Draft Retrospective #1: First Round Class of 2000

[Drek]

Thought this would make a fun pre-draft discussion series. Start at the beginning of the decade and we can all discuss who we feel was the best player taken in the first round that year. So here it goes:

Sel #	Player	Position	School	Team
1	Courtney Brown	DE	Penn State	Cleveland Browns
2	LaVar Arrington	OLB	Penn State	Washington Redskins
3	Chris Samuels	T	Alabama	Washington Redskins
4	Peter Warrick	WR	Florida State	Cincinnati Bengals
5	Jamal Lewis	RB	Tennessee	Baltimore Ravens
6	Corey Simon	DT	Florida State	Philadelphia Eagles
7	Thomas Jones	RB	Virginia	Arizona Cardinals
8	Plaxico Burress	WR	Michigan State	Pittsburgh Steelers
9	Brian Urlacher	MLB	New Mexico	Chicago Bears
10	Travis Taylor	WR	Florida	Baltimore Ravens
11	Ron Dayne	RB	Wisconsin	New York Giants
12	Shaun Ellis	DE	Tennessee	New York Jets
13	John Abraham	LB	South Carolina	New York Jets
14	Bubba Franks	TE	Miami (Fla.)	Green Bay Packers
15	Deltha O'Neal	CB	California	Denver Broncos
16	Julian Peterson	OLB	Michigan State	San Francisco 49ers
17	Sebastian Janikowski	K	Florida State	Oakland Raiders
18	Chad Pennington	QB	Marshall	New York Jets
19	Shaun Alexander	RB	Alabama	Seattle Seahawks
20	Stockar McDougle	T	Oklahoma	Detroit Lions
21	Sylvester Morris	WR	Jackson State	Kansas City Chiefs
22	Chris McIntosh	T	Wisconsin	Seattle Seahawks
23	Rashard Anderson	FS	Jackson State	Carolina Panthers
24	Ahmed Plummer	CB	Ohio State	San Francisco 49ers
25	Chris Hovan	DT	Boston College	Minnesota Vikings
26	Erik Flowers	DE	Arizona State	Buffalo Bills
27	Anthony Becht	TE	West Virginia	New York Jets
28	Rob Morris	LB	Brigham Young	Indianapolis Colts
29	R.Jay Soward	WR	USC	Jacksonville Jaguars
30	Keith Bulluck	LB	Syracuse	Tennessee Titans
31	Trung Canidate	RB	Arizona	St. Louis Rams

[Drek]

For me in this class it would have to be Brian Urlacher. He's been an elite MLB for his entire career and despite some injuries has fully lived up to the shadows cast by Butkus and Singletary.

My runner up would be Kieth Bullock. A great linebacker in his own right, but not the likely HOF candidate that Urlacher is.

[The MVPlaya]

Easily Urlacher, the only HOF on that list.

[goldengopher1976]

Urlacher.

My second would be Shaun Alexander

Alexander's career was too short to top the list, but if the criteria is "best player", then he deserves to be in the conversation. When he played, he was a game-changer.

[Mjolnir]

Sea Bass at 17, gotta love Al Davis.

[Rohirrim]

I'm still waiting for Courtney Brown to have a breakout season.

[PRBronco]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

I'm still waiting for Courtney Brown to have a breakout season.

Haha poor guy I hope he's at least able to enjoy retirement without injury. Hopefully he hasn't tried any home reno's.

[oubronco]

That Jamal Lewis game still gives me nightmares

[Drek]

OK, this class was a layup, I'll put up 2001 and there might be a bit less universal agreement with that one.

[CBF1]

I like Alexander #1 followed by Urlacher.

What, no love for Deltha

[schaaf]

I don't know Ron Dayne had a good game on Thanksgiving haha