It has often been said that the best teams across the NFL are the teams that draft the best, and while this is true, it does not tell the whole story. Teams like the Chiefs, Rams, Eagles, and Bills have been the best teams in the NFL, and their GMs have been heralded as the best in the NFL at identifying talent. But what often goes unnoticed is how well these teams develop prospects from later in the draft.
There are few things more valuable in the NFL than the ability to hit on late-round draft picks. Even the Patriots’ dynasty throughout the 2000s was based on the ability to draft and develop players at an elite rate. Their team was centred around Tom Brady, who was the 199th overall pick in the draft and was someone no one would have ever thought would reach the heights he has.
Now, when I say there is a distinctive difference between drafting well and developing well, many people may wonder what I mean. The ability to draft well is the responsibility of the GM, and being able to hit on picks that you SHOULD hit on is what earns a team the “drafts well” label. But the ability to develop players you SHOULD NOT hit on, that is what makes a team good at developing talent, something that may be even more important to a franchise’s success.
I am starting with the best organization in the NFL over the last several years, the New England Patriots. We all know about Tom Brady, but their organization’s success came from the ability to draft and develop talent that none would have expected to impact their roster. Julian Edleman and Asante Samuel are good examples of draft picks whom the Patriots hit on late in the draft, but their real strength was acquiring talent and turning them into stars.
Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, and Mike Vrabel were players the Patriots signed after they struggled with previous teams. Maybe the best examples of this were superstars whom the Patriots were able to get for pennies on the dollar. Randy Moss, Darrell Revis, Stephon Gilmore, and Aquib Talib all will likely go on to be Hall of Famers, and the Patriots were able to either sign them in free agency or trade late-round picks to acquire them from their previous teams.
This ability to develop players was the pinnacle of the Patriots organization for well over a decade and is now the focus for so many franchises across the NFL. Teams like the Chiefs have hit on stars like Tyreek Hill (pick 165), Charvarius Ward (UDFA), L’Jarius Sneed (pick 138), and Trey Smith (pick 226), all star-calibre players who were taken on day three of the draft. They also were able to succeed with under-the-radar free agents like Sammy Watkins, Tyraan Mathieu, and Justin Reid, which helped propel Kansas City to nine straight division titles as well as seven consecutive AFC championship appearances.
There are a lot of teams across the NFL that are capable of drafting well. Teams like the Cowboys, Jaguars, and Chargers are great examples of teams that have drafted well and hit on their early draft picks, but struggles later in the draft have held back their ability to win games.
All this to say, much of the focus when it comes to roster construction is centred around the GM, but there is a lot more to it than that. Having a strong coaching staff which is on the same page as the GM and can develop the talent put in front of them is the recipe to win games in the NFL.
This is something that is often forgotten about, and many NFL fans will say that a player who was a “bust” just was not good or was a bad pick by the GM. But the reality is, good teams don’t make bad picks, but great teams develop players who no one expects to be good picks. This is what makes the best teams in the NFL the best of the best and is what has been the foundation of the Patriots and Chiefs dynasties throughout the last two decades.
