I decided to come up with a list of the 15 worst first round draft picks in Raider history.  There is a lot of talk of the Raiders always making bad draft choices so I decided to make a list of the 15 worst.  Some stats may be deceiving, but I remember times when they let the team and fans down.

15. 1997 Darrell Russell, DT, USC: It's hard to call Darrell Russell a bust because he's a two time Pro Bowler a 1 time first team All Pro.  However, he fell to substance abuse and shortened his career tremendously.  He was a great player, but let his team down off the field.

14. 2006 Michael Huff, DB, Texas: He's on the active roster, so he still has a chance to redeem himself.  However, he only has 4 INTs in 4 years and 3 of them came last year.  Plus he doesn't have good tackling skills.  It seems to me that Tyvonn Branch and Mike Mitchell will be the likely pair to start the 2010 season.

13. 2009 Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland: He's only played 1 season, but 9 catches for 124 yards and a TD are unacceptable stats for 11 starts.  That is what top notch WRs do in one game, not 1 season. 

12.1999 Matt Stinchcomb, OL, Georgia: He was injured as a rookie and then in his second year he won the starting LT job out of camp, but lost it to the undrafted Barry Sims during the season.  He shifted over to guard after Mo Collins was injured and Steve Wisnewski retired.  He later moved over to center after trouble with Barrett Robbins, but after Robbins returned he moved back over to guard to replace an injured Frank Middleton.  He left as a free agent but never established himself elsewhere.

11. 1968 Eldrige Dickey, QB, Tennessee State: He was Al Davis's choice as the QB to replace Daryl Lamonica, but John Madden's choice Kenny Stabler fell to them in round 2.  Davis told Madden that if Stabler fell to them in round 2 they would take him and they would compete to be the QB of the future; Stabler won and is now the Raiders all time passing leader.  Dickey was moved to receiver and only played 2 seasons in the NFL finishing with 5 catches for 112 yards and 1 TD in 18 games total.

10. 1980 Marc Wilson, QB, BYU: Stabler was traded for Dan Pastroni and Pastroni didn't pan out.  Al Davis and Tom Flores saw Marc Wilson as the future of the franchise and drafted him.  However, Jim Plunkett would replace both of them in the 1980 season and would lead the Raiders to two superbowls.  Wilson would only complete 52% of his passes for 2081 yards, 86 TDs, and 102 INTs.

9. 2001 Derrick Gibson, SS, Florida State: This guy was one piss poor tackler and a major liability in coverage.  He was benched his first three years and injured his fourth.  I couldn't believe they held onto him as long as they did.  He must have been on the Al Davis scholarship program.

8. 1972 Mike Siani, WR, Villanova: He finished his career with 158 catches for 2618 yards and 17 TDs, which isn't as bad as some of these others, but he lost his starting job to his fellow WR of his Raider draft class of 1972 Cliff Branch. 

7. 1981 Ted Watts, DB, Texas Tech: He had 5 INTs in 5 years.  I don't know the story on Mike Haynes but it seems like late in the 1983 season Haynes joined the Raiders and took this guy's starting position.  He was a returner as a rookie and started at corner 9 games in his second year before an injury and then late in his third season, Mike Haynes took over his job after getting cut by New England.

6. 1986 Bob Buczkowski, DE, Pittsburgh: He had 1.5 career sacks in 5 years with 3 different teams.  He barely saw any playing time.  He had more starts with the Browns than with the Raiders and Cardinals combined. 

5. 1987 John Clay, OT, Missouri: He played two years with two different teams and one fumble recovery was not enough to impress.  Two years in a row the Raiders made bad draft choices and this was before the Al Davis Scholarship program. 

4. 1993 Patrick Bates, DB, Texas A&M: This guy is a major disappointment to me because I thought he was a stud in Texas A&M's wrecking crew defense.  He had 1 INT as a rookie and then became the starter his second year at SS, but could not adapt to the NFL level.  Two years later after not playing a down in 1995, Atlanta picked him up but he still struggled.

3. 1996 Rickey Dudley, TE, Ohio State: He was the original on the Al Davis Scholarship Program.  The Raiders traded up to draft him and throughout his career, he was notorious for dropping passes on critical downs.  He had decent numbers, but he never pulled through when it mattered most.  It just sickened me that they held onto him for so long despite not being very reliable.

2. 1991 Todd Marinovich, QB, USC: He was just flat out disappointing.  His first two starts were two ugly losses both to Kansas City in his rookie year; one of which was a playoff game.  In his second year, he and Jay Schroeder rotated in and out as starters and neither seemed to have any game at all.  Both were relased at the end of the 1992 season. 

1. 2007 Jamarcus Russell, QB, LSU: He was the first ever #1 overall pick in Raider history.  His rookie campaign was a lengthy hold out. Towards the end of his second year he seemed like he had his game clicking, but in his third year, he took a major step backwards.  He is the first NFL QB I have ever seen launch a rocket on 4th and inches when all he had to do was scramble across the line of scrimage and had plenty of space to do it.  His bad decision making led to him getting benched twice in his third year and released at the end of the season.  He is now a self made millionare and didn't do jack shit to earn it.