Neither No. 1 nor Mr. Irrelevant, Mardy Gilyard

I'm not going to give you draft grades because I think that is an absurd process which assumes that I can predict the future--not that it stops the "pros" from doing it year after year. Nor does it stop them from using hindsight to go back and reevaluate. I did give you Mardy Gilyard above (the no. 99 pick), not because I'm saying he will be as much of an impact player and leader in the NFL as he was at Cincy, but because I don't want to talk about number 1, or Mr. Irrelevant from the 2010 Draft. Everyone has probably heard Gilyard's story, so I'm not going to rehash that in this space. Gilyard is probably my favorite video game character of all time. If you haven't used Cincy on NCAA Football 10, you should (especially at Nippert Stadium) and let the magic happen. The Rams could have drafted Tony Pike to throw the ball to Gilyard, but Pike has been injured frequently and doesn't have nearly the total percentage of passes as INTs (TPPI)™ stat (yeah, that's my trademark) that Sam Bradford has. Pike's TPPI was 2.9% (20 INT/682 passes) whereas Bradford's was 1.8% (16 INT/893 passes). You might also recognize Bradford with this trophy.

Since I'm taking the shrink wrap off TPPI. Let's look at the QB's drafted ranked by TPPI, draft number in brackets.

1. (no. 25) Tim Tebow, Broncos, 1.6% (16 INT/995 passes)

2. (no. 1) Sam Bradford, Rams, 1.8% (16 INT/893 passes)

3. (no. 209) Levi Brown, Bills, 2.0% (19 INT/963 passes)

4. (no. 181) Dan LeFevour, Bears, 2.0% (36 INT/1763 passes)

5. (no. 48) Jimmy Clausen, Panthers, 2.4% (27 INT/1110 passes)

6. (no. 155) John Skelton, Cardinals, 2.6% (36 INT/1363 passes)

7. (no. 176) Rusty Smith, Titans, 2.6% (36 INT/1361 passes)

8. (no. 85) Colt McCoy, Browns, 2.7% (45 INT/1645 passes)

9. (no. 89) Armanti Edwards, Panthers, 2.8% (33 INT/1180 passes)

10. (no. 204) Tony Pike, Panthers, 2.9% (20 INT/682 passes)

11. (no. 239) Sean Canfield, Saints, 3.0% (26 INT/861 passes)

12. (no. 250) Zac Robinson, Patriots, 3.1% (31 INT/999 passes)

13. (no. 122) Mike Kafka, Eagles, 3.1% (20 INT/637 passes)

14. (no. 199) Joe Webb, Vikings, 3.2% (25 INT/792 passes)

15. (no. 168) Jonathan Crompton, Chargers, 3.5% (22 INT/629 passes)

The Carolina Panthers drafted three (Clausen, Edwards, Pike) of the fifteen quarterbacks selected in order of their TPPI. As a whole this group of QBs was not selected in that manner. Crompton was the 8th QB selected although he was clearly 15th in TPPI and Levi Brown and Dan LeFevour were late round selections despite having a low percentage of INTs. I'm not suggesting that TPPI is a make or break stat, but it might be worth looking at in terms of the whole package of scouting a QB. TPPI also doesn't get into situational things like throwing a pick on Hail Mary attempts. However, if your QB consistently throws a pick in such situations, it shouldn't throw off the number.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

The LSU Tigers had a six year reign (which was the longest active streak) of first round draft picks end in 2010. Their streak of three straight years of having a player selected in the top five picks of the draft also ended. LSU ultimately had six players selected which tied them for 5th most during this years' draft. The Florida Gators led the way with nine (9) selections.