The engineers driving football’s best offense
A lot of great offenses are driven, unsurprisingly, by highly drafted skill position players. The 2007 Patriots had Randy Moss (1st round), and then Ben Watson (1st), Laurence Maroney (1st) and Jabar Gaffney (2nd) to go along with undrafted Wes Welker.
The Greatest Show On Turf Rams had high 1st round picks in Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt, along with #33 overall pick Isaac Bruce.
The Colts for much of the Peyton Manning era had 1st round picks in Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Edgerrin James, and Dallas Clark. And Manning’s 2013 Broncos had 5 players with double digit TDs: first round picks in Demaryius Thomas and Knowshon Moreno, and later picks in Julius Thomas (4th round), Eric Decker (3rd round), and undrafted Wes Welker.
The 1998 49ers had 1st round picks in Garrison Hearst, Jerry Rice, and J.J. Stokes. The ’94 49ers had Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters, Steve Young, and William Floyd. And the list goes on and on.
But there are some teams that the overwhelming majority of touchdowns came from 3rd round picks or later. For example, the 1984 Dolphins had Mark Clayton (18 TDs, 8th round), Woody Bennett (8 TDs, undrafted), Nat Moore (6 TDs, 3rd round) and Bruce Hardy (5 TDs, 9th round). Only Pete Johnson (9 TDs, 2nd round) and Mark Duper (8 TDs, 2nd round) were higher picks, among the team’s leading scorers.
The 2011 Saints top four leaders in touchdowns were Jimmy Graham (3rd round), Darren Sproles (4th), Marques Colston (7th), and Lance Moore (undrafted). The next four players were Pierre Thomas (undrafted), Robert Meachem (1st round), Mark Ingram (1st round), and Jed Collins (undrafted).
Still, the 2018 Chiefs stand out from this pack, at least if you group together all players taken in the 3rd round or later. [1]By the Jimmy Johnson Draft Value Chart, 83% of all draft value resides in the top 64 picks. Even in my draft value chart, which is more representative of actual value rather than trade value, 63% of … Continue reading A whopping 92% of Kansas City touchdowns came from such players, an almost unheard of margin for an elite offense. Take a look:
One good comparison to these Chiefs is the ’98 Broncos, who scored 58 offensive touchdowns. Terrell Davis (23 TDs, 6th round), Shannon Sharpe (10 TDs, 7th), Ed McCaffrey (10, 3rd), Rod Smith (6, undrafted), and Howard Griffith (3, 9th round) led the team in touchdowns. The only player on the ’98 Broncos to score a touchdown and be drafted in the first round was QB John Elway, who rushed for one score.
The Chiefs had 61 offensive touchdowns scored by players not drafted in the 1st or 2nd round. That’s the most ever. The table below shows the teams to have 40 or more touchdowns from player drafted outside of the first two rounds through 2017 (I haven’t calculated the 2018 results for any team besides Kansas City).
| Team | Year | TDs (3rd-Und) | TD (Tot) | Perc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN | 1998 | 57 | 58 | 98.3% |
| ATL | 2016 | 52 | 58 | 89.7% |
| MIA | 1984 | 50 | 67 | 74.6% |
| DAL | 1966 | 50 | 51 | 98% |
| DEN | 2000 | 49 | 49 | 100% |
| NOR | 2011 | 48 | 62 | 77.4% |
| DAL | 2007 | 47 | 50 | 94% |
| NOR | 2012 | 46 | 53 | 86.8% |
| ATL | 1998 | 46 | 46 | 100% |
| NYT | 1960 | 46 | 46 | 100% |
| HOU | 1961 | 45 | 63 | 71.4% |
| PHI | 1980 | 45 | 47 | 95.7% |
| RAM | 1950 | 44 | 59 | 74.6% |
| MIA | 1985 | 44 | 50 | 88% |
| NYG | 1967 | 44 | 49 | 89.8% |
| DEN | 1997 | 44 | 45 | 97.8% |
| NYJ | 1967 | 44 | 44 | 100% |
| BUF | 1964 | 44 | 44 | 100% |
| LAC | 1960 | 44 | 44 | 100% |
| NWE | 2012 | 43 | 59 | 72.9% |
| DEN | 2014 | 43 | 55 | 78.2% |
| OAK | 1975 | 43 | 47 | 91.5% |
| PHI | 1953 | 43 | 47 | 91.5% |
| NYJ | 2015 | 43 | 44 | 97.7% |
| GNB | 1997 | 43 | 44 | 97.7% |
| ATL | 1981 | 42 | 45 | 93.3% |
| SDG | 1985 | 41 | 57 | 71.9% |
| KAN | 2002 | 41 | 53 | 77.4% |
| NOR | 2013 | 41 | 49 | 83.7% |
| GNB | 1995 | 41 | 48 | 85.4% |
| DAL | 1962 | 41 | 47 | 87.2% |
| IND | 2016 | 41 | 45 | 91.1% |
| SEA | 2015 | 41 | 44 | 93.2% |
| DAL | 1983 | 40 | 52 | 76.9% |
| NWE | 2016 | 40 | 51 | 78.4% |
| DTX | 1962 | 40 | 50 | 80% |
| HOU | 1960 | 40 | 46 | 87% |
| PHI | 1981 | 40 | 42 | 95.2% |
| PHO | 1988 | 40 | 41 | 97.6% |
| OAK | 1960 | 40 | 41 | 97.6% |
| STL | 1987 | 40 | 40 | 100% |
Finally, here are the offenses to score 55 offensive touchdowns through 2017, and the percentage of offensive touchdowns that came from players drafted outside of the first two rounds.
| Team | Year | TDs (3rd-Und) | TDs (Tot) | Perc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN | 2013 | 39 | 71 | 54.9% |
| MIA | 1984 | 50 | 67 | 74.6% |
| NWE | 2007 | 21 | 67 | 31.3% |
| HOU | 1961 | 45 | 63 | 71.4% |
| GNB | 2011 | 34 | 63 | 54% |
| STL | 2000 | 18 | 63 | 28.6% |
| NOR | 2011 | 48 | 62 | 77.4% |
| IND | 2004 | 20 | 61 | 32.8% |
| SFO | 1994 | 21 | 60 | 35% |
| SFO | 1998 | 19 | 60 | 31.7% |
| SDG | 1981 | 13 | 60 | 21.7% |
| RAM | 1950 | 44 | 59 | 74.6% |
| NWE | 2012 | 43 | 59 | 72.9% |
| WAS | 1983 | 24 | 59 | 40.7% |
| DEN | 1998 | 57 | 58 | 98.3% |
| ATL | 2016 | 52 | 58 | 89.7% |
| KAN | 2004 | 26 | 58 | 44.8% |
| MIN | 1998 | 22 | 58 | 37.9% |
| SDG | 1985 | 41 | 57 | 71.9% |
| NWE | 2011 | 32 | 57 | 56.1% |
| STL | 2001 | 11 | 57 | 19.3% |
| NWE | 2010 | 36 | 56 | 64.3% |
| KAN | 2003 | 33 | 56 | 58.9% |
| DAL | 1980 | 32 | 56 | 57.1% |
| SDG | 2006 | 19 | 56 | 33.9% |
| DEN | 2014 | 43 | 55 | 78.2% |
| MIA | 1986 | 32 | 55 | 58.2% |
| NOR | 2016 | 31 | 55 | 56.4% |
| NOR | 2009 | 31 | 55 | 56.4% |
| BUF | 1991 | 25 | 55 | 45.5% |
| SFO | 1987 | 23 | 55 | 41.8% |
| SFO | 1993 | 22 | 55 | 40% |
| STL | 1999 | 19 | 55 | 34.5% |
| CIN | 1988 | 9 | 55 | 16.4% |
What do you think?
References
| ↑1 | By the Jimmy Johnson Draft Value Chart, 83% of all draft value resides in the top 64 picks. Even in my draft value chart, which is more representative of actual value rather than trade value, 63% of draft value comes from the top 64 picks. |
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