By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com
Our corporate brother-in-arms, Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area, has put together an exhaustive investigation of the past five drafts for every team in the NFL and rated them top-to-bottom. The local entrant placed ninth in Maiocco's rankings, directly behind the Steelers and directly ahead of Tampa Bay. The Green Bay Packers finished first in the rankings. A couple of interesting things to note: no team has made more selections since 2006 that New England (51). Next highest are the Packers (47), who placed first in Maiocco's rankings. The Jets - rated fourth - only made 27 picks.They emerged with nine starters. The Patriots have drafted seven starters with their 51. Maiocco alsocomes up with a best pick and a worst pick for each team. Have to quibble with hisselection of Brandon Meriweather in 2007(21st overall) as the team's best. Jerod Mayo (10th in 2008), Devin McCourty (27th in '10), Sebastian Vollmer (58 in '09) and Stephen Gostkowski (118th in '06) are all better selections than Meriweather, a guy whogets voted into because of the "U" contingent around the league more than for on-field performance. As for the worst pick, Maiocco selects Laurence Maroney. I disagree there, as well. Maroney actually did some decent stuff here. Chad Jackson (36th in 2007), and the 2008 washout trio of Terrence Wheatley (62), Shawn Crable (78)and Kevin O'Connell(94)has to be appreciated.
Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran