Worst string of drafts (1 Viewer)

[Fallerjw]

Is this the worst string of 10 drafts by an NFL team ever? Very few players in this list were even slightly productive. Anybody got a worse list?

2002 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	16 	William Green 	RB 	Boston College2 	47 	Andre Davis 	WR 	Virginia Tech3 	76 	Melvin Fowler 	C 	Maryland4 	101 	Kevin Bentley 	LB 	Northwestern4 	111 	Ben Taylor 	LB 	Virginia Tech4 	122 	Darnell Sanders 	TE 	Ohio State5 	141 	Andra Davis 	LB 	Florida7 	227 	Joaquin Gonzalez 	T 	Miami (Fla.)2001 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	3 	Gerard Warren 	DT 	Florida2 	33 	Quincy Morgan 	WR 	Kansas State3 	65 	James Jackson 	RB 	Miami (Fla.)4 	97 	Anthony Henry 	DB 	South Florida5 	134 	Jeremiah Pharms 	-- 	Washington6 	165 	Michael Jameson 	CB 	Texas A&M7 	203 	Paul Zukauskas 	G 	Boston College7 	245 	Andre King 	WR 	Miami (Fla.)2000 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	1 	Courtney Brown 	DE 	Penn State2 	32 	Dennis Northcutt 	WR 	Arizona3 	63 	Travis Prentice 	RB 	Miami (Ohio)3 	79 	JaJuan Dawson 	WR 	Tulane4 	95 	Lewis Sanders 	DB 	Maryland4 	110 	Aaron Shea 	TE 	Michigan5 	130 	Anthony Malbrough 	DB 	Texas Tech5 	146 	Lamar Chapman 	DB 	Kansas State6 	183 	Spergon Wynn 	QB 	Texas State6 	206 	Brad Bedell 	T 	Colorado7 	207 	Manuia Savea 	-- 	Arizona7 	209 	Eric Chandler 	-- 	Jackson State7 	225 	Rashidi Barnes 	DB 	Colorado1999 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	1 	Tim Couch 	QB 	Kentucky2 	32 	Kevin Johnson 	WR 	Syracuse2 	45 	Rahim Abdullah 	OLB 	Clemson3 	62 	Daylon McCutcheon 	CB 	USC3 	76 	Marquis Smith 	DB 	California4 	124 	Wali Rainer 	MLB 	Virginia5 	148 	Darrin Chiaverini 	WR 	Colorado6 	174 	Marcus Spriggs 	DT 	Troy State6 	187 	Kendall Ogle 	LB 	Maryland6 	191 	James Dearth 	TE 	Tarleton State7 	207 	Madre Hill 	RB 	Arkansas1995 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	30 	Craig Powell 	LB 	Ohio State3 	84 	Eric Zeier 	QB 	Georgia3 	94 	Mike Frederick 	DE 	Virginia5 	136 	Tau Pupua 	DT 	Weber State5 	147 	Mike Miller 	-- 	Notre Dame7 	231 	A.C. Tellison 	-- 	Miami (Fla.)1994 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	9 	Antonio Langham 	CB 	Alabama1 	29 	Derrick Alexander 	WR 	Michigan3 	75 	Romeo Bandison 	DT 	Oregon5 	141 	Issac Booth 	DB 	California6 	171 	Robert Strait 	-- 	Baylor7 	203 	Andre Hewitt 	-- 	Clemson1993 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	14 	Steve Everitt 	C 	Michigan2 	42 	Dan Footman 	DE 	Florida State3 	83 	Mike Caldwell 	LB 	Middle Tennessee State5 	124 	Herman Arvie 	T 	Grambling State6 	153 	Rich McKenzie 	LB 	Penn State7 	180 	Travis Hill 	LB 	Nebraska1992 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	9 	Tommy Vardell 	FB 	Stanford2 	52 	Patrick Rowe 	WR 	San Diego State3 	65 	Bill Johnson 	DT 	Michigan State3 	78 	Gerald Dixon 	LB 	South Carolina6 	143 	Rico Smith 	WR 	Colorado6 	163 	George Williams 	DT 	Notre Dame7 	177 	Selwyn Jones 	DB 	Colorado State9 	233 	Tim Hill 	-- 	Kansas10 	260 	Marcus Lowe 	-- 	Baylor11 	289 	Augustin Olobia 	-- 	Washington State12 	316 	Kiethen McCant 	-- 	Nebraska12 	329 	Tim Simpson 	G 	Illinois1991 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School1 	2 	Eric Turner 	FS 	UCLA2 	29 	Ed King 	G 	Auburn3 	57 	James Jones 	DT 	Northern Iowa4 	85 	Pio Sagapolutele 	DE 	San Diego State6 	141 	Michael Jackson 	WR 	Southern Mississippi8 	197 	Frank Conover 	DT 	Syracuse9 	225 	Ray Irvin 	CB 	Central Florida9 	239 	Shawn Wiggins 	-- 	Wyoming10 	252 	Brian Greenfield 	P 	Pittsburgh11 	280 	Todd Jones 	G 	Henderson State12 	308 	Elijah Austin 	-- 	North Carolina State1990 - Cleveland BrownsRd 	Sel # 	Player 	Position 	School2 	45 	Leroy Hoard 	RB 	Michigan3 	73 	Anthony Pleasant 	DE 	Tennessee State4 	101 	Harlon Barnett 	DB 	Michigan State5 	129 	Rob Burnett 	DE 	Syracuse6 	157 	Randy Hilliard 	DB 	Northwestern State-Louisiana7 	178 	Scott Galbraith 	TE 	USC8 	212 	Jock Jones 	LB 	Virginia Tech9 	240 	Eugene Rowell 	WR 	Southern Mississippi10 	268 	Mike Wallace 	-- 	Jacksonville State11 	296 	Clemente Gordon 	-- 	Grambling State12 	323 	Kerry Simien 	-- 	Texas A&M - Kingsville

 

[FUBAR]

Despite what the records or officials may say, this isn't the same team.

 

[Fallerjw]

Despite what the records or officials may say, this isn't the same team.

How many of those players stayed on the team long enough to make the trip to Baltimore?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Well, you should look at the Saints from around 1967 through 1977.

If you want to know the details I will be glad to post them, but they traded away HOF's John Hannah and Bubba Smith, passed on Floyd Little and Bob Griese, etc.

Only decent draft pick they ever had in that time was a guy named Archie Manning and then they never got a starting 1st to 2nd round O-line pick to protect him (actually in his apx. 12 years with the team they drafted one, who barely hung around for a ham sandwich).

At one time - seriously - the Saints brought in an astronaut as the GM.

The owner traded Billy Kilmer to the Washington Redskins because he was dating the owner's secretary.

It was that bad.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I also offer you this:

"1979 1 1 11 11 Russell Erxleben K Texas"

The 11th pick in the 1979 draft overall, Erxleben was to be a dual, *barefoot* punter / kicker.

He was injured most of the first year, in the 1st-2nd years when healthy he PERSONALLY blew three games blowing the team's playoff chances (would have been their first) and then later sending them swirling on the way to a 1-15 season, still one of the NFL's worst ever.

I challenge anyone to come up with a bigger waste of a 1st round pick, yes including Ryan Leaf, LaPorkus Russell, or anyone else.

But here's another one:

In 1967 they traded the rights to future HOF'er Bubba Smith for a guy named Les Kelly, he was a halfback, whom they converted to Fullback in camp because he was so bad, and then tried to make a linebacker. He never started a game.

And repeat. There are many more. That pretty much continued allll the way until 1986.

At least Cleveland made it to the odd playoff game.

 

[Godsbrother]

1992 - Cleveland BrownsRd Sel # Player Position School1 9 Tommy Vardell FB Stanford

This one never made sense to me -- a FB from Stanford in the 1st round????

 

[dmac37]

Matt Millen

 

[Don Quixote]

1992 - Cleveland BrownsRd Sel # Player Position School1 9 Tommy Vardell FB Stanford

This one never made sense to me -- a FB from Stanford in the 1st round????

He was projected to go that high too, IIRC. Just a bad draft (as I posted in the Worst Top 10 Thread). But the other first round RBs were Tony Smith (who Atlanta drafted with the pick acquired for Brett Favre) and Vaughn Dunbar--relatively speaking, Vardell had the best career of any first round RB.

 

[Chaka]

Baltimore Ravens first draft 1996:

1 Jonathan Ogden2 Ray Lewis...

DOH!!!

 

[duckhook]

Amazingly the Browns picked pretty much the best player on the draft board according to the experts. A lot of these picks were considered solid when made.

Just goes to show the draft analysts know about as much as the Cleveland Browns, which is nothing.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I challenge anyone to come up with a bigger waste of a 1st round pick, yes including Ryan Leaf, LaPorkus Russell, or anyone else.

Dimitrius Underwood

Underwood played college football at Michigan State University and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. However, Underwood had missed most of his senior year, and his coaches at Michigan State warned NFL scouts that he wasn't mentally stable enough to play in the NFL.

After being drafted, he signed a five year, $5.3 million contract in August 1, 1999 but walked out of training camp the next day and never returned, saying he could not resolve the conflict between playing football and serving his Christian faith. The Vikings released him later that month.

 

[Utter Chaos]

Being a Brown fan it didn't get much better after 2002 either.

20091 21 Alex Mack C California 2 36 Brian Robiskie WR Ohio State 2 50 Mohamed Massaquoi WR Georgia 2 52 David Veikune LB Hawaii 4 104 Kaluka Maiava LB USC 6 177 Don Carey DB Norfolk State 6 191 Coye Francies DB San Jose State 6 195 James Davis RB Clemson 20084 104 Beau Bell LB UNLV 4 111 Martin Rucker TE Missouri 6 190 Ahtyba Rubin DT Iowa State 6 191 Paul Hubbard WR Wisconsin 7 231 Alex Hall LB St. Augustine's 20071 3 Joe Thomas T Wisconsin 1 22 Brady Quinn QB Notre Dame 2 53 Eric Wright DB UNLV 5 140 Brandon McDonald DB Memphis 6 200 Melila Purcell DE Hawaii 7 213 Chase Pittman DE LSU 7 234 Syndric Steptoe WR Arizona 2006 1 13 Kamerion Wimbley DE Florida State 2 34 D'Qwell Jackson LB Maryland 3 78 Travis Wilson WR Oklahoma 4 110 Leon Williams LB Miami (FL) 4 112 Isaac Sowells T Indiana 5 145 Jerome Harrison RB Washington State 5 152 DeMario Minter DB Georgia 6 180 Lawrence Vickers FB Colorado 6 181 Babatunde Oshinowo DT Stanford 7 222 Justin Hamilton RB Virginia Tech 20051 3 Braylon Edwards WR Michigan 2 34 Brodney Pool DB Oklahoma 3 67 Charlie Frye QB Akron 4 103 Antonio Perkins DB Oklahoma 5 139 David McMillan DE Kansas 6 176 Nick Speegle LB New Mexico 6 203 Andrew Hoffman DT Virginia 7 217 Jon Dunn T Virginia Tech 20041 6 Kellen Winslow Jr. TE Miami (FL) 2 59 Sean Jones DB Georgia 4 106 Luke McCown QB Louisiana Tech 5 161 Amon Gordon DT Stanford 6 176 Kirk Chambers T Stanford 7 208 Adimchinobe Echemandu RB California 20031 21 Jeff Faine C Notre Dame 2 52 Chaun Thompson LB West Texas A&M 3 84 Chris Crocker DB Marshall 4 115 Lee Suggs RB Virginia Tech 5 142 Ryan Pontbriand C Rice 5 152 Michael Lehan DB Minnesota 6 195 Antonio Garay DE Boston College

 

[Utter Chaos]

I challenge anyone to come up with a bigger waste of a 1st round pick, yes including Ryan Leaf, LaPorkus Russell, or anyone else.

Dimitrius Underwood

Underwood played college football at Michigan State University and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. However, Underwood had missed most of his senior year, and his coaches at Michigan State warned NFL scouts that he wasn't mentally stable enough to play in the NFL.

After being drafted, he signed a five year, $5.3 million contract in August 1, 1999 but walked out of training camp the next day and never returned, saying he could not resolve the conflict between playing football and serving his Christian faith. The Vikings released him later that month.

1986 Tampa took Bo Jackson first overall. They couldn't come to terms so Jackson decided to play baseball instead. The Raiders drafted Jackson the following year in the 7th round. So Tampa got absolutely nothing for the first overall pick in the draft. At least the Vikings got one day of training camp from Underwood.

 

[Norseman]

I challenge anyone to come up with a bigger waste of a 1st round pick, yes including Ryan Leaf, LaPorkus Russell, or anyone else.

Dimitrius Underwood

Underwood played college football at Michigan State University and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. However, Underwood had missed most of his senior year, and his coaches at Michigan State warned NFL scouts that he wasn't mentally stable enough to play in the NFL.

After being drafted, he signed a five year, $5.3 million contract in August 1, 1999 but walked out of training camp the next day and never returned, saying he could not resolve the conflict between playing football and serving his Christian faith. The Vikings released him later that month.

1986 Tampa took Bo Jackson first overall. They couldn't come to terms so Jackson decided to play baseball instead. The Raiders drafted Jackson the following year in the 7th round. So Tampa got absolutely nothing for the first overall pick in the draft. At least the Vikings got one day of training camp from Underwood.

The Bucs didn't pay him anything though. Minnesota signed him, including a signing bonus.

 

[Utter Chaos]

I challenge anyone to come up with a bigger waste of a 1st round pick, yes including Ryan Leaf, LaPorkus Russell, or anyone else.

Dimitrius Underwood

Underwood played college football at Michigan State University and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. However, Underwood had missed most of his senior year, and his coaches at Michigan State warned NFL scouts that he wasn't mentally stable enough to play in the NFL.

After being drafted, he signed a five year, $5.3 million contract in August 1, 1999 but walked out of training camp the next day and never returned, saying he could not resolve the conflict between playing football and serving his Christian faith. The Vikings released him later that month.

1986 Tampa took Bo Jackson first overall. They couldn't come to terms so Jackson decided to play baseball instead. The Raiders drafted Jackson the following year in the 7th round. So Tampa got absolutely nothing for the first overall pick in the draft. At least the Vikings got one day of training camp from Underwood.

The Bucs didn't pay him anything though. Minnesota signed him, including a signing bonus.

I was thinking more along the lines of lost production. It's worse to get no production out of the 1st overall pick than it is out of the 29th overall pick.

 

[RTB1]

2005 Cincinnati Bengals:

1st round: David Pollack - freak neck injury ended career early in 2nd season

2nd round: Odell Thurman - drank himself out of the league, never played another down after early in his second season.

3rd round: Chris Henry - RIP

All great talents, but two questionable characters making bad choices and one freak accident made this group a total loss.