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The Ram

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Pittsburgh , PA
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NMI Tourney 2 Round 2: NFL team that has drafted the biggest busts (pick an entire offense/defense or both for any franchise comprised of draft busts)

Oso's back-Sort of said 02/19, 06:01 PM
If I have to choose a team that drafts the biggest busts since 1970 (the modern draft) then I have to go with the homer pick of the Philadelphia Eagles who up until this decade are notorious for picking bad players or just giving away draft picks for a song. Some are actually from the 2007 draft which was the worst draft the Eagles have had in over a decade. Here is my offense and defense.
Offense

QB: John Reaves
RB: Michael Haddix
RB: Ryan Moats
WR: Freddy Mitchell
WR: Todd Pinkston
TE: Steve Zabel
OL: Antone Davis
OL: Lester Holmes
OL: Bernard Williams
OL: Dean Miraldi
Defense:
DL Rich Harris
DL Mike Mamula
DL Jon Harris
DL Jerome McDougle
LB Barry Gardner
LB Matt McCoy
LB Quinton Caver
DB CJ Gaddis
DB Rashard Barksdale
DB Matt Ware
DB Ben Smith

The Ram said 02/19, 10:26 PM
Philadelphia? They've made some mistakes. But I think I'll consult the Emperor of draft screw ups for my list.

I summon the incompetent Matt Millen!

Spill forth the murdered dreams of Detroit Lion Fans!

(position, name, overall draft number)

QB Andre Ware, 7. 5 career TD. Seriously, 5!
RB Lawrence Gaines, 16. 3 seasons, 829 rush yds.
RB Garry James, 29 3 seasons, 1510 yards.

My unbeatable receiving corps (divide Todd Pinkston's career numbers by 2 and you have these 2 combined):

WR Charles Rogers, 2
WR Mike Williams, 10

TE David Lewis, 20. 731 rec yds.
OL Ken Long, 44. 0 career starts.
OL Aaron Gibson, 27. Cut in 2nd season for belly flopping on piles after the whistle...repeatedly (he's 440 lbs).
OL Juan Roque, 35. 2 seasons, 3 career starts.
OL Lyn Boden, 13

Defense
DL Reggie Rogers, 7. 2 starts, 2 sacks.
DL Ernie Price, 17
DL Billy Howard, 39
DL Bob Bell, 21
LB Reggie Brown, 17. 2 seasons, then hurt.
LB Teddy Lehman, 37. Millen's pet.
LB James Johnson, 62. 2 seasons, 0 career starts.
DB Luther Bradley, 11
DB Bryant Westbrook, 5
DB Kevin Abrams, 54,
DB Terry Fair, 20.

Oso's back-Sort of said 02/20, 10:43 AM
QB: Reaves was the proto- David carr with 63 sacks and a 1:2 TD-INT ratio. The only way my guy hit a receiver was by accident in the locker room.

RB: Haddix rushed for 1635 yds. and 3 TD's, in 8 years. Ryan Moats has 3 TD's and 3 Fumbles, and a whopping 347 yards to date.

WR: Williams is still active on the Raiders roster, so he still could concievably eclipse Pinkston's totals. Pinky on the other hand is out of the league plotting his revenge with the Brain.

TE: Zabel is so inconsequential that he amassed 10 rec. and 3 TD's in 10 years!

OL: Miraldi never started a game, and Williams played 1 total season.

DE: Mike Mamula is the original workout warrior. The Eagles too him instead of Warren Sapp.

Jon Harris was a 1st rounder who amassed 2 sacks in 2 seasons.

McDougle had only 21 tackles in two years before he was shot.

LB: Caver had a whopping 12 tackels as an Eagle, and McCoy started 10 games total in his illustrious career.

DB: Barksdale, Gaddis, and Ware lost their roster spots to undrafted free agents. Smith managed to eek out 6 INT's in 7 years.

The Ram said 02/20, 11:23 AM
QB: Reaves was picked later (14), lasted longer, and tripled Ware's production.

RB: Moats was only a third rounder and Haddix was moved to FB where he had an 8-year career as a masher. Both my guys were first rounders and done by year 4.

WR: Williams is actually in Tennessee and weighs 280lbs. Pinkston has a better chance of playing again.

TE: Zabel didn't produce as a TE because he was a LB/TE. He had 1 season at TE, he then played LB for 9 very productive seasons. Lewis was done by year 4.

OL: Your guys Davis and Holmes were not that bad. They combined to start 181 games!!! My 4 guys started 86 combined!

DL: Mamula wasn't as bad as you remember, he averaged over 6 sacks a season. And again, he gave the Eagles as many games as my 4 combined.

LB: Looks like a wash to me.

DB: I think I destroy you here. Gaddis was a fifth round pick, Barksdale a sixth. Second day picks get cut before the start of the season ALL THE TIME. There were no expectations for them.

Expectations matter! Westbrook was a top 5 pick and he blew! Bradley was 11th, and was done after 4 seasons, Fair-same story. All of them were drafted sooner than your biggest bust at DB.

Oso's back-Sort of said 02/20, 12:10 PM
Reaves played roughly double the seasons of Ware and only managed 14 TD's but still give the other team twice that amount. He just took his sweet time being a bust while taking 63 dirt naps.

Moats was a third rounder, but then so was Westbrook. Westbrook was able to win and keep a starting spot, yet Moats, his heir apparent hasn't even cracked special teams.

Haddix was so bad he took 8 seasons to accumulate 1 season's worth of production.

Zabel was a 1st rounder drafted to be a TE. The fact that he couldn't cut it in that spot and was moved to LB has bust written all over him. His best years, such as they were, came as a Patriot.

My OL's started more games, but none for more than 1 season. Williams played only 1 season and then sat out the rest of his career.

Jon Harris' 2 brief seasons for a 1st round pick is one of the worst busts in Eagles history. Mamula was a waste of not 1 but 3 picks, one of which was used on Sapp.

Since we're on starts and production, your DB Fair actually had 43 tackles in one season and 7 INT's in 48 starts. Whereas my DB's were cut in favor of Undrafted players who started games for the Eagles.

The Ram said 02/20, 12:46 PM
"My OL's started more games, but none for more than 1 season. "

I have no clue what you mean. Holmes was the Phi starting RG for 3 seasons, Davis started 74 games in 5 straight seasons for Phi. They played and produced. They weren't Aaron Gibson sized busts (54 D's I believe).

Haddix wasn't bad, he just played FB. They don't get a lot of carries, they block.

Unlike Reaves, Ware couldn't even last as a backup he was so jaw-droppingly awful.

Take Mamula, subtract 29.5 sacks, and 5 years worth of starts and you have Reggie Rogers. Both were picked 7th overall. How can Rogers not be a bigger bust?

I think I sweep the skill positions. QB, RB, WR (easily), and TE (Zabel played LB in college he was drafted for that as much as TE). The Eagles had some productive lineman on both sides of the ball, the Lions got complete junk. None of them played anywhere for any significant period of time.

Busts are highly touted players who miserably fail to meet expectations. DB's drafted in round 5 and 6 are not expected to be much more than special teams fodder for a few years. If they fail it warrants a shrug. Fair, Westbrook, and Bradley were monstrously more damaging.

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Whew. You missed possibly the Eagles biggest bust ever. LT Kevin Allen (9th overall 1985). Played one season after which Buddy Ryan said: he was a good player "if you want someone to stand around and kill the grass." He then tested positive for Cocaine and went to jail for sexual assault, then was banned from the NFL.

The Ram | 02/19/08, 09:42 PM

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NMI Tourney 2 Round 2: NFL team that has drafted the biggest busts (pick an entire offense/defense or both for any franchise comprised of draft busts)

Oso's back-Sort of beat The Ram 25 to 24

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