NFL Draft Success = Super Bowl Wins? Patriots, Yes; Rams, No

New England's "Patriot Way" led to three of the top four "drafted" Super Bowl rosters over the last decade.

Richie Whitt | Apr 25, 2022

Conventional wisdom suggests NFL teams must win the draft in order to win the Super Bowl.

But is this really the case?

Yes, say the 2016 New England Patriots, whose Super Bowl LI-champion roster was comprised by 55 percent of players they drafted.

Tom Brady

Rob Gronkowski

Julian Edelman

No, say the Los Angeles Rams, who have not had a first-round draft pick since 2016 yet have played in two Super Bowls the last four years.

Certainly it's advantageous to build a team and acquire stars through the draft, as nine of the last 10 Super Bowl MVPs (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Tom Brady is the only exception) won the award for the team that drafted them. But it's not draft-or-die, as only two of the last 10 Super Bowl champions (led by the LI Pats) have drafted at least 50 percent of their rosters.

Bill Belichick and the Patriots had some of the highest percentage of drafted players in their three championship squads, with many recurring through the three teams such as Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. In fact, the "Patriot Way" led to three of the top four "drafted" Super Bowl rosters over the last decade.

But the Rams' victory in Super Bowl LVI last February punched holes in the importance of the draft. Mortgage the future to improve the present.

The Rams traded their most recent No. 1 pick - quarterback Jared Goff - and two future first-rounders before last season to acquire Matthew Stafford, and then cashed in picks (a second and a third) during the season to acquire pass-rusher Von Miller. Both obviously played huge roles in L.A. winning last year's title.

The cost? The Rams no longer own their two most recent No. 1 picks - Goff and running back Todd Gurley (2015) - and don't have a pick in this week's NFL Draft until No. 104 in the third round.

While Belichick will surely stick to his successful formula which has seen him use draft collateral to engineer more trades than any other team, clubs are paying attention to the Rams' blueprint. The Miami Dolphins traded away five future picks for Kansas City Chiefs' speedster Tyreek Hill, and a total of eight teams currently are without a first-round pick.

The website Pickswise examined the last 10 Super Bowl champions for the roster make-ups of drafted players vs. those acquired via trade/free agency: