kevin Williams, Bryant Young



Simms didn't pile up the numbers to the same degree as other quarterbacks of his era, but he was always regarded as one of the best. A two-time Super Bowl champion, he had one of the greatest Super Bowl performances ever in 1987, when he won the MVP. He went completed 22 of 25 passes in that game. Simms impressed me because of what he overcame. The Giants stuck with the pick. They got him out of Morehead State, and there was a real learning curve as he adjusted to the NFL. He simply wasn't that good when he got to the league. But he became a really good player and leader.


(As an aside, this was by far the biggest bust position ever for top 10 picks. Look at some of these picks: Ken MacAfee ('78), Todd Blackledge ('83), Ricky Hunley ('84), Brian Jozwiak ('86), Reggie Rogers ('87), Tim Worley ('89), Andre Ware ('90), Mike Mamula ('95) and Troy Williamson ('05). It gets brought up, but I won't call Darrius Heyward-Bey a bust, though his selection at that spot was the shock of the '09 draft.)



Greatest No. 6 Pick: James Lofton, 1978
Runner-up: John Riggins



I'm not sure people have an appreciation for how great Lofton was. Before he ever arrived on the NFL scene, he was long jumping 27 feet as a track star at Stanford. A great point of reference that sort of encapsulates how explosive he was and what a deep threat he was at the NFL level is the five seasons he averaged over 20 yards per catch. He went to eight Pro Bowls, finished his career with 14,004 yards receiving and caught touchdowns in three separate decades. I think that Jerry Rice came up behind him made his stats seem far leaner than they were. No receiver had reached 14,000 yards 'til Lofton did.



Greatest No. 5 Pick: Deion Sanders, 1989
Runners-up: Michael Haynes, Junior Seau



There's an interesting caveat here. You could argue that Haynes was the more complete corner. He was a brilliant cover corner, didn't shy away from contact and had a remarkable career. But I give the edge to Sanders, who almost impossibly always backed up the words and flash with results. He picked off 53 passes and simply took away a side of the field. He was extremely dangerous in the return game and finished his career with 22 touchdowns between returns and the pick-sixes. And he won. The eight-time Pro Bowl player and one-time AP Defensive Player of the Year won a pair of Super Bowls.



Greatest No. 4 Pick: Walter Payton, 1975
Runners-up: Charles Woodson, Jonathan Ogden, John Hannah, "Mean" Joe Greene



What a remarkable legacy. Payton left the NFL as its all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards, and he could do everything. He caught 492 passes, scored 110 touchdowns and helped drag his franchise back up to prominence. Remember that while Payton piled up nine Pro Bowl selections and an NFL MVP, he was playing on a number of pretty bad Bears teams. By the time they won a Super Bowl on Mike Ditka (and Buddy Ryan's) famous juggernaut 1985 team, he'd already been in the league 10 years.



Greatest No. 3 Pick: Anthony Munoz, 1980
Runner-up: Barry Sanders

[+] EnlargeGin Ellis/Getty Images
Concerns about knee issues at USC were never realized by Munoz, who joined Tampa (above) before retiring.Yet another USC guy on the list, but I was really split here. I gave this to Munoz based on longevity and because of the heights he helped his franchise reach. Munoz was an 11-time Pro Bowl pick and completely set the standard for left tackles during his time in the league, but he also was the best player on two Super Bowl teams from Cincinnati. Considering how hapless that franchise has been historically, it's hard to overlook that. Sanders is one of the most gifted people that has ever set foot on a football field. But I'll give the nod to Munoz, who most would consider the greatest to ever play his position. One odd note: When he was drafted, I recall bringing up the point that Munoz had battled knee issues at USC. So much for that note of caution ...



Greatest No. 2 Pick: Lawrence Taylor, 1982
Runners-up: Randy White, Tony Dorsett, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Cornelius Bennett



Taylor is a player for whom you can say this: He changed how the game is played. His set of skills helped outline defenses that we see used today, and he helped make left tackles much wealthier in the process. The "Blindside" has never had a more feared presence. He played in 10 Pro Bowls, was three times the defensive player of the year, received an NFL MVP award as a defender and has two Super Bowl titles. I could list many more awards. Every other guy on this list has a case, but Taylor was such a transcendent talent, it's hard to argue with his position here.



Greatest No. 1 Pick: John Elway, 1983
Runners-up: Peyton Manning, Earl Campbell, Bruce Smith, Troy Aikman, O.J. Simpson



You can list the plaudits -- five Super Bowls, nine Pro Bowls, a league MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, over 51,475 yards -- but Elway really doesn't get enough credit for what he did in simply getting the Broncos to those first three Super Bowls. Those were mediocre teams and he flat-out willed them to the Super Bowl. "The Drive" was good theatre but also indicative of what he meant to those teams. He was literally the difference between a win and a loss in so many games. He finally won his rings when the Broncos defense became a more formidable unit, and when the team could actually run the ball, but Elway was just a brilliant competitor throughout. Incidentally, he's also a part of the most lopsided deal in NFL history. Denver got him for Chris Hinton, Mark Herrmann and a third-round pick that became Ron Solt. You could argue for any of the others, but Elway is my pick.



(And full disclosure: My four favorite players of all time are Elway, Lott, Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry. I grew up watching those Baltimore Colts and fell in love with football because of Unitas and Berry. And yes, it's odd that I still like Elway as an old Baltimore Colts fan.)




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Post  BestdamnUKfanperiod Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:07 am

Barry Sanders will always be one of my favorites.
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