I gotta be honest, I don't see any elite O-linemen that came out of that 2009 draft:
2009 NFL Draft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I don't think there is one all-pro in there. The 2009 draft was just bad. The players picked after Jackson were
- Aaron Curry (cut by 2 teams)
- Sanchez (awful)
- Andre Smith (played 13 games his first two seasons, never made it as a LT but is starting RT for the Bengals now)
- Darius Heyward-Bey (Been pretty "meh" for his career to date)
- Eugene Monroe (probably the best of the group, but KC had a LT)
- B.J. Raji (had a pro-bowl season and has been awful since)
- Michael Crabtree (finally starting to come around in his 4th year)
- Aaron Maybin (been cut from several teams)
- Knowshon Moreno (he was going nowhere until McGahee got hurt and Manning arrived)
- Brian Orakpo (he's the bets player on this list)
I think we've all put a lot of emphasis on thinking that 1st rounders are always can't-miss studs that play in the league for the next 12 years. The reality is, Jackson was a good first round pick for several reasons.
1.) KC was moving to a 3-4 defense and desperately needed 3-4 DEs.
2.) Tyson Jackson has been a solid run-stopping 3-4 DE.
3.) He's still on the team and playing well.
When you have high expectations for 1st rounders, I'd say 90% of the time you're going to be let down. But if a team is constantly plucking players out that contribute for 5+ years, is that really a bad thing?
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