Round Up

In honor of Black History Month, pro-football-reference.com's Chase Stuart kicks off a series looking at the history of black quarterbacks in the NFL. It's a great first post on a topic that shouldn't be relegated to the dustbin of football history just yet. It's amazing how much has changed in the thirty years I've been watching.

Yakuza Rich plays a First Round Draft Game, and takes a quick look at the correlation between first round draft pick performance and team success. Pacifist Viking looks at the importance of the draft anecdotally by considering the downfall of the Cowboys in the 1990s and the sustained success of the 49ers through the 80s and 90s.

Also worth checking out at Yakuza Rich's blog are his offensive linemen rankings. I don't think the rankings equate to a listing of the best linemen of the year exactly, but it's certainly a measure of success and something to consider when discussing the best linemen in the game.

Matt Mosley on Roger Goodell, Senator Arlen Specter, and Spygate. I can't believe a Senator is actually wasting his time, and therefore our tax dollars, on this. I understand that because of the NFL's Antitrust exemption the government has an interest in the league, but this issue has been blown out of such proportion over the course of the season, I get queezy every time it's brought up.

NFL Stats asks if red zone performance is real?

NFL Draft Guys might be the only site covering the Texas vs the Nation all-star game this week, providing relatively detailed practice reports and complete, downloadable weigh-in information. I'll be watching the game this afternoon and writing about it, possibly later tonight if I can make time. The official site provides some info on players from last year's game who went on to be draft selections.

Michael Davis Smith questions Roger Goodell about the NFL's outrageous rookie salary structure and its fairness to proven veterans.

How Important Are First Round Picks?

Chris Malumphy at DraftHistory.com breaks down the Pro Bowl teams and finds Nearly Half of 2006 NFL Pro Bowlers Drafted in First Round. Malumphy also analyzes some of the differences between the AFC and NFC representatives.

Pro Bowl Players Tend To Be High Draft Picks

Chris Malumphy of Drafthistory.com offers his take on the correlation between high draft picks and players selected to the Pro Bowl.

Majority of Pro Bowl Position Players Were First Round Picks

Great Blue North's PRO BOWL ROSTER REPORT notes that "70 of the 76 players named to the Pro Bowl this year at regular positions were drafted. In fact, over half of this year's AFC and NFC Pro Bowl positional players - 40 of 76 or 53% - were first round picks and 83% of all positional players named to this year's Pro Bowl, were first day picks selected in the first three rounds."