Who is the best/Worst Draft pick ever in your Opinion?

CharismaPeep

I've got the NFL Top Ten Series, and I've been watching the Best Draft Picks Ever & Biggest Draft Busts. Just wondering who people think are the Best & Worst draft picks of all time, either for your team or overall?

For what its worth, I think the best draft pick is Joe Montana (82nd overall) and the worst has to be Ricky Williams (Mike Ditka traded his entire draft for him. I know many of you picked up on the error i made here in the original post. I've added in a new reply in this post which i hope will explain it.

Be as honest as you want, but nothing silly out of spite (Chargers fans picking Eli Manning, for example)

Hazys

It think it has to be Tom Brady for the greatest value pick, 199th pick in the draft for one of the greatest QBs of all time.

The worst is probably Ryan Leaf for lowest value pick, 2nd pick in the draft, absoulte bust...but id give JaMarcus Russel one more year before id have him challenging him, quality wise he is probably not as terrible as Leaf but the amount of money the Raiders invested in him, has him challenging.


Two of the most obivous picks, i know.

dub02

Tom Brady SURELLLLLLLY has to be the best draft pick/find ever...6th round wasnt it:cool:

Hazys

CharismaPeep wrote: »

I've got the NFL Top Ten Series, and I've been watching the Best Draft Picks Ever & Biggest Draft Busts. Just wondering who people think are the Best & Worst draft picks of all time, either for your team or overall?

For what its worth, I think the best draft pick is Joe Montana (82nd overall) and the worst has to be Ricky Williams (Mike Ditka traded his entire draft for him. The trickle down effect saw the 49ers pick up Montana and later Rice)

Be as honest as you want, but nothing silly out of spite (Chargers fans picking Eli Manning, for example)

I think the Giants trading for Eli has to be up there as a terrible pick/trade...i'd rate Rivers way above Eli, so the Chargers got Rivers, a 1st round (Merriman) & a 3rd Round (Kaeding a pro bowl Kicker (didnt look like that after the Jets game)) for a lesser QB.

So that deal has to be up there but certainly not the worst i guess.

Xavi6

Hmmmmm not sure about the best. Johnny Unitas in the 9th round? Terrell Davis in the 6th? Brady is a good call too. However I'm gonna go for Shannon Sharpe in round 7. What a player he turned out to be.

Ryan Leaf is the biggest dud for me as well.

I remember it was between him and Peyton Manning to go number 1 in 1998, and the Colts picked wisely. Leaf was tipped by many to be the better of the two as well.

ReacherCreature

I'd agree with Brady too.

Favre aswell, 2nd rounder for all that production. Huge.

The Manning one is an interesting pick while being one of the best picks. Colts could've picked either Manning or Leaf, the right one they picked.

Worst has to be Leaf, or Russell arguably.

Pherekydes

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I'd agree with Brady too.

Favre aswell, 2nd rounder for all that production. Huge.

The Manning one is an interesting pick while being one of the best picks. Colts could've picked either Manning or Leaf, the right one they picked.

Worst has to be Leaf, or Russell arguably.

I was thinking of Favre as the worst draft pick for the team that drafted him. Falcons picked him 33rd overall in '91. He attempted 4 passes, 2 of which were intercepted, and then they traded him away for a near useless CB (IIRC).

After that, Leaf was useless. He was #2 overall, and produced almost no value for the Chargers.

Best?

Maybe Herschel Walker. A former Heisman winner (in the same year that saw Elway, Marino and Dickerson drafted), he was drafted by the Cowboys in the 5th round in '85 (he had gone playing in the rival USFL). The 'Boys picked up his rights just in case he became available. He was highly productive when he eventually signed for the 'Boys, but when they traded him to the Vikings ('89?), they picked up a lorry load of draft picks that laid the foundation for 3 Superbowls in the '90s.

They drafted Emmit Smith, Russell Maryland, Darren Woodson and Alvin Harper amongst others.

When the 'Boys drafted Walker he wasn't even available, so he is, IMO, the most valuable draft pick ever.

bobby wade

CharismaPeep wrote: »

I've got the NFL Top Ten Series, and I've been watching the Best Draft Picks Ever & Biggest Draft Busts. Just wondering who people think are the Best & Worst draft picks of all time, either for your team or overall?

For what its worth, I think the best draft pick is Joe Montana (82nd overall) and the worst has to be Ricky Williams (Mike Ditka traded his entire draft for him. The trickle down effect saw the 49ers pick up Montana and later Rice)

Be as honest as you want, but nothing silly out of spite (Chargers fans picking Eli Manning, for example)

Ya may be a tad confused there. Montana & Rice had nothing to do with Rickey Williams trade.

Worst draft pick ever is Ryan Leaf & itaint even close

ReacherCreature

Pherekydes wrote: »

I was thinking of Favre as the worst draft pick for the team that drafted him. Falcons picked him 33rd overall in '91. He attempted 4 passes, 2 of which were intercepted, and then they traded him away for a near useless CB (IIRC).

I disagree. He was chosen high but didn't get the opportunity to start. He didn't start one game, he played for two. Favre didn't get the chance to even justify his status as a 2nd round pick, he justified it in Green Bay 'cos he started 13 games and went 8-5 in his first year there (The year after he was drafted.) Had he stayed on in Atlanta, who knows if he would have been as good, if he started more than a few games.

bobby wade wrote: »

Ya may be a tad confused there. Montana & Rice had nothing to do with Rickey Williams trade.

Was confused by it myself. Williams was drafted in 1999. Montana and Rice were drafted prior to that. I think there's no involvement anyways.

frostie500

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I disagree. He was chosen high but didn't get the opportunity to start. He didn't start one game, he played for two. Favre didn't get the chance to even justify his status as a 2nd round pick, he justified it in Green Bay 'cos he started 13 games and went 8-5 in his first year there (The year after he was drafted.) Had he stayed on in Atlanta, who knows if he would have been as good, if he started more than a few games.

Yeah and the other thing about the Falcons was that they got a first round pick out of the Favre trade as well so they ended up 'in profit' if you will. So while I wouldnt say it was the best move the franchise ever made to trade Favre when looked upon with hindsight its easy to see why they did it. With all in mind the Colts decision to trade away John Elway was much worse because they didnt have a competitive season for a pro longed period afterward. The Colts gave away Elway for two players and a pick and only one of those went to a pro bowl. The Colts were uncompetitive for years to boot whereas at least the Falcons went to a Superbowl and had decent season at times before the Vick era began.

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Was confused by it myself. Williams was drafted in 1999. Montana and Rice were drafted prior to that. I think there's no involvement anyways.

Was the OP not saying Montana was the best and Williams was the worst?--EDIT--Yeah Im in agreement with Reacher and the rest I the OP has his years mixed up in relation to these trades

The Williams trade was no where near as catostraphic for the Saints as the Vikings trade for Walker. The Vikings were close to be being contenders when the Walker trade went through and felt he would make them great. In three years there he didnt crack 1000 yards and the team didnt win a playoff game. It took them years to get back to being a contender as a direct result of giving up so many picks. Dallas got five players, six conditional draft choices and a 1992 first-round pick and a dynasty whereas the Vikings fell away to obscurity for years.

Dont forget as well that the Saints got two firsts for Williams in his trade to the Dolphins and picked Superbowl winner Charlie Grant and parlayed the other pick to swap with the Cards and select Johnathan Sullivan the DT from Georgia that was very highly rated but ended up flaming out with drug use-much like Williams at one point!

jdivision

CharismaPeep wrote: »

(Mike Ditka traded his entire draft for him. The trickle down effect saw the 49ers pick up Montana and later Rice)

Huh? Montana retired years before Ricky was drafted.

Bo Jackson would be up there, seventh round pick for the Raiders, unstoppable before he got injured and great stats for a part-timer.

ReacherCreature

frostie500 wrote: »

Was the OP not saying Montana was the best and Williams was the worst?

The Williams trade was no where near as catostraphic for the Saints as the Vikings trade for Walker. The Vikings were close to be being contenders when the Walker trade went through and felt he would make them great. In three years there he didnt crack 1000 yards and the team didnt win a playoff game. It took them years to get back to being a contender as a direct result of giving up so many picks. Dallas got five players, six conditional draft choices and a 1992 first-round pick and a dynasty whereas the Vikings fell away to obscurity for years.

SI.com call it the worst trade in NFL or sports history for the Vikings I think.

Also, the OP said the following:

CharismaPeep wrote: »

For what its worth, I think the best draft pick is Joe Montana (82nd overall) and the worst has to be Ricky Williams (Mike Ditka traded his entire draft for him. The trickle down effect saw the 49ers pick up Montana and later Rice)

I'm assuming that he means that because of the draft picks Dikta gained, they were used somewhat to select Rice and Montana. Wires were probably just crossed.

dardevle

....

think that Brady is hands down the best value pick ever.



while i agree that Ryan Leaf was probably the worst value draft pick in history, the one that sticks out for me is Rae Carruth (27th overall '97).....big things expected of him i remember and he had a pretty good rookie season ....now doing 18 - 24 for the killing of his pregnant girlfriend.


p.o.s!


...

CharismaPeep

Yeah sorry guys i was watching the Top Ten Draft Trades while posting and got the two things muddled. Montana & Rice had nothing to do with the Ricky Williams thing. As many of you pointed out they were not in the same era, I don't really know how i got it so badly wrong

The Tony Dorsett trade with Seattle was the trade which landed San Francisco with Montana. The Cowboys traded four draft picks to Seattle for Dorsett. Three of the picks were used by Seattle on players who were out of the game within five years. The last pick was traded to San Francisco, and that is the pick they used to get Montana.

Rice was a seperate trade where the niners traded up two places to pip the cowboys to Rice.

Sorry about that...... Hope the useless trivia facts above make up for it

ReacherCreature

Chill dude. Just got your wires crossed.

frostie500

Cant believe noone said Ben Roethlisberger yet. Ending nearly thirty years for the Steelers without a title, winning two Superbowls in his first five years, coming in and winning 13 regular season games as a rookie and taking the Steelers to the AFC title game, 17 fourth quarter comebacks, most wins by a QB in first 5 years. I'd say its fairly tough to find a pick much better than him, and I include the Brady pick in that mix to an extent because the Pats didn't know what they had in Brady-he was a body for training camp or a guy to be third stringer not a player drafted with the pressure and expectation of delivering Sueprbowls as Roethlisberger was

LF55

I usually just observe these boards but I have to give my opionion on this.
The worst pick without doubt was Ryan Leaf. Take it from a die hard Chargers fan, picking him set the franchise back several years. His performances were so poor, I wanted Craig Whelihan to be put back in at QB, and Whelihan was just awful, you should check out his stats.

Bad days indeed.

bobby wade

Aye I rmember Whelihan uugghh

With regards Favre, he was never gonna play with the Falcons & Jerry Glanville has stated as much both then & since Favre didn't help his cause in Atlanta as at the time he tended to like to party a bit too much

kmart6

Best:Tom Brady

Worst:Ryan Leaf

All Time Ever Greatest Best Thing Since Sliced Bread: Peyton Manning:P

shrimpsurs

Worst: Ted Ginn

Best: Joe Montana

ReacherCreature

shrimpsurs wrote: »

Worst: Ted Ginn

Worst draft pick of all time? Wouldn't agree with that.

frostie500

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Worst draft pick of all time? Wouldn't agree with that.

Yeah sure Ginn wasnt even the worst pick of that draft, he came out the same year as JaMarcus Russell! He was drafted after Gaines Adams, Jamaal Anderson and LaRon Landry, all of who have been bigger failures than Ginn. Ginn may not be a number 1 reciever but he has some value as a return man. He wasnt the lead reciever(Holmes and Gonzalez were the main recievers for the Buckeyes and it was only when Holmes left that Ginn became an important part of the offence as opposed to just the deep threat that he was upto that point) in college so I don't know why Dolphin fans expected him to be on in the pros.

ReacherCreature

Worst: Ted Ginn

Just to expand on my short post earlier.

Craig Davis was also selected in that round, since then in 3 years, he's had a combined 30 receptions for 299 yards and a touchdown. Granted he was injured for a few games but he was taken in the same round as Ginn Jr. and has had three years to do work. Jarvis Moss and Justin Harrell were also taken in the 1st. Both haven't been hugely effective, again injuries are a factor and they haven't been playing well.

Ginn meanwhile, has had 128 receptions for 5 touchdowns, aslo has five touchdowns off returns and 2 more on rushing gains. Granted not the greatest numbers but somewhat effective for a guy who was involved with track, returns and as a defensive back. He struggles at times and his drops come at the worst occasions but he's after providing better value for some guys taken in the same round have done. To high to be number 1? Probably. Worst? No.

tallaghtoutlaws

shrimpsurs wrote: »

Worst: Ted Ginn

Best: Joe Montana

Tedd Ginn worst than guys like Ryan Leaf? Really? Wow as others have pointed out there were far bigger busts in the year Ginn was drafted nevermind guys like Leaf.

Leslie91

It's an old chestnut at this stage but Ryan Leaf sure was a disaster of a pick in terms of where he was taken & $ V production.

Having said that there haver been plenty more disasters over the years. Some of them off the top of my head - Blair Thomas, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Ki-jana Carter, Andre Wadsworth.

Ja BUSTus Russell might just pass them all out when his $ is compared against his disastrous production.

kryogen

my best, well being biased i am obviously gonna say Mr. Tom (dreamboat) Brady, few names mentioned are well up there though, Unitus, Sharpe etc..

worst

easily Ryan Leaf, no contest imo

although as someone else mentioned Favre wasnt exactly great for the team that drafted him, but i think he gets excluded cause of what he has gone on to do

irishraven

There are so many busts, I wouldn't even know where to start. I think for pure hype that the worst draft pick is Alex Smith.

I can't argue that Brady is the best draft pick EVER but Gared Gaither at Baltimore (yes I'm a fan) was a steal in the supplemental draft.

BTW - i noticed someone said Ricky Williams? Seriously? That guy is a beast and has been to the pro bowl, I wouldn't call him a bust - fair enough he went AWOL when the phins needed him the most but still....

bobby wade

Leslie91 wrote: »

It's an old chestnut at this stage but Ryan Leaf sure was a disaster of a pick in terms of where he was taken & $ V production.

Having said that there haver been plenty more disasters over the years. Some of them off the top of my head - Blair Thomas, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Ki-jana Carter, Andre Wadsworth.

Ja BUSTus Russell might just pass them all out when his $ is compared against his disastrous production.

The thing about Leaf & it shows just how much of a crapshoot the draft is was that looking back we say bust but before the draft everybody wanted Leaf. Even the Colts weren't sure taking Manning was the right choice.

Blair Thomas was awful, Ki-Jana Carter was on a putrid Bengals team & got hurt who knows how he would have turned out

darragh16

Ryan Leaf or Ki-Jana Carter as the worst draft picks, gotta be Tom brady for the top draft pick - 199th pick.

But some un drafted players like james harrison or wes welker do come to mind if your talkin about a steal!

bobby wade

darragh16 wrote: »

Ryan Leaf or Ki-Jana Carter as the worst draft picks, gotta be Tom brady for the top draft pick - 199th pick.

But some un drafted players like james harrison or wes welker do come to mind if your talkin about a steal!

Best undrafted player?

In my mind without a doubt it's Rod Smith

LF55

Lets not forget Dimetrius Underwood and R Jay Soward.