2004 Draft Order?

[JoeSoccerFan]

With the conclusion of the 2003 regular season, does anyone know what is the draft order for the 2004 draft - at least for the teams that are not in the play-offs?

[Davids26]

Thats a good question. I'm not sure what the tie breakers are and that is certainly important considering there are a lot of 4-12 and 5-11 teams and no teams finished with less than 4 losses.

Arizona, New York Giants, San Diego and Oakland I assume would have the first 4 picks but I'm not sure of the order.

Picks 6-11 would be:

Cleveland, Jacksonville, Houston, Washington, Detroit, and Atlanta (not in any order)

12-14

Buffalo, New York Jets, Pittsburgh (if they lose tonight) (not in any order)


15-17

Chicago, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh (if they win tonight) (Not in any order)

18-19

Cincinatti and New Orleans (again not in any order)

[Chesco United]

At http://www.nfl.com/standings/conference , they have the standings for each conference. It's not perfect for draft order, but at least it can show the order within both conferences.

[Davids26]

OK I guess strength of schedule is the tie breaker in the draft so (I hope I'm reading the numbers right on the NFL website)

1) NY Giants
2) Arizona
3) Oakland
4) San Diego
5) Houston
6) Jacksonville
7) Cleveland, Atlanta (Same strength of schedule, out of conference, decided by a coin flip)
9) Detroit
10) Washington
11) NY Jets
12) Pittsburgh
13) Buffalo
14) San Francisco
15) Tampa Bay
16) Chicago
17) New Orleans
18) Cincinnati
19) Minnesota
20) Miami

I think these are right but I'm not positive so dont hold me to it.

[Waingro]

With Arizona's improbable comeback today, San Diego clinched the first pick in next April's draft in spite of beating their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders. In a season full of disappointments for us San Diegans, it was a sweet, sweet day!


The top four in order:

1. San Diego
2. Oakland
3. Arizona
4. NY Giants

[Ian McCracken]

Fricking Lions cost themselves about 5 spots in the draft by beating St Louis today. The bastards never do what they're supposed to do.

[FearM9]

So with the Chargers having the first pick...barring any trades or whatever between now and draft day...do the Chargers make a run for Eli Manning, or do they stick with Drew Brees? And if they pass up on Brees...who do they try to draft?

[whirlwind]

Originally posted by Ian McCracken
Fricking Lions cost themselves about 5 spots in the draft by beating St Louis today. The bastards never do what they're supposed to do.


I thought about that, but in all honesty, the upside to beating the Rams, Joey having a great game, the defense having a great game, and giving them some warm fuzzies to build on are probably more important than drafting #6 instead of #3.

Check back with me on that if Chris Perry is gone by the time the Lions' 2nd-round pick comes up.

By the way, the complete draft order is here:
http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/draft/update/order

[whirlwind]

Originally posted by FearM9
So with the Chargers having the first pick...barring any trades or whatever between now and draft day...do the Chargers make a run for Eli Manning, or do they stick with Drew Brees? And if they pass up on Brees...who do they try to draft?

Well, I'm no Mel Kiper, but I think a lot depends on which underclassmen are going pro. I still think Manning is the cornerstone QB every team wants, although Ben Roethlisberger will also be a big-time QB, but if Larry Fitzgerald turns pro...

[skipshady]

I would be extremely surprised if the Chargers don't trade down. And since Raiders, Giants and Cardinals all need a franchise QB, either now or down the road, they won't have to trade down too far to get something in return.

Also, has Fitzgerald talked about declaring for the draft? And if he does go, how high? And Clarett should be eligible, depending on how the word "elapsed" is interpreted.

[yellowbismark]

Originally posted by FearM9
So with the Chargers having the first pick...barring any trades or whatever between now and draft day...do the Chargers make a run for Eli Manning, or do they stick with Drew Brees? And if they pass up on Brees...who do they try to draft?


If they can make a good deal, I'd be for trading down. I think that's what they'll try to do. Although I'm not much of a believer in Brees so I wouldn't complain in seeing Ben or Eli drafted. But I think the Chargers will do the right thing and trade down to get OL or DL help. To make LT happy, maybe they will go after OT Robert Gallery.

[whirlwind]

Oh, and if I'm the Lions, I look very hard at Chris Gamble, CB/WR/KR, Ohio State...

Bly on one side, Gamble on the other, and suddenly your terrible defense isn't so terrible. And he can fill in for their perpetually injured WRs.

Edited to note that the Lions are also looking at Charles Woodson or possibly Champ Bailey (Lions LB Boss Bailey is his brother), so if they sign either of those free agents, they could take either Kellen Winslow Jr or an O-Lineman in the draft... plus Chris Perry in round 2....

[Ian McCracken]

Originally posted by whirlwind
Oh, and if I'm the Lions, I look very hard at Chris Gamble, CB/WR/KR, Ohio State...

Bly on one side, Gamble on the other, and suddenly your terrible defense isn't so terrible. And he can fill in for their perpetually injured WRs.

Edited to note that the Lions are also looking at Charles Woodson or possibly Champ Bailey (Lions LB Boss Bailey is his brother), so if they sign either of those free agents, they could take either Kellen Winslow Jr or an O-Lineman in the draft... plus Chris Perry in round 2....

I see big hope for the Lions next season. Their WR corps will be improved with Taylor back from injury. RB should be much improved with Stewart back, Pinner healthy, and maybe a good pickup in the draft. The secondary will be better, maybe significantly, with Cash back and hopefully a major signing of either Bailey or Woodson. I fully expect the Lions to challenge for a playoff spot next year.

[whirlwind]

Originally posted by Ian McCracken
I see big hope for the Lions next season. Their WR corps will be improved with Taylor back from injury. RB should be much improved with Stewart back, Pinner healthy, and maybe a good pickup in the draft. The secondary will be better, maybe significantly, with Cash back and hopefully a major signing of either Bailey or Woodson. I fully expect the Lions to challenge for a playoff spot next year.

Rogers' return will be huge, that's for sure.
I don't expect Stewart back. Or Porcher. Or Ellis. Or McMahon.

[skipshady]

What are the Lions' needs? This casual observer thinks they can get a franchise back at #6, which would help Joey H immensely.

[whirlwind]

Originally posted by skipshady
What are the Lions' needs? This casual observer thinks they can get a franchise back at #6, which would help Joey H immensely.

Largely depends on who stays and who goes. A tailback would be wonderful (maybe they sign Travis Henry?) but that depends on whether they keep James Stewart and his $5mil salary (and Olandis Gary as well.)

I wouldn't mind Kevin Jones from Va Tech, or Cadillac Williams from Auburn, but if they think they can get a shutdown corner and still pick up a decent back in round 2 I wouldn't be surprised to see them try it.

[Waingro]

Originally posted by yellowbismark
If they can make a good deal, I'd be for trading down. I think that's what they'll try to do. Although I'm not much of a believer in Brees so I wouldn't complain in seeing Ben or Eli drafted. But I think the Chargers will do the right thing and trade down to get OL or DL help. To make LT happy, maybe they will go after OT Robert Gallery.

I keep hearing Gallery's name come up.
I wonder how far they could trade down and still
get him...
I'm positive they're going to trade down. They can't afford two more years of rebuilding, which would be necessary with a rookie QB. Plus, I'm not sure they want to pay a huge signing bonus to a #1 or #2 pick again after Ryan Leaf...
I don't think we'll see them swap places with the Raiders, only because you generally don't see teams "helping" other teams in their own division, especially these two teams. But I can definitely see a trade with Arizona, NYG or Cleveland. All need a franchise QB and none pick below #5.

But, the Chargers have to get more than they got for trading the #1 pick to Atlanta three years ago. In that trade, all they got was ATL's first rounder, ATL's third rounder, I think a second rounder the following year, and a couple players (including Tim Dwight). I could be wrong about one of the above picks, but you get the idea.
When the Chargers had the #3 pick in 99, they only traded up one spot with Arizona, and they had to give up that year's second rounder and the following year's first rounder, plus a couple players. That's the kind of deal I expect the Chargers to demand. If they trade out of that spot, I want that team's first, second, fifth, and the following year's first. If you want one of the two QB's, that's the price the Chargers better demand. The key would be getting that team's first rounder next year. That way the Chargers could turn around and trade it to another team for a late first rounder this year. That would give them a high first rounder, a low first rounder, two second rounders and two fifth rounders...

I'm not sold on Brees, but I'm not giving up on him either. If they can make the above trade to improve their O line, Brees will look 10 times better. But I still hope they bring in either Garcia, Warner or Brunnell to compete with Brees in camp. I'd hope that the vet would beat out Brees next season, and maybe Brees can improve with one more year on the bench...

Went to the Holiday Bowl luncheon today and saw a player that I'd love to see in a Charger uniform: Roy Williams. I don't see it happening, but that guy is a beast in person!

[FearM9]

Originally posted by Waingro
But I still hope they bring in either Garcia, Warner or Brunnell to compete with Brees in camp. I'd hope that the vet would beat out Brees next season, and maybe Brees can improve with one more year on the bench...
Are you talking about Jeff Garcia? Doesn't he have some sort of debillitating back injury or something like that?

[Waingro]

Originally posted by FearM9
Are you talking about Jeff Garcia? Doesn't he have some sort of debillitating back injury or something like that?

You never know with back injuries, which is what probably makes Garcia expendable to the Niners in the first place. That, and his high cap figure for next year and the emergence of Rattay.

Garcia's back seemed ok over the final few weeks. Hopefully it's much ado about nothing, a la Priest Holmes and his "career-ending" hip injury last year...

[TheSlipperyOne]

Shouldn't this be in the football forum?

:p