RealGM

Has their been a guy who was projected to go in the 1st round, but fell to the 3rd or 4th round, and still ended up being a very good player?

their are always a few guys who ESPN projects to be 1st round talents, but GMs end up letting them fall to 3rd, 4th, or 5th round.

with these guys who fall so far, i was just wondering who is more right, the GMs or scouts in the media?

There was actually a guy that was projected to be a first round pick but went undrafted this year.

i can't think of any guys that scouts or espn projected high and went low and ended up being good.

maybe the GMs have it right about Bobby Massie and is nothing special?

Maybe Jeff can shed some light, but I believe this Minniefield guy the Skins picked up had 3rd round talent and went undrafted because of knee issues.

I think it's a combo of everything, there's gotta be a reason why the kid dropped, injuries, off field issues, etc. Janoris Jenkins, had top 10 talent but dropped because he can't keep it in his pants.

Mario Manningham was graded as first round talent in 2009. He fell to the 3rd round. He's not a pro-bowler but he's a good football player that is still young and could flourish with the 49ers.

Little Italia wrote:Mario Manningham was graded as first round talent in 2009. He fell to the 3rd round. He's not a pro-bowler but he's a good football player that is still young and could flourish with the 49ers.

Manningham is a good choice here. He was a near-lock for the 30-40 overall range before his final 2 college games, in which he officially dropped 11 passes, and he failed a drug test during workout season.

The prism of perception is important. Draftniks tend to think higher of players they are more familiar with during the process. Look at all the 2013 1st round mocks right now and I guarantee you at least 33% the guys listed won't be 1st rounders, but most of them will linger in the 1st into as late as December because too many people who concoct these mocks are reluctant to drop a guy so quickly. Teams don't even start thinking about creating boards and prospect tiers until after Thanksgiving. Many coaches literally will not watch one second of college scouting tape until the week before the Senior Bowl in late January, and in many cases coach opinions outshine scouts. So they aren't predisposed to having certain opinions about players and where they might belong. That's why there is a lot of shuffling during Feb-March. It has almost nothing to do with anything a player has done or not done.

You're supposed to end your college career strong. It's basically a big part of your resume. To drop 11 passes is ridiculous. That's a pure lack of focus.