I'm not even talking about salary; I'm talking about opportunity cost. There's a reason why ILBs aren't usually taken in the Top 5 picks, and rarely in the top 10; they don't make a consistent impact on the game. Similar to a TE or safety or offensive guard.
From my list, I would say that seven of them are outright busts (if you want to exclude 2009 that's fine): Ginn, Gonzales, Carpenter,, Nugent, Plummer, Katzenmoyer, Montgomery (5 starts his rookie year, 0 the rest of his pro career). Hawk, Jenkins, Doss (never became a full-time player), Pickett and Plummer (have) never lived up to the expectations of the teams that drafted them. So of 21 players drafted in the first two rounds in a nine-year period, 11 have been real disappointments for the teams who drafted them.
IMO that stems from OSU being a massively talented team in a garbage conference. That's sort of the definition of "overrated".
I agree with you about Southern Cal, although I don't think that Miami(FL) is on that level as a program any longer.
Want to play the game with Southern Cal? 2000-2009:
2009 1 5 5 Mark Sanchez Jets QB
1 15 15 Brian Cushing Texans LB
1 26 26 Clay Matthews Packers LB
2 6 38 Rey Maualuga Bengals LB
2 24 56 Fili Moala Colts DT
2008 1 7 7 Sedrick Ellis Saints DT
1 9 9 Keith Rivers Bengals LB
1 21 21 Sam Baker Falcons T
1 28 28 Lawrence Jackson Seahawks DE
2 8 39 Chilo Rachal 49ers G
2 17 48 Fred Davis Redskins TE
2 32 63 Terrell Thomas Giants DB
2007 2 13 45 Dwayne Jarrett Panthers WR
2 19 51 Steve Smith Giants WR
2 27 59 Ryan Kalil Panthers C
2006 1 2 2 Reggie Bush Saints RB
1 10 10 Matt Leinart Cardinals QB
2 7 39 Winston Justice Eagles T
2 9 41 Taitusi (Deuce) Lutui Cardinals G
2 13 45 LenDale White Titans RB
2005 1 10 10 Mike Williams Lions WR
1 31 31 Mike Patterson Eagles DT
2 5 37 Shaun Cody Lions DT
2 13 45 Lofa Tatupu Seahawks LB
2004 1 20 20 Kenechi Udeze Vikings DE
2 20 52 Jacob Rogers Cowboys T
2 30 62 Keary Colbert Panthers WR
2003 1 1 1 Carson Palmer Bengals QB
1 16 16 Troy Polamalu Steelers DB
2000 1 29 29 R. Jay Soward Jaguars WR
2 6 37 Travis Claridge Falcons G
Since I was hard on OSU guys, I'm going to be hard on Southern Cal's. I think that guys like Shaun Cody and Fred Davis are solid players, but I'll give Cbus the benefit of the doubt.
I count 18 players out of 31 picks in the first two rounds (!). Maybe a little more than half, but is that mitigated at all by the fact that the players who did work out are multiple Pro Bowl performers? I mean, Chris Gamble is a solid cornerback, but do you count him the same as Troy Polamalu?
