Curse of the Second Round

You have to love the NFL draft. My favorite part is when the experts say - hey, you can't evaluate how a team did in a particular draft for three or four years. And then everyone proceeds to grade and evaluate every team's draft anyways.

I guess I'm happy enough with what the Broncos did in the 2011 draft. I'm pleased that they didn't draft any quarterbacks, running backs, or wide receivers. Also that they didn't do a bunch of stupid wacky trades a la Josh McD.

Hopefully they picked up a future Pro Bowler in Von Miller with the #2 pick. It's a pretty safe bet that he will be at least decent.

But I think the success of this draft will hinge on how their back-to-back picks in the second round turn out - safety Rahim Moore and offensive lineman Orlando Franklin. If they spent the better part of the next decade in a Bronco uniform, then this draft will probably get an A. If they don't, then the Broncos had better hope one of their late-round picks turns out to be another Shannon Sharpe or Karl Mecklenburg.

I've harped on how crappy the Broncos have done in the draft in recent years - a lot of this is due to how they've picked in the second round.

I did a quick review of the 27 second-round picks the Broncos have made in the past 25 years (1986-2010). Here's the roll call:

Gerald Perry (1988)
Doug Widell (1989)
Warren Powers (1989)
Alton Montgomery (1990)
Reggie Johnson (1991)
Shane Dronett (1992)
Glyn Milburn (1993)
Allen Alridge (1994)
Tory James (1996)
Eric Brown (1998)
Montae Reagor (1999)
Lennie Friedman (1999)
Ian Gold (2000)
Kenoy Kennedy (2000)
Paul Toviessi (2001)
Clinton Portis (2002)
Terry Pierce (2003)
Tatum Bell (2004)
Darius Watts (2004)
Darrent Williams (2005)
Tony Scheffler (2006)
Tim Crowder (2007)
Eddie Royal (2008)
Alphonso Smith (2009)
Darcel McBath (2009)
Richard Quinn (2009)
Zane Beadles (2010)

Not a single Hall of Famer on the list, and only three Pro Bowls: Ian Gold, Glyn Milburn, and Clinton Portis earned one appearance each.

Only four are still with the team: Eddie Royal, Darcel McBath, Richard Quinn, and Zane Beadles. And so far the greatest contribution any of them have made to Denver may very well be Eddie Royal's Taco Bell commercial.

Only two players on this list spent more than four years in a Bronco uniform. Ironically, they were both selected in the same draft. Ian Gold played 7 years in Denver and Kenoy Kennedy played 5 years.

The best second-round pick of the last quarter-century came in 2002, when they selected Clinton Portis, who had two sensational years in Denver before he was traded to Washington for Champ Bailey. So I suppose it could be argued that the Broncos did get a Hall of Famer for their second-round pick in that instance.

The Broncos did okay in the second round in the 1990s, picking up guys like Shane Dronett, Allen Alridge, and Lennie Friedman, who did okay.

But in the last 10 years they've blown second round picks on guys who were total busts: Paul Toviessi, Terry Pierce, Darius Watts, and Tim Crowder.

Darrent Williams looked like a good second-round pick - up until the night he was murdered.

Tatum Bell and Tony Scheffler were good players, but for whatever reason team management did not seem to want them.

Possibly the worst, though, came in 2009 when Josh McD traded a first-round pick in order to select Alphonso Smith in the second round. And then traded him for a bag of clean towels a year later.

So I'm hoping with this new Broncos regime that they can get back to drafting the second round like they did in the 1980s, when they picked up guys like Rulon Jones, Vance Johnson, and Simon Fletcher.