The worst draft pick in history for each NFL team

Premium draft picks that turn into busts cost NFL general managers their jobs, and leave a bad taste in the mouth of the fanbase. We’ll take a closer (perhaps painful) look at the worst draft pick for each NFL team over their history. All statistics are sourced from Football Reference.

It always hurts more when a team parts with valuable draft capital to move up and select a player that ultimately does next to nothing for them. That was the situation in Buffalo as they traded to get the fourth pick to take Watkins. He played a full season his rookie year, but was not able to stay on the field thereafter.

The Chiefs haven’t done much wrong in the last several years, so we have to go back a little while to identify their worst selection ever. Jozwiak fits the bill, since he only played three NFL seasons with Kansas City. To make matters worse, he only started three games in that span, as the coaching staff had no confidence to put him out there.

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The Chargers just missed out on taking Peyton Manning first overall in 1998, and instead selected Leaf with the following pick. The drop-off could not have been more pronounced, as Leaf was a headache on and off the field. USA Today’s Janie McCauley covered Leaf’s temperamental behavior, which put him at odds with teammates, coaches, and the media right away.

The Broncos were desperate to find an answer under center after Peyton Manning retired, and they thought they had one in Lynch. It was clear almost immediately that it wasn’t going to work out, as Lynch played in five games over two NFL seasons. Sports Illustrated’s Bob Morris wrote that Lynch’s ineptitude put the Broncos in quarterback purgatory for many years.

Jamison Hensley of ESPN wrote, “Matt Elam’s arrest secures his place as the Ravens’ worst round-draft pick.” Granted, their history doesn’t go back as far as many other franchises, but Elam had trouble doing anything right in his three NFL seasons. Hensley summed it up by saying, “he couldn’t stay in the starting lineup. He couldn’t stay healthy. He couldn’t stay out of trouble.”

Richardson may have been in a tough spot, as he was drafted by a coach who ultimately didn’t stick around to develop him. Chuck Noll gave way to Bill Cowher, the latter of which was not impressed by Richardson whatsoever. He played just 16 games over two seasons, and the Steelers jettisoned him out of town after year one.

Perhaps Shamus Clancy of the Philly Voice said it best by calling out that the Eagles drafted a 26-year-old Canadian firefighter with a first round pick in 2011. Clancy wrote, “he was a 26-year-old first-round pick and couldn’t get on the field! That doesn’t make any sense!” Watkins was late to the game, as he only started playing football at age 22.

ESPN Honolulu noted that Shuler’s quarterback coach Cam Cameron said, “He had all the measurables for a guy to be successful. It just didn’t happen.” Despite looking the part, Shuler only lasted four seasons in the NFL, three of which were with Washington. He finished his career with 15 touchdowns and 33 interceptions.

Billy Devaney told Yahoo Sports about Smith, “The thing that sold us more than anything else was how everyone at Baylor raved about him. They told us, ‘you can’t go wrong with this kid. Whatever his ceiling is, he’s going to achieve it.’” It’s possible Smith’s ceiling wasn’t that high after all, as he played just three seasons for the Rams, and spent his fourth and final campaign with the New York Jets.

Rogers flamed out of the NFL almost as quickly as he joined the league. Former Lions executive Matt Millen told ESPN, “He fell victim to a far stronger addiction, the toughest one to overcome, and that is peer pressure.” EPSN’s Jemele Hill wrote about the intoxicating combination that drove Rogers out of the league; the money, the fame, the women.

The expectations surrounding Williamson were sky-high, considering that the franchise hoped he would be their new deep threat after Randy Moss. Williamson told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, “I would look at is as me not preparing myself and obviously not being mentally ready to be in that position, and that played a big factor in it. Obviously, dealing with the media, reading some of the stuff the media was saying, I wasn’t mentally ready for that.”

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Shane Mickle of ClutchPoints called Reynolds “undersized and a poor fit”, which contributed to his downfall in Green Bay. Kinnu Singh of FanSided brought up Reynolds’ injury timeline, which began as soon as he got to the NFL. Reynolds suffered a knee injury in his first training camp, and never got his rhythm after that.

According to Bleacher Report, former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said when Adams was drafted, “Gaines is going to lead this league in effort!” Adams didn’t end up leading the NFL in anything. JC De La Torre of Bleacher Report wrote, “sure enough, Adams had speed, but no strength.” The prospect didn’t acquire the necessary moves to excel at the NFL level.

The Dolphins were holding out hope in the late 1990s that they could make one final Super Bowl push with Dan Marino. To that end, they burned a high draft pick on Green, which was a huge mistake. Green suffered season-ending injuries back to back years, and didn’t get on to the field until 1999. The delayed start to his career didn’t yield any positive results.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote about Gholston, “The scouts didn’t consider him worthy of a top-10 pick, so they were miffed when general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini picked him anyway at six. How bad was Gholston? In three years, I compiled as many sacks as he did—zero.”

The Patriots thought they had a game-changing disrupter at the line of scrimmage in Sims, but that was never the reality. Gio Rivera of New England Sports Network noted that Sims was best known for a less than stellar attitude in the locker room. Although he played eight seasons with the team, he never posted more than 5.5 sacks in any given campaign.

According to Tom LaMarre of Sports Illustrated, Russell isn’t just the Raiders’ biggest draft miss; he’s the worst draft bust in the history of the NFL. It’s hard to argue with that, as Russell had arguably the most underwhelming career in league history. One former team executive said, “Russell simply didn’t care. He made his money and had no desire to get any better or make the Raiders any better.”

Things were rough for Smith from the beginning. For starters, head coach Bruce Cosley told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “There were a whole bunch of quarterbacks that came out that year-and by far Akili was at the bottom of our list.” Smith also missed nearly a month of training camp holding out for a contract, which put him at a disadvantage he would never recover from.

Couch went a couple picks ahead of Smith, and didn’t fare much better. The biggest problem for the Browns was that they had a chance to take Donovan McNabb out of Syracuse (who went second overall), but they convinced themselves Couch was the answer. McNabb had a far superior career.

Carver did end up winning a Super Bowl with Dallas, but a four-year NFL career is not exactly what the team envisioned when they drafted him. Carver violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy multiple times, which ended up being his undoing. The Cowboys were one of the best teams in the NFL during Carver’s brief career, so this pick ends up being swept under the rug.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield wrote, “Unbeknownst to the Giants, Jones was blind in one eye and couldn’t play on the left side.” New York was hoping that they could pair Jones with emerging pass rusher Michael Strahan, but it didn’t work out that way. Jones only spent five seasons in the league, all with the Giants.

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KPLU sports personality Art Thiel said, “Everyone thought this guy was the real deal. And that’s why, after 37 games, to get rid of him for just about nothing is one of the most shocking and disturbing developments in the Seahawks’ draft history.” Like many draft busts, Curry appeared to have all the tools, but none of that mattered once the game started.

The Wadsworth pick hurts Cardinals fans because he was selected one slot ahead of future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson. Kent Somers of AZ Central Sports noted that Wadsworth was being compared to Bruce Smith coming out of the draft, which lured Arizona in. Injuries took their toll on the former Florida State star.

The 49ers got away with the embarrassment of trading up for a quarterback who has shown nothing in his NFL career, thanks to their selection of Brock Purdy. However, the Lance debacle ranks as one of the worst misses in NFL draft history. Instead, San Francisco could have had Ja’Marr Chase, Penei Sewell, Patrick Surtain II or Micah Parsons.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon landed on McNown as the franchise’s biggest draft bust, although Mitchell Trubisky made a run for that dubious distinction after he went through the exercise. Still, McNown feels like the right choice considering that the Bears actually made the playoffs with Trubisky.

Pickens was described by Scott Kennedy of Sports Illustrated as “a combine warrior who had great straight line speed, but little else.” Atlanta was hoping they had the next Deion Sanders on their roster, but Pickens was nowhere near the same cover corner as the NFL star.

Anderson seemed like he could turn into something after some strong play early on in his career, but that promise was quickly derailed. Anderson missed the entire 2002 NFL season after he was suspended by the league for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He didn’t meet the conditions for reinstatement the following year, either.

Larry Holder of NOLA’s website wrote about Sullivan, “His weight was always a problem as he literally ate his way out of the league.” Defensive tackles are expected to take us space in the middle of the line of scrimmage, but these issues kept Sullivan from being able to move as quickly as New Orleans would have liked.

Alberts was taken three picks after Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, which made the comments of Colts owner Jim Irsay a bit perplexing in 1997. He said, “I suppose you can blame the jinx of the top-five picks.” Whatever the reason, Alberts only spent three seasons in the NFL, all with Indianapolis.

Justin Barney of News4Jax wrote, “Blackmon had ridiculous talent but had major red flags coming out of college that Jacksonville ignored. He was arrested for a DUI not long after he was drafted and was out of the league for good in his second season.” The Jaguars thought they had a playmaking difference-maker, but it didn’t work out that way.

It hasn’t been very long, but it’s already fair to call Wilson the Titans' worst draft gaffe. He appeared in the waning moments of one game in 2020, and that’s been the extent of his NFL career to date. Wilson broke Covid-19 protocols in 2020 by attending a party, and was also arrested for speeding and DUI.

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Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus tabbed Okoye as Houston’s worst draft pick since 2006, but we think it’s fair to see he tops the list in this unflattering category. He played six pretty meager seasons in the NFL, without making much of an impact.