Revised 2007 NFL Draft
 

So I was watching a 2007 Draft re-mock at walterfootball and realized something, what a great draft class for top talent! Take a look at the first 5 picks:

1 Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech
6-5, 239 lbs, 4.30 40 time.
Excellent player at Georgia Tech, consensus number 1 prospect in his draft, insane athletic ability: tight end body with corner speed.

2012 verdict: best WR in football. After 4 years of inconsistency at the QB position, he finally got a chance to show his full potetial with a healthy Mathew Stafford throwing him the ball

2 Joe Thomas, OT, Wisconsin
6-6, 310 lbs.
Excellent size, feet, power and tons of talent, one of the most highly-touted offensive linemen to enter the NFL Draft in years. Coming from Wisconsin he was well coached and very mature, composed young man.

2012 verdict: best OT in football. Thomas is one of the few bright spots in a horrible Cleveland team.

3 Darrelle Revis, CB, Pittsburgh
5-11, 204 lbs, 4.38 40 time.
Good player coming out of college with great potential, but he wasn't considered the best corner of his class.

2012 verdict: best CB in football. Darrelle Revis has been the best corner for 3 years in a row, shutting down one half of the field.

4 Patrick Willis, ILB, Ole Miss
6-1, 241, 4.51 40 time (4.37 at pro day).
Perfect size and unbelievable speed for a linebacker. He made some eye-popping tackles with the Rebels, while being a tackling machine and playmaker.

2012 verdict: best LB in football. Just like in college, Patrick Willis is a beast in the NFL: hard hitter, excellent in coverage, great blitzer and perfect tackler. In his 5 seasons he's totalled: 692 tackles, 17 sacks, 12 FF, 40 PDef (!!!!!) 5 int and 2 TD's.

5 Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma
6-1, 217 lbs, 4.40 40 time.
Adrian Peterson was a beast at Oklahoma, complete all-around playmaker. He had some injury concerns coming out.

2012 verdict: best RB in football. You don't need me to tell you how much of a beast AD is , he had a fumbling problem to start his career but appears to be past that. Hope he returns at full strenght this season.

Coming out of college most of those guys had huge expectations (Revis being the exception) due to excellent combine numbers and measurables, combined with the fact that they had great careers but oh boy! have they delivered.

All of those guys are GREAT players, actually the best at their respective positions today in the NFL.

**** you Jamaal Anderson! Was begging for LaRon Landry or Adrian Peterson. They got picked the two selections before us. After that, I really wanted either Patrick Willis or Amobi Okoye. Obviously Okoye flamed out, but P-Willie is an absolute monster. Never liked Jamaal Anderson coming out, always looked fat and sluggish and I didn't understand the Julius Peppers comparisons he was getting. Revis obviously would have been nice too.

2007 was a great draft. I felt like everybody should have known that Joe Thomas, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Gaines Adams, and LaRon Landry were going to be instant Pro Bowlers. Gaines wasn't, but those were some talented prototype kind of guys. I understood why a team might draft Jamarcus Russell in the top 10, but never in a million years over players like those. They might as well have been Orlando Pace, Randy Moss, Jim Brown, Ray Lewis, Michael Strahan, and Ronnie Lott.

Throw in the fact that they were the unquestioned guys at the top of their positions heading into the year and then performed well and stayed at the top. Plus put up insane combine numbers and blew every doubt out of the water.

This is what I hate about this site. Jamaal Anderson wasn't "fat" or "sluggish" coming out. In fact, there were alot of people around here and in the NFL who thought he was very close to Mario Williams as a prospect. He was a long, rangy pass rusher who was strong against the run and had one of the better bull rushes I've seen since I started scouting. He was an extremely fluid prospect for his size and if I recall correctly, there wasn't much concern over his quickness or explosion off the edge after his monster junior year. I remember some minor concerns about his closing speed against the run, but as far as pass rushing goes, he was far from "fat" or "sluggish". I'd love to see Scott's scouting report on him, because from what I remember Jamaal Anderson was a stellar prospect and very deserving of going in the Top 10. It's this kind of revisionist history that bothers the hell out of me.

In fact, I distinctly remember hearing tons of Michael Strahan comparisons for Jamaal Anderson coming out.

I assure you this isn't revisionist history. I hate when people do that too. Don't get me wrong, I'm wrong just as many times as I'm right. I thought Matt Ryan would be at best a Matt Hasslebeck type guy, and more than likely bust. I also thought Jimmy Williams was the second coming of Chris McAlister. I didn't like that Jamaal Anderson only produced for one year, and was not greatly impressed with his film.

#NEVARFORGET

I didn't watch any tape or any real games back then...it was the year of the casual observer being right over scouts about the top 10. The biggest names of 2006 were the best of the bunch and then wowed at the combine. Scouts probably over-thought some of their moves. I can understand some teams not being in position to grab CJ, Thomas, Adams, Landry, or Peterson...but Patrick Willis falling to #11? I don't care when MLBs are supposed to be drafted, he was the obvious best player left on the board after Peterson at 7.

I had thought that Jamaal Anderson was compared more to Richard Seymour back then. I understand the love of Okoye's upside and Ted Ginn's potential to be Tim Brown...but come on. A faster Ray Lewis potential trumps any of those guys' potential.

Yes, you're right if you see it from that perspective it was a boom or bust type selection for every team in the top 10. All of the guys taken had TONS of physical ability, some boomed.. some busted

There were also some great selections in the 2nd round: Weddle, Woodley, Kalil and to some degree: Steve Smith, Zach Miller, Sidney Rice, David Harris and Paul Posluszny

Really glad the Seahawks basically got Deion Branch with their first round pick that year. 2300 yards in four and a half seasons with the team. Woo.

To bring it full circle, I feel similarly about Luck, Kalil, Richardson, Blackmon, and DeCastro this year. Upshaw, Ingram, and Zach Brown can join depending on combine performances.

Anderson was a complete non-entity to me as a prospect. Didn't buy the hype, wasn't interested, and never thought the team I root for was even remotely interested.

The only way the 2007 draft could have been sweeter for the Jets was if they landed Woodley to go with Revis. Then again, the only way the 2007 draft gets better for the Steelers if they land Revis to go with Woodley. Neither team is losing sleep over the two guys they did get (Timmons and Harris).

Wasn't a big fan of the 2007 draft at the time. Obviously the top tier talent kicked ass and took names, but I never saw it as that deep a draft. I liked the aggressive approach the Jets took that year to grab starters...Not alot of guys I regret missing out on.

The bolded always bothered me. I always felt that Revis was the #1 CB and it wasn't even close outside of Leon Hall. I never understood the top CB whispers around the likes of Chris Houston, Eric Wright, Josh Wilson, Marcus McCauley, etc.

Revis simply didn't allow receptions while at Pitt.

Found my post on this from another thread...
http://draftcountdown.com/forum/show...4&#post2158474

He's still got a ways to go before he reaches the level Hasselbeck was at his best.

Not really. Ryan's season this year was statistically superior to Hasslebeck's best season, which was 07. Not significantly, mind you, but they're pretty similar in terms of where I would rank them among QB's. Better then good, but not great types.

49ers did pretty good in this draft overall. Patrick Willis, Joe Staley, Ray McDonald, Dashon Goldson, and Tarrell Brown. 5 starters and they were all pretty good except for maybe Brown, who was more above-average ish. By far our best draft in a while.

This is why the Bucs had to let go of the Jon/Allen combo

1 4 Gaines Adams DE 6 ft 5 in 258 lb Clemson
2 35 Arron Sears OG 6 ft 4 in 315 lb Tennessee
2 64 Sabby Piscitelli S 6 ft 3 in 224 lb Oregon State

when you swing and miss like that... you go back down to AAA.

To backup the Bucs Arron Sears was player before going crazy.

Well stated.
Tough to recover from big K's like that, with the bases loaded.

Same thing for the guy who chose Mandarich with Barry and Deion Sanders still on board, plus Derrick Thomas and Steve Atwater. But that's a long time ago.

Raider fans must want to hang the guy who passed all those 2007 SURE-FIRE studs to take the physical specimen at QB.
Wait....

Yeah, and three other guys went over 5000 yards this year. Stats are just stats. Hasselbeck has 5 playoff wins and a Super Bowl appearance playing on similar types of teams; strong running game and good defense. Statistically, sure, there are similarities. I'm not saying Hasselbeck is any sort of all-timer, but I was never a huge fan of Matt Ryan, either. I think Hasselbeck is a pretty good player to hold him next to, but I can't say he's put himself on par with Hasselbeck quite yet. Win a few playoff games first. Those are important.

Fair enough. It's impossible to say at this point in Ryan's career. Some points I'd like to make though, the running game hasn't been particularly strong since 2009. I would say our running game this year would be above average, but Michael Turner is no Shaun Alexander, let's not get those two mixed up. Also our defense has been fairly weak, and at this point would be considered average at best.

Back to the topic at hand though, there were some great players that came out of that class. Obviously this is a little early, but I think you could make an argument that those five are all legitimate Hall of Fame contenders.

Hahaha... As a Seahawks fan, I'd even say Michael Turner's peak was higher than Shaun Alexander's. That rushing title and MVP award belonged to Seattle's O-line. And that Super Bowl defense was right in the middle, probably a little better than Atlanta's this year but not by all that much. But you're right, we're picking nits a bit about a couple players who, when you think about how many players have gone through this league, do have an awful lot in common.

Jarvis Moss FML

JaMarcus Sizzurp Russell

Deion Branch. Best use of a 2007 first round pick.

Ah, the draft that set the Bears back 3 years.

1 Greg Olsen Miami (Fla.)
2 Dan Bazuin Central Michigan -- never played a down for Bears
3 Garrett Wolfe Northern Illinois -- should have never played a down
3 Michael Okwo Stanford -- never played a down for Bears
4 Josh Beekman Boston College
5 Kevin Payne Louisiana-Monroe -- should have never played a down
5 Corey Graham New Hampshire
7 Trumaine McBride Mississippi
7 Aaron Brant Iowa State -- never played a down for the Bears

The Bears got the big heads and figured they were a strong enough team to take some shots in the dark. Didn't address the need to replace an old OL with 4 players over 30. Didn't address the need for a WR to replace the 34-year old and not that good, Muhsin Muhammad. Makes me so angry!

Just want to point out that I hate Walter Football and think it's a massively overrated draft site. Unless Scott know the people over there in which case.....disregard.