Draft Position in Mahomes Era

[tredadda]

With all the talk of how KC has been doing things since 2017 regarding the draft it really is amazing how good they have been building through the draft despite their position. So I figured that it might be good to look back on every team's draft position along to their average over those years (first round only).

Reason for this is because some teams have a lot of studs on their roster, but that's more because of where they drafted vs how well they drafted.

This will only be based on where they were slotted, not where they picked via trade as this will show more about the success of the team the year prior (at least to the best of my abilities). It will also show why dynasties are so hard to maintain. Also this is not designed to look at quality of picks as that can be subjective. Plus success rate tends to be better the higher one picks.

The layout will be Team: Position (starting with 2017), and (average without rounding).

Arizona: 13, 15, 1, 8, 16, 23, 3, 4 (10.3 average)
Atlanta: 31, 26, 14, 16, 4, 8, 8, 8 (14.3 average)
Baltimore: 16, 16, 22, 28, 27, 14, 22, 30 (21.8 average)
Buffalo: 10, 21, 9, 22, 30, 25, 27, 28 (21.5 average)
Carolina: 8, 24, 16, 7, 8, 6, 9, 1 (9.8 average)
Chicago: 3, 8, 24, 19, 20, 7, 1, 9 (11.3 average)
Cincy: 9, 12, 11, 1, 5, 31, 28, 18 (14.3 average)
Cleveland: 1, 1, 17, 10, 26, 13, 12, 23 (12.8 average)
Dallas: 28, 19, 27, 17, 10, 24, 26, 24 (21.8 average)
Denver: 20, 5, 10, 15, 9, 9, 5, 12 (10.6 average)
Detroit: 21, 20, 8, 3, 7, 2, 18, 29 (13.5 average)
Green Bay: 29, 14, 12, 30, 29, 28, 15, 25 (22.7 average)
Houston: 25, 4, 23, 26, 3, 3, 2, 27 (14.1 average)
Indy: 15, 3, 26, 13, 21, 16, 4, 15 (14.1 average)
Jacksonville: 4, 29, 7, 9, 1, 1, 24, 17 (11.5 average)
KC: 27, 22, 29, 32, 31, 30, 31, 32 (29.2 average)
LV: 24, 10, 4, 12, 17, 22, 7, 13 (13.6 average)
LAC: 7, 17, 28, 6, 13, 17, 21, 5 (14.2 average)
LAR:5, 23, 31, 20, 25, 32, 6, 19 (20.1 average)
Miami: 22, 11, 13, 5, 18, 15, (0), 21 (15 average)
Minnesota: 14, 30, 18, 25, 14, 12, 23, 11 (18.3 average)
New England: 32, 31, 32, 23, 15, 21, 14, 3 (21.3 average)
New Orleans: 11, 27, 30, 24, 28, 18, 10, 14 (20.2 average)
NYG: 23, 2, 6, 4, 11, 5, 25, 6 (10.2 average)
NYJ: 6, 6, 3, 11, 2, 4, 13, 10 (6.8 average)
Philly: 12, 32, 25, 21, 6, 19, 30, 22 (20.8 average)
Pittsburgh: 30, 28, 20, 18, 24, 20, 17, 20 (22.1 average)
SF: 2, 9, 2, 31, 12, 29, 29, 31 (18.1 average)
Seattle: 26, 18, 21, 27, 23, 10, 20, 16 (20.1 average)
TB: 19, 7, 5, 14, 32, 27, 19, 26 (18.6 average)
Tenn: 18, 25, 19, 29, 22, 26, 11, 7 (19.6 average)
Washington: 17, 13, 15, 2, 19, 11, 16, 2 (11.8 average)

The biggest takeaway from this is that a large portion of the success of this team is due success in the draft, an this has all been done near the end of each round. It's easy to hit on a CB like Sauce Gardner when you are drafting high vs a Jaylen Watson. Also easy to draft a Joe Alt at #5 vs finding someone at the end of the first.

Veach has put on a masterclass in drafting, although he does have his share of misses. But what he's doing based on where he starts in each draft is impressive. It's also why this dynasty is so impressive.