OT: Worst Draft Picks Ever
ESPN listed some of their most forgettable draft moments, since it's OMG TOM BRADY GOT DRAFTED IN THE 6TH ROUND season, and Detroit teams make the list twice (Pistons with Darko, Tigers with Miller over Kershaw).
What's your worst pick of all time? Charles Rogers with Detroit in 2003 comes to mind (Andre Johnson the next pick. Terrell Suggs went #10, Polamalu #16.)
Ahhhh the 2006 draft with the most over the top player introductions/telecast.
As a big Titans fan, I was so hyped about getting VY, who was raw but had potential.
Overall, he def was a bust, but the Titans had to pick a QB that year bc everyone knew McNair was not coming back and their only other QB was Billy Volek (who by all means was the best backup in the NFL at that point).
Looking back, they should have taken Smokin' Jay Cutler. However, that first season with Vince Young was the most exciting season I remember. From the Houston OT walk-off rushing TD (where he blew past Mario Williams) to the epic 21 point 4th quarter comeback against the Giants, to beating the Colts. VY took a 2-7 team to the brink of the playoffs before losing to the Patriots in week 17.
VY that rookie year was simply amazing. Unfortunately, in 2007, the coaching staff and VY himself forced him to be a pocket QB, and he regressed.
By the start of 2008, he had the meltdown in the first game and was replaced for the season by Kerry Collins.
In 2009, VY got his starting job back after a terrible start to the season and played well down the stretch.
In 2010, VY started solid, but then had an absolute emotional meltdown and Fisher benched him.
That was that.
April 16th, 2020 at 11:53 PM ^
As a Bears fan, I think you would've liked Cutler.
He was really good, Chicago didn't do him many favors by whiffing on offensive linemen and bringing in a new offensive coordinator every season.
Don't think Cutler deserves nearly the grief he gets. Plus, his wife, Kristin Cavallari, is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.
Yeah he had a bad line, but he made some truly baffling, awful throws leading to INTs. He should've been used to playing with a bad line coming from Vandy.
Charles Rodgers!
It took me a second to remember that he’s dead.
Pretty much any pre COVID story seems like it was at least 10 years ago.
Len Bias: # 2 NBA overall pick 1986-Boston Celtics.
Career stats:
0.0 ppg
0.0 rpg
0.0 apg
0 games played
1 fatal cocaine overdose 48 hours after being drafted.
Hard to get much worse than that.
The quarantine is really getting to you, isn't it.
Uh, because I said Len Bias died of a coke overdose 48 hours after being drafted #2 by the Celtics?
Yeah, that’s some SUPER crazy shit I’m saying. I’ll be sure to check myself to make sure I’m not losing it.
JPC taking you to the wood shed with your edited nasty post was an unmasking. Maybe you could learn something from that, use this time to better yourself and your outlook.
Oh Christ...You’re still on about that fucking lame shit? Wow dude, didn’t realize I was living in your head like that.
Len Bias died 48 hours after being drafted by Coke intoxication. Those are fucking facts. Not some insensitive personal comment on my part.
He never played a game for Boston and can be argued as the worst draft bust and history as a result. I’m supposed to not say that, because it was a coke overdose as opposed to an injury or bad play, that it wasn’t? Draft picks are labeled all the time as busts because of substance abuse issues. Only difference with Bias is it ended his career before he played a game. If he’d played 10 games and then ODed, would it be ok in your opinion to call him one then?
And I’m pretty damn good as a person. Get off your fucking high horse. I find that usually it’s others who lecture people to be better who often need to turn their attention inwards
No lecture here, just noticing your very apparent unprovoked anger and profanity. JPC showed you for what you are and I'm just encouraging you to take advantage of the opportunity to adjust your exceptionally negative demeanor.
First of all. All I said in the JPC comment was I wondered when some big names would die from coronavirus. He freaked out like I’d called his mom a whore or something. So I changed the comment to fuck with him and make him look like an ass and he got so enraged he went back and found the original and reposted it.
And you know what? Big deal. It wasn’t like I was cheering for people dying and starting a betting pool or threatening to kill him
If you and JPC think that’s some huge victory and “unmasking” so be it. Enjoy it in perpetuity I guess.
Second, what did I say that was profane and angry here? I said Len Bias died of a coke overdose before he played a game and therefore can be considered a huge bust. Before I know it, you’re jumping down my throat about what a horrible person I am and need to improve my life. I said absolutely nothing profane, angry, or judge-mental about Bias.
So tell me exactly what I did here to warrant your scorn.......Seems to me that maybe you’re a little high strung that you decided to be all high handed about this and maybe you should examine your motivations.
Nearly any pick by the Bengals. Ki-Jana Carter and Dan Wilkinson back to back #1 overall picks. Also in the 1999 draft only three teams picked a player in the top eleven that never made a pro bowl. Those three teams were the Lions, Bengals, and Browns. The bad teams stay bad for a reason.
Charles Rogers isn't even the worst pass-catcher picked by the Lions this century, much less their worst draft pick of all time.
Yes, he wound up being injury-prone and a personal mess, but he was delightfully physically talented and was actually quite good when he showed up before he got hurt for the first time.
Regarding the Darko pick, that section's "clincher" says this:
With Detroit winning a title in 2004, it begs the question: How many more could they have won?
They wouldn't have won any if they had drafted Melo, and probably the same with Bosh (who likely would have precluded the trade for Rasheed Wallace that a useless Darko invited). The best player available was Dwyane Wade, who definitely could have led the team to a title or two, but would have seemed like an odd choice given that Dumars had just locked in the shooting guard position with his trade for Rip Hamilton.
So the answer to that question is, probably -1.
The Rogers pick is one that almost any team in that position would have made.
Mike Williams OTOH......That pick was straight fucking garbage and there are a lot of GMs that wouldn’t have dared to touch him that early on.
My theory is that if Charles Rogers had stayed healthy--or even if he’d managed to miss only his rookie season--he would have had a career arc like Roy Williams did. He has a few good seasons, signs as a free agent somewhere and under-performs until he’s cut or retires.
But Millen let him go home after that second season-ending injury and that might not have been such a good idea.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
Maybe with Wade you get Lebron and Bosh coming to Detroit.
If we are spit balling you can’t leave that take out.
ERIC EBRON
Something something Draftageddon 2016
Ben Roethlisberger is most assuredly NOT a hometown product for Cleveland. He was from the sticks closer to Toledo and even Detroit. We want nothing to do with that POS.
Also, Vernon Gholston to the Jets, even though the much of the 1sr round that year was underwhelming.
Ben was from Findlay, OH. Definitely not the sticks, a city of approximately 60,000. Not real well liked in the area though.
40,000 people, many of them hicks.
Every year the Detroit Lions make one.
2007 NFL Draft. JaMarcus Russell at #1 by Oakland with decade long All-Pros Calvin Johnson and Joe Thomas at #2 and #3 respectively
Dolphins fan-Ted Ginn Jr. #9 overall. At the time everyone was talking about Brady Quinn going to them.
Johnny Manziel. That dude... everyone knew he was garbage. I mean , most of the other NFL busts you didn’t necessarily see coming because they had good talent. Johnny? No one legitimately thought he was NFL material. Well, except for Cleveland which, yeah.
Yeah that seemed like the most obvious hot potato at the time. Like which idiot franchise is going to think this guy can be a franchise QB. Of course it was the Browns who came through
Sparty Tony Mandarich should be at or near the top of any list of worst draft picks. The Green Bay Packers took Mandarich second overall in the 1989 draft, ahead of players like Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders, and Derrick Thomas. He had crazy combine numbers and was hailed by some as the best ever offensive line prospect, but he was too slow to effectively pass block, not to mention his steroid and pain killer abuse that led to a short and ineffective pro career.
I didn't like him but I thought he went on and played about 9-10 years, could be wrong.
Ryan Leaf - this guy should be at the top of every NFL bust list. Bar none. You passed on Peyton Manning to get this fucking headcase.
Jamarcus Russell
Vernon Gholston
Tony Mandarich
Nobody passed on Peyton Manning. He was the first overall pick. Leaf was second.
True, but there was a lot of talk about whether or not the Chargers would trade up to get Manning over Leaf. So if they really wanted him they could’ve gotten him.
April 16th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^
Wasn’t there talk at the time that if the Chargers did trade up that Manning would not sign with them? I seem to remember something along those lines.
April 16th, 2020 at 10:08 PM ^
I think that was Eli Manning who said he wouldn't play for the Chargers. He went to the Giants and the Chargers took Rivers.
Ryan Leaf, Tony Mandarich and JaMarcus Russell certainly stand out in football.
Two minor points:
Manning was the #1 pick, so no one passed on him for Leaf. Leaf was #2.
Leaf does appear to have turned his life around after hitting rock bottom:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ryan-leaf-nfl-letter-t…
April 17th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
Wow, that was a great read. Really happy to see he's appeared to have turned his life around. I had no idea he tried committing suicide.
Someone will make a 30 for 30 or movie about him someday. Actually surprised the 30 for 30 hasn't already happened. Seems like a story he'd finally be ready to tell at this point in his life.
Picking Terry Fair over Randy Moss.
Bills fan - in recent memory, taking EJ Manuel at #16 overall was bad. Dude couldn't even find the field most of the time and was pretty bad when he was out there. He was out of the league in 5 years only having played 30 games total
Kevin White to the Bears in the 2015 draft.
Thinking about this.. I compartmentalize busts into 4 categories:
- Injury Bust - Greg Oden types - couldn't get healthy
- Ability Bust - Anthony Bennett/Darko - ability didn't match where they were drafted
- Personal Problems Bust - Johnny Manziel/Ryan Leaf - couldn't get out their own way
- Relative Busts - Sam Bowie - considered a bust based on who was drafted behind them
There can certainly be some overlap especially once things start to snowball like when an injury brings about or highlights some personal problems (Charles Rogers)
This is an excellent categorization framework, those are really 4 different circumstances, and people think of bust differently sometimes, although your example of Bowie fits in the injury bust category as well.
Every Millen pick should be listed as #2 through whatever. Milicic stands alone as dumbest fuckup ever.
Hasheem Thabeet from UConn at #3 was especially awful
Picking Hockenson eighth last year had me pretty angry. I may not be over it yet.
I was greatly disappointed in the Lions when they drafted
Reggie Rogers
Andre Ware
Mike Williams
Coming clean, I thought Leaf would be better than Manning. I told that to a guy that went to school with Leaf at WSU and he laughed and said obviously I didn't know much about his personal life at WSU. Apparently everyone there knew he was trouble. Charles Woodson said Leaf was rather different at the Heisman award ceremony.
Jamarcus Russell - geez, what were the Raiders thinking. Russell had one good game against a team with no pass defense (ND). LSU couldn't use a 6'7" 270# QB to get less than a yard on a sneak.
I ordered a sour once by accident. God that shit was awful.
I'll go with the three roid monsters: Mandarich, Bosworth, Emtman. Mid level talent for D1 football who Hans & Franzed their way to dominance. Then, flamed out in the NFL because their bones couldn't handle their artificial muscle mass and NFL level hits.
April 16th, 2020 at 11:45 PM ^
I think Bosworth would have been fine if he hadn't wrecked his shoulder at OU, it made him a softer player and he put himself in positions to get hurt because he couldn't be aggressive. But yeah.
April 16th, 2020 at 11:45 PM ^
I think Bosworth would have been fine if he hadn't wrecked his shoulder at OU, it made him a softer player and he put himself in positions to get hurt because he couldn't be aggressive. But yeah.
Joey Harrington or Michael Williams?