NFL Pro Bowl appearances by high draft picks, team totals, 1997-2007

[Auggie]

(Hope I got that right)

by Rick Reilly, ESPN

"Let's look at the drafts from 1997 to 2007. Here's how many Pro Bowl years those draft picks have had since:

Indianapolis Colts 37
Pittsburgh Steelers 35
Dallas Cowboys 34
Seattle Seahawks 31
Philadelphia Eagles 27
Chicago Bears 26
Minnesota Vikings 26
Baltimore Ravens 25
New England Patriots 24
Washington Redskins 23
Green Bay Packers 23
San Diego Chargers 22
Arizona Cardinals 22
Carolina Panthers 20
New York Jets 19
Denver Broncos 19
St. Louis Rams 19
Atlanta Falcons 19
Kansas City Chiefs 18
Cincinnati Bengals 18
San Francisco 49ers 18
New York Giants 18
Oakland Raiders 16
Miami Dolphins 15
Tennessee Titans 14
New Orleans Saints 13
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12
Buffalo Bills 10
Houston Texans 10
Jacksonville Jaguars 9
Cleveland Browns 7
Detroit Lions 4

What slaps you across the face is that the Indianapolis Colts used the draft to climb out of their spider hole of the 1980s and 1990s to become a gorilla in the AFC, and not just with Peyton Manning (10 Pro Bowls). DE Dwight Freeney (5), RB Edgerrin James (4) and WR Reggie Wayne (4) were genius picks, too.

What slaps you harder is that the Cleveland Browns could've done the same thing, but they screwed the Chihuahua.

MORE: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5122808

Interesting. Regardless who is drafted when and by what team, you have to wait to see how it pans out.

[Awsi Dooger]

1. You might be interested in this

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=697121

Download link at top. It's recently updated academic research on market efficiency and the NFL draft.

I've been sampling it for the past few days. Among their basic conclusions:

* The so-called value Chart, used for trade purposes, is flawed, too much of a premium to move up. Comical to read its origins, starting in Dallas and based on only a few years of drafts, never intended to be a specific guideline. It was lazily swooped up when Cowboys front office workers got jobs elsewhere in the league

* Trading down is wise, with best value late first and particularly early second round

* The top pick in the draft is actually the least desirable in the first round, from a cost/return standpoint

* Psychological-based evaluation that NFL teams are overconfident in their ratings due to soaking in so much information leading to the draft

[Auggie]

2. Fascinating research

Thank you.

The math escapes me, of course.

And I laugh when I imagine Al Davis reading this.