Top NFL Draft Mistakes of the Last 10 Years

As we all know, you don’t have to be a first overall pick to be successful in the NFL. In fact, many top picks end up being a bust (cough Ryan Leaf cough) while late round picks have gone on to become legends (Tom Brady).

Most people have no problem pointing out others’ mistakes, so I’ll continue that trend here and point out the worst draft choices of the past 10 years.

2007 – Pittsburg Steelers

They took Lawrence Thomas and passed on Jon Beason. Thomas has 61 career tackles, while Beason had 112 tackles for the Panthers in his rookie season alone.

2006 – New England Patriots, NY Giants

Both the Giants and the Patriots passed on the Packers speedy wide out Greg Jennings. Could you imagine if defenses had to worry about both Randy Moss and Jennings blowing by them? Wes Welker would have caught underneath routs for a billion yards last season.

2006 – New England Patriots, NY Giants

Two slips in one draft? How could these teams not only miss Greg Jennings, but also overlook speedy return man Devin Hester? Hester has been the most dynamic return man in recent years, leaving special teams coaches with many sleepless nights.

2006 – Every Team Except the Saints

’06 is the year of WR as far as overlooking players. Marques Colston wasn’t on anyone’s list as he was drafted at number 252, or third from last. Which means not only did everyone miss out on him, but they overlooked him multiple times. Tell me, who couldn’t use a wide out who has caught for over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons?

2005 – San Francisco 49ers

Talk about dropping the ball. The 49ers went with a loveable loser and passed on so many good QBs. Let’s take a look at the laundry list of good players the 49ers passed on: Aaron Rogers, Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton, and (big oops) Matt Cassel.

2005 – Arizona Cardinals

They picked J.J Arrington, leaving San Fran to scoop up Frank Gore just one round later.

2004 – Green Bay Packers

If they were going to go defensively, they shouldn’t have missed out the better DB of this decade Bob Sanders. The hard-hitting safety was picked early in the second round while the Packers took CB Ahmad Carol in the first.

2003 – Chicago Bears

How strong would this defense be if the Bears would’ve taken Osi Umenyiora instead of Michael Haynes at No. 14?

2003 – NY Jets

Instead of taking the super blocking FB Ovi Mughelli instead of no name B.J. Askew.

2002 – Carolina Panthers

It looked good on paper when the Panthers drafted speedy back DeShaun Foster. Only thing was the paper was a pink slip. Panthers eventually cut Foster but passed on dependable back Clinton Portis.

2002 – Houston Texans

The Texans got the wrong David. Although there weren’t many QBs in this draft, Texans used the first overall pick to draft spare David Carr. They could’ve traded down and received a bunch of picks and picked up late rounder David Gerrad. Or they could’ve built their team on defense and picked up beast Julius Peppers.

2001 – Chicago Bears

Desperately in need of offense, the Bears went with a WR with the No. 8 pick. Why they went with David Terrell over superstar wide out Reggie Wayne has us all stumped.

2001 – Seattle Seahawks

They went with Koren Robinson instead of the great, yet controversial wideout, Chad Johnson.

2001 – Everyone but the Carolina Panthers

Nobody saw this superstar in the making. Steve Smith was passed up by every team in the NFL until the Panthers took him early in the third.

2000 – Nothing

I didn’t see this as a controversial year. No huge playmakers were left to the later rounds (that I saw). And the top draft picks would just be switching one great player for another. Good job NFL teams.

1999 –Cleveland Browns

Tim Couch taken over Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, and heck I’d even take Shaun King before him now that we’re looking back.

1999 – Pittsburgh Steelers

They used the 13th pick of the draft to pick up WR Troy Edwards, leaving big man Donald Driver to hang around until the Packers picked him up in round No. 7.

1998 – Tennessee Oilers (Titans)

Known for the Leaf/Manning question, how close does that look now, the bigger miss was by the Tennessee Titans. They picked up so-so receiver (at best) Kevin Dyson and missed on future star Hines Ward, who was left hanging until the third round.

1998 – Detroit Lions

Not wanting to trade up due to a lack of QBs, the Lions picked up no-namer Germane Crowell at wide receiver with the 50th pick and use the 60th pick to get journeymen Charlie Batch. They should’ve used either of those picks to draft eventual star, Matt Hasselbeck.  

But there are countless other misses; let me know who you think was overlooked.