1) Let's start with football and the NFL Draft. Missouri had two players taken. Yes, I thought Tyler Badie should have gone sooner. (Draft side note: I could spend an entire day watching the videos teams put out of guys getting the call when they're drafted. Incredible stuff to watch dreams come true in real time). No, I don't think it's some conspiracy against Mizzou. If it's a conspiracy against anything, it's against running backs in general. But here's the interesting thing about this draft to me: Mizzou had two players taken at the two positions where it has struggled more than any other to put players in the NFL Draft this century.
Badie went with the 196th overall pick. That was two spots before Larry Rountree went last year and 34 spots before Marcus Murphy was taken in the 7th round of the 2015 draft. The last Missouri running back to be drafted higher than Badie? Damien Nash, who went with the 142nd overall pick in 2005. Before that, it was Robert Delpino, a 5th round pick of the Rams in 1988. In the 1970s, Mizzou had five running backs drafted in the first two rounds. Since then, it hasn't had one. And it's interesting, because Missouri has had some pretty good college running backs in that time. It just hasn't translated to the next level.
The numbers are even more incredible at cornerback. Akayleb Evans went to Minnesota in the 4th round at pick 118. The last corner to be drafted higher than that? Eric Wright in 1981. I think it's a pretty easy argument to make that in the resurgence of Missouri football, the one position where the Tigers have struggled to get high-level players is cornerback. E.J. Gaines and Evans are the only two Tiger corners drafted in the last 37 years.
2) The overall numbers obviously need to go up. Mizzou had five players drafted last year, which was the most since 2015. From 2005-2015, the Tigers had 31 players drafted. In the seven years since, they have had 16. But the difference isn't just in the total numbers (that's really only an average of about one less player per year). From 05-15 (those are the years that encapsulate Missouri's best run of teams from 2003-14), Mizzou had 17 players taken in the first three rounds, including seven first-rounders. Since then, there have been four Tigers taken in the first three rounds with Charles Harris as the only first-rounder. It's not just having draft picks, it's having difference-making draft picks. Players picked in the first three rounds are drafted more often than not to be starters. After that, it's much more of a dart throw.
3) So how does that compare to the rest of the league?
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