Must great teams build through the draft?
March, 17, 2010
3/17/10
2:28
PM ET
By Tim Graham | ESPN.com
One of football's widely accepted maxims is that good teams are built through the draft.
But are they?
Pro-Football-Reference.com blogger Chase Stuart was skeptical. Stuart, acknowledging that the Super Bowl champions featured several key players they didn't draft, created a system to determine what percentage of a team's approximate value came through the draft as opposed to players acquired through trades, free agents and undrafted rookies.
He posted his findings on The Fifth Down blog at NYTimes.com.
The AFC East didn't fare so well.
Here are Stuart's rankings:
15. New England Patriots, 60.2 percent
21. Buffalo Bills, 56.7 percent
22. New York Jets, 56.0 percent
27. Miami Dolphins, 50.0 percent
But are they?
Pro-Football-Reference.com blogger Chase Stuart was skeptical. Stuart, acknowledging that the Super Bowl champions featured several key players they didn't draft, created a system to determine what percentage of a team's approximate value came through the draft as opposed to players acquired through trades, free agents and undrafted rookies.
He posted his findings on The Fifth Down blog at NYTimes.com.
The AFC East didn't fare so well.
Here are Stuart's rankings:
15. New England Patriots, 60.2 percent
21. Buffalo Bills, 56.7 percent
22. New York Jets, 56.0 percent
27. Miami Dolphins, 50.0 percent
ABOUT THIS BLOG
James Walker
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the NFL and NBA for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. He's a Temple graduate and Hyattsville, Md. native who lives in Miami.
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