If you haven't read the first installment yet, check it out here:
http://www.sofantasyfootball.com/nfl...-part-i-17127/

Last time we took a look at the bottom 12 draft classes from 2005, and it was not a pretty sight. Today we look at teams #20 through #9 and find a bunch of average draft classes. You’ll see a lot of contributors here but nothing franchise altering, for better or for worse. Just as a review, here were numbers 32 through 21:

32. Minnesota
31. Carolina
30. Buffalo
29. Houston
28. Detroit
27. Washington
26. Baltimore
25. Kansas City
24. Denver
23. Oakland
22. Chicago
21. Arizona

20. Jacksonville
Notables – WR Matt Jones, OT Khalif Barnes, CB Scott Starks, RB Alvin Pearman, S Gerald Sensabaugh

Jacksonville escaped the draft losers article, but not by much. Truth be told, they escaped because of the Khalif Barnes pick. It’s hard to fault a team too much for a draft where they landed their left tackle in the 2nd round, probably the most important position in football. But the rest of the draft was almost entirely useless, starting at the top with the mammoth bust Matt Jones, who has never made the transition from athletic college quarterback to NFL receiver. Anyone else just as shocked as me?

19. Pittsburgh
Notables – TE Heath Miller, CB Bryant McFadden, G Trai Essex, G Chris Kemoeatu, WR Nate Washington
We said we’d see a lot of contributors, and this draft defines that. Pittsburgh didn’t really do anything wrong here. They got a reliable starting tight end, a starting guard, and a corner and receiver that are in the rotation, and they did it while drafting from the #30 spot. You really can’t complain about that. But it’s also nothing special either, and they did nothing to make a real lasting impact.

18. St. Louis
Notables – OT Alex Barron, CB Ronald Bartell, S OJ Atogwe, G Richie Incognito, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, FB Madison Hedgecock
OJ Atogwe saved this draft from being lower, as he really started to come on at the end of last season and turned into a turnover a machine. Alex Barron was supposed to be the star of the draft and an eventual Orlando Pace replacement. Instead he has been an average right tackle and this team has gotten killed two years in a row because Pace was injured and no one was good enough to fill in, and now many mock drafts have the Rams using the #2 pick on OT Jake Long as the new future at LT.

17. Cincinnati
Notables – LB David Pollack, ILB Odell Thurman, WR Chris Henry, C Eric Ghiaciuc
Cincinnati is a very difficult team to grade, as you’ll notice with the next few teams on this list whose best grade right now would probably be incomplete. David Pollack looked like a legitimate contributor before suffering what looks like a career-ending injury early in his career. Odell Thurman and Chris Henry have both shown flashes of talent that could have left this as a top 5 draft, but they’ve also gotten into all sorts of legal problems which shows why they dropped on draft day. Neither of those was a surprise, so Cincinnati has to take at least a little bit of a hit for that.

16. San Francisco
Notables – QB Alex Smith, C David Baas, RB Frank Gore, G Adam Snyder, DT Ronald Fields
No, I’m not ready to call Alex Smith a complete bust yet. His numbers through three years and 30 starts certainly argue otherwise: 19 TDs and 31 INTs. But don’t forget that Smith was taken as something of a project even at #1 overall, and at age 23 he is still one of the youngest starters in the league. Let’s give him a year with Mike Martz and see if he improves. As for the rest of the draft, the 49ers upgraded the interior of their line and also stole an All Pro RB in Frank Gore, so that puts them in the middle of the pack until we can evaluate Smith more.

15. Atlanta
Notables – WR Roddy White, DT Jonathan Babineaux, LB Jordan Beck, LB Michael Boley, P Michael Koenen
This is another draft where the jury is still out. Roddy White started to really come around this year and looks like a legitimate WR, even a #1 perhaps, in a non-Vick system. Babineaux and Koenen have been solid contributors as well. The real gem of the draft was Michael Boley, who is one of this offseason’s top free agents at linebacker. If the Falcons can keep him around, he can really become the centerpiece of their defense.

14. Miami
Notables – RB Ronnie Brown, DE/OLB Matt Roth, ILB Channing Crowder, CB Travis Daniels
Roth and Crowder are both starters in the Miami 3-4 defense, and thank goodness for it, with the rest of the defense aging more quickly than Dick Clark. But this team’s draft grade will ultimately come down to the success of Ronnie Brown. Before this season, you would have marked that a solid D, maybe a C- at best. Then Brown exploded this season for 1000 yards in six and a half games before missing the rest of the season with a devastating knee injury. Miami’s draft grade will ultimately depend on which Brown comes back, if he ever does at all.

13. Indianapolis
Notables – CB Marlin Jackson, CB Kelvin Hayden, DE Vincent Burns, PK Dave Rayner
You probably don’t see much here, and you are right. But Jackson and Hayden were both big contributors on last year’s Super Bowl winning team, and that has to count for something. In fact, it was Marlin Jackson who made the big game-clinching interception against Tom Brady in the game of the season last year.

12. Philadelphia
Notables – DT Mike Patterson, WR Reggie Brown, LB Matt McCoy, RB Ryan Moats, DE/OLB Trent Cole
It’s hard to know what to make of in Reggie Brown, who seems like one of the best receivers in the league for a few games each season and then disappears for the rest of the year. He’s probably somewhere in the middle, a product of McNabb making big plays. But the team won this draft anyways by improving its defensive line in a big way. Patterson has been a great DT, but Trent Cole is the steal of this draft, leading the team with 12.5 sacks this year en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.

11. Tampa Bay
Notables – RB Cadillac Williams, ILB Barrett Rudd, TE Alex Smith, OT Chris Colmer
It’s very easy to just call Cadillac a bust and move on. But, lest you forget, Cadillac actually had 1200 yards and 6 TDs in 14 games his rookie season before all of the recent injuries continued to pile up against him, and that is hardly Tampa’s fault. Meanwhile Barrett Rudd has become one of the team’s best defenders, the heart of one of the best defenses in the league. Smith has been a solid TE and is, for whatever it’s worth, the best Alex Smith in the draft so far.

10. New Orleans
Notables – OT Jamaal Brown, S Josh Bullocks, LB Alfred Fincher
There are only two names worth noting here, but both are very key players for the Saints, and it doesn’t seem like they could have made last year’s big run without either of them. Bullocks has developed into a very good free safety, and Jamaal Brown has been a key player, helping to turn one of the worst lines in the NFL into one of the best with his great play.

9. NY Jets
Notables – PK Mike Nugent, CB Justin Miller, DT Sione Pouha, S Kerry Rhodes, RB Cedric Houston
Yes Mike Nugent is the butt of many jokes with his costly playoff misses, but the truth is that he has finally given the Jets a reliable kicker, something they had been missing for any years. Justin Miller looked like a superstar corner and kick returner before some of his troubles this year, so the jury is still out on him, I suppose. Kerry Rhodes was a real draft day steal, starting at strong safety from day one and now included among the best safeties and defensive playmakers in the game. Pretty good draft for not having a 1st round pick among the bunch.

By now, you have probably figured out if your team is missing from the two lists so far that they had a great draft – a top 8 draft in my opinion. Come back Friday for the final installment and a look at the 2005 draft champion!

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Good Stuff!

Nope. But they will keep right on paying the honkey

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2008 Black Knights Football - 12 wins isn't enough