[Preds]

Heading into our 3rd year of our rookie draft salary scale, I thought it'd be interesting to grade the inaugural rookie draft while at the same time taking a close look at the impact of the salary scale... a contentious issue with about 40-50% of the league.

This is just my 2-cents, and I'm sure many of you will disagree with my grades and analysis, but thats what debates at this time of year are all about!

Here goes (I'm hoping to analyze 1 round a day):

2002 Round 1
1.1 RB William Green Grade: F Salary: 1200 Analysis: A bust, way Overpaid
1.2 QB Joey Harrington Grade: C Salary: 875 Analysis: Salary exceeds production
1.3 RB Deshaun Foster Grade: Incomplete Salary: 1140 Analysis: Shows signs of Stud Capabilities, but Salary currently exceeds production
1.4 RB TJ Duckett Grade: C Salary: 1110 Analysis: Salary exceeds production
1.5 QB David Carr Grade: C+ Salary: 800 Analysis: Emerging Stud, but not a top 5 Salary QB
1.6 TE Jeremy Shockey Grade A Salary: 300 Analysis: UNDERPAID Stud
1.7 RB Clinton Portis Grade: A Salary: 1020 Analysis: Injury Prone Stud but stil UNDERPAID
1.8 WR Donte Stallworth Grade: D Salary: 660 Analysis: Injury Prone and Limited Opportunites, Overpaid
1.9 WR Ashley Lelie Grade: C- Salary: 640 Analysis: Limited Opportunites, Overpaid
1.10 WR Jabar Gaffney Grade: D Salary: 620 Analysis: Not very productive, Overpaid
1.11 TE Daniel Graham Grade: C Salary: 250 Analysis: Shows flashes of Stud Potential, Slightly Overpaid for Production thus far
1.12 WR Antonio Byrant Grade: C Salary: 580 Analysis: Lacking opportunites, has potential, Overpaid for production thus far

So there you have my 2002 round 1 analysis after 2 full years. Feel free to provide input. I know there are a block of teams out there who still feel portions of the salary scale are too high, particularly at WR and QB, and I tend to agree. Out of 12 1st round picks only 2 have become studs thus far, most have graded out around average, but overpaid for their production, and 1, the #1 pick of that year is pretty much a complete bust.