What's the worst (or some of the worst) draft picks an NFL team has ever used?

Question

I'm not talking about draft picks in terms of how players turned out, but overall strategy a team has used with a draft pic.

Answer 1

Nope..I totally have this one. The Green Bay Packers took Tony Mandarich over Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Deion Sanders. That guy was the worst.

Answer 2

Here are some of the worst draft picks in recent history.

1. 2005, Lions drafting Mike Williams. The lions therefore drafted a WR for the THIRD TIME IN A ROW in the first round. They said they took the best player available but that clearly was not the case. His career has been a huge disappointment.

2. 2005, Packers drafting Aaron Rogers. Packers chose to take their QB of the future rather than take a defensive player to help upgrade an awful unit from 2004. Rogers has contributed absolutely nothing to the Packers.

3. 2004, Chargers drafting Eli Manning, and then getting Philip Rivers. The chargers decided to not give Drew Brees another season to develop and instead took Eli Manning, whom they later traded to the Giants for Philip Rivers. Brees then proceeded to break out and be one of the best quarterbacks in the league in 2004 and 2005. Had the chargers taken another player, Larry Fitzgerald, Kellen Winslow, or Roy Williams to name a few, they could have gotten a high impact immediate player other than a quarterback who sat on the bench like Rivers did.

4. 2006, Texans drafting Mario Williams. Everyone always talks about this. The Texans decision to draft Williams was one of the biggest blunders in history. They could have gotten superstar in the future Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush, not to mention local Vince Young or awesome Left Tackle Debrickashaw Ferguson. Instead they went with Williams who had a subpar rookie year while the other all helped previously struggling teams from 2005 attain success helped by each of their play.

There are many other terrible decisions as well, but these ones stick out to me the most in recent draft history.

Answer 3

Denver used a third round pick on Clarrett. Sure we know HOW that worked out but the reason was terrible as well. They said well we had 2 third round picks and they wanted to take a chance on him. Come on Clarrett could have EASILY been drafted in a later round, or maybe even as an undrafted free agent, but they felt they weren't wasting a pick because they had more then one in the round.

Clearly the three above me didn't READ THE QUESTION DETAILS. The Texans were DRAFTING A POSITION. Sure they could have taken a flashy college player, or they could take the player they felt they needed. They should take the player they need, even if it looks dumb and ends up being a bit of a mistake.

Answer 4

1962 #1 draft pick Ernie Davis, rb out of Syracuse selected by Washington. The guy never played a game. The other guy who comes to mind was in 2000 when the Raiders selected a kicker in the first round. I know they needed one, but he would have still been there later. Two picks later guess who is drafted? Shaun Alexander. Besides not another kicker was selected for another 5 rounds. Besides come the season they only had one middle linebacker on the roster.

Answer 5

One of the things that is allowed is trading voting rights for voting rights for future seasons. For instance a 1-16 team could trade their first round pick for 3 future second round picks. If it's done too much a team could find itself with fewer draft slots available for future seasons when they needed them the most. I've heard of that happening before (the Saints doing this to get Ricky Williams comes to mind). A season comes along where there is a bunch of good players and the team can't draft them because they already traded their voting rights away.

Answer 6

The Jets drafting kickers like crazy.
Also, this wasn't a bad draft pick by the organization, but a horrible pick by the fans of the organization. I'm speaking of the Eagles fans when they booed the pick of Donovan McNabb from Syracuse. Who did they want Philly to take? Some druggie by the name of Ricky Williams. Whew! Good thing they were wrong!

Answer 7

Drafting strategy? Here's one practiced by many a cellar-dweller....going with the flashy, sexy pick over the necessary one. Winners know when they have to spend a pick on unexciting positions like left tackle, but losers just look to make splashes to excite their fanbase, only to fall flat because the foundation of their team is in ruins. Linemen are of vital importance and too few, even in NFL front offices, realize this...

Answer 8

Cade McNown Chicago Bears in '99 (#12 overall)
Akili Smith by Cincinnati in '99 too (#3 overall)
Actually, the Bengals ruined or blew it with a lot of other picks too. David Klingler, Ki-Jana Carter, Dan Wilkinson, and Peter Warrick to name a few.

Answer 9

Well last year was a prime example of at least three teams passing on players they should have taken.

Texans passing on Bush
Raiders passing on Leinart
All 32 teams passing on Maurice Drew (Some of them twice)

Other picks...Just look at Detroit for just about all of them....How can anyone be that bad at drafting players?

Answer 10

Well you can look at the Cleveland Browns first round draft picks from 1999-2003, all five were pretty bad and not fairing so good in the NFL if they are even in the NFL anymore. plus you can take a look at what the Browns passed up in them too (1999- passed up Mcnabb, LT, Culpepper)