No, Burrier was not the league's worst draft pick, but he certainly was involved with it.
Today, we have the top-20 worst draft day flops. Who’s to say what a bad pick is? Actually, I am. A bad pick is an early pick, usually in the first round, but could be second round, if the pick was really bad, that really could have, should have ruined a season. Missing from this group are bad keepers. That’s for another day, folks.
#20 – Molly Coomer picks Lawerence Maroney, RB – NE (2nd Round, 2008) Molly should have seen it coming. Maroney had two seasons under his build and there were more nagging injuries than yards in his short career. Yet, Molly threw away a second-round pick to grab the unproven Patriot. Not a good move. Maroney crushed her soul. He played in only three games, getting 28 carries for 93 yards. Thank God she took rookie Matt Forte in the sixth round to ease her pain.
#19 – Bob Castrone picks Kevin Jones, RB – DET (1st Round, 2005) Kevin Jones was ready to be a star, coming off a season that saw the rookie produce 1,300 total yards and six touchdowns. Too bad he was a freshman fraud. He didn’t crack 800 yards in his second season, failing to match his rookie TD total. He finished the season as the 34th best back and Bob finished last in the league. The 1,300 yards as a rookie would be the most he would ever get in a single season. Sad.
#18 – Matt Neatock picks Chad Johnson, WR – CIN (1st Round, 2008) In 2007, Matt won the title thanks to Randy Moss and his record setting season, so you couldn’t blame him for passing on a running back and going after a star receiver again. The last time Chad Johnson failed to hit 1,100 yards receiving, it was his rookie year in 2001. However, in 2008, his attitude sucked and his body failed him. He played in only ten games, producing a pathetic 540 yards in those games. Matt was force to bench him early, becoming just a high priced pine sitter. He finished the season ranked 51st among all receivers.
#17 – Rob Masterson picks Ahman Green, RB – GB (2nd Round, 2005) For whatever reason, when I think of Masterson and 2005, I think of that song, America Pie, by Don McLean. It was October 2005, when Rob Masterson’s fantasy football life (in Robioland) died. You see, Rob had a good team that year, but injury after injury after injury ended it all. First, he lost Javon Walker, the second best WR the year before, after only one game (four catches, 27 yards). Yet, a injured receiver isn’t going to ruin a season. However, losing a RB can do some damage. Losing two can kill ya, but let’s focus on the first. Ahman Green was coming off a 1,400-yard season. There was no reason why he wouldn’t produce a sixth-straight 1,000-yard season. Too bad for Masterson a bum knee killed Green after five games. Let’s just say his season total of 255 yards didn’t do it for Rob. Two games later, Rob would lose first-round keeper (Holmes) and just like that, three all-star players were gone. Rob’s promising 5-2 season would collapse. He would not win again that season, finishing 5-8.
#16 – Rob Masterson picks Marvin Harrison, WR – IND (1st Round, 2007) It’s Rob again. Marvin was getting old, the numbers showed it. For the first half of the decade, Harrison caught 100 per season for over 1,500 yards. Yet, over the last four years his numbers dropped to about 85 catches and 1,100-12,00 yards, which kept him in the top-eight category. In fact, 2006 seem like a mini-rebirth, as Harrison finished as the No 1 receiver. So when the 2007 draft finally came around, Rob had a tough choice to make with his late pick in the first round. He already had a stud RB in the 5th round with Addai, to go along with a stud WR in the 9th (Edwards). Rob could get another RB or grab a stud receiver. Rob went stud. Too bad this stud needed to be taken out back and shot. Harrison had his worse year ever, playing in only five games (20/247/1), finishing 102nd among receivers.
#15 – Molly Coomer picks Stephan Davis, RB – WAS (2nd Round, 2004) Between 2001-2003, Stephen Davis was one of the best backs in football, producing three-straight 1,500 total yard seasons, so when Molly landed the Panthers back early in the second round, it looked like a shocking steal. It wasn’t. Davis lasted a stunning two games; rushing for 92 yards. Losing Davis hurt, as Molly began the season 0-5 and 2-8. Ironically, after two more Panthers running backs went down for the year (Foster and Hoover), Molly traded late for Nick Goings and rallied to win her final four. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to get that final playoff seed.
#14 – Griff Coomer picks Cedric Benson, RB – CHI (1st Round, 2007) The 2007 draft was a particularly rough draft, as Benson is the second of four players to land on this list. Now when you get a flop, you usually get three kinds; a veteran player who runs out of gas, a stud who gets injured, and then you have Benson, a young, unproven stud that doesn’t live up to the pre-season predictions. With Thomas Jones gone, Benson (a former first-round pick) was ready to show off his skills. The season before he produced over 700 total yards as a backup. Sadly for Griff though, it STILL wasn’t Benson’s time to shine. He gained only 27 more yards rushing as a full-time starter, ending his season short after 11 weeks. Griff only won four games for the season, missing the post-season for only the second time in his career.
#13 – Rich Calderon picks Rudi Johnson, RB – CIN (1st Round, 2007) We got back-to-back 2007 draft picks. Over the three previous years prior to the 2007 draft, few players were as consistent as Rudi. He produced three-straight 1,400-yard rushing seasons. Heading into 2007, Rudi was only 27 years old, ready to roll in his prime. However, anyone who could do a little math could count and see that Johnson had carried the ball a lot; in fact, he had carried the ball 1,039 times during the last three seasons. This might explain why Rudi’s body gave out on him. He had his worst season since 2002, starting in only nine games, failing to rush for 500 yards.
#12 – Rick Mullin picks David Boston, WR – ARI (2nd Round, 2002) The big receiver from Ohio State was getting better and better. After a 40/473 rookie campaign, Boston broke out his sophomore season with 71/1,185. Yet, that was nothing. In season three out in the desert, David Boston had one of the best seasons ever by a receiver, with 98 catches for 1,598 yards. Those kind of numbers even made Randy Moss blush. Yet, this was the era of the RB and even great receivers didn’t go in the first round. So Boston fell to deep in the second-round and looked like a beautiful steal. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize Boston’s 2001 season would be his peak and 2002 would be the beginning of a long end. Boston would play in only eight games that season, finishing with 32/512 with one TD. However, even when he was in, his stats were down. A year after producing 220ppg, he was producing 134ppg. For the record, Boston would only play in 19 more games in his career.
#11 – Matt Neatock picks Torry Holt, WR – STL (12th Round, 2006) Come on, Matt! Pay attention. How could you really think one of the best receivers of the decade could still be available in the 12th round? How? As we all know, Holt was the third receiver taken in the draft, by Rich Calderon. While the attempted draft pick wasn’t directly responsible for a Matt’s 3-10 season, it’s not hard to see some sort of relation of the two.
#10 – Bob Castrone picks Willie Parker, RB – PIT (1st Round, 2008) In 2008, it was the first time in a long while I hadn’t done a mock draft and it certainly showed early on. In my secret mock I did, I had Parker lasting to the fourth-round. Instead, Bob reached for him in the first, not bothered by the rumors of Parker’s health and the other backs Pittsburgh brought in the share carries. At first, it looked like I was wrong and Bob was right. Parker stormed out, rushing for 243 yards and three touchdowns in the first two games. However, that would be the highlight. Injuries would derail Fast Willie’s season, producing only one more 100-yard game (week 11 against San Diego). He finished 41st among backs, officially becoming a first-round bust…yet, he wasn’t the worse one in 2008. More on that later.
#9 – Eric Vozzola picks Shaun Alexander, RB – SEA (1st Round, 2007) It’s a dreadful feeling…sitting there, early in the first round, with so many stud backs gone already because of keepers, knowing you’re not going to pick again until deep in the second-round, and the best option is a former great running back, coming off the season he fell off the tracks. It’s decision time. Was Alexander’s 896 rushing yards a fluke? He was just injured, right? Just two years ago he won the rushing title with 1,880 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns. It had to be a fluke. In reality, Eric didn’t have a lot of good options. He took Alexander, who couldn’t even muster the same 896 yards he had the year before. The second pick in the draft produced 716 yards with a 3.5ypr average. Ironically though, Eric had his best season, making the post-season for the first time ever.
#8 – Don Vozzola picks Kurt Warner, QB – STL (1st Round, 2002) Kurt Warner ran the greatest show on turf, dominating the league along side Marshall Faulk. Over the last three seasons, Warner had thrown for over 12,500 yards and 98 touchdowns. He was a man among boys. In Robioland, he had already led one team (Robio) to a championship, another team to a division title (Jimmy) and a third team to a respectable 8-6 record (Justin H.). This is why Don decided to change up the way we do drafts and use the second pick in the 2002 draft on a quarterback, instead of a running back. It actually made some sense, at the time. Too bad for him, it was the beginning of a bad five-year run for Warner. Like so many players on this list, injuries cut his season short, as Warner only touched the field in seven games. However, what was worse was not the damage he did when out of the lineup, but the damage he did while in the lineup. For those seven games, Warner was awful, producing only 1,400 yards, three touchdowns, 11 interceptions, plus a couple of fumbles just for fun. For Don though, it would almost start a new trend…when Don has a first-round bust, he actually does better during the season (he went 8-6, winning the division in 2002). Maybe he should just forfeit that first pick every year.
#7 – Don Vozzola picks Fred Taylor – JAC (1st Round, 2001) Yes, you should always be impressed with a player who was coming off a season where he produced 1,700 total yards. No shame in taking him in the first round, but Don should have known. Fred Taylor was the man who couldn’t stay healthy. In his first three seasons, he had missed time due to injury each year. Why torture yourself? Why do it? We’ll have to assume Don just likes a good spankin’ because that’s what Fred delivered to him. With his first pick ever in Robioland, Don took the former Gator, who played two games and was outta there, producing a total of 127 yards.
#6 – Matt Williams picks Titans Defense – TEN (2nd Round, 2001) This pick was so bad for so many different reason, it probably deserves a higher spot on this list. First, not only did Matt Williams (Robio’s former roommate and still good friend) take a defense with the first pick in the second round, earlier than anyone else in the history of the league (still to this date), but he actually traded up for him (with me). The Titans bombed big time, finishing the season as the 26th best defense. For the record, the next pick was Curtis Martin, the second best back. The player I took in Matt’s former spot? Marvin Harrison, a 2001 “All-Robio” receiver.
#5 – Eric Vozzola picks LaMont Jordan – OAK (1st Round, 2006) Some flops you can see coming, whether it’s declining stats, age, a new team, but sometimes, a flop comes out of nowhere to shock the world. LaMont Jordan was a year removed from his first season in Oakland. He produced 1,500 total yards and thirteen touchdowns, helping to lead Griff to the title in 2005. He did all that in only 14 games, so just imagine the stats if he played in all sixteen. If one player could end Eric’s five-year playoff draught, it would be Jordan. Too bad, Jordan instead became the league’s greatest one-hit wonder. With Eric, Jordan started only eight games, rushing for only 434 yards, which in reality was more the norm for him. In fact, in the three years after producing 1,588 yards, he produced just 1,667 total yards since.
#4 – Don Vozzola picks Marshall Faulk – STL (1st Round, 2004) It’s Don, yet again. Like I said, many of these picks weren’t really bad picks, just unlucky picks. However, in 2004, with the first pick in the draft, Don should have known. He really should have known. You see, Marshall Faulk was once the best backs in football, finishing three-straight seasons as the No 1 back. However, that last number one was three years earlier. The previous two, Faulk had finished the season as a mid-level No 2 back, failing to rush for 1,000 in either year (he finished 16th in 2002 and 18th in 2003). Granted, keepers were taking away a ton of talent, but as Don picked Faulk with the first pick, his son Eric took Rudi Johnson next (the 9th best back), while Jeff/ Colby landed the 9th best receiver (Harrison) with the 3rd pick. Faulk’s best days were long gone. He failed to crack 800 yards rushing, finishing the season 27th among running backs, the lowest ever for a top pick.
#3 – Eric Vozzola picks Eddie George, RB – TEN (1st Round, 2001) George was a stud; plain and simple. Since joining the league in 1996, he had produced over 1,400 total yards in each of his five seasons, with 2000 being the best of the bunch. He rushed for over 1,500, plus another 453 receiving yards. While there was serious talk about vaunting him over Edgerrin James and Marshall Faulk, George went to newcomer Eric with the third pick in the draft and proceeded to have one of the saddest seasons ever. You see, unlike so many other players on this list, who’s seasons were killed by injuries, George actually played and started in all 16 games that year, but for whatever reason, just looked old. He averaged a pathetic 3.0ppg, producing only 939 yards on 315 carries. He finished 21st and was eventually benched by rookie, Anthony Thomas, by Eric.
#2 – David Hightower picks Julius Jones – SEA (1st Round, 2008) Hey, we’re back to 2008 again and if you recall, Bob had just taken Willie Parker with the ninth pick in the first round. If I had done my mock draft, Bob would have known I had projected Parker lasting to the third or fourth round. With the next pick though, David made Bob’s pick look solid. He grabbed Julius Jones, a man I drafted in the ninth round in my other league. Laughter filled the draft room, but for about a month, it looked like Dave would get the last laugh. After a average first game where he produced 69 total yards, Jones went off in week two and three, producing 285 total yards and two touchdowns. Heading into JJ’s bye-week, it looked like Dave had gotten away with a first-round steal. Wrong. Jones would crumble, playing in 11 of the last 13 games, producing 417 total yards. That kind of bust is fine in the fifth or sixth round, but not the first.
#1 – Rich Burrier picks Anthony ‘A-Train’ Thomas, RB – CHI (3rd Round, 2004) Can it be, a third round pick is the worse pick ever? Yeah, this pick was that pathetic. Anthony “A-Train” Thomas was a exciting rookie in the NFL. In fact, he was rookie of the year for the Bears. After a rough 2002 season, Thomas bounced back with another 1,000 in 2003, but heading into 2004 the Bears brought in Thomas Jones to start. We knew it. The world knew it. Everyone knew it.
Rich Burrier was the defending champ, he apparently didn’t know. He should have known. For reasons only known to him, Burrier took the backup Bears’ running back with his third-round pick. It certainly was the league’s biggest WTF ever? There was no excuse. There was nothing Rich could say to justify the pick. He got cocky and wasn’t paying attention to the league. He still thought the A-Train was the legit back he was back in 2001. He wasn’t.
While Rich would still go on to have a successful season, maybe if he drafted a starting RB in the third, he wouldn’t have lost in the first-round of the playoffs; something that would become a trend for the remainder of the decade. For the record, Thomas produced 859 fantasy points, rushing for 404 yards for the season. But still, the worse pick for the decade? It was only a third-round pick. It’s simple. Most of the other picks on this list weren’t really bad decisions, but just risky picks that turned out bad. None of those people drafted backup running backs.
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