Philadelphia Eagles' All-Time Top-Five Draft Busts

The NFL draft is a science not yet perfected.

Just ask any Chargers fan during the '98 season, or any Seattle fan who was dooped into buying a "Boz Sucks" t-shirt.

The point being, there will always be that player who gets overlooked and becomes a superstar. But, for every player like that, there will be one that gets over-hyped, is taken way too high, and is a headache for a franchise for years to come.

While every team has a list of their own, here are the top-five draft busts in Philadelphia Eagles history.

In reverse order.

5. The Entire 1936 Draft Class

In 1936, the Eagles had the very first pick. The first pick that would ever be made in the newly-formed college-to-NFL draft.

After months of deliberation and planning in the Eagles' War Room, they decided the very first draft pick ever would be Jay Berwanger, an offensive/defensive back out of Chicago.

While the Eagles may have thought they got the best player in the draft and started the entire thing off with a bang, they really started the entire thing off with a dud.

You know when you buy fireworks for the fourth of July and one of them just does nothing, and you're really upset you spent the money on it? Well, it was kind of like that.

And little did they know that they were about to have arguably the worst draft any team has ever had, and one that may never be matched.

The Eagles' draft went something like this:

1  Jay Berwanger
2  John McCauley
3  Wes Muller
4  Bill Wallace
5  Harry Shuford
6  Al Barabas
7  Jack Weller
8  Pepper Constable
9  Paul Pauk

Now, make a quick guess to yourself how many of those players drafted made the 1936 Eagles' roster.

Go ahead, think about it. I'll wait...

...What ever happened to Joyce DeWitt? You know, the girl from Three's Company. Not the hot, stupid one. That was Suzanne Summers. The other one. Hmm...

Oh, I'm sorry. Are you back?

If you guessed anything but ZERO, you're wrong.

Zero. None of the players drafted in 1936 even made the team.

A stunning failure that, hopefully, will never be accomplished again.

4. Cris Carter, WR, Ohio State

Now, most people forget that Cris Carter was even drafted by the Eagles.

Well, he was.

In 1987's Supplemental Draft, the Eagles drafted, in the first round, highly-touted wide receiver Cris Carter out of Ohio State.

He was going to be the guy across the field from Mike Quick to give the Eagles one of the most explosive offenses in the league. Randall Cunningham throwing to Mike Quick and Cris Carter, what could go wrong?

Cris Carter was hell-bent on imploding.

He was a troubled young man. Getting into fights and drugs was a favorite pastime for him.

Eventually, his off-field antics got him traded to the Vikings after the '88 season, where, to the dismay of Eagles fans everywhere, he became the future Hall of Famer that everyone will remember.

So, while Cris Carter was not a bust in the end, as far as an Eagles player, he was an ENORMOUS waste.

3. Jerome McDougle, DE, Florida

This one is almost as upsetting as letting the future Hall of Famer get away.

McDougle's career has been plagued by injuries; however, when healthy, McDougle has shown flashes of the player he was at Florida.

The knee is obviously his weak link and has kept him out of commission for most of his NFL career. That is something he can work on. He can get it stronger and let it rehab so it doesn't happen again.

Getting shot, however, not his fault.

McDougle was finally healthy for once and having a fantastic offseason, until he attempted to return to his car and caught a couple guys attempting to steal it. When he tried to fight them off, they shot him in the stomach.

But, with all of that said, he simply has not produced the way a first-round pick should (36 tackles and three sacks in five years). Especially when Andy Reid showed great faith in him by trading up 15 spots to get him in 2003.

I still hold hope that he will turn his career around. All he has to do is stay healthy, and I believe he can still be a good player. However, up to this point, McDougle has been a very disappointing bust.

2. Mike Mamula, DE, Boston College

In 1995, the term "Workout Warrior" was coined thanks to Mike Mamula.

Fun name to say, not to watch on the field.

Mamula came out of college as a run-of-the-mill defensive end. He was projected somewhere in the second to third round, until the combine.

He matched Tony Boselli's bench reps and ran a 4.63 in the 40-yard dash, making scouts and coaches alike sit up and take notice.

These numbers vaulted him to a projected top-10 pick.

Well, the Eagles made him the seventh-overall selection in the 1995 draft.

The only 4.63 Mamula ever ran after that was right to the front of the unemployment line.

Mamula was weak against the run and not even close to the pass rusher he was thought to be.

He filled in as a role player until his career was ended because of injuries after the 2000 season.

In six years with the Eagles, this top-10 pick accumulated a mediocre 209 tackles to go along with an embarrassing 31.5 sacks. That's just barely over five sacks a year.

The Eagles drafted him seventh overall, yet he never even had that many sacks in one year.

Side note: The pick we traded to Tampa Bay in order to move up to get Mamula was used on a defensive tackle out of Miami named Warren Sapp.

1. Freddie Mitchell, WR, UCLA

Freddie Mitchell's career highlights will consist of one play.

4th-and-26.

In a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, the Eagles were down by three points in the fourth quarter with a minute-and-a-half left in the game. On 4th-and-26, McNabb rifled a pass between double coverage, 28-yards down the field to Mitchell. The Eagles went on to tie the game and win in overtime.

Call him what you will, Freddie Mitchell, The People's Champ (of which he had a belt), The Sultan of Slot, First-Down Freddie, Fourth-Down Freddie, Hollywood, Fourth-and-26 Freddie, or, of course, FredEx, I'll just call him BUST.

Mitchell turned out to have more sound bytes than receptions, and nicknames for that matter. He never had more than 35 receptions in a season. He finished his career with the Eagles (well, his career PERIOD) with 90 receptions for 1,263 yards and five touchdowns.

The thing that makes Freddie worse than the entire 1936 draft class, Cris Carter, Jerome McDougle, and Mike Mamula is not only his lack of production, but the wide receivers that were still on the board when the Eagles drafted him.

Reggie Wayne. Ugh.

Chris Chambers. Seriously?

Steve Smith. Someone kill me.

Ocho Cinco, Chad Johnson. This guy puts up better numbers in one year than                                           Freddie did in FOUR!

Just to name a few.

However, I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a few seventh-round picks that contributed more to their team than he ever did for the Eagles.

Congratulations Freddie, you now have another nickname.

The Biggest Bust In The Eagles' 75-Year History.

Congratulations.

That will be a wonderful story for your students every couple days you're substituting while the guy with the real job is at home sick.

Here's to hoping DeSean Jackson works out!