NFL's 10 worst draft classes by team of the Super Bowl era

[Alan]

MrMotes making my point:
Things got worse, not better after Martz was fired. They didn't start turning around until Zygmut hit the bricks. I have him pegged as the number 1 culprit. Just look at the house cleaning Fisher did when he got here. The roster was largely garbage...

For sure. Although Devaney was an incremental improvement over what preceded him. But what got worse, the GM or the HC? Or both. Is it a coincidence that the good players that @Rmfnlt (another poster who needs to by a vowel or two) listed when talking about the start of our improvement coincided with the hiring of Devaney?

 

[Alan]

Corbin shocked at our drafting prowess:
I was totally expected we'd be listed twice on here and very surprised when I didn't see us at 1 or 2 going down the list.

I think that's because many of those drafts were bad for every team. So while our draft sucked, that mirrored the results many other teams.

 

[HometownBoy]

This is why I said that while Martz was pretty bad in this area, he looked OK compared to other Rams drafters in the last decade.

Martz wasn't really all that great. If we're saying he was okay because he drafted a few serviceable guys and a couple of stars in between all the busts well then you'd also have to say that Devaney wasn't all that bad either.

I mean the guy did draft Quinn, Long, JL55, Saffold, Kendricks and others who have gone on to be at least serviceable for other teams.

 

[MrMotes]

For sure. Although Devaney was an incremental improvement over what preceded him. But what got worse, the GM or the HC? Or both. Is it a coincidence that the good players that @Rmfnlt (another poster who needs to by a vowel or two) listed when talking about the start of our improvement coincided with the hiring of Devaney?

The improvement started when Devaney replaced Zygmut after the 2008 season. Zygmut was awful, Devaney merely bad. Snead, OTOH, is actually good at his job...

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

Martz started out as a bad drafter, and gradually got better. His last class gave us many solid players and SJ. Devaney wasn't that bad, aside from Jason Smith.
Let's just be thankful we have Snead right now!

 

[-X-]

The improvement started when Devaney replaced Zygmut after the 2008 season. Zygmut was awful, Devaney merely bad. Snead, OTOH, is actually good at his job...

Yeah, I don't know. Snead is good and all, but when did Devaney have the luxury of a cap on rookie pay? And did Devaney draft players who had never seen a playbook before because he put a premium on athleticism over experience or intelligence? I'd also ask when Snead was limited by a CBA negotiation that locked down the free agent pool immediately after purging the team in order to get it out of cap hell. There were a lot of things working against Devaney when he took the job here, and I seem to remember him saying that it would be his undoing (paraphrasing). That said, he did manage to snag Amendola and Alexander from outta nowhere, in addition to getting Brandon Lloyd. And the best player on our team is here as a result of Devaney not shrinking at Quinn's medical record.

I'd even argue that if Devaney was Martz's GM, things wouldn't have deteriorated so quickly.

 

[Alan]

HometownBoy qualifying it:
Martz wasn't really all that great. If we're saying he was okay because he drafted a few serviceable guys and a couple of stars in between all the busts well then you'd also have to say that Devaney wasn't all that bad either.

I mean the guy did draft Quinn, Long, JL55, Saffold, Kendricks and others who have gone on to be at least serviceable for other teams.

Martz sucked. He just doesn't suck as bad as the Linnyham/Spagz disasters and as I said, I agree with you that Devaney was head and shoulders above what we had before. Of course, that made him about 2' tall.

 

[Alan]

MrMotes with a timeline:
The improvement started when Devaney replaced Zygmut after the 2008 season. Zygmut was awful, Devaney merely bad. Snead, OTOH, is actually good at his job...

I completely agree with your first two sentences but I'm lukewarm about your last one. I'd say more but @-X- stole my material.

 

[MrMotes]

Yeah, I don't know. Snead is good and all, but when did Devaney have the luxury of a cap on rookie pay? And did Devaney draft players who had never seen a playbook before because he put a premium on athleticism over experience or intelligence? I'd also ask when Snead was limited by a CBA negotiation that locked down the free agent pool immediately after purging the team in order to get it out of cap hell. There were a lot of things working against Devaney when he took the job here, and I seem to remember him saying that it would be his undoing (paraphrasing). That said, he did manage to snag Amendola and Alexander from outta nowhere, in addition to getting Brandon Lloyd. And the best player on our team is here as a result of Devaney not shrinking at Quinn's medical record.

I'd even argue that if Devaney was Martz's GM, things wouldn't have deteriorated so quickly.

I will certainly agree that had we replaced Zygmut with Devaney instead of Martz with Linehan, things would've gone a lot better for the Rams...

 

[dieterbrock]

Maybe if Martz was around to coach the players that he drafted, the players wouldnt have sucked like they did playing for moron coaches

 

[A55VA6]

Wait - the Rams only had one draft on that list?

lol I was thinking the same. Seriously some terrible drafts in Rams history.

 

[MrMotes]

Mike Schad anyone?

 

[Rams43]

Yeah, I don't know. Snead is good and all, but when did Devaney have the luxury of a cap on rookie pay? And did Devaney draft players who had never seen a playbook before because he put a premium on athleticism over experience or intelligence? I'd also ask when Snead was limited by a CBA negotiation that locked down the free agent pool immediately after purging the team in order to get it out of cap hell. There were a lot of things working against Devaney when he took the job here, and I seem to remember him saying that it would be his undoing (paraphrasing). That said, he did manage to snag Amendola and Alexander from outta nowhere, in addition to getting Brandon Lloyd. And the best player on our team is here as a result of Devaney not shrinking at Quinn's medical record.

I'd even argue that if Devaney was Martz's GM, things wouldn't have deteriorated so quickly.

Good catch on Devaney lacking a cap on rookie pay, @X.

But Devaney's record on picks after round 3 were not good, at all. Actually, they were terrible.

Snead, on the other hand, has found gems in the late rounds and quite a few contributors in UDFA, as well. No comparison between the results of the two, IMO.

On a side note, I believe if the author ranked team drafts by 5 or 10 year increments that the Rams would have been among the very worst.

Those were some abysmal drafts, indeed. A clueless owner leading a clueless FO controlling a series of HC's that were largely clueless on talent evaluation matters. A VERY bad recipe for success.

 

[snackdaddy]

That 2006 draft was so bad I expected to see it closer to number one on that list. I don't know how much of it was Linehan/Haslett or Zygmunt/Shaw. Zygmunt was a bean counter who fancied himself a player evaluator. One who was terrible at it. That 2006 draft was the beginning of the 15-65 debacle.

 

[MrMotes]

Good catch on Devaney lacking a cap on rookie pay, @X.

Yeah, but it's not like the Rams were the only team who didn't have a cap on rookie pay. Everybody was playing by the same rules yet our roster/drafts were substandard...

 

[-X-]

Yeah, but it's not like the Rams were the only team who didn't have a cap on rookie pay. Everybody was playing by the same rules yet our roster/drafts were substandard...

This is true, but you weren't comparing him to his contemporaries.
You were comparing him to Snead, who didn't have to play by those rules.

 

[rhinobean]

Hard to believe there wasn't a Cardinal draft on that list! George Boone was the pits at drafting! A real knucklehead!

 

[Alan]

Rams43 with words of wisdom:
But Devaney's record on picks after round 3 were not good, at all. Actually, they were terrible.

Snead, on the other hand, has found gems in the late rounds and quite a few contributors in UDFA, as well. No comparison between the results of the two, IMO.

Exactly 43. I'm not a huge fan of Snisher's drafting in the early rounds but I have to give them credit out the ying yang for their picks in the lower rounds. I've only been paying attention to the Rams since the y moved to St. Louis but in that time I've never seen better drafts in the lower rounds. And UDFAs. That's why I'm counting on Wichmann to be our starting RG and Yang to be our starting OC. :banana:

 

[MrMotes]

This is true, but you weren't comparing him to his contemporaries.
You were comparing him to Snead, who didn't have to play by those rules.

Snead's roster is a lot more talented and a lot more competitive, imo, than Devaney's teams were. I mean that in comparison to their contemporaries. You gotta play the hand you're dealt. And, again imo, Snead plays his cards a whole lot better than Devaney played his...

 

[-X-]

Snead's roster is a lot more talented and a lot more competitive, imo, than Devaney's teams were. I mean that in comparison to their contemporaries. You gotta play the hand you're dealt. And, again imo, Snead plays his cards a whole lot better than Devaney played his...

I certainly don't disagree with the bolded part.

But I'm not sure I understand what you're saying before that. I would absolutely hope that Snead's teams are more competitive than Devaney's. Because as I pointed out earlier, he had a CBA negotiation that limited his free agent options, and had to pay considerably more for his draft picks than Snead did. Not to mention that the team Snead inherited was in MUCH better shape, financially, than the one Devaney took over. I do have to give a lion's share of the credit to Demoff for that though. As far as contemporaries go, I don't know how you can compare Snead to other GMs of his time, because there weren't a lot of teams that were in such bad shape during that 3 1/2 year span. That said, how do you rate Snead to *his* contemporaries? Do you think he's done as well as the other GMs over the past 3 years?