The Slot is Dead

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(10-21-2024, 11:27 PM)pulses Wrote: He was only one example......go look and see how many HOFer's were either drafted late or not at all.....alot more than you might think....hence it doesn't matter where you get drafted.

Oof, you sure that's the terrible take hill you want to die on?
- - - - - -

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-by-draft-round/

1st round draft pick HoFers in NFL history: 137
6th round draft pick HoFers in NFL history: 4

4th-21st round draft picks + Special Picks + UDFAs COMBINED: 84

That's 18 rounds of drafting, plus special picks, plus the overwhelming number of UDFAs that get churned through every year. Combine ALL of them and it's still 53 shy of just the 1st round on it's own.

JUST the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall (not round, but overall) picks in NFL history combine for 40 HoFers, which is more than any single other category besides 1st rounders as a whole. Not surprisingly... the 2nd round has the 2nd most HoFers, and the 3rd round has the 3rd most HoFers.

So between 1936 (when the drafts started) and 2007 (the latest anyone has been drafted and entered the HoF so far) there have been 216 1st-3rd overall picks, and 40 of them became HoFers. That's an overwhelming 18.5% of top-3 picks in the 1st round becoming HoFers.

- - - - - - - - - -

There's a reason why no team out there is trading their 1st and 2nd round picks for 5 6ths and 5 7ths. It DOES matter where you were drafted. There's always going to occasionally be guys found in the later rounds who are gems, but nowhere near the rate and reliability of high draft picks.