10 Most Inexcusable Draft Picks in NFL History

As the 2011 NFL season draws to a close, writers and fans will be looking at the postseason and cheering for specific teams to win the Lombardi Trophy. All the while, scouts and front offices will be honing their draft boards and getting prepared for April's draft.

This is how teams are built and dynasties are made. This is also how an entire fortune of an organization can be negatively affected due to bad scouting and even worse draft selections.

Today I am going to focus on the 10 most inexcusable draft picks in NFL history. You will not see Ryan Leaf or Rick Mirer on this list. Sure, those two were busts by definition, but it is hard to blame the organizations for selecting them. In San Diego's case, Leaf was the consensus second-best player in the draft behind Peyton Manning.

Instead, I am going to focus on the most egregious, inexplicable and inexcusable draft picks in NFL history.

Honorable Mention

1985: WR Eddie Brown, Cincinnati Bengals

Still available: WR Jerry Rice

Do I really need to even comment on this one? Eddie Brown played seven seasons with the Bengals and did make the Pro Bowl one time. Meanwhile, Jerry Rice became the greatest receiver to ever play the game and won four Super Bowl championships with the 49ers.

2005: RB Maurice Clarett, Denver Broncos

Still available: RB Marion Barber and RB Brandon Jacobs

No one could believe that the Denver Broncos actually spent a third-round pick on the enigma that was Maurice Clarett. His game didn't translate to the NFL, he had sat out an entire season and he was full of more baggage than claim check at an LAX terminal. To make matters worse, both Marion Barber and Brandon Jacobs went a few picks later.

10. WR Freddie Mitchell, Philadelphia Eagles

First round, 25th pick in 2001 NFL draft

Career statistics: 90 receptions, 1,263 yards and five touchdowns

Players still on the board

WR Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts 

TE Todd Heap, Baltimore Ravens

QB Drew Brees, San Diego Chargers 

You are not only looking at the Philadelphia Eagles wasting a first-round pick on a player that never translated well to the NFL. More than that, Mitchell had major character concerns coming out of college, which led many different scouts to recommend that their team avoid him at all cost.

These character concerns were brought to the forefront in 2004. During Super Bowl week, Freddie Mitchell talked major trash about the New England Patriots secondary before catching just one pass in that game. He was eventually released by the Eagles prior to the start of the 2005 season after he held out and Andy Reid stated he didn't want the receiver on the team anymore.

Mitchell never played another NFL game and has since been under investigation for possession of marijuana and tax evasion allegations.

Meanwhile, the three players mentioned who were selected after Mitchell in the 2001 draft have all had All-Pro careers. Reggie Wayne and Drew Brees will end up in Canton one day and have combined for two Super Bowl championships to date.

9. QB Leo Hart, Atlanta Falcons

Third round, 59th pick of 1981 NFL draft

Career statistics: 37.5 completion percentage, 53 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions

Players still on the board

QB Ken Anderson, Cincinnati Bengals

QB Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins

I understand that Leo Hart's selection came in the mid-rounds, but it is still inexcusable, if you ask me. He played at Duke University and had a pretty solid college career. Still, you have to take into account the fact that Joe Theismann from Notre Dame was available at the time, as was Ken Anderson.

In the end, Hart started a grand total of one game. Meanwhile, Theismann and Anderson played in three Super Bowls combined, winning one.

8. OT Tony Mandarich, Green Bay Packers

First round, second pick of the 1989 NFL draft

Career statistics: 63 starts

Players still on the board

RB Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions

LB Derrick Thomas, Kansas City Chiefs

The fact that two Hall of Fame players went immediately after Tony Mandarich, who started just 31 games for the Green Bay Packers, is crazy in and of itself.

The idea of Brett Favre and Barry Sanders in the same backfield is even more crazy. This came at a time when the Green Bay Packers were not a good football team and needed to fill many different holes on both sides of the ball.

This also came at a time when the modern conception of needing an elite tackle was starting to take hold in the NFL. Well, the Packers bought into that fully.

They went after pretty boy Tony Mandarich instead of looking to build up their running game. In the end, scouts and skeptics were right in assuming that the Michigan State tackle wasn't going to cut it in the NFL. He played just three seasons with the Packers before they cut ties with him completely.

Do I even need to mention the careers of Barry Sanders and Derrick Thomas? Combined they earned 19 Pro Bowl selections, and both are enshrined in Canton.

Wow!

7. LB Aaron Curry, Seattle Seahawks

First round, fourth pick of the 2009 NFL draft

Career statistics: 215 tackles and 5.5 sacks

Players still on the board

LB Brian Orakpo, Washington Redskins

LB Brian Cushing, Houston Texans

LB Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers

I still think that Aaron Curry will be a good player in the NFL. The problem is that it will be with the Oakland Raiders and not the Seattle Seahawks. Earlier this season, Seattle traded the talented but underperforming Curry for a late-round draft pick in 2013.

This has to go down as one of the worst draft picks in NFL history mainly because of the players selected after Curry at the linebacker position. Brian Orakpo, Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews have all made the Pro Bowl and will be studs for the next decade. Meanwhile, Seattle got two years of below-average play and a seventh-round pick for Curry.

6. QB Giovanni Carmazzi, San Francisco 49ers

Third round, 65th pick of the 2000 NFL draft

Career statistics: Did not play in a regular-season game

Still on the board

QB Tom Brady, New England Patriots

I could have gone with one of three different San Francisco 49ers quarterback selections here, including Jim Druckenmiller over Jake Plummer in 1997 or Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers in 2005. However, those two were somewhat explainable if you ask me.

Selecting Giovanni Carmazzi over Tom Brady makes absolutely no sense to anyone in the real world. I fully understand that Brady was passed on by every single team in the NFL, even the New England Patriots, three or four times. I fully understand that he wasn't the highest-regarded prospect and didn't even perform well in college.

Still, he was a local to Northern California, grew up a San Francisco 49ers fan and wanted desperately to play for them and continue the greatness of the quarterback position for an organization that had seen Joe Montana and Steve Young win Super Bowls.

It isn't so much that they passed on Tom Brady—it's that they passed on him for a quarterback from Hofstra that none of us has ever heard of.

San Francisco wasn't the only one that made a franchise-changing mistake here. Just take a look at other quarterbacks selected before Brady in 2000.

Third round: Chris Redman, Baltimore Ravens

Fifth round: Tee Martin, Pittsburgh Steelers

Sixth round: Spergon Wynn, Cleveland Browns

5. Matt Millen and Detroit Lions Wide Receivers

Charles Rogers, second pick of the 2003 NFL draft

Statistics: 36 receptions, 440 yards and four touchdown

Still on the board

WR Andre Johnson, Houston Texans

Roy Williams, seventh pick of the 2004 NFL draft

Statistics: 262 receptions, 3,884 yards and 29 touchdowns in five seasons with Detroit

Still on the board

QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers 

Mike Williams, 10th pick of the 2005 NFL draft

Statistics: 37 receptions, 449 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons with Detroit

Still on the board

LB DeMarcus Ware, Dallas Cowboys

QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Are you freaking serious? All three of these picks have to go down as the worst in Detroit Lions history. Sorry all you Joey Harrington haters, but this is absolutely horrible. Not only was Matt Millen infatuated with wide receivers, he couldn't even select the right ones.

Imagine a Lions team with Ben Roethlisberger, Andre Johnson and DeMarcus Ware. I understand that there were other circumstances that came into play here, but give me a break.

If Millen is ever hired to run another front office, the person who hires him should be fired immediately. An absolute joke in every possible way.

4. QB Todd Marinovich, Los Angeles Raiders

First round, 24th pick of the 1991 NFL draft

Career statistics: 50.7 completion percentage, 1,345 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions

Players still on the board

QB Brett Favre, Atlanta Falcons

This has to be considered one of the most tragic stories in the history of the NFL. A player bred to become the next great quarterback—someone that had the pedigree to be among the game's best but never lived up to expectations.

Substance abuse issues began for Marinovich in college at USC and got increasingly worse once he joined the Los Angeles Raiders.

His abuse issues hit rock bottom when the former Trojan started using LSD after games with the Raiders in order to avoid testing positive for drugs. After three failed drug tests, his career was over. In just two years Marinovich went from being one of the most highly-touted quarterback prospects in NFL history to being out of the league.

Drug issues continued to haunt Marinovich after his football career officially came to an end towards the beginning of the 2000s. Still, he is attempting to work through the demons that cost him a bright future in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Brett Favre was selected just 10 picks later and has had a Hall of Fame career.

3. QB Todd Blackledge, Kansas City Chiefs

First round, seventh pick of the 1983 NFL draft

Career statistics: 48.1 completion percentage, 5,286 yards, 29 touchdowns and 38 interceptions

Players still on the board

QB Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills

QB Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins

This selection set the Kansas City Chiefs franchise back a decade—there is no other way to explain it. Todd Blackledge was a premier prospect coming out of Penn State, but even scouts had questions as to whether he should have been selected above the likes of Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.

Well, we all already know the answer to that in hindsight.

Kelly and Marino went to a combined five Super Bowls and are now enshrined in Canton. Meanwhile, Blackledge started a total of 29 games in his seven-year career.

2. RB Blair Thomas, New York Jets

First round, second pick of the 1990 NFL draft

Career statistics: 2,236 rushing yards and seven touchdowns

Players still on the board

LB Junior Seau, San Diego Chargers

RB Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys

I am still trying to figure out what the New York Jets and most scouts were thinking in regards to this one. Emmitt Smith was too small and didn't have the burst to make it in the NFL. Meanwhile, Blair Thomas was going to be the next great running back.

Well, how did that work out?

As Smith helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl championships in the 1990s, Thomas played just over four seasons with the Jets and never ran for more than 730 yards in a season. After just six seasons his career was over.

1. RB Lawrence Phillips, St. Louis Rams

First round, sixth pick of the 1996 NFL draft

Career statistics: 1,453 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns

Players still on the board

RB Eddie George, Houston Oilers

WR Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts

Everyone and their mother knew that Lawrence Phillips was a problem child coming out of Nebraska. He had an ego that matched his enormous talent level, but he was nowhere near the team player that he should have been.

To make things worse, the St. Louis Rams made the decision to trade Jerome Bettis in order to make room for Phillips. It doesn't take a football genius to understand that this move was one of the worst in the modern history of the NFL.

Phillips was unable to stay out of trouble and was arrested for assaulting a woman during his tenure with the Rams. Following his release, Phillips was signed by the Miami Dolphins but only ran the ball a total of 18 times for them.

One of the things that Phillips will always be remembered for is his missed block as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. This caused Steve Young to suffer a major concussion and ended his Hall of Fame career.

Like after football hasn't been too kind to Phillips either. He has been arrested for assault and sentenced to 31 years in prison, a term that he will serve until he turns 57 years old. In prison, Phillips was attacked and stabbed but survived.