New Orleans Saints: 5 worst NFL Draft picks of all-time

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4 Nov 2001: Ricky Williams of the New Orleans Saints during the game against the New York Jets at Lousiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Jets beat the Saints 16-9. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Ronald Martinez/Allsport /

15. . Running Back. Texas Longhorns. Ricky Williams. 1. player

To be fair, Ricky Williams had a strong NFL career before hanging up the spikes in 2011 as a member of the Baltimore Ravens. The former Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Texas had an outstanding 2002 NFL season with the Miami Dolphins as a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro. He even finished his unorthodox NFL career as a member of the 10,000 rushing yards club with 10,009 career yards on the ground.

While Williams would have the bulk of his NFL success as a member of the Dolphins, his No. 5 overall selection by the New Orleans Saints was one of the worst front office decisions made in the last 25 years.

Then head coach Mike Ditka traded all of the Saints’ picks in the 1999 NFL Draft, with the exception of their second-round pick that already belonged to the then St. Louis Rams, as well as a first and third round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins to draft Williams No. 5 overall.

Williams may have been a fantastically talented running back, but seriously struggled with the pressure of being the face of a franchise. He and Ditka didn’t exactly mesh. Williams would sometimes only conduct interviews with the Saints press if he was wearing his helmet.

After three years with the Saints, Williams was traded to the Dolphins for four picks including two future first round picks. So in a way, the Saints were able to get something solid in return for Williams after sacrificing an entire draft to get him.

For a team that once drafted a kicker/punter in the first round, with the way that the NFL is becoming increasingly passing centric, it’s perhaps even crazier that a head coach would be allowed to trade his entire allotment of draft picks to trade up for a running back.

While Williams had tremendous potential coming out of Texas and for the most part did put together a strong career in the NFL with mostly the Dolphins, was he worth moving up from No. 12 to No. 5 for the Saints back in 1999? No player is worth eight draft picks.

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