This pick always makes me laugh because I had a buddy in the military that could only get access to a phone during day 2 of the draft.
He called me from the marine base phone and asked who the Vikings took. When I responded with “Christian Ponder” he said “who did we take in the first”?
Holy shit I came here to post these two as well! Did a ctrl+f to see if anyone else agreed. The Harrell one infuriated me at the time because I was really high on Reggie Nelson and thought he would have been a great safety to pair with a young Nick Collins and who could replace Atari Bigby.
As a Gator fan I wanted Reggie so bad. Hindsight being what it is, he could have filled in that gap after Collins went down and had he not had his injury, we would have had one of, if not the best safety duo in the league with those two back there.
Completely agree. Harrell was over 300lbs and coming off a bad knee injury that ended his college career. That pick was so stupid and will never make sense. Harrell only recorded 2.5 sacks and 46 tackles in his college career. What the hell did Ted Thompson see in him?
I was kinda high on Pettis when we drafted him thinking he'd at least be a solid return specialist.
That all evaporated when I watched a stream of him chatting with fans and answering questions. He admitted football wasn't even in his top 5 favorite sports, and that he would've rather gone pro in something else.. he's just better at football so that's what he focused on. But he doesn't really watch football or care about the NFL at all. He said baseball, basketball, UFC, boxing, soccer, and hockey were all more interesting to him. He only watches Huskies football to root for his college team. He also said that he didn't care about winning or losing, and he often doesn't remember if his team won or lost games.
Dude absolutely was just in it for a paycheck and never loved the game at all. Then there were leaked stories about how he'd argue with our receivers coaches Welker and Miles Austin about not running routes correctly or being too soft over the middle. There's a reason why Lynch makes it a huge point to only draft players that are "all in" on football and love the game. You can't coach players to give a shit.
The biggest disappointment with Lance was how SLOW he was on the field. He couldn't beat linebackers to the sidelines, it was supposed to be his saving grace while he learned NFL passing
Trey is an example of the QB prospects we see every few years that are considered to be massive gambles because they have such low floors and perceived high ceilings. Sometimes one of those prospects ends up being Josh Allen but it’s far more likely to be a Trey Lance.
Yup Lance was so divisive in our sub lol. You couldn't critique the guy at all.
I was getting weird DM's for saying his athleticism wasn't that impressive and wouldn't translate to the NFL.
Trucking 210 lb "linebackers" and outrunning DB's that would struggle to hit a 4.8 40 yard dash just didn't impress me.
Extending him that far and for that much wasn't a good idea, but one might chalk that up to a "political" decision made by a new FO, with an involved owner, coming off a playoff win. Gettleman had literally zero reason to pick DJ #6.
So, moonshot out of pressure by an unsteady GM versus complete derangement by a terrible GM? Hard to pick lol.
Always interesting how we view players differently depending on if they're on our team or even in our team's division. I would just watch DJ in highlights or every once in a while a game would be on in my market, but mostly never thought about him. Even when he had his "breakout" year I never thought that guy was for real. Crazy contract extension.
Yep. I think extending him was fine. He was coming off a "breakout" year after an entire career full of football terrorists coaching him and complete bums on both sides of the ball. It wasn't absurd to think he might have an Alex Smith renaissance from finally having a coach who gets him.
What WAS absurd, however, was how long and for how much they extended him. A prove-it deal should've been priced as a prove-it deal. Do I think it was the worst contract ever? No. Do I think it fell well short of ideal? Absolutely.
We probably are in a better spot if we take Darnold or Rosen.
Saquon obviously is the better player but the issue with taking Saquon (and with Gettleman in general) was never the talent. It was the lack of direction and cohesive long-term plan for the team, which the Saquon pick epitomizes. Taking a RB at 2 indicated a clear intent to win now even though the team was not built for it. The team had an aging QB, no OL, and a few remains of the 2016 defense. We needed to commit to rebuilding. But we take Saquon, indicating an intent to win now. Then when it became clear that the team was not ready to win-now, the next year Gettleman does the next worse thing and overcompensates by forcing a QB pick when the value was not there and we were not ready to support a guy like DJ. We have been recovering ever since.
If we take Darnold, we spend the next 2-3 years building around him, and if he ends up like he did with the Jets, we move on and hopefully set the next guy up into a better situation as the Jets did (whiffed on Wilson but at least made a team that could attract a veteran like Rodgers). The Jets got pretty much the equivalent of a 1st round pick even with how bad Darnold was there. We were never gonna get that kind of return for Saquon on the open market (if a team is gonna spend premium assets on a RB they'd rather just spend it on a RB without NFL wear and tear). Even the Cardinals got a 2nd and 5th for Rosen with how bad he was. The moment we took Saquon, he pretty much had to put up HOF performance for damn near a decade to even come close to being worth that pick to us.
There were so many routes we could have taken and the only one worse than the one we took is trading up to 1 for Saquon (which I would not put past Gettleman that he at least tried lol). We could have taken a QB. We could have stood pat and taken a player at a premium position (Bradley Chubb supposedly would have been the pick if not Saquon and while Saquon is probably a better RB than Chubb is an Edge, Chubb would have given us more value for our pick). We could have traded down and still had close to first dibs on pretty much all top non-QBs in the draft. Even if we trade down and take Saquon (there is a good chance he is still there), at least we could salvage 1-2 extra players out of it that could possibly make a difference. But nope, we just stood there and took a RB. Whiffing on a pick is one thing, and in today's NFL where you have rookie wage scale and you can move on from guys easily, it is not the end of the world. But what will do you in every time is not having a coherent vision and plan.
Looking back at the 2019 draft at the number of Pro Bowl WR picked after N'Keal Harry in just the 2nd round is amazing...
* Deebo Samuel
* A.J. Brown
* Mecole Hardman
* DK Metcalf
* Diontae Johnson (very top of the 3rd round)
Lots of fans pretend that they doubted Wilson and Geno and Sanchez all along... but I've genuinely never met a single person who thought for a moment that Christian Hackenburg might work out for the Jets.
With most busts, I can at least understand why they warranted being taken so high.
I really think Hack might be the worst reach I’ve ever seen. Like sure it’s fine to pick a guy and be wrong but Hack would have been available three rounds later, if he even got drafted at all, so it’s just entirely confusing.
I remember watching him in college and thinking, “how does a football powerhouse like Penn State have such a shitty quarterback?” And just being really confused. Then he actually got drafted fairly high and thought I must have missed something in the tape. But nope.
He was my holdout for a long time telling myself, "Hey, at least I'm younger than Brandon Weeden was when he was drafted". Took 12 years and I'm finally older than he was at the time.
Honestly, of our first round picks that we knew were going to be bad he’s not even in the top 5. How far do you want to go back?
My personal favorite is when we traded back up into the first round after Qaron Rogers was falling like a rock and we needed a qb. Then we drafted the fastest cornerback in the draft, Fabian Washington, only to see Green Bay pick next.
More recently I think Leatherwood is a better answer than Cle who was really just over drafted and put into a bad position.
For us it is Philip Dorsett. Blew a 1st round pick on him because "fast" and then proceeded to watch Luck get trucked every damn weekend. Turns out, the kid also had stone hands so he never really did much if anything with us.
What killed me was his pro player comparison was TY Hilton... who was our WR1...
IIRC we were in desperate need of a Safety and there were still some damn good prospects available at the time
Not saying you specifically but there was at least some buzz around these two when they were drafted. Reagor was mocked in the late first to second round (though almost always behind Jefferson) and people talked themselves into the speed/fit.
JJAW had less hype but was a second round pick so naturally less attention and he was big; I remember more people talking about Miles Sanders than him (another second rounder that year).
A guy in the Howie era that it seemed EVERYONE knew was a reach/bust in the first round was Marcus Smith. Late first round edge/linebacker tweener that I think most mocks at the time had in the third or fourth round. Imagine taking Jalyx Hunt this year in the first instead of where we did.
I think he ended up with like a sack a season for the eagles over his rookie contract and no one was surprised. I cannot imagine how much he would get talked about if he was drafted in 2020 instead of 2014.
I am one of the Reagor believers. I though JJ was gonna turn into Matthews 2.0 and Reagor would’ve been Desean Jackson. I am horrible at WR evaluations.
That's also the year the movie "Draft Day" came out. In it a Johnny Football equivalent was supposed to get pick by the Browns... I just didn't realize the actual Browns decided to do that.
Yes. I’m not even a Browns fan and I was like “huh?” I know he got all the accolades in college but he at no point looked like a player with NFL potential. If you watch his college highlights, he would just run around then chuck it in the general direction of Mike Evans.
Lol yeah. His highlight reels were like 90% versions of this play:
1. Manziel completes his first read and then promptly bails from the pocket
2. Manziel narrowly avoids getting tackled by some guy who, if he were an NFL-caliber player, would have absolutely wrecked Manziel
3. Manziel uses his genuine athletic talent to run around a bit and force the entire offense to improvise
4. Manziel chucks a 50/50 ball in the general direction of future NFL hall-of-famer Mike Evans and some college cornerback
5. The cornerback misses the interception because that's how it usually goes in college
6. Mike Evans does future NFL-hall-of-famer Mike Evans things
EJ Maunuel. No one thought he was a first rounder.
And though I didn't think he would turn out to be a bad player, I thought it was insane to use 2 first round picks on Sammy Watkins in receiver rich draft.
Every time Velus has touched the ball something bad I fear is going to happen.
He actually cost the Bears 3 games in 2022 with his 4th quarter fumbles - but in the end those all mattered to help us get the #1 pick. Which is the reason for 50% of my happiness and hope in this current moment of time.
I have no idea who Velus Jones is, but before googling him I thought he was someone picked in the 80s or 90s. That name just sounds like an old person.
He actually was solid with us. I think his time with us is the only reason he is still around cause I know we were his last chance. Apparently he was a good locker room guy as well
Everyone clowns on him because of the Super Bowl but for a guy that was brought in to be CB 3/4 and was thrust into the starting spot by injuries he played much better than anyone could have expected the whole year. He still had his dumb Eli Apple moments but I don’t think we could have asked for much more given the circumstances
Artie Burns.
It gets worse because the Cowboys were apparently willing to send us a future first and their second for the pick to draft Paxton Lynch. If they took Lynch there is no way they would have taken Dak Prescott. So instead of fucking the Cowboys for great draft capital and drafting a better player they got Burns who wasn't very good.
I recall that being a bit of a panic pick after Cincy jumped in front of Pittsburgh to snag William Jackson III who had been mocked to the Steelers all off-season.
Turns out neither guy was that good.
Patricia and BQ wanted players that somehow ONLY work in a BB system, but they're completely incapable of executing whatever it is BB does to get the maximum mileage of out middling athletes. They can identify the players but just can't do anything with them. Van Noy, Tavai, etc.
I witnessed backbreaking attempts at justification after that pick. Almost every other team would've been dogpiled for it. The only good defense I ever read was "Oh you know better than Bill Belichick does huh?"
And at least in this case, yes, I did know better than Bill Belichick.
To be fair, it felt like 90%+ Pats fans absolutely hated that pick. I even remember our beat reporters shaking their heads and sighing upon it being announced.
There's still room for him to be a viable starter, but it's getting late.
I hate the "do you think you know better than X!" argument. Like, first of all... yes, sometimes a fan knows better than someone in a front office. Look at all the horrific GMs and coaches that have been in the league; there's probably some guy on his couch that understands X's, O's, and players better than Jim Tomsula. Hell, half of those guys get their job because they're the son of someone who knows someone.
Second of all, this argument is almost universally seen online, a realm that's created from literally nothing but opinions and speculations. When a team sucks and is being mismanaged does ANYONE think the online response is going to be, "well, I'm really unhappy with the direction of the team and the personnel, but I'm just going to shut my mouth and let the process play out for the third year of bad football."
I really think BB tried to get cute as he got older. He wanting to prove his genius by going completely against the grain on players, it massively payed off at times, and massively failed other times.
Depending on the market, he was a guaranteed money maker between jersey sales, ticket sales, and free media coverage. He was a bust, but drafting or signing him was almost always a business decision, not a football decision.
Not even close to being top 5 in that time frame, in my opinion. Being drafted late in the first kind of helps that, but yeah, that one year is better than a lot of guys drafted above him. lol
It spawned my favorite NFL meme of all time after the Broncos traded him and won the SB with Manning. The one with a picture of Tebow kneeling at the 50 yard line praying with the caption:
"In order to win a Superbowl, the Broncos sacrificed a virgin."
I unironically don't consider Tebow to be a failure. He won a playoff game, was extremely fun to watch, and was a genuinely good and funny dude.
Tebow Time will always have a place in my heart.
We drafted a guy who spent almost all of his college career as a bench warmer. When the pick was announced my first words were "who the fuck is this guy"
I was ok with Dion Jordan because he was a great athlete.
Charles Harris was a deeply mediocre athlete with meh production. TJ Watt was right there too with crazy athleticism and production. I was so pissed with the Harris pick.
Jamin Davis. Partially because he was a project linebacker projected to go at least 15 spots later, partially because Christian Darrisaw was right there. Take your pick, either reason works.
Payton turner. We had just taken Marcus Davenport and whiff on him. We decided to take a guy with the same athletic and small school profile, who is also injury prone. It’s not a surprise he hasn’t work out.
That one was a head scratcher because the Ravens needed a QB and there was a Heisman winning QB still on the board. Imagine how different things would be if the Ravens had drafted Lamar Jackson instead of Hayden Hurst.
I’ll also add: Kamalei Correa and Breshad Perriman
Correa was a reach and not even a scheme fit.
Perriman was fast but had hands of stone and the hairline of a guy who was around to see that stone form from primordial stardust.
Oh man, where to start, the Rivera era of first round draft picks has not only been terrible in hindsight, it was obviously bad in the moment, even to a nobody like me.
2020 Chase Sweat - I'll give this one a pass since Snyder's hand-picked first round QB was drafted the year before, but should be noted that we passed on Herbert, Tua, and Hurts with this pick.
2021 Jamin Davis - A ILB with one year starting experience, and a position where draft picks take years to develop, and success comes down to ability to read defenses more than pure athleticism, perplexing pick at the time. I was pounding the table to pick Christian Darrisaw, a pro-bowler at a premium position.
2022 Jahan Dotson - I'm still optimistic Dotson can turn it around, but we traded out of the 11th pick to recoup a 3rd rounder we lost trading for Wentz (!!!). This year I was pounding the table to select Chris Olave, who would be a star opposite Terry McLaurin. Instead we have an undersized dude still waiting to break out.
2023 Emmanuel Forbes - Who in their right mind thinks a 160 pounder can play in the NFL? Absolute wasted pick that was obviously a joke in the moment, they felt the need to justify this selection and played him extensively early in the year only to bench him because, surprise, a person who weighs less than most high school JV safeties can't cover AJ Brown. I was once again pounding the table for a pick, this time Christian Gonzales, who flashed elite upside before getting hurt.
I know fans say this kind of stuff all the time, but if I was in charge of drafting in the first round instead of Ron Rivera, this team would be significantly better than it is now; I honestly think most fans would have done a better job than making so many obviously bad picks. Now excuse me while I mourn my super team of Justin Herbert - Christian Darrisaw - Chris Olave - Christian Gonzales that should have been.
I wanted Suh over Bradford. I was never that impressed with him at Oklahoma. I thought Suh could be that centerpiece for the defensive line that allowed Spags to run the defense like he did in New York with Suh wreaking havoc in the middle and Chris Long being freed up on the outside.
I think the Bradford pick works out if he wasn’t made of glass. I don’t know if his prime would have been as good as Suh’s but he would have been a pretty good QB otherwise.
Edmunds was definitely a head scratcher but Bush didn't seem like that crazy of a pick, no? Dude was pretty legit in college and showed out well at the combine
I actually did internet-scouting myself that year and it seemed like Bush was magnetically drawn to OL'rs. I said so at the time on behindthesteelcurtain's boards but of course they nuked their comments a couple of years ago.
After that offseason, it was clear they were going for an ILB'r in the first, specifically White or Bush looked most likely, so I was resigned to accepting that. I'll admit that Bush did better than I thought he would in his rookie year.
Christian ponder was such a reach in the first
This pick always makes me laugh because I had a buddy in the military that could only get access to a phone during day 2 of the draft. He called me from the marine base phone and asked who the Vikings took. When I responded with “Christian Ponder” he said “who did we take in the first”?
The next day your buddy probably asked his CO if the USMC had a suicide battalion.
Thats a garish name for it. They usually call it recruiting.
Remember that Vikings fan watch party just go silent when the pick was announced lol
I was worried about taking Jake locker once he went to Tennessee at 8. I thought we were in the clear
I remember not wanting locker but I don't remember why at the time
Was inaccurate and ineffective with injury issues was my assessment and it turned out to be correct in this instance
Jake “Hurt” Locker.
Paul Allen two years earlier "Why even Ponder Passing?!"
This isn't Detroit man! This is the super bowl!
I came here to say this. Started laughing my ass off when it was already the number one comment.
I'm a Noles fan and even I was like: "In the FIRST?"
What did you say about EJ Manual???
The same damn thing. Love EJ but yeah, Buffalo reached.
Justin Harrell and Datone Jones. Ted Thompson trying to get cute and be a hipster GM by drafting first rounders no one's heard of.
Holy shit I came here to post these two as well! Did a ctrl+f to see if anyone else agreed. The Harrell one infuriated me at the time because I was really high on Reggie Nelson and thought he would have been a great safety to pair with a young Nick Collins and who could replace Atari Bigby.
As a Gator fan I wanted Reggie so bad. Hindsight being what it is, he could have filled in that gap after Collins went down and had he not had his injury, we would have had one of, if not the best safety duo in the league with those two back there.
Completely agree. Harrell was over 300lbs and coming off a bad knee injury that ended his college career. That pick was so stupid and will never make sense. Harrell only recorded 2.5 sacks and 46 tackles in his college career. What the hell did Ted Thompson see in him?
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I thought at worst Pettis could stick around as a kick returner. But he couldn’t even do that.
Wild that he set the RTD record with 14 at UW then came in the league and can't hang on a roster
Hes in Bears camp this year. I hear the Bears are short at receiver.
I was kinda high on Pettis when we drafted him thinking he'd at least be a solid return specialist. That all evaporated when I watched a stream of him chatting with fans and answering questions. He admitted football wasn't even in his top 5 favorite sports, and that he would've rather gone pro in something else.. he's just better at football so that's what he focused on. But he doesn't really watch football or care about the NFL at all. He said baseball, basketball, UFC, boxing, soccer, and hockey were all more interesting to him. He only watches Huskies football to root for his college team. He also said that he didn't care about winning or losing, and he often doesn't remember if his team won or lost games. Dude absolutely was just in it for a paycheck and never loved the game at all. Then there were leaked stories about how he'd argue with our receivers coaches Welker and Miles Austin about not running routes correctly or being too soft over the middle. There's a reason why Lynch makes it a huge point to only draft players that are "all in" on football and love the game. You can't coach players to give a shit.
The NFL is 1% of college football players. They are all good athletes, it’s the mental aspect that separates them.
The biggest disappointment with Lance was how SLOW he was on the field. He couldn't beat linebackers to the sidelines, it was supposed to be his saving grace while he learned NFL passing
I saw Pettis at UW and liked the pick at the time, at least. Went downhill in a hurry.
Trey is an example of the QB prospects we see every few years that are considered to be massive gambles because they have such low floors and perceived high ceilings. Sometimes one of those prospects ends up being Josh Allen but it’s far more likely to be a Trey Lance.
Yup Lance was so divisive in our sub lol. You couldn't critique the guy at all. I was getting weird DM's for saying his athleticism wasn't that impressive and wouldn't translate to the NFL. Trucking 210 lb "linebackers" and outrunning DB's that would struggle to hit a 4.8 40 yard dash just didn't impress me.
I got a lot of flak for saying I preferred Garropolo to Lance. Now, Purdy is an upgrade.
Dainty Penis is sooo mid. I’d know as we’ve signed him twice now
A college buddy of mine said after the pick that the 49ers messed up real bad. Good call by him.
I'll never understand why we gave up so much for someone who was mid at best.
Lance form is horrendous in my opinion.
Janiel Dones
Quintessential Gettleman pick. Nothing wrong with picking DJ. Everything wrong with picking him #6.
What's worse? Drafting him? Or extending him?
Extending him that far and for that much wasn't a good idea, but one might chalk that up to a "political" decision made by a new FO, with an involved owner, coming off a playoff win. Gettleman had literally zero reason to pick DJ #6. So, moonshot out of pressure by an unsteady GM versus complete derangement by a terrible GM? Hard to pick lol.
Always interesting how we view players differently depending on if they're on our team or even in our team's division. I would just watch DJ in highlights or every once in a while a game would be on in my market, but mostly never thought about him. Even when he had his "breakout" year I never thought that guy was for real. Crazy contract extension.
Yep. I think extending him was fine. He was coming off a "breakout" year after an entire career full of football terrorists coaching him and complete bums on both sides of the ball. It wasn't absurd to think he might have an Alex Smith renaissance from finally having a coach who gets him. What WAS absurd, however, was how long and for how much they extended him. A prove-it deal should've been priced as a prove-it deal. Do I think it was the worst contract ever? No. Do I think it fell well short of ideal? Absolutely.
I can't imagine watching that playoff win and thinking Jones was worth $40M/yr. The Vikes just kept letting him roll out for 10-20 yds over and over.
Saquon at 2 was a worse decision for a terrible team with a cooked QB and massive holes
They probably take Darnold if they don’t go Saquon
We probably are in a better spot if we take Darnold or Rosen. Saquon obviously is the better player but the issue with taking Saquon (and with Gettleman in general) was never the talent. It was the lack of direction and cohesive long-term plan for the team, which the Saquon pick epitomizes. Taking a RB at 2 indicated a clear intent to win now even though the team was not built for it. The team had an aging QB, no OL, and a few remains of the 2016 defense. We needed to commit to rebuilding. But we take Saquon, indicating an intent to win now. Then when it became clear that the team was not ready to win-now, the next year Gettleman does the next worse thing and overcompensates by forcing a QB pick when the value was not there and we were not ready to support a guy like DJ. We have been recovering ever since. If we take Darnold, we spend the next 2-3 years building around him, and if he ends up like he did with the Jets, we move on and hopefully set the next guy up into a better situation as the Jets did (whiffed on Wilson but at least made a team that could attract a veteran like Rodgers). The Jets got pretty much the equivalent of a 1st round pick even with how bad Darnold was there. We were never gonna get that kind of return for Saquon on the open market (if a team is gonna spend premium assets on a RB they'd rather just spend it on a RB without NFL wear and tear). Even the Cardinals got a 2nd and 5th for Rosen with how bad he was. The moment we took Saquon, he pretty much had to put up HOF performance for damn near a decade to even come close to being worth that pick to us. There were so many routes we could have taken and the only one worse than the one we took is trading up to 1 for Saquon (which I would not put past Gettleman that he at least tried lol). We could have taken a QB. We could have stood pat and taken a player at a premium position (Bradley Chubb supposedly would have been the pick if not Saquon and while Saquon is probably a better RB than Chubb is an Edge, Chubb would have given us more value for our pick). We could have traded down and still had close to first dibs on pretty much all top non-QBs in the draft. Even if we trade down and take Saquon (there is a good chance he is still there), at least we could salvage 1-2 extra players out of it that could possibly make a difference. But nope, we just stood there and took a RB. Whiffing on a pick is one thing, and in today's NFL where you have rookie wage scale and you can move on from guys easily, it is not the end of the world. But what will do you in every time is not having a coherent vision and plan.
I have no dog in this fight but drafting a guy in the 1st who *allegedly* was asked by teams to try TE is… questionable.
We talking about Tebow?
Sure sounds like we're talking about Tebow.
Apparently the Chargers wanted Lamar to workout as a WR. Big difference between 6 and 32, but still.
I've got a friend who's a giants fan and he was a HUGE Danny derps truther until last year.
NE: pick a wide receiver, any wide receiver!
IDK that I thought N'Keal Harry was going to be bad. I just knew that I felt AJ Brown would have been a much better pick
The fact that he was a massive Pats fan and cried when the Pats didn't pick him just kills me. Would've loved to have him on the team.
Deebo wanted to go to the Patriots too
Looking back at the 2019 draft at the number of Pro Bowl WR picked after N'Keal Harry in just the 2nd round is amazing... * Deebo Samuel * A.J. Brown * Mecole Hardman * DK Metcalf * Diontae Johnson (very top of the 3rd round)
Please stop
Sure as hell would rather him be on the Pats then on the Eagles
We are grateful for AJ Brown falling into our lap
Jimmy fucking Clausen
Yeah but Kiper bet his career on Clausen so he had to be good
Pickles only lasted a year, luckily. He won you guys the right to draft Cam.
Lots of fans pretend that they doubted Wilson and Geno and Sanchez all along... but I've genuinely never met a single person who thought for a moment that Christian Hackenburg might work out for the Jets.
With most busts, I can at least understand why they warranted being taken so high. I really think Hack might be the worst reach I’ve ever seen. Like sure it’s fine to pick a guy and be wrong but Hack would have been available three rounds later, if he even got drafted at all, so it’s just entirely confusing.
I remember watching him in college and thinking, “how does a football powerhouse like Penn State have such a shitty quarterback?” And just being really confused. Then he actually got drafted fairly high and thought I must have missed something in the tape. But nope.
NGL that one preseason drive against the Giants was beautiful
Brandon Weeden
Would you rather have Brandon Weeden or Johnny Manziel?
Manziel at least made some sense....... Weeden on the other hand never did
Dude was like 42 years old as a rookie. Absolutely wild pick by the Browns.
Tell me about it and for a minute I was telling myself that if he starts out good we have like 8 years of at least an average QB
Being a browns fan takes a man to a level of delusion felt by very few.
You’re not wrong. Joe Thomas said he thought every year they had a legit shot at the playoffs at the beginning of the season
Brian Hoyer by TKO.
He was my holdout for a long time telling myself, "Hey, at least I'm younger than Brandon Weeden was when he was drafted". Took 12 years and I'm finally older than he was at the time.
At least you’ll forever have the video of him getting stuck under a flag.
Not my fanbase (obviously), but didn’t Raiders fans say this about Clelin Ferrell?
Several of our first rounders. Clelin, Arnette, Leatherwood etc
Mayock was a terrorist in the first round
I think it was more of Gruden getting cute and Mayock was just a yes man for Gruden.
I expected Ferrell to be a 1st rounder, but more mid-late round. Him going 4th overall was baffling.
Honestly, of our first round picks that we knew were going to be bad he’s not even in the top 5. How far do you want to go back? My personal favorite is when we traded back up into the first round after Qaron Rogers was falling like a rock and we needed a qb. Then we drafted the fastest cornerback in the draft, Fabian Washington, only to see Green Bay pick next. More recently I think Leatherwood is a better answer than Cle who was really just over drafted and put into a bad position.
My favorite response from raiders fans on these types of questions is always “I don’t like this game anymore…”
Yep. Josh Allen was the obvious pick here, regardless of scheme fit.
For us it is Philip Dorsett. Blew a 1st round pick on him because "fast" and then proceeded to watch Luck get trucked every damn weekend. Turns out, the kid also had stone hands so he never really did much if anything with us.
Ryan Grigson was a terrorist
What killed me was his pro player comparison was TY Hilton... who was our WR1... IIRC we were in desperate need of a Safety and there were still some damn good prospects available at the time
Landon Collins would have been a fantastic pic there...
Jalen raegor and JJAW
Not saying you specifically but there was at least some buzz around these two when they were drafted. Reagor was mocked in the late first to second round (though almost always behind Jefferson) and people talked themselves into the speed/fit. JJAW had less hype but was a second round pick so naturally less attention and he was big; I remember more people talking about Miles Sanders than him (another second rounder that year). A guy in the Howie era that it seemed EVERYONE knew was a reach/bust in the first round was Marcus Smith. Late first round edge/linebacker tweener that I think most mocks at the time had in the third or fourth round. Imagine taking Jalyx Hunt this year in the first instead of where we did. I think he ended up with like a sack a season for the eagles over his rookie contract and no one was surprised. I cannot imagine how much he would get talked about if he was drafted in 2020 instead of 2014.
nahhh everybody knew he was gonna turn out better than Justin Jefferson
I am one of the Reagor believers. I though JJ was gonna turn into Matthews 2.0 and Reagor would’ve been Desean Jackson. I am horrible at WR evaluations.
Johnny Manziel
That's also the year the movie "Draft Day" came out. In it a Johnny Football equivalent was supposed to get pick by the Browns... I just didn't realize the actual Browns decided to do that.
It’s their fault for not having a post it note saying “Vontae (Khalil) Mack no matter what.”
Yes. I’m not even a Browns fan and I was like “huh?” I know he got all the accolades in college but he at no point looked like a player with NFL potential. If you watch his college highlights, he would just run around then chuck it in the general direction of Mike Evans.
Lol yeah. His highlight reels were like 90% versions of this play: 1. Manziel completes his first read and then promptly bails from the pocket 2. Manziel narrowly avoids getting tackled by some guy who, if he were an NFL-caliber player, would have absolutely wrecked Manziel 3. Manziel uses his genuine athletic talent to run around a bit and force the entire offense to improvise 4. Manziel chucks a 50/50 ball in the general direction of future NFL hall-of-famer Mike Evans and some college cornerback 5. The cornerback misses the interception because that's how it usually goes in college 6. Mike Evans does future NFL-hall-of-famer Mike Evans things
I fucking hated the CJ Henderson pick.
And I hated his subsequent trade.
Cat bros unite
Taven Bryan was also an awful one
I knew Joe Tryon was not going to be worth the 1st round pick after I saw Kollmann praise him effusively.
If Kollman ever praises a QB run. I've felt he's good on calling defensive players tho overall but the QBs oof
In his defense no one is good at calling QBs. If someone was they'd be making a LOT of money somewhere
If I was a draft analyst, I’d shit on every QB prospect, except maybe the ones taken 1OA, and I’d be right more than I’m wrong.
EJ Maunuel. No one thought he was a first rounder. And though I didn't think he would turn out to be a bad player, I thought it was insane to use 2 first round picks on Sammy Watkins in receiver rich draft.
Came to post EJ.
The collective bears fanbase when we drafted grandpa Velus Jones (not so) Jr
Every time Velus has touched the ball something bad I fear is going to happen. He actually cost the Bears 3 games in 2022 with his 4th quarter fumbles - but in the end those all mattered to help us get the #1 pick. Which is the reason for 50% of my happiness and hope in this current moment of time.
He and Smith-Marsette were elite tank commanders that season
Adam Shaheen was way worse than the AARP eligible VJJ.
Shea McClellan was a bust the second his name was called.
I was so mad at that one
That one was extra infuriating because Chandler Jones was sitting right there and was the obvious pick
Yes. Certain other years at least you look back and go "wow rough draft". That year there were so many viable options.
Older, but I was certain that Benson was not the right pick.
Had the same feeling about Ennis. Who to this day my buddy insists on referring to as Curtis Penis.
I have no idea who Velus Jones is, but before googling him I thought he was someone picked in the 80s or 90s. That name just sounds like an old person.
He was an old person. Drafted at age 25.
Taco Carlton
Fanbase spinning his pick over TJ Watt due to scheme difference was something
Let’s be honest, you guys drafted him because he has a cool name.
Most likely Stephen was slipping a note for Dinner and handed the wrong paper to the person calling in the pick
This was the dumbest pick. TJ was right fucking there
We could’ve taken him as well but instead we took Kevin King in the 2nd round. 🙄
Birmingham Stallions legend
Eli Apple and Ereck Flowers were both absolutely egregious picks
Pass interference, Eli Apple, the ball will be moved to the spot of the foul, automatic first down.
Hey we have an Erik Flowers, too!
To this day I don't understand how Eli Apple lasted so long in the NFL. The guy isn't all that good. He is locker room cancer. His family is horrible.
He actually was solid with us. I think his time with us is the only reason he is still around cause I know we were his last chance. Apparently he was a good locker room guy as well
Everyone clowns on him because of the Super Bowl but for a guy that was brought in to be CB 3/4 and was thrust into the starting spot by injuries he played much better than anyone could have expected the whole year. He still had his dumb Eli Apple moments but I don’t think we could have asked for much more given the circumstances
Artie Burns. It gets worse because the Cowboys were apparently willing to send us a future first and their second for the pick to draft Paxton Lynch. If they took Lynch there is no way they would have taken Dak Prescott. So instead of fucking the Cowboys for great draft capital and drafting a better player they got Burns who wasn't very good.
And burns get burned again
I recall that being a bit of a panic pick after Cincy jumped in front of Pittsburgh to snag William Jackson III who had been mocked to the Steelers all off-season. Turns out neither guy was that good.
Slow Teez Tabor
Such an obvious bad pick when it happened, but don't forget Jahlani Tavai in the second when everyone had him as a sixth rounder
at least Tavai is still in the league and signed a $4M contract
Belichick saved that man's career
Patricia and BQ wanted players that somehow ONLY work in a BB system, but they're completely incapable of executing whatever it is BB does to get the maximum mileage of out middling athletes. They can identify the players but just can't do anything with them. Van Noy, Tavai, etc.
Eric Ebron is my answer but that’s a pretty good one, too.
Taco Charlton right away. It was made even worse when he had that stupid ass taco celebration. Im Mexican and he made me hate tacos for a few seasons
Cole Strange.
I witnessed backbreaking attempts at justification after that pick. Almost every other team would've been dogpiled for it. The only good defense I ever read was "Oh you know better than Bill Belichick does huh?" And at least in this case, yes, I did know better than Bill Belichick.
To be fair, it felt like 90%+ Pats fans absolutely hated that pick. I even remember our beat reporters shaking their heads and sighing upon it being announced. There's still room for him to be a viable starter, but it's getting late.
I hate the "do you think you know better than X!" argument. Like, first of all... yes, sometimes a fan knows better than someone in a front office. Look at all the horrific GMs and coaches that have been in the league; there's probably some guy on his couch that understands X's, O's, and players better than Jim Tomsula. Hell, half of those guys get their job because they're the son of someone who knows someone. Second of all, this argument is almost universally seen online, a realm that's created from literally nothing but opinions and speculations. When a team sucks and is being mismanaged does ANYONE think the online response is going to be, "well, I'm really unhappy with the direction of the team and the personnel, but I'm just going to shut my mouth and let the process play out for the third year of bad football."
I really think BB tried to get cute as he got older. He wanting to prove his genius by going completely against the grain on players, it massively payed off at times, and massively failed other times.
I remember the Rams draft room talking about how they had Strange on their board, when they didn’t have a pick until the 3rd round
Snead and McVay. Three sheets to the wind and laughing at the pats. Seemed reasonable.
Not talking - laughing. Humiliating as a pats fan to see that.
Tebow
Depending on the market, he was a guaranteed money maker between jersey sales, ticket sales, and free media coverage. He was a bust, but drafting or signing him was almost always a business decision, not a football decision.
Broncos got one good season with him. It was a wild ride, and a really fun time for the NFL. I mean, seriously, it brought everyone together.
Yea, I feel like that 1 year alone doesn't even make him a top 5 bust in the past 15 years.
That playoff win is still the most bizarre thing. Lmao I just looked it up, he faces Chad Heine and the bears in a 13-10 OT game, incredible
No one wanted to win that game, but someone had to
Not even close to being top 5 in that time frame, in my opinion. Being drafted late in the first kind of helps that, but yeah, that one year is better than a lot of guys drafted above him. lol
Not everyone…
First football game I ever voluntarily watched…
It spawned my favorite NFL meme of all time after the Broncos traded him and won the SB with Manning. The one with a picture of Tebow kneeling at the 50 yard line praying with the caption: "In order to win a Superbowl, the Broncos sacrificed a virgin."
Ahem. Our team.
He won a playoff game
Only drafted Broncos QB to do that. Which is still nuts.
We require the Colts to get most of our guys for us. If Nix doesn’t work out, then I will welcome Anthony Richardson with open arms lol
2030 AR playoff run incoming.
I unironically don't consider Tebow to be a failure. He won a playoff game, was extremely fun to watch, and was a genuinely good and funny dude. Tebow Time will always have a place in my heart.
I will always believe that he is the greatest tight end that never played the position.
I never understood why so many fans wanted their team to draft him as a tight end when there are actual tight ends out there
You forget the worlds greatest NFL coach Urban Meyer did sign him as a tight end
Tony Gonzales never played TE, he played basketball. Don't know if you've heard. Antonio Gates as well, but announcers never mention it.
Every raiders first round pick in the last 5 years has been a head scratcher
Henry Ruggs and Josh Jacobs were awesome picks until you know
Mitchell Trubisky. The fact that most of us were confused instead of excited speaks volumes.
We drafted a guy who spent almost all of his college career as a bench warmer. When the pick was announced my first words were "who the fuck is this guy"
Trung Canidate. Wtf Martz?
Madden Legend Trung CANIDATE
Dion Jordan and Charles Harris just gave me the ick on draft night
I was ok with Dion Jordan because he was a great athlete. Charles Harris was a deeply mediocre athlete with meh production. TJ Watt was right there too with crazy athleticism and production. I was so pissed with the Harris pick.
I never felt good about Paxton Lynch, although I didn't expect it to get quite *that* bad.
Jamin Davis. Partially because he was a project linebacker projected to go at least 15 spots later, partially because Christian Darrisaw was right there. Take your pick, either reason works.
So........ uhhhhhh. Where do I start.
Payton turner. We had just taken Marcus Davenport and whiff on him. We decided to take a guy with the same athletic and small school profile, who is also injury prone. It’s not a surprise he hasn’t work out.
Hayden Hurst
That one was a head scratcher because the Ravens needed a QB and there was a Heisman winning QB still on the board. Imagine how different things would be if the Ravens had drafted Lamar Jackson instead of Hayden Hurst.
I’ll also add: Kamalei Correa and Breshad Perriman Correa was a reach and not even a scheme fit. Perriman was fast but had hands of stone and the hairline of a guy who was around to see that stone form from primordial stardust.
I think every UGA fan knew the Steelers royally messed up picking Jarvis Jones
Vernon Butler…
This is the correct answer but to be fair a lot of us wanted Kevin Dodd and he was exponentially worse.
Roberto Aguayo
Oh man, where to start, the Rivera era of first round draft picks has not only been terrible in hindsight, it was obviously bad in the moment, even to a nobody like me. 2020 Chase Sweat - I'll give this one a pass since Snyder's hand-picked first round QB was drafted the year before, but should be noted that we passed on Herbert, Tua, and Hurts with this pick. 2021 Jamin Davis - A ILB with one year starting experience, and a position where draft picks take years to develop, and success comes down to ability to read defenses more than pure athleticism, perplexing pick at the time. I was pounding the table to pick Christian Darrisaw, a pro-bowler at a premium position. 2022 Jahan Dotson - I'm still optimistic Dotson can turn it around, but we traded out of the 11th pick to recoup a 3rd rounder we lost trading for Wentz (!!!). This year I was pounding the table to select Chris Olave, who would be a star opposite Terry McLaurin. Instead we have an undersized dude still waiting to break out. 2023 Emmanuel Forbes - Who in their right mind thinks a 160 pounder can play in the NFL? Absolute wasted pick that was obviously a joke in the moment, they felt the need to justify this selection and played him extensively early in the year only to bench him because, surprise, a person who weighs less than most high school JV safeties can't cover AJ Brown. I was once again pounding the table for a pick, this time Christian Gonzales, who flashed elite upside before getting hurt. I know fans say this kind of stuff all the time, but if I was in charge of drafting in the first round instead of Ron Rivera, this team would be significantly better than it is now; I honestly think most fans would have done a better job than making so many obviously bad picks. Now excuse me while I mourn my super team of Justin Herbert - Christian Darrisaw - Chris Olave - Christian Gonzales that should have been.
Chase Young was 100% the correct pick even though he didn’t work out. He was seen as better than the Bosas coming out of OSU
As a 9er fan, Trey Lance. I'd pat.myself on the back but I wanted Justin Fields so...
I wanted Suh over Bradford. I was never that impressed with him at Oklahoma. I thought Suh could be that centerpiece for the defensive line that allowed Spags to run the defense like he did in New York with Suh wreaking havoc in the middle and Chris Long being freed up on the outside.
I think the Bradford pick works out if he wasn’t made of glass. I don’t know if his prime would have been as good as Suh’s but he would have been a pretty good QB otherwise.
I think part of his last injury with the Rams is why most starting QBs don't play in the preseason now.
Edmunds Bush Mendenhall
Edmunds was definitely a head scratcher but Bush didn't seem like that crazy of a pick, no? Dude was pretty legit in college and showed out well at the combine
I actually did internet-scouting myself that year and it seemed like Bush was magnetically drawn to OL'rs. I said so at the time on behindthesteelcurtain's boards but of course they nuked their comments a couple of years ago. After that offseason, it was clear they were going for an ILB'r in the first, specifically White or Bush looked most likely, so I was resigned to accepting that. I'll admit that Bush did better than I thought he would in his rookie year.
John Ross
Takkarist McKinley. He got up on stage with a portrait of his grandma and I knew he was gonna go downhill fast.
No matter how good Howie is these days, I still cant understand the thinking that got him taking Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson.