Phil Savage Is Good At Drafting

WFNY had a fun little riff this morning comparing the Bengals disastrous 2005 draft with the Browns catastrophic 2000 draft, and that got me to thinking about all the different drafts the Browns have had since 1999, particularly by GM.

Obviously the Dwight Schrute Clark drafts of 1999-2001 were abysmal while Butch Davis drafted talented position players (KW2, Sean Jones, Andra Davis) but generally failed at drafting to team needs (coughcoughoffensivelinecoughcough); Phil Savage, however, has been an early round mastermind and has shown genius strokes drafting in the middle rounds as well.

Sure, he hasn’t pulled a Tom Brady or Marques Colston out in the last couple rounds–yet–but take a look at four drafts worth of Savage and how they stack up heading into this season…

2005:

RD.NO	PLAYER	WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
1.3	Braylon Edwards	Starting #1 WR, 2007 Pro Bowl selection
2.34	Brodney Pool	Starting FS
3.67	Charlie Frye	Traded to SEA
4.103	Antonio Perkins	Released (2006) — Now with IND
5.139	David McMillan	Backup OLB, Special Teams regular
6.176	Nick Speegle	Released (2006) — Out of the league
6.203	Andrew Hoffman	Released (2005) — Did not play in the NFL
7.217	Jon Dunn	Released (2005) — Now with DET

Not a bad start for Savage, with the universally liked pick of the Pro-Bowler Edwards he hit the ground running, though the jury continues to be out on Brodney Pool, particularly at the Free Safety position. Obviously the Charlie Frye experiment failed, but remember that at the time ESPN and Mel Kiper had Frye as the top-rated senior QB in the Draft and most considered him to be an early second-rounder that Savage managed to nab in the 3rd… so at least we didn’t waste a 2nd-rounder on him, right? Right? Oh, and in case you need it he signed an undrafted free agent you may have heard of named Josh Cribbs, too.

2006:

RD.NO	PLAYER	WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
1.13	Kamerion Wimbley	Starting ROLB, 16 sacks in 2 years
2.34	D’Qwell Jackson	Starting RILB, 101 tackles in ‘07
3.78	Travis Wilson	Backup WR, permanent resident of Romeo’s doghouse
4.110	Leon Williams	Backup LILB, saw significant time in rotation with Andra Davis in ‘07
4.112	Isaac Sowells	Backup G
5.145	Jerome Harrison	Backup RB, sees decent 3rd down playing time
5.152	DeMario Minter	Released (2006) — Now with ARI
6.180	Lawrence Vickers	Starting FB, 2 TD in ‘07
6.181	Babatunde Oshinowo	Released (2007) — Now with CHI
7.222	Justin Hamilton	Released (2007) — No longer in the NFL

An even better entry in 2006, arguably, as Savage addressed some glaring needs in the team’s linebacking corps with Wimbley, Jackson and Williams. Not only that, but he tricked Baltimore into coughing up a 6th round pick to move up and take the disappointing Haloti Ngata. The gem of this draft was Vickers, who would eventually supplant Terrelle Smith as the starting fullback, a position that he has yet to relinquish. I also continue to be a big fan of Jerome “The Ghost” Harrison as a change-of-pace back. 3 starters and 4 backups (one of which sees constant rotation) in one draft is very solid.

2007:

RD.NO	PLAYER	WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
1.3	Joe Thomas	Starting LT, 2007 Pro Bowl Selection, 2nd in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting
1.22	Brady Quinn	Backup QB
2.53	Eric Wright	Starting LCB, 76 tackles & 1 INT in ‘07
5.140	Brandon McDonald	Projected starting RCB
6.200	Melila Purcell	Backup DE
7.213	Chase Pittman	Backup DE
7.234	Syndric Steptoe	Backup WR

This will likely go down as Savage’s masterpiece; drafting a franchise Pro Bowl left tackle in Thomas, trading up to get a QB of the future (maybe?) in Quinn, trading up again to get an undervalued cornerback (a staggering need at that time) in Wright, then finding another day 2 gem in McDonald–a guy who had his breakout performance when he shut down All-Pro wideout Andre Johnson in Houston.

Will this year’s draft stack up? Tough to say when you consider the total lack of day one picks, but let’s just say that as far as Phil Savage goes in the middle rounds of drafts, I hold out great hope for guys like Beau Bell and Martin Rucker.