Calculating NFL Draft success rates by position – seventh round

Michael Nania analyzes the success rates of each offensive and defensive position in the seventh round of the NFL Draft.

As Joe Douglas and the Jets ponder over positional value in preparation for the Draft, it is interesting to look back at the past and examine which positions have yielded the most value at each point of the draft.

After digging through the sixth round, we move on to the seventh and final round. I charted the career production of each seventh-round pick from 2010-19 (418 players) to get a sense of how successful draft selections at each position have turned out to be.

Various measures of productivity are listed for each position, as well as its rank in those measures among all positions. The positions are ranked by their percentage of cumulative games played out of possible games. Once this point of the draft is reached, nothing is handed to any prospect. Whereas earlier picks will usually get an ample amount of time to show what they are capable of, the later picks need to prove themselves to get on the field at all. Every game played is earned. For that reason, I believe this is the best way to measure success on Day 3.

Talent becomes incredibly scarce at this point in the draft. Which positions have been the most barren in the seventh round? Let’s start with the most successful positions and work our way towards the least fruitful of the bunch.

#11 – Linebacker (32.7% of games played)

Picks: 53

Possible seasons: 296

Games played: 1,547 (32.7% of possible games – 1st)

Approximate value: 204 (0.69 per season – 5th)

First-Team All-Pro seasons: 0

Pro Bowl seasons: 0

Seasons as primary starter: 12 (4.1% – 8th)

First-Team All-Pro players: 0

Pro Bowl players: 0

Best players: Malcolm Smith, Kavell Conner, Jamar Chaney, Dekoda Watson, Hayes Pullard, Nathan Stupar, Leon Jacobs, Stephen Weatherly

Jets picks: Trevor Reilly (pick #233, 2014)

#10 – Defensive back (27.2% of games played)