Where Do They Come From?

I like looking at stuff like this.

Colleges with the most players in the NFL:

USC - 40
Louisiana St. - 38
Miami - 38
Georgia - 36
Florida St. - 32
Texas - 31
Alabama - 30
CAL - 30
Tennessee - 30
Ohio St. - 27
Oregon - 27
Florida - 26

Wow. There's Cal right there with Alabama and ahead of Ohio St. Besides Cal's presence among the usual cast of college football powers, I'm a little surprised that USC is still at the top. It may not have translated in their play on the football field but USC routinely recruits the best athletes in the nation. In that sense, I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. In a list such as this there's usually a school that few expect. That school in this list has to be Cal. I knew that there was a decent number of Golden Bears in the NFL but I never would have guessed that those numbers would be enough to match the likes of Alabama. Unfortunately, Cal will be sliding down this list in a few years. Alabama and Cal will be going their separate ways.

Here's another one:

Number of rookies in the NFL by team:

15 - Cleveland, Jacksonville, Seattle
14 - Buffalo, New England
13 - Houston, Kansas City, Oakland, Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans
12 - Miami, Chicago, Green Bay
11 - Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, Tampa Bay
10 - Arizona, Detroit, Minnesota, NY Giants
  9 - NY Jets, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Carolina
  8 - Indianapolis, Tennessee, Washington
  7 - Cincinnati
  6 - Denver

Typically, the better the team, the fewer the number of rookies. I tend to believe that. It's much more difficult for a youngster to crack the roster of a team that has a much better than an average amount of talent. In that sense, I was surprised to see Seattle, New England, New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta,  and Green Bay at or near the top of this lest. Seattle, in particular. The Super Bowl teams of a year ago, Baltimore and San Francisco, each have eleven rookies. Perhaps, free agency is to blame. When players come free, the more talented teams are often raided. Those teams really do have to restock each year. The Patriots had a pretty complete receiver makeover.

Fun stuff.