Wolf and Urlacher Sitting In A Tree

[esoxx]

I've seen articles and stuff discussing Wolf's push to trade up for Urlacher in the past. I don't see him as trying to distort facts or protect a legacy (was he elected to public office?). Wolf has always been a codgy straight shooting type. He doesn't offer much fluff, whether it's good, bad or in-between.

He acknowledged mistakes which is more than can be said of a lot of GM's, including the guy who replaced him. On Buckley, not only did he acknowledge it and get rid of it, he actually applied what he learned and made a personal vow to not draft undersized CB's. If Mike Sherman had been paying attention he would avoided the Carroll mistake.

But most of you already know this.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I just re-looked a the 1999 draft. I thought that only McKenzie and Driver ended up contributing at a high level. Hunt, Bidwell, Edwards were also starters, but they were pretty marginal. Vinson was traded for Green, but that still doesn't make it a good pick, just a good trade.

1 (25, 25) - Antwan Edwards, Clemson
2 (16, 47) - Fred Vinson, Vanderbilt
3 (26, 87) - Mike McKenzie, Memphis
3 (33, 94) - Cletidus Hunt, Kentucky State
4 (36, 131) - Aaron Brooks, Virginia
4 (38, 133) - Josh Bidwell, Oregon
5 (26, 159) - DeMond Parker, Oklahoma
5 (30, 163) - Craig Heimburger, Missouri
6 (27, 196) - Dee Miller, Ohio State
6 (34, 203) - Scott Curry, Montana
7 (6, 212) - Chris Akins, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
7 (7, 213) - Donald Driver, Alcorn State

That draft isn't that bad. McKenzie, Driver, and Bidwell turned into good starters. Hunt and Brooks were solid starters for a couple of years (Brooks with another team) and below average starters for a couple of years. Edwards was a below average starter. Vinson turned into Ahman. And, yes, you can credit him on this draft for that because his draft pick brought a good return. This isn't a bad draft at all. In fact, considering that he turned Vinson into Ahman, that's a good draft. Three good starters and two average starters. One player traded for a Pro Bowl starter. One player that was traded who turned into a decent starter. Not sure who we drafted with the pick that was acquired for Brooks. Most GMs would take that every year.