Thursday, September 10, 2009

TC: Sleepers from 2004 Draft Class

The NFL kicks off tonight, finally! Over the past six months, we have been bombarded with coverage of the Combine, Draft, Senior Bowl, OTA's, training camp, and preseason football. Added to the normal coverage, this year has also been filled with headlines of tragedy, scandal, tweets, and blogs. Of course those things help keep us in the loop and entertained, it's just fluff until we get to watch and enjoy the real deal. With only hours to go until kickoff, why not add another piece of fluff to the onslaught of media coverage of the NFL, a breakdown of a "sleeper" draft pick from 2004.

There is hype that surrounds each and every NFL draft and the 2004 had its fair share of drama. This was a class that has produced 24 Pro Bowl players, 2 Super Bowl quarterbacks, and plenty of guys that have produced much more than experts expected. Obviously, one of those players was Chris, after he was picked as the 6th tight end in the draft.

As you can see, the stats don't lie. Chris has played in more games and caught more passes for more yards and touchdowns than all these guys. In all honesty however, had Kellen Winslow Jr. not been injured for much of his time in the league, he would undoubtedly top that list. Fortunately for the Redskins, they decided against picking Winslow. From that decision they were able to get from Chris double the games and nearly triple the touchdowns, making Chris the obvious sleeper of a pick in his draft class.

It is easy to look at this in hindsight, but each year has its sleepers. The others from '04 would have to be Michael Turner, Jared Allen, Nathan Vasher, Wes Welker, and Willie Parker. To continue the amount of speculation that already takes place, who do you think will be the sleeper picks of the '09 class?

By Tanner Cooley

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12 comments:

Hey do you have a YAC stat for that list?

This is proof positive that the NFL Draft is the most overhyped over analyzed event in all of Sports. Props to Chris Cooley!

CC IS THE BEST TE IN THE NFL. PERIOD. HIS BLOCKING IS PRETTY GOOD BUT NO ONE IS BETTER AT GETTING YARDS AFTER CONTACT.

HTTR

CC47 makes it look so easy... good to get some stats to put things in perspective.

I enjoyed watching him play everything under the sun (literally) in the ProBowl. He's one of the most versitile players I have ever seen!

HTTR!

I believe Seattle's wide receiver Deon Butler will be 2009's sleeper.

Dang, if Chris has 7 fumbles, I can't remember them.

How about Marko Mitchell in the 7th round! We prob won't find out for a few years.... but

Sleepers out of 2009 draft class:
Marko Mitchell WR Redskins Pick 243
James Davis RB Browns Pick 195

James Davis
Glen Coffee
Pat White

sleeper of this year is matthew stafford, he got paid next to nothing and he is gonna be gud

EXACTLY... please tell Snyder that 2nd-5th draft picks are VERY IMPORTANT and should not be traded!

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