'Two To Three Years' To Judge A Draft Class, Chiefs Coach Says

The day after the NFL draft there will inevitably be grades handed out. The Chiefs saw this happen and for the most part they were pretty positive. According to Chiefs coach Todd Haley, grading a class the day after the draft is risky business.

"That's another interesting question because with the draft, you get all these draft ratings, A-, B+, C+, all those things," he said to Kevin Kietzmann on 810 WHB (via Sports Radio Interviews) on Tuesday evening. "Growing up around the person in my father that I grew up around, the draft was a big deal. He always told me don't listen to that. We'll know about this draft class in two or three years - that's when you can truly give an evaluation or grade, sometimes even a year after that. But you can't rush to conclusions on that either."

If you listen to the audio, Haley fumbled his way through that answer. But, to be fair, he was asked if the 2009 or 2010 draft class would make a bigger impact -- a question he couldn't really answer (publicly, at least)

The Chiefs 2009 draft was criticized by a lot of folks. Maybe it was because Haley and Scott Pioli were late hires or maybe they just screwed the pooch. Maybe the class will turn out to be better than advertised. It'll probably take "two or three years" to figure that out but I'd be curious to hear Haley's answer if the 2009 class was getting the type of reviews the 2010 class is.

Haley did point to the 2009 class as one that's been making strides heading into the 2010 offseason.  He's been touting the development of those players already in-house lately.