All this year’s draft grades have finally been handed out and I’m dog jiggered from the process. But before I put the red pen away, I thought’d be interesting to go back a few years to 2009 and follow a draft class and grade it on the same scale to see how the grade developed from its initial score to year three. For this exercise I picked the 2009 Houston Texans Draft class.
GRADING SCALE
ROUND 1 – graded from a 0-5 scale
ROUND 2 – graded from a 0-4 scale
ROUND 3 – graded from a 0-3 scale
ROUND 4 – graded from a 0-2 scale
ROUND 5 – graded from a 0-1 scale
ROUND 6 & 7 – no scale, point awarded if player was productive
*I reserve the right to award a bonus point to any player who outperformed their draft position.*
FINAL GRADING SCALE
90-100 – A
80-89 - B
70-79 - C
60 -69 - D
0-59 - F
2009 Draft Class
Round 1: Brian Cushing LB, USC
Year One: 16 Games Started, 133 Tackles, 4 Sacks, 4 INTs, 2 Forced Fumbles
Grade: 6/5
Year Two: 12 Games Started, 76 Tackles, 1.5 Sacks, 1 Forced Fumble
Grade: 4/5
Year Three: 16 Games Started, 114 Tackles, 4 Sacks, 2 INTs, 2 Forced Fumbles
Grade: 5/5
Round 2: Connor Barwin OLB, Cincinnati
Year One: 16 Games Played, 18 Tackles, 4.5 Sacks,
Grade: 3/4
Year Two: 1 Game Played (injured, out for season)
Grade: 0/2 (scale reduced due to injury)
Year Three: 47 Tackles, 11.5 Sacks, 1 Forced Fumble
Grade: 4.5/4
Round 3: Antoine Caldwell C/G, Alabama
Year One: Played in 11 Games, Started 3
Grade: 2/3
Year Two: Played in 12 Games, Started 7
Grade: 2.5/3
Year Three: 5 Games Played, 3 Starts
Grade: 1/3
Round 4: Glover Quin CB, New Mexico
Year One: 12 Games Started, 68 Tackles,
Grade: 2/2
Year Two: 16 Games Started, 85 Tackles, 3 INTs, 1 Forced Fumble
Grade: 3/2
Year Three: 16 Games Started, 77 Tackles
Grade: 2.5/2
Round 4: Anthony Hill TE, NC St.
Year One: 5 Games Played, 1 Reception, 9 Yds
Grade: .25/2
Year Two: 0 Games Played, No Stats
Grade: 0/2
Year Three: 7 Games Played, 2 Starts, 2 Receptions, 10 Yds (with Colts)
Grade: 0/2
Round 5: James Casey TE, Rice
Year One: 15 Games Played, 6 Receptions, 64 Yds
Grade: .25/1
Year Two: 16 Games Played, 4 Starts, 8 Receptions, 98 Yds
Grade: .5/1
Year Three: 14 Games Played, 7 Starts, 18 Receptions, 260 Yds, 1 TD, 11 Rushing Yds
Grade: 1/1
Round 6: Brice McCain CB, Utah
Year One: 15 Tackles, 1 INT, 1 Start
Grade: .5/0
Year Two: 25 Tackles, 3 Starts
Grade: .5/0
Year Three: 28 Tackles, 2 INTs
Grade: .5/0
Round 7: Troy Nolan FS, ASU
Year One: No Stats
Grade: 0/0
Year Two: 49 Tackles, 1 Sack, 3 INTs
Grade: 1/0
Year Three: 35 Tackles, .5 Sacks
Grade: .5/0
GRADES
Year One: 14/17 82% B-
Year Two: 11.5/15 77% C
Year Three: 15/17 88% B+
Analysis: The Texans 2009 Draft class’s grade held up pretty consistenly after three years. It started out with a solid B- but dipped a little in year two when Connor Barwin was out with an injury and Brian Cushing missed time due to a suspension. If I was grading it off the first year I would have said it had a good chance for growth as Barwin was still learning to play defensive end. He really took off when the team switched to a 3-4 and used him as an outside pass rusher. The big miss in this draft was their 4th round pick of Anthony Hill who was released and now plays for the Colts. Antoine Caldwell hasn’t played to the level of a third round pick, but at least he was able to provide a little production. The rest of this class was very solid with two pro bowl caliber players in Cushing and Barwin and nice later choices of Quin, Casey, McCain, and Nolan.
Recent comments