Its not about pick #8 vs. pick #11, its about picking well

[AvengerRam]

Here's the proof. Defensive players taken at #8 (or next defensive player taken) vs. players taken at #11 or later:

1996
Alex Moulden (11)
Ray Lewis (26)

1997
James Farrior (8)
Trevor Pryce (28)

1998
Greg Ellis (8)
Takeo Spikes (13)

1999
Chris Claiborne (9)
Anthony McFarland (15)

2000
Brian Urlacher (9)
Julian Peterson (16)

2001
Jamal Reynolds (10)
Marcus Stroud (13)

2002
Roy Williams (8)
Dwight Freeney (11)

2003
Kevin Williams (9)
Marcus Trufant (11)

2004
DeAngelo Hall (8)
Jonathan Vilma (12)

2005
Antrel Rolle (8)
Shawne Merriman (12)

[Fat Pang]

Absolutely, Ray Lewis at #26 says it all. It also speaks volumes about the reliability of evaluations coming out of college.

Bobby Beathard always used to avoid the first round and trade down and stack up lower round picks as I recall for that very reason. He always thought you got better value with more picks in the second.

I'm not advocating that we do that in our situation as I think it's more applicable to those teams who sit in the bottom third of the first round, but I think it's worth noting that there's not a hell of a lot between the picks in the top50-60 talent-wise.