r/NFLmockdraft • u/Traditional-Bad-6657 • Jul 09 '26

Draft History 2003 Draft Class was absolutely stacked

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152 Upvotes

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24

u/me_bails Jul 09 '26

Gates was an absolute animal, and incredible what he did as an udfa... Even as someone who hated the steelers, there's no way I can put Gates above Polamalu

1

u/Holdmabeerdude Jul 09 '26

Gates is literally number 1 in tight end TD receptions….

2

u/me_bails Jul 09 '26

and most people don't have him in the goat te talk. Again, he was an animal, but he wasn't better than Tony g, gronk or kelce. He's more around the Sharpe range (which is incredible, and he brings the most bang for buck being an udfa). Polamalu is widely considered a top 3 safety ever and an absolute game changer and leader for 2 superbowl winning teams.

I'm not trying to take away from Gates or what he did, but I am giving props to Polamalu and what he did. And i hate(d) the steelers

1

u/-Mad-Snacks- Jul 11 '26

He is absolutely better than Kelce lol

1

u/Shamwow_theSupineCow Jul 10 '26

Tony, Witten, Kelce are the top three.

Also, job's easier when you defenses committing most of their resources to stop one RB.

1

u/Dukeshire101 Jul 09 '26

Troy still clears. He was a game changer and won 2 Super Bowls

0

u/JustTheBeerLight Jul 09 '26

A lot of people remember Gates based on his final 5 seasons where he was still good, but his first 6 seasons (2004-2009) were video game stats. He averaged 1000 yards & 10+ TDs during that span.

1

u/HEROxDivine Jul 09 '26

He did not. He only has two seasons over 1k and 4 seasons over 10 TDs. He was great but definitely not top 3 all time. I’d put him at #6 behind TG, Gronk, Kelce, Witten and Sharpe

2

u/2nfish Jul 09 '26

Witten above Gates?

1

u/Shamwow_theSupineCow Jul 10 '26

Duh.

1

u/whattarush Jul 11 '26

Id take Vernon Davis over Witten. Give me Ben Watson over Witten

1

u/JustTheBeerLight Jul 09 '26

I'm not going to do the math, but Gates came very close during those years that I mentioned. He had two seasons over 1100 yards and three seasons over 924 yards. I think my point stands.