Worst No. 1 NFL draft picks?

[Bob Cook]

      Go back before the AFL-NFL merger and there are number one busts that make Tim Couch look like John Elway. Terry Baker? How about Randy Duncan by Green Bay in 1958? He was a QB, and they already had Bart Starr and Paul Hornung on the team.
      But this is a question with a simple answer. The worst number one of all time was the first one. In 1936, the Eagles (no surprise they qualified for the pick) chose Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago. Berwanger never played a down. He never signed a contract. He went to medical school so he could make real money.

And I believe Gerald Ford had an offer to play for the Lions, but he elected to go to law school instead. Mind you, the NFL wasn't looking too solid at that point, what with merged franchises like the Steagles. On a throwback day, I want to see Philly and Pittsburgh wearing Steagles jerseys.

Also, Emtman at No. 1 and Quentin Coryatt at No. 2 is a prime example of why the Colts sucked before Jim Irsay finally convinced his father that, yes, Jim Irsay was a lousy GM and maybe hiring a real one would be a good idea. What, trading two first-round picks for Fredd Young wasn't enough? Talk about your cries for help.

[pseudo]

The Steagles were a one-year creation of World War II (too many players on active duty to field independent rosters), as was the Card-Pitt merger the following season. "Throwbacks" wouldn't exist -- they wore Eagles jerseys in 1943, Cardinals in '44.

[2muchcoffeeman]

And I believe Gerald Ford had an offer to play for the Lions, but he elected to go to law school instead. Mind you, the NFL wasn't looking too solid at that point, what with merged franchises like the Steagles. On a throwback day, I want to see Philly and Pittsburgh wearing Steagles jerseys.

Huh? The Steagles existed for one year (1943). Apparently there was a war going on or something and there was a shortage of young men to play professional football.

The Steagles used the Eagles' jerseys.

[crimsonace]

Also, Emtman at No. 1 and Quentin Coryatt at No. 2 is a prime example of why the Colts sucked before Jim Irsay finally convinced his father that, yes, Jim Irsay was a lousy GM and maybe hiring a real one would be a good idea. What, trading two first-round picks for Fredd Young wasn't enough? Talk about your cries for help.

The extra "D" stands for Defense, you know.

It's not a coincidence that the Colts' fortunes rapidly began to change when Bob Irsay's health began to fail and Jim was able to move into an ownership role and turn the GM job over to Bill Tobin, and later, Bill Polian. Tobin had a few dust-ups with Mel Kiper, but built an AFC finalist largely through free agency and other teams' castoffs. Polian built a championship team through the draft, by largely shunning free agency. The only real draft miss Polian had was picking Rob Morris in the first round, but even he turned into a serviceable player once he was moved to OLB.

Emtman looked like a great choice at the time, but injuries never allowed his career to blossom. The only thing I really remember about his career was his long game-winning INT return at Miami on the last play of the game. He was pretty good when healthy ... that one week.

Coryatt was a bust from the beginning. Big-time bust.

That draft could've set the Colts on a successful run in the 1990s. But instead, it killed them. At least in 1987, when Cornelius Bennett held out, they got Eric Dickerson out of it.

[Boom_70]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

Someone mentioned Ken Mcavee earlier- another in a long line of ND busts of the 70's . In that time frame ND players failed by the truck load . The NFL loved those big slow white guys with a pedegree before scouting got a lot more sophiscated.

[BTExpress]

Darren McFadden is a guaranteed supertsar!! He's DARREN MCFADDEN!!!!!!" [/E60reporters]

(I just noticed the typo on superstar, but I kind of like "supertsar."

When you talk about supertsars . . . .


And at 6 feet 7, he had the size all GMs are looking for.

[Brooklyn Bridge]

I have to think Tony Mandarich should be on that list. Sure, he might've improved as a Colt, but the Packers passed on Barry Sanders. Favre and Sanders woulda been pretty solid, IMO.

Ron Wolf was brought in in 1991 to stop the fail that was the Green Bay Packers at the time.  If if wasn't for that Mandarich Pick, I don't think they ever get Favre.  As a matter of fact, (if the Pack got Sanders) they're probably just like the Lions during that stretch--good, not great, maybe a playoff appearance.  Wolf came in and brought in Mike Holmgren and Favre came in 19-92.

And while not #1 overall picks, Akili Smith has to rate right up there with T. Couch.

[Bubbler]

I'm with Piotr. If you suffer a catastrophic career-ending injury, you're not a bust. That has nothing to do with picking poorly or a player not living up to their potential, it's just bad luck.

[melock]

Is it Ki-Jana Carter's fault he tore his ACL?

He shouldn't be No. 2.

That's a crime he's on the list. Did he live up to expectations? Of course not, but like WB said it's not his fault he tore up his knee, and his career, on his first carry in his first preseason game.

Carter's game was centered around his speed and doctors simply couldn't put him back together like they might have been able to with today's medical advances. Same with trainers, which I'm sure in Cincy were terrible then just like the rest of the franchise.

[Del_B_Vista]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

[AlleyAllen]

Did notice the high percentage of Golden Domers on the list (Ken McAfee anyone?) But mostly I appreciated Rivals going back to the 1970s on this thing, before Kiper, the combine and the endless speculation. And Carter's injury should preclude him from being on the list. Who knows how good (or bad) he would have been healthy.

I still say a bust is a bust, especially for the team which drafted the guy. Makes little difference how you go down. Unless the Bungles got compensation for Carter's injury, it most definitely was a bust for them.

[BTExpress]

To me "bust" means "mistake" . . . as in it doesn't matter who picked the guy --- he cannot play. And it can be argued that someone (scouts, GM) should have known this.

Someone who has his knee turned to spaghetti because of a freak injury might not have had that incident had he been somewhere else. And there is no way to predict who will be unlucky.

[forever_town]

To me "bust" means "mistake" . . . as in it doesn't matter who picked the guy --- he cannot play. And it can be argued that someone (scouts, GM) should have known this.

Someone who has his knee turned to spaghetti because of a freak injury might not have had that incident had he been somewhere else. And there is no way to predict who will be unlucky.

Not to mention an addendum to an earlier post. What if Ki-Jana Carter had played for another team and that injury never happened? Or what if it happened on a team with an outstanding medical staff? Or with today's medical advances?

Did the Boston Celtics draft a bust back in 1986 when their top pick died of a cocaine overdose? I think a lot of teams would have drafted Len Bias then. Having a player die certainly isn't something the team can control.

[outofplace]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

[AlleyAllen]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

Thank you! Let's remember, folks, that we're only talking about No. 1s overall. That was the jist of the list.

[Del_B_Vista]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

Thank you! Let's remember, folks, that we're only talking about No. 1s overall. That was the jist of the list.

My post clearly stated first-round pick, following up on a minor branching off of the list.

I mean, I coulda just posted something political. That seems to be popular on most threads.

[AlleyAllen]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

Thank you! Let's remember, folks, that we're only talking about No. 1s overall. That was the jist of the list.

My post clearly stated first-round pick, following up on a minor branching off of the list.

I mean, I coulda just posted something political. That seems to be popular on most threads.

You're right. My bad. I was going off of what OOP posted.

[outofplace]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

Thank you! Let's remember, folks, that we're only talking about No. 1s overall. That was the jist of the list.

My post clearly stated first-round pick, following up on a minor branching off of the list.

I mean, I coulda just posted something political. That seems to be popular on most threads.

You're right. My bad. I was going off of what OOP posted.

Man, I get blamed for everything around here... 




 

[AlleyAllen]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Awful pick. No doubt about that. But I think this is supposed to be just No. 1 overall.

Thank you! Let's remember, folks, that we're only talking about No. 1s overall. That was the jist of the list.

My post clearly stated first-round pick, following up on a minor branching off of the list.

I mean, I coulda just posted something political. That seems to be popular on most threads.

You're right. My bad. I was going off of what OOP posted.

Man, I get blamed for everything around here... 




 

But you're so easy to kick around!

Sorry...apology to you, too.

[rube]

Jake Long.

Too early.

He might end up being a good pro. But at No. 1? Nah. You don't draft right tackles that high.

Really, I don't like any guys from this year's draft, at least for that No. 1 position. I was hoping Parcells would let his time lapse once or twice and move down to No. 3 or 4.

He'll play left and he'll be just fine. He played both at U-M and while he had a bit of trouble with speed rushers (i.e. Vernon Gholston, but then again, who didn't?) he was a tremendous run blocker. There's a reason why Mike Hart had as many yards as he did at Michigan, and it ain't because of his lightning quick 40 time (nearly 4.7).

[kokane_muthashed]

In my lifetime the worst 1st round draft pick I have seen was when the Giants took Rocky Thompson.

The list for worst first-round pick begins and ends with Russell Erxleben, Saints, 1979 (11th overall). A freakin' punter-place kicker in the first round? Not to mention he was excrement on the field (and as a human being, see jail time for financial misdoings).

Typical East Coast bias.

Along the same lines, St. Louis Cardinals drafted punter/kicker Steve Little in 1978 with the 15th pick. He was terrible with a 40% FG Percentage. Cut by the Cardinals 1980.