Dec 1, 2021
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When putting together an NFL team, there are many factors you need to consider. Whether you’re drafting a weary free agent or a fresh-faced college star, you want to make sure the players you pick have good stats and fit with your existing team.
Teams commit a lot of time and money to finding and picking the best and brightest new players. But just because you throw a lot of money at a player, doesn’t mean you’re always going to get a return on that investment.
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Countless draft scouts and professional evaluators are paid big bucks to predict who will do well in the NFL. While this can often help a team pick the best players, regardless of how good a player looks on paper, there’s always a risk associated with a draft.
We often hear about the inverse — players who were late-round draft picks that went on to succeed in the league. But sometimes, the skills and qualities star players show during their college careers don’t translate to the pressure and competition of the big leagues.
From JaMarcus Russell to Steve Emtman, here are the 34 of the worst draft picks in NFL history.
34. Steve Spurrier
Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers
Our list starts out with a name most people will recognize, but may not know was a failed NFL prospect: Legendary college head coach Steve Spurrier.
The former player who would eventually come to be known as "the Head Ball Coach" sputtered with the Niners after being drafted third overall in 1967.
According to The Gainsville Sun, it's not that he had the worst professional career — he threw 40 touchdowns in 10 seasons, after all.
It's that he won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Florida and failed to live up to expectations at the next level, throwing 60 interceptions over the same span.
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33. Isaiah Wilson
Offensive tackle, Tennessee Titans
The most recent entry to this list is Isaiah Wilson, an offensive lineman drafted in the first round of the 2020 draft by the Titans.
According to USA Today, the pick was suspect from the beginning: The Titans signed another player at the right tackle spot earlier that offseason, making Wilson a puzzling selection that wasn't necessarily in line with team needs.
He only saw time in three games his rookie season before being dealt to the Dolphins and then cut before he could even have a chance to play.
32. David Terrell
Wide receiver, Chicago Bears
When he was taken as eighth pick in the 2001 draft, David Terrell came out of Michigan with a lot of hype around him.
But the promising wideout never amounted to anything close to his expectations, according to Bleacher Report.
He felt that he should've been thrown to more and complained about his role. When he was utilized, he struggled with dropped passes. Eventually, his attitude and penalty issues made him too much of a liability and he was dropped.
After a few attempts to come back with other teams, he retired for good after failing to get off the Broncos' practice squad in 2007.
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31. Todd Blackledge
Quarterback, Kansas City Chiefs
Blackledge, like many on this list, was a legend in college. He won the Davey O'Brien award for the best quarterback in the NCAA and he lead Penn State to a National Championship in 1982.
This led him to be drafted seventh overall by the Chiefs, before future stars like Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, according to Penn Live.
His career didn't live up to the hype, however — in his very short stint, he would throw nine more interceptions than touchdowns.
30. Amobi Okoye
Defensive tackle, Houston Texans
Okoye is one of the more uncommon cases out there of highly drafted prospects who didn't pan out, and it's not because he was only 19 on draft day. It's because Okoye did pan out — but only for a season.
According to USA today, he registered a respectable 5.5 sacks his rookie season, netting himself a Defensive Rookie of the Month award.
2007 was the only year he would play up to his potential though. Okoye stuck around in Houston for a few seasons and failed to make a mark before being forced out due to a change in defensive scheme in 2011.
29. Andre Ware
Quarterback, Detroit Lions
After winning the Heisman trophy in 1989, quarterback Andre Ware was supposed to be the ingredient that, paired with future Hall of Famer Barry Sanders, made the Lions a true offensive powerhouse.
According to sports blog Detroit Sports Nation, this move didn't exactly go as planned. Ware would only start six games in his short career.
Although he did score five touchdowns, he would turn the ball over at a rate that was triple that number — with eight interceptions and seven fumbles.
28. Justin Gilbert
Cornerback, Cleveland Browns
Justin Gilbert was supposed to be the healing salve for a Browns defensive backfield that had virtually no playmakers for what seemed like decades to the long-suffering Cleveland fanbase.
Unfortunately, it was instantly apparent that he didn't have the maturity to contribute, despite his top-10 selection in the 2014 draft.
According to 247sports.com, Gilbert played in 23 games in two seasons with the Browns, but mostly on special teams.
The biggest indictment of Gilbert's lack of production in Cleveland is the fact that the Browns were willing to trade him within their division to their biggest rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
27. Ricky Williams
Running back, New Orleans Saints
Sometimes it's about the team that made a bad choice in drafting, not necessarily the player who was drafted..
In 1999, then-Saints coach Mike Ditka traded all of his picks to the Washington Redskins for the privilege of picking Ricky Williams fifth overall, according to Bleacher Report.
He saw his rookie running back as a key piece to build the team around. This turned out to be too much pressure for Williams, who didn't find the level of success that would justify the draft capital his coach gave up for him.
26. Johnny 'Lam' Jones
Wide receiver, New York Jets
It’s almost impressive that, after all these years, Jones is still by far the worst pick for wide receiver the Jets have ever made.
The Jets made a big fuss and a number of trades to get this gold medalist on their team in 1980, hoping he could do for the Jets what Bob Hayes did for the Dallas Cowboys.
One problem, he had trouble catching the ball — which is important for a wide receiver.
Jones lasted five years on the Jets, where he caught 138 passes for 2,322 yards and 13 touchdowns, rushed nine times for 17 yards and returned five kickoffs for 73 yards over the course of his time with the team. The year he was on the team the Jets dropped from 8-8 in 1979 to 4-12 the following season.
What’s worse, the Jets had an opportunity to grab Hall-of-Famer Art Monk with their original 13th pick, one of the players they used to bargain for Jones.
25. Andy Katzenmoyer
Linebacker, New England Patriots
Thought of as one of the best college linebackers of all time during his career with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Katzenmoyer was a first-team All-American in 1997 and seemed to be ready to take on any challenge his career would put in front of him.
This was true through the rest of his career in Columbus, but not in the NFL, after the Patriots made him their first-round selection.
According to Bleacher Report, he had an above-average rookie season in which he recorded over 100 tackles and 3.5 sacks.
Unfortunately, he was unable to recover from a neck injury that would eventually end his career.
24. Bobby Carpenter
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Linebacker, Dallas Cowboys
According to sports news site Clutch Points, Cowboys coach Bill Parcels may have been blinded by his relationship with Carpenter's father (whom he had coached) to draft Carpenter with their first-round pick in 2006.
Unfortunately, the touted linebacker out of Ohio State never fulfilled his potential.
He logged 167 total tackles in his career but didn't make a huge impact. He only mustered 3.5 sacks and one interception before being traded to the Detroit Lions after the 2009 season.
23. Jason Smith
Offensive tackle, Los Angeles Rams
Jason Smith's career isn't something the Rams' front office is going to look back on fondly, for a few reasons.
First, they signed him on an extremely expensive contract. According to sports blog SB Nation, he was set to make $50 million with $33 million guaranteed.
They did this for a player who played in a true spread offense in college, which made some scouts question how ready he was for the NFL.
They also drafted him as a left tackle, but played him on the right for the majority of his play time. Unsurprisingly, Smith's career didn't go as planned for the Rams.
22. Vernon Gholston
Defensive end, New York Jets
Despite missing on three of four picks in two rounds in 1984, Gholston is generally thought of as the franchise's worst pick in history.
He was a monster in college at Ohio State, recording sacks at a jaw-dropping pace. He also showed out at the NFL combine before the 2008 draft.
According to Bleacher Report, his 40-yard dash, broad jump,vertical leap and weightlifting results were at or near the top of his position group across the board.
After he was selected sixth overall, though, none of that potential shone through. Amazingly, Gholston spent three seasons with the Jets in which he failed to record a single sack or interception.
21. JaMarcus Russell
Quarterback, Las Vegas Raiders
Many people consider JaMarcus Russell to be the biggest bust in NFL history. Russell does have the unique honor of being one of only a handful on this list who were drafted first overall.
His Pro Day at LSU was reputed to be unbelievably strong.
"I can't remember being in such awe of a quarterback in my decade of attending combines and pro days. Russell's passing session was the most impressive of all the pro days I've been to,"ESPN's Todd McShay told Sports Illustrated.
He started off his NFL career on the wrong foot though, immediately refusing to play until issues with his contract were negotiated.
This rocky start may not have been what doomed his career, but it certainly didn't help — whatever the reason, he was out of the league after three seasons, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Raiders fans.
20. Derrick Harvey
Defensive end Jacksonville Jaguars
Together with fellow 2008 pick Quentin Groves, Derrick Harvey was expected to transform the Jaguars line, according to Bleacher Report.
In fact, the Jags traded four picks to move up 18 spots to draft Harvey, showing just how valuable they thought the University of Florida graduate was.
This value never came to fruition. He started his career with a 33-day contract hold out, and once it was over, he managed only eight sacks in three seasons in Jacksonville.
19. Tony Mandarich
Offensive tackle, Green Bay Packers
The tale of Tony Mandarich going number two overall in a star-studded 1989 NFL Draft is legendary, not in the least because he was drafted ahead of now Hall of Famers Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders and Derrick Thomas.
It's also because the man referred to as a "Workout Warrior" put up some of the best NFL combine numbers ever witnessed.
This, plus his decorated career at Michigan State gave Sports Illustrated enough reason to put Mandarich on their cover under the headline "The Best Offensive Line Prospect Ever," according to Bleacher Report.
But in practice, it wasn't to be. Mandarich left Green Bay after two years in which he never started a game and later, it came out that those combine numbers were generated using less-than-legal means.
18. Archie Griffin
Running back, Cincinnati Bengals
Archie Griffin wasn't as disappointing as many players on this list. According to Bleacher Report, he only had almost 3,000 yards rushing in his seven seasons in the NFL.
The reason Griffin appears in the top 10 on this list is what he did in college.
Understandably, Bengals fans felt let down when the only person to ever win two Heisman trophies didn't make a splash when he put on their team's colors.
17. Brian Bosworth
Linebacker, Seattle Seahawks
The story of "The Boz" is another legendary tale that most people have heard at this point.
According to SB Nation, before the draft even began, Bosworth sent letters to teams he didn't want to play for, informing them that if they drafted him, he wouldn't show up to camp.
After he was drafted, he petitioned the league to let him wear a different number, showed up to practice via helicopter, and created more hype for himself than he delivered on with below-average play on the field.
16. Tony Smith
Running back, Atlanta Falcons
Many people don't know that legendary QB Brett Favre was originally drafted by the Falcons in 1991. How does that relate to the story of one of the franchise's worst draft picks of all time?
The following year, they traded Favre to the Packers in exchange for the 19th pick in the draft. They used that pick to draft another Southern Mississippi alumnus, running back Tony Smith, according to Sports Illustrated.
Smith would go on to greatly underwhelm, racking up only 329 yards over three seasons in Atlanta. This was an even larger disappointment in hindsight given that the Falcons gave up a star to draft a bust.
15. Akili Smith
Quarterback, Cincinnati Bengals
After Akili Smith posted eye-popping numbers at Oregon, the Bengals were willing to overlook his relatively small sample size and use a third overall pick on him in 1999.
Smith had only played at Oregon for a single season after transferring from the community college ranks, but the Bengals had seen all they needed to — or so they thought, wrongly.
Smith was pretty awful as a rookie. He recorded a 3-14 record with only a 46.6% completion rate and threw five touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions that year.
Some thought that he should get a full second season to prove himself, but he was benched after just 10 games.
14. Roberto Aguayo
Kicker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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The reasoning behind Aguayo appearing so high on this list needs some context. After all, unlike many others on this list, he wasn't taken in the first round. But, he was a kicker.
Most teams choose to sign kickers as undrafted free agents, or at best, draft them in the lower rounds. The Bucs actually traded up to draft Aguayo in the second.
According to USA Today, Aguayo failed to last his entire rookie season in Tampa. He finished his career with nine missed field goals.
13. Huey Richardson
Defensive end, Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers are one of the NFL's most successful franchises, but their choice of Huey Richardson in the 1991 draft showed that even perennial winners make questionable choices.
Despite being selected in the first round of that year's draft, Richardson only lasted a single season with Pittsburgh.
It wasn't all bad for him, though. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he would go on to become a successful financial analyst in New York City after his NFL career.
12. Johnny Manziel
Quarterback, Cleveland Browns
"Johnny Football" was electrifying in college, both with his arms and improvising to turn a play that seemed dead into a 10+ yard gain.
Despite some criticisms from draft scouts about his size, Cleveland took him with the twenty-second overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, and from day one, he had some high expectations to uphold with a franchise notorious for turnover in the QB room.
According to Pro Football Network, he only started a handful of games in his rookie season, winning only two of them.
He showed signs of improvement in his second season, but ultimately, his trouble with the law and personal controversies were enough for him to lose his starting spot and his place on the team.
11. Ryan Leaf
Quarterback, Los Angeles Chargers
Ryan Leaf is infamous for being one of the biggest busts in NFL history. While bad luck may have had a role to play in his failure, it's hard to argue that this title isn't fitting.
The hype around Leaf started when he was being compared head-to-head with future NFL legend Peyton Manning, available in the same draft.
According to Bleacher Report, Mel Kiper Jr. said that Leaf was the best QB in the draft, criticizing Manning for being slow.
It's a good thing the Colts didn't put stock in the opinions of highly-paid draft analysts, though. They took Manning, leaving Leaf to go to the Chargers second overall.
Leaf was often injured and finished his time in the league with a paltry completion percentage of 48 and 22 more interceptions than touchdown passes.
10. Heath Shuler
Quarterback, Washington Redskins
Washington had the third overall pick in the 1994 draft. They went with a promising quarterback who came in second for the Heisman vote from Tennessee, and who had set almost all of the passing records for the Volunteers, which lasted until Peyton Manning broke them.
But, just as quickly as a comet streaking across the sky, Heath Shuler crashed and burned.
Shuler’s stats show that he won only four games in his three seasons with Washington, completing a measly 47.7% of his passes.
He also threw for only 13 touchdowns at 2,403 yards with the team.
After his success came to a standstill, Washington traded him to the New Orleans Saints, but that didn’t revive his fortunes.
He played his last NFL game in 1997, and later went on to become a Member of Congress, representing the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina.
Shuler is often remembered as the biggest draft mistake the Washington team ever made, according to Washington Wire.
9. Justin Blackmon
Wide receiver, Jacksonville Jaguars
Talk about betting it all.
Justin Blackmon was a talented and very young receiver when he was drafted at 22 years old in 2012. The Jacksonville Jaguars even traded up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign him as the fifth overall pick.
He certainly had an impressive rookie season with the Jaguars — with 64 receptions over 865 yards — but he played only four games in 2013. His career was derailed by two suspensions for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, as well as multiple arrests for DUIs and possession of drugs.
After his suspension, he would have been cleared to start again in 2014, but he hasn’t played since those four games in 2013.
In May 2021, the former wide receiver rejoined Instagram, and expressed interest in returning to football — to the joy of some Jaguars fans, who continue to believe that the star was done dirty.
So far, no attempt at a comeback has been made by Blackmon.
8. Lawrence Phillips
Running back, St. Louis Rams
As a football player at the University of Nebraska, Lawrence Phillips made his time on the gridiron count, no matter how long he was on the field.
Called one of the most physically gifted running backs ever by Sportscasting, Phillips ran for 508 yards on 92 carries in his first year with the Cornhuskers.
He only improved through the rest of his university career; but his final season was marred by an arrest for domestic assault, for which he received a six-game suspension.
That legal blemish affected his NFL prospects, and certain teams would not consider him for the draft.
He was still drafted sixth overall by the Rams in 1996, but his on-field play was consistently overshadowed by his off-the-field legal troubles — which were the reason he was fired from the team before the end of his second season.
Phillips eventually finished out his career with the Canadian Football League, but his personal demons kept chasing him.
He received a 31-year prison sentence in 2009 for multiple charges, and was awaiting trial for a separate offense when he took his own life in 2016.
7. Steve Emtman
Defensive end, Indianapolis Colts
Just call Emtman the Wile E. Coyote of football.
Steve Emtman is often named as the Colts' worst draft pick — but it’s not due to a lack of skill. He just kept getting injured.
Emtman showed up as a redshirt to his first season with the Washington Huskies in 1989.
The 6’4” player soon began hitting the weight room in the off-season and put on enough muscle that he was repeatedly asked if he took performance-enhancing drugs, which he consistently denied.
In his time with Washington, he won the Outland trophy, and was a consensus All-American selection, so it makes sense that the Colts drafted him in the first round in 1992.
According to reporting done by CBS Sports, in three seasons with the Colts, Emtman missed a whopping 30 games due to his injuries — issues with his knees ended both his first and second seasons, and he also seriously injured his neck.
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He was let go at the end of 1994 after a salary dispute — he wouldn’t accept a pay cut when the Colts said he wasn’t living up to the potential they saw when they drafted him — and his NFL career sputtered to a halt in 1997.
6. Charles Rogers
Wide receiver, Detroit Lions
Rogers was the hometown hero who didn’t get to make good.
Born in Saginaw, becoming a Michigan State Spartan, then being drafted by the Detroit Lions, Charles Rogers was a Michigander to his core.
His high school football coach, Don Durrett, considered him a “blessed athlete" who showed talent and prowess in track, basketball and football, according to an article published in the Detroit Free Press.
Due to his early success and clear show of promise, it was no surprise that he was the second overall pick from the Lions in the 2003 draft.
But after catching two touchdown passes during his NFL debut, things quickly went downhill. Injuries and drug problems kept his career from taking off after he broke his collarbone and became addicted to painkillers.
During his three seasons as a Lion, he played a total of 15 games, making only 36 receptions and four touchdowns in his career.
He was suspended for four games in 2005 for substance issues, and the Lions released him before 2006.
In 2019, Rogers died of liver failure at the age of 38.
5. David Klingler
Quarterback, Cincinnati Bengals
The stars were aligned for David Klingler to destroy football records as the Bengals’ Hail Mary quarterback, chosen in the first round of the 1992 draft.
The Bengals, who had been struggling in the years since their narrow defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXIII, had only won three games total in 1991.
They desperately needed a solid player to be the linchpin for a new team.
Enter Klingler, the Houston player who threw 11 touchdowns against Eastern Michigan in 1990 and finished that season with a record 51 touchdown passes in Division I. Decades later, only three other people have beaten that performance.
He should have been the Bengals’ star quarterback. But Klingler only started in 24 games in three seasons with the Bengals — and they lost 20 of those games.
He finally left the NFL in 1997, finishing his football career with the Oakland Raiders.
Post-NFL, Klingler received a master’s degree in theology, then a Ph.D in Old Testament studies. He is now an associate professor of Bible exposition at the Dallas Theological Seminary.
4. Mike Williams
Offensive tackle, Buffalo Bills
At 6’6” and 337 pounds when the Bills signed him in 2002, the enormous and intimidating offensive tackle out of Texas was, like so many others on this list, supposed to be a sure thing.
Bleacher Report said he had been destined to be a franchise player on the team, but his actual performance was immediately found lacking.
After struggling in pass protection in his first few seasons, the Bills released him in 2006 after he made just six starts total in 2005.
Williams sat out the next few seasons, then attempted a comeback with Washington in 2009.
He struggled on his second team as well, and ended up missing the end of his 2010 season due to blood clots near his heart, according to The Washington Post.
Washington released him in 2011, and that was the end of that — Williams has kept a low profile ever since.
3. Aaron Curry
Linebacker, Seattle Seahawks
Aaron Curry was another one of those “surefire” players, until he wasn’t.
As a college linebacker playing for Wake Forest, Curry had a record on the gridiron that just kept improving, year by year. In his freshman year, he had 27 solo tackles, and in his senior year, he had 66.
Few were surprised when he was drafted fourth overall by Seattle in 2009.
But Curry looked ill at ease in the Seahawks’ defense, right from the start, and never got close to the potential he showed at the college level in the four seasons he played with the NFL.
In a 2017 Sports Illustrated interview, Curry admitted that one of his motivations for reaching the NFL was to alleviate his family’s poverty, and once he signed his $60 million contract, a part of him stopped trying.
He tried to recoup his career when he was traded to Oakland, and he did show marked improvement — until he injured his knees and his career came to an end.
He has since returned to the Seahawks, this time in a coaching capacity. He was officially hired in 2020 to be a defensive assistant and help train the linebacking corps.
2. Jason Smith
Offensive tackle, St. Louis Rams
Jason Smith was already being called a bust draft pick only a few years after he joined the Rams in 2009, according to Bleacher Report.
Fresh from Baylor, Smith seemed to have all the attributes you’d dream of in an offensive tackle — he was 6’4”, 304 pounds, had solid lateral movement against speed rushers and enormous upper body strength.
But he never hit his stride in pass protection, and instead was clobbered by serious head injuries during game play, which caused him to sit out several games with concussions.
Eventually the injuries caught up with him.
After three years with the Rams, he was traded to the New York Jets in 2012 for Wayne Hunter, then the Jets released him in 2013.
He played musical chairs between the Jets and the Saints over a few short months during the 2013 season, and after his final termination by the Jets, he saw the end of his pro career.
He currently resides in Texas, where he owns a breeding and training ground for horses, says local news station KWTX.
1. Art Schlichter
Quarterback, Baltimore Colts
Football fans often hear about morality clauses as being part of players’ contracts — the NFL has a standard personal conduct policy.
There were many red flags surrounding Art Schlichter’s behavior, specifically his apparent gambling addiction, but the people who wanted him in the league looked the other way.
Before he was drafted in 1982, Schlichter was seen several times at an Ohio horse track. After he was selected for the NFL, he became involved with a gambling ring then acted as an FBI informant when he got deep into debt, The New York Times reported in 1983.
The NFL promptly suspended him for the rest of his first season and the Colts later released Schlichter in 1985 after he was caught gambling again.
In the games he actually played as an NFL quarterback, Schlichter started only six times, and he completed a mere 45% of his passes — he never won a game for the team.
Most recently, Schlichter spent about 10 years in prison for ticket fraud, conning millions of dollars from his victims. Indianapolis news site Indy Star reports that he was released in the summer of 2021.
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