Past #1 draft picks

I decided to go back and look at some past #1 draft picks and see if at their position how many were in actuality the best pick. Every year leading up to the draft there ends up being lots of hype over the can't miss franchise saving guys. I looked at the years 1999-2012. Not enough evidence yet for the 2013 class. Out of 14 years worth of drafts, I found only 3 instances where the guy picked ended up being the best pick at his position. According to my research, there were QB's picked #1 overall in 11 of those 14 years. 8 of those picks were not the best choice that year. However 2011 could be debated between Newton and kaepernick, I also considered placing Andy Dalton as the best QB pick. I am also absolutely certain about 2012. Not being a homer. The stats bear it out. RW has more wins, and better stats in every area than Luck.

Top Pick Better pick
1999 #1 QB Tim Couch #2 QB Donovan McNabb
2000 #1 DE Courtney Brown #13 DE John Abraham
2001 #1 QB Mike Vick #32 QB Drew Brees
2002 #1 QB David Carr #108 QB David Garrard
2003 #1 QB Carson Palmer undrafted QB Tony Romo
2004 #1 QB Eli Manning #1 QB Eli Manning
2005 #1 QB Alex Smith #24 QB Aaron Rogers
2006 #1 DE Mario Williams #20 DE Tamba Hali
2007 #1 QB JaMarcus Russell #92 QB Trent Edwards
2008 #1 OT Jake Long #12 OT Ryan Clady
2009 #1 QB Matt Stafford #1 QB Matt Stafford
2010 #1 QB Sam Bradford #1 QB Sam Bradford
2011 #1 QB Cam Newton # 36 QB Colin Kaepernick
2012 #1 QB Andrew Luck #75 QB Russell Wilson

2010 must have been pretty weak..

Rather have Newton than Kapernick

I'd also rather have Newton than the Krapper. However, the fact that they are so similar and I think just about equally talented makes me think that Krapper was a better deal at pick #36.

Other than that, great list.