Re-Drafting the 2000 NFL Draft Using Advanced Analytics
What Happened
In the 2000 draft, the top 10 played out as follows:
| Pick | Team | Player | Position | CarAV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Browns | Courtney Brown | DE | 28 |
| 2 | Washington Redskins | Lavar Arrington | LB | 46 |
| 3 | Washington Redskins | Chris Samuels | T | 62 |
| 4 | Cincinnati Bengals | Peter Warrick | WR | 27 |
| 5 | Baltimore Ravens | Jamal Lewis | RB | 71 |
| 6 | Philadelphia Eagles | Corey Simon | DT | 45 |
| 7 | Arizona Cardinals | Thomas Jones | RB | 62 |
| 8 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Plaxico Burress | WR | 69 |
| 9 | Chicago Bears | Brian Urlacher | LB | 118 |
| 10 | Baltimore Ravens | Travis Taylor | WR | 32 |
Courtney Brown was a complete animal in his time with Penn State, so the fact that the defensive end went number one overall to the Cleveland Browns is unsurprising. Unfortunately, Brown didn't carry over his college production to the big leagues. In a mere six seasons, Brown tallied just 19 sacks in 60 career starts. He called it quits in 2005 with the Denver Broncos.
Like Brown, LaVar Arrington attended Penn State and was a defensive cog in his time there. Dissimilar to his former teammate, Arrington had a few good seasons after getting out to a slow start to his NFL career. After two seasons with just 4.5 sacks, Arrington went on to post a total of 142 tackles, 17 sacks, 6 fumbles forced, and 5 fumble recoveries in his third and fourth seasons. After that, his career fizzled out in Washington as Arrington moved on to the New York Giants to play in just six games before ending his career in 2006.
Chris Samuels emerged from Alabama to play 141 games over a 10-year career. In his time in the NFL, Samuels was voted to six Pro Bowls and one All-Pro Team.
Peter Warrick, Plaxico Burress, and Travis Taylor were all completely different receivers. In college, Warrick was a high-volume possession receiver. Burress was a big-play target with a large frame. Taylor was a reliable target but never put up crazy numbers.
All three had some success in the league, but Burress was above and beyond the best. In 11 seasons, Burress accounted for 553 catches, 8,499 yards, and 64 touchdowns in 148 games.
Jamal Lewis and Thomas Jones were both really productive running backs in the NFL. While Jones had mainly six or seven good seasons, Lewis one-upped him with seven seasons over 1,000 yards and one historic season in 2000, when he ran for 2,066 yards and 14 scores.
As far as defensive tackles go, Corey Simon was pretty solid. He probably didn't live up to his top-10 selection, but in seven seasons, Simon had 32 tackles and 9 forced fumbles. He was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2003.
Then there's Brian Urlacher, the Chicago Bears' top-10 golden ticket. He's the only player with a CarAV higher than 71, let alone 100. In his 13-year career, the 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year made 1,040 tackles, 41.5 sacks, and 22 interceptions. He was voted to the Pro Bowl eight times and was the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year.
