Worst NFL Draft Picks of All Time

One of the biggest events on the NFL calendar is the NFL draft. This gives fans of every team one of the most lethal substances on Earth: hope.

From future Hall of Fame players, first-round picks that might turn their franchise around on a dime and sleepers later in the rounds that become fan favorites for the next decade, draft day brings endless possibility.

But then there are the draft picks that fans and organizations would rather forget. These top picks became infamous busts that remain bewildering to fans even years later.

Here we talk about some of the worst of the worst NFL draft picks of all time. Names that could send a chill up the spine of fans around the country, but primarily in Cleveland, Ohio.

From the draft to the Super Bowl, DIRECTV has the NFL coverage fans need all season long!

Shop Packages

Worst NFL Draft Picks of All Time

These are the worst NFL draft picks of all time.

Ryan Leaf – San Diego Chargers (1998)

One of the most infamous draft misses is Ryan Leaf. A quarterback out of Washington State, Leaf was thought to be on the same level as Peyton Manning entering that year’s draft. Manning went on to win four MVPs and two Super Bowls. Ryan Leaf never played a full season in San Diego.

He finished with a 48.4 completion percentage, 14 touchdowns to 36 interceptions. In his second year, he was suspended by the Chargers, then placed on IR with a shoulder injury before being released. He didn’t play in 2000 and bounced around the depth charts of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks.

JaMarcus Russell – Oakland Raiders (2007)

JaMarcus Russell is a cautionary tale about judging a quarterback by what he can do in a private scouting combine. Russell had a solid career at LSU, leading the Tigers to a Sugar Bowl win over Notre Dame in 2007. He was able to throw a football 60 yards from his knees in a private workout, so the Oakland Raiders and Al Davis took a shot on the guy who could throw it a mile.

Russell started just one game his rookie season. In his second season, he played close to the only full season of his brief career. He went 5-10 with a completion percentage just over 50 percent, eight interceptions and 12 fumbles.

Russell came back the next year but only started nine games, going 2-7 with a sub-50 completion percentage, three touchdowns, 11 interceptions and another nine fumbles. From there he was waived by Oakland and his career was finished.

Charles Rogers – Detroit Lions (2003)

For a long time, the Detroit Lions languished in the NFL, constantly finding themselves with top picks but not hitting on any of them. The worst, though, is wide receiver Charles Rogers. Drafted second overall, Rogers played in just five games his rookie season, one game in his sophomore season and nine in his third year.

Rogers started in just nine games over his three-year career, averaging 12 catches and a touchdown per season. He suffered a clavicle injury during his rookie year that ended his season, battled suspensions and ultimately flamed out after just three seasons. The player drafted right after him? Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Johnson.

John Elway – Indianapolis Colts (1983)

Yeah, we know what you’re thinking. John Elway is in the Hall of Fame. He won two Super Bowls. What is he doing on a list of worst picks of all time?

This is not because of John Elway. This is because the Indianapolis Colts were told by John Elway that he would not play for them if they drafted him. They drafted him anyway, and as promised, he did not play for them. Indianapolis lost that pick.

Elway, who was also a potential draft pick in Major League Baseball, threatened to join the Yankees if the Colts didn’t trade him. The Colts eventually had to trade the future Hall of Famer and got a measly return. Elway went on to have a legendary career with the Broncos.

Tony Mandarich – Green Bay Packers (1989)

There were Hall of Famers drafted in the top five draft picks of the 1989 NFL Draft. Three of them were drafted after Tony Mandadich who went #2 to the Packers.

At the time, Mandarich, AKA “The Incredible Bulk,” was considered the best offensive line prospect of all time. After a holdout that lasted until the kickoff of the regular season, Mandarich played just two full seasons and never lived up to his potential.

Tim Couch – Cleveland Browns (1999)

Couch was drafted first overall in 1999 over perennial Pro Bowler Donovan McNabb. He finished with more career interceptions than touchdowns and started just one full season over the course of his career. With Donovan McNabb being drafted right behind him, Couch is one of the biggest laments of the Cleveland fan base. But lucky for them, they have plenty of other picks to choose from as the worst in their team’s history.

Akili Smith – Cincinnati Bengals (1999)

Just two picks after Tim Couch and one after Donovan McNabb, Cincinnati had a choice in trying to get the third best of the quarterbacks or other top prospects, including future Hall of Famers Edgerrin James and Champ Bailey, as well as multi-time Pro Bowlers Ricky Williams and Torry Holt.

Now, obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but there were questions about Akili Smith, who the Cincinnati Bengals ended up taking, at the time. Smith played in just 22 games and threw for 2,200 yards.

Aaron Curry – Seattle Seahawks (2009)

Considered a can’t-miss prospect, Curry went fourth overall to the Seahawks in 2009 and played just one full season as a pro. In four years, he recorded just 5.5 sacks. He eventually lost his starting role with Seattle before being traded to the Raiders. Curry has found a second life in the NFL as a coach.

Vernon Gholston – New York Jets – (2008)

Another can’t-miss prospect, Gholston went sixth overall to the Jets in 2008. In three seasons, he started just five games, and he never recorded more than 17 tackles in a season. Gholston is another high Jets draft pick that missed badly, and the mere mention of his name can raise the blood pressure of much of New York’s population.

Zach Wilson – New York Jets (2021)

If Vernon Gholston isn’t enough for Jets fans, Zach Wilson ought to put it over the edge. Drafted second overall in 2021, Wilson arguably reached his draft status thanks to a viral throw he made during a pro day workout. As the Raiders learned with JaMarcus Russell, you can’t just draft a quarterback because they look good in a workout.

Wilson never played a full season with the Jets, going 12-21 as a starter over parts of three seasons and was relegated to a backup just four years into his career.

Johnny Manziel – Cleveland Browns (2014)

Johnny Manziel was a revelation in college. He put together one of the best freshman seasons in college football history, winning the Heisman Trophy and being a first-team All-American. But there were serious questions about his NFL potential given his size and questions about how seriously he would take the job. As he has admitted in documentaries that he himself has produced, he did not take it very seriously.

Over two seasons, Manziel started just eight games for the Browns, going 2-6 with seven touchdowns to seven interceptions. He famously became an irritation for coaches by never watching film or attempting to improve meaningfully. The last the NFL heard from him, he was suspended by the league before it was eventually lifted, and he’s been out of the league ever since.

John Ross – Cincinnati Bengals (2017)

Top 10 picks are expected to be change agents. The Cincinnati Bengals thought they were getting a future Pro Bowl wide receiver in John Ross, who had just led the nation with 17 touchdowns in college.

Instead, Ross missed almost the entirety of his rookie season due to injury. He did convert seven touchdowns on 21 catches in his sophomore campaign, but never really could make an impact in his four years in Cincinnati. He eventually had short stays with the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles but failed to stick.

Josh Rosen – Arizona Cardinals (2018)

Josh Rosen was considered a quarterback’s quarterback coming into the 2018 NFL draft. Rosen led the nation in yards per game as a junior at UCLA, more than in his three NFL seasons combined.

Rosen went 3-10 as a starter as a rookie with 11 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. He battled injuries and started just three games his second season before being instantly traded the next year so that Arizona could draft Kyler Murray. He started three games for the Dolphins before being waived by Miami, signed and waived by San Francisco, signed by Atlanta, then Cleveland, then Cleveland again, then Minnesota, and never landed anywhere in a starting role.

Adding insult to injury, the next three draft picks were all Pro Bowl players.

Mitchell Trubisky – Chicago Bears (2017)

Heading into 2017, the Bears were in desperate need of their quarterback of the future. The top two quarterbacks in that draft were Mitch Trubisky and a guy named Patrick Mahomes. With the second pick, the Bears went with Mitch Trubisky. And with the 10th, the Kansas City Chiefs took Mahomes and went on to win three Super Bowls.

Trubisky has not been a full-time starter in the last five years. In Chicago, eight years later, they only finally seem to have their answer at quarterback in Caleb Williams.

Matt Leinart – Arizona Cardinals (2006)

Leinart was a former Heisman Trophy winner and one of the highest-profile draft picks in years after a storied career at USC. But Leinart started just 18 career games and never threw more than 11 touchdowns in a season. Leinart suffered multiple season-ending injuries that ultimately derailed his career.

Derrick Harvey – Jacksonville Jaguars (2008)

Harvey went eighth overall to the Jaguars in 2008 after earning All-American honors at Florida, but he never made his mark in the NFL, recording just eight sacks across four years and starting a full season just once.

Trent Richardson – Cleveland Browns (2012)

Running backs are some of the most exciting players on the field and therefore one of the most exciting draft picks that a team can make. But when you miss on that running back, you miss bad. Trent Richardson was a bad miss once again for the Cleveland Browns at the top of the draft.

Richardson never averaged more than 3.6 yards per carry, and just two games into his second season in Cleveland, he was traded to the Colts, who thought they could revive him and instead somehow made him worse. Richardson bounced around practice squads before finally bouncing from the league completely in 2016.

Kevin White – Chicago Bears (2015)

White appeared in just 30 games and reeled in just 28 passes.

Another wide out with massive expectations, White was seen as a can’t-miss prospect out of West Virginia. There he caught 109 passes as a senior, which is nearly four times as many as he caught over the length of his six-year NFL career.

White’s rookie season of 19 catches for 187 yards and no touchdowns was his career best. He got his last shot in the league in 2022 with New Orleans.

Justin Blackmon – Jacksonville Jaguars (2012)

Blackmon went fifth overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 ahead of names like Hall of Famer Luke Kuechly and future Hall of Famers Stephon Gilmore, Fletcher Cox and Bobby Wagner. After an electrifying final season at Oklahoma State, Blackmon turned in a respectable rookie season and looked on track for a breakout in 2013 before being suspended twice to end his career.

Jake Locker – Tennessee Titans (2011)

Folks were trying to make an argument that Locker could go #1 in the 2011 NFL Draft instead of the reigning Heisman and National Champion, Cam Newton. Locker never played a full season for the Titans and didn’t appear after his fourth season.

Three picks later, their division rival Houston Texans took future Hall of Fame defensive end J.J. Watt who terrorized them for a decade.

Watch NFL Live All Season

Some draft picks become legends. Others become cautionary tales. No matter who’s drafted, you can catch all the biggest NFL games with DIRECTV.

Don’t have DIRECTV yet? Sign up and start watching today.

Shop Packages