Draft grades coming out one day after the draft has concluded is a tricky business. On the one hand, everyone knows it's kind of ridiculous to grade draft classes after 24 hours. There are plenty of busts in the first round that can make a draft go from great to crap pretty quickly. On the other hand, people love reading them.
The general rule of thumb is that you can't fairly judge a draft class for three years.
Keeping that in mind, Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com re-graded the 2007 NFL draft.
They had seven picks and all they have to show for their draft is one starter (receiver Dwayne Bowe) and backup running back Kolby Smith. That's not a good haul. Bowe, the first-round pick, has been a good player. But the Chiefs blew picks on defensive linemen in the second and third rounds; Turk McBride and Tank Tyler are now with other teams. Smith is a solid backup who has started, so he has some value as a fifth-round pick. But that's it.
Yep, this wasn't a very good draft at all. Turk McBride and Tank Tyler met the switch to the 3-4 defense in year three so I can see how there was some trouble here. Justin Medlock made it one game. Herb Taylor was a reserve and Michael Allan made no impact on the Chiefs.
Then there's Kolby Smith who has ended the last two seasons on IR. At this point it's fair to say he's no lock to make the roster in 2010.
That leaves Dwayne Bowe as the lone contributor.
It's draft classes like these that ultimately led to the downfall of the Chiefs to the current state they're in. The Chiefs haven't been paying big money to free agents so it's absolutely critical there are no repeats of the 2007 draft.
Prisco's final grade: D-