Joe was listening to Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian on Wednesday night as he did his weekly “Late Hits” show on SiriusXM NFL Radio. He is so damn good on radio. There isn’t a time that Joe listens and doesn’t learn something about football.
Polian for years has said time and again that first-round draft picks are about a 50/50 shot to make it. Of course, this enrages fans.
Polian said for years and years that has remained consisten, half get a good second contract and half don’t. Polian said in a good year, a first-round crop of players, maybe 60 percent make it.
So it doesn’t always happen, Polian cautioned.
On Wednesday, Polian tipped off his listeners: Wait until the fifth-year option deadline hits. Watch how many of the 2021 first-round picks get their fifth-year option picked up by teams. He said you can just about bank on it that it will be in the 50-60 percent range.
Well, Thursday was the deadline. Per Jeremy Fowler of BSPN, 18 of the 32 first-round draft picks had their fifth-year options picked up by their clubs.
That’s 56 percent. This Polian knows what he is talking about.
Sadly, Bucs’ 2021 first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka became a statistic. He is in the group that did not have its fifth-year option exercised.