I find a few things interesting, but the article has a few flaws also.
Quote:
Defensive end
What do Jared Allen, Trent Cole, Jay Ratliff and Aaron Kampman have in common, besides each being named to multiple Pro Bowls?
What DON'T they have in common?
Ratliff is not a DE!
He plays NT in a 3-4 defense. I realize he did play some DE in previous years when Parcells was there, but that was still in the 2-gap 3-4 defense that Parcells ran, so I would have grouped him with the DTs for comparison.
ALSO....
Quote:
This system allows us to study talent depth across various positions in the draft
But what about
un-drafted free agents?
I know they would be tough to include in terms of success rate, but there are a lot of UDFAs that would skew a statistical comparison that is only comparing players drafted.
Quote:
As Todd McShay points out in the Feb. 22 issue of ESPN The Magazine, all five of 2009's leaders in quarterback rating were among the first 33 picks.
This is an article about statistical comparison.
Yet, they have used a quote to support their story that contradicts the premise. It is TRUE that all 5 of the QBs in QB rating were drafted in the top 33 picks, but 2 of those 5 QBs were 2nd round picks. Furthermore, those 2 QBs were not drafted by their present team.
They also could have used the same stat category to make a case against drafting a QB in the 1st round.
They could have said that despite 18 QBs drafted in the 1st round being listed in the top 32 ratings, only 4 of them landed in the top 10 of the QB ratings. That means more than HALF of the top QBs in 2009 were not 1st round QBs.
I'm not making a case that the article is wrong.
I'm only raising questions about the manner in which they have presented the data.