Sunday, April 22, 2012

New England Patriots best, Cleveland Browns worst at finding All-Pros in the NFL Draft

Part 2 of NFL Draft Special: Team-by-team: Patriots have been the best and the Browns have been the worst in drafting future All-Pros; a leaguewide look.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The New England Patriots and Cleveland's old friend, Bill Belichick, find more stars through the NFL Draft than any other team

Fifteen AP All-Pros from 2002-11, excluding special-teams players, were drafted by the Patriots since quarterback Rich Gannon in 1987, dating back to before Belichick was the coach. Not surprisingly, the Patriots have won more games than any other team over the last 10 seasons.

Conversely, the Browns have found the fewest All-Pros in the draft -- they were absent from the draft from 1996-98 -- and own the NFL's second-worst record over the last decade.

Excluding undrafted and special-teams players, 232 different draftees since Jerry Rice in 1986 became an All-Pro at least once over the last 10 seasons.

This will come as no shock, but a team's ability to find eventual All-Pros in the draft and its winning percentage is no coincidence.

The chart below shows the number of All-Pros and the team originally drafting each.

Use the arrows to sort each column.

Sources: Sports Reference LCC and The Plain Dealer

About the numbers: In an attempt to grade success, The Plain Dealer matched draft lists with a decade of AP All-Pro teams from 2002 to 2011. That's a high bar to set -- finding an All-Pro -- but what NFL general manager wouldn't be thrilled with that outcome? Special teams players were excluded because most were undrafted free agents.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/04/new_england_patriots_best_clev.html

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