The NFL Draft is the one event of the year when every single team is on the same level. While anything can happen in the NFL, Week 1 still feels like there's a much different for the teams at the top versus the bottom, even if there are some upsets. Even teams with no first-round pick can feel excitement about the players they do draft.
However, revisionist history is always scary in this exercise. Every team can find a pick that haunts them. The Detroit Lions took Charles Rogers one spot ahead of Hall of Famer Andre Johnson. The Oakland Raiders took Napolean Harris in 2002 when Ed Reed went one pick later. Heck, even great organizations make mistakes. The Eagles took Mychal Kendricks right before Bobby Wagner.
Yet, nothing stings like taking the wrong quarterback. The mistake can put a team back decades. Don't believe us? Some of the biggest draft mistakes caused teams to sink into the dirt. Which ones are teams still feeling to this day?
25. Todd Blackledge
1983 NFL Draft
7th overall pick
We wanted to keep one historic pick, and this one has a lot of reason to be here. The 1983 NFL Draft is considered the best of all time. There are three Hall of Famers at the quarterback position alone (with eight Hall of Famers overall, including Darrell Green and Eric Dickerson). The quarterbacks are what stand out.
The first-overall pick is considered the greatest quarterback prospect in NFL history, John Elway. He ended up winning two Super Bowls in Denver (although it took FOREVER). Dan Marino put up insane numbers before that became a normal thing. Jim Kelly took the Buffalo Bills to Super Bowl after Super Bowl. Before Kelly and Marino, the Kansas City Chiefs took Tood Blackledge.
While many point to Ken O'Brien as the bust of this draft, he actually had a decent career. He just wasn't Dan Marino. Blackledge was actually surprised he went ahead of Marino, which is not what you want to hear from your new franchise QB. Blackledge started just 29 games in his career, and he never played 16 games in his career.
The Chiefs didn't take another quarterback in the first round until they took Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 NFL Draft. Blackledge would be higher on the list, but it turns out Mahomes was worth the wait.
24. Giovanni Carmazzi
2000 NFL Draft
65th overall pick
This one is deep in the draft and it's a draft that is 25 years ago. However, the San Francisco 49ers had a chance to draft the best player of all time, who just happened to be a local stud who grew up rooting for those legendary 49ers teams. The 49ers drafted Giovanni Carmazzi out of Hofstra over Tom freaking Brady.
Carmazzi was a massive disappointment for the 49ers, and he didn't even last his first contract before he was back on the street. A nerve condition cropped up in his first preseason, and it ruined his arm strength. He struggled from the jump, and Carmazzi was actually sent to NFL Europe to develop.
It never worked, and he was out of the league two years after he was drafted. The reason the 49ers drafted Carmazzi was because of his intelligence, but that doesn't do much when the player does have the talent.
Meanwhile, Brady is the most dominant athlete in this generation. He stayed with the Patriots for close to two decades. Imagine all the times the 49ers could have used Brady over the past two decades. The years they watched Tim Rattay, J.T. O'Sullivan, Troy Smith, or Blaine Gabbert could have never happened if Brady was just there instead.
23. Malik Willis
2022 NFL Draft
86th overall pick
Malik Willis isn't the worst quarterback, but he looked like he might be when he was playing for the Tennessee Titans. Some actually considered him a possible first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he fell to the third round. Most thought the Titans had a possible steal on their hands. The only stealing happening was Willis on game day.
Whether it was a lack of trust from the coaching staff or his pure inability, but Willis was given sometimes as few as 10 pass attempts in full starts. He would often throw for fewer than 100 yards in a game. It was a rough stretch, one of the worst we've seen in a long time.
Willis working out like he did now has the Titans with the first-overall pick in the NFL Draft. It might not seem like it, but the Willis pick was just three years ago. And they picked ANOTHER quarterback with even more hype that turned out even worse.
The Titans traded Willis to the Green Bay Packers, and he automatically looked like a much better player. He even won some games coming in for Jordan Love this past season. Still, we don't expect much from Willis's career, and this pick was not worth it.
22. Dwayne Haskins
2019 NFL Draft
15th overall pick
Prior to last season, this pick would have been much higher. However, with the Washington Commanders now employing the best young quarterback in the league in Jayden Daniels, those nightmares are just about over inside RFK Stadium. Still, we have to acknowledge how bad this went, even if it eventually led to a better era in the nation’s capital.
Haskins was taken with the 15th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He came out of Ohio State, which is starting to get a reputation for producing bad first-round quarterbacks. Haskins was a flawed prospect, playing just one college season before joining the league. That one season was insane, with 4,831 yards passing and 50! touchdowns.
Haskins had trouble following COVID-19 protocols in 2020, and he became a massive headache for head coach Ron Rivera. On top of that, he was terrible on the field. He wasn’t following mandates and was throwing too many interceptions. That’s a recipe for disaster, and Haskins was gone before the end of his second season in Washington.
That’s an epic disaster for a 15th-overall pick. He went to Pittsburgh and was able to change his mindset under Mike Tomlin, but he unfortunately passed away after he was struck by a car while training in Fort Lauderdale. This was just six years ago, and Washington just recovered last year thanks to getting the second-overall pick.
21. Drew Lock
2019 NFL Draft
42nd overall pick
Every year, there’s a second-round pick that teams talk themselves into. For every Jalen Hurts that works out in spades, there are 10 Drew Locks. Lock was drafted in the same draft as Haskins, and we’re not done talking about the 2019 NFL Draft after this pick. This is a draft that’s second best quarterback is sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew.
The early returns on Lock were great. After he returned from a thumb injury in November of his rookie season, he was immediately named the starter. He looked great down the stretch, and he was named the starter for the 2020 season. His development stalled, as did many players in that COVID season, and he lost his starting job going into next season.
Lock was then traded to the Seattle Seahawks in the Russell Wilson trade, which gives the Broncos way more nightmares than this pick ever could. Should we consider that nightmare within this draft pick? If they never drafted Lock, would they have traded for Wilson? If they instead traded for Ryan Tannehill instead of Joe Flacco and drafted Lock, would life be different?
The Broncos are in a better situation with Bo Nix under center, but it was a rough ride. They wasted basically every season between 2019 and 2023, prompting them to draft Nix in the first place.
20. Robert Griffin III
2012 NFL Draft
2nd overall pick
This can be similar to Dwayne Haskins, as the Washington franchise is no longer suffering nightmares with Jayden Daniels under center, but the mishandling of Robert Griffin III will always give this franchise a black mark on their permanent record. They literally took one of the greatest players of our generation away because they rushed him back from a knee injury that was already mishandled in the playoffs.
There was a disconnect between head coach Mike Shanahan and RGIII. He clearly had a bias against his quarterback, and that just can’t work. It always seemed like he’d rather play Kirk Cousins. Our eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing with Griffin being by far the most exciting player in the league. This was as if Randy Moss or Barry Sanders played quarterback.
Today, Griffin is 35 years old. There is a universe where RGIII is still slinging the ball for Washington, and that is one of the greatest What Ifs in the history of the league. If Griffin stayed even remotely healthy over the first five years of his career, he might be a Hall of Famer. Instead, he’s a cautionary tale.
Like with Haskins, Washington is in a better position today thanks to Daniels. However, they had the guy 13 years ago who was just as exciting. They could have avoided more than a decade of mediocrity or worse if they just handled Griffin correctly.
19. Johnny Manziel
2014 NFL Draft
22nd overall pick
Ah, the Cleveland Browns. How many times have they picked the wrong quarterback? Since 1999, they’ve selected Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Baker Mayfield, and they sent three first-round picks to the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson. All of those were ill-fated decisions, but the one that hurts the most is losing on Johnny Manziel.
Johnny Football was the most exciting college football player of this generation. He had some issues coming into the league, including allegations of partying too much and his relationship with money, had some teams take him off their board entirely. When the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones took Zack Martin, a guard of all positions, over Manziel to keep him in Texas, red flags went up.
Red flags usually come with a green light in Cleveland. There’s the hilarious story of the unhoused person who gave Browns owner advice to take Maziel, and that came down to the GM getting pressured to take him.
There was something here. Manziel was obviously as talented as any quarterback in college football. He was small compared to his colleagues, so he needed to always play above his talent. Unfortunately, he could never bring it all together, and he only played two seasons in the league.
18. Jimmy Garoppolo
2014 NFL Draft
62nd overall pick
Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t a bust in the traditional sense. He’s had a fine career for a late-second-round pick. The New England Patriots even upgraded from the pick they selected him with, getting a 2018 second-round pick for him years after taking him in the first place.
The Patriots were deep into their contention window, and they had the greatest quarterback of all time under center playing at the peak of his powers despite his advancing age. Pushing Tom Brady out the door with a second-round pick wasn’t the smartest move, even if some will commend Bill Belichick for setting their team up for the future. Still, the Patriots needed more and could have won more championships.
If the Patriots just took Jarvis Landry instead of Garoppolo, Brady might have retired in New England. The end of his time with Belichick was sour to say the least, and the Garoppolo pick was where that all began.
And at the end of all of this, the Patriots traded the pick and the ensuing return several times, eventually landing on a 2019 second-round pick that was 45th overall. They used that to select Joejuan Williams, a cornerback who lasted just three seasons in New England and started one game. Not a lot of return for all the drama this caused.
17. Tim Tebow
2010 NFL Draft
25th overall pick
Tim Tebow hit the league like a ton of bricks. There have not been many players who have been covered with the vigor that Tim Tebow brought every week. For a player that was as flawed as the former University of Florida superstar was, he sure did lead Sportscenter a lot. Tebow was a content machine, and Denver was the center of the NFL universe when he was on the field.
He was even pretty good in his first season as starter. Despite his flaws, he was winning games. Yes, he had a great defense, but he was doing just enough offensively to survive and advance. He even beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in the 2011-12 playoffs. It seemed like Tebow was going to be an unconventional starter that teams had to jack up the game plan to prepare for.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, he failed to develop in future years, but they did get lucky with Peyton Manning falling in their laps. Tebow fans couldn’t really argue with the situation, as Tebow was at the bottom of the league among starters in completion percentage in 2012.
Because of Manning, the Broncos immediately recovered from the Tebow selection, but the unwarranted attention and the new fans who came and went with Tebow made this an unnecessary headache.
16. Marcus Mariota
2015 NFL Draft
2nd overall pick
Marcus Mariota is still milling around the league to this day. He’s a fine backup who can have the occasional start, but he came out of the University of Oregon with great hope. The former second-overall pick was incredible in college, and those skills felt transferable to the professional game.
It just never worked. Mariota couldn’t stay healthy, failing to start all 16 games in any of his five seasons in Tennessee. After a promising second year in the league, Mariota’s numbers tanked in his third season. It almost went under the radar because he helped Tennessee win nine games, but the drop in production and his propensity for throwing interceptions did not go unnoticed.
In his fourth season, he stopped taking chances entirely, and his game changed. He was no longer this talent that defenses had to prepare for. He was playing like a backup quarterback, and that’s what he became.
The Titans didn’t want to head back to the draft after this pick failed, so they went with a trade for Ryan Tannehill. He was able to get much more out of this roster than Mariota ever could.
15. Josh Rosen
2018 NFL Draft
10th overall pick
There are some quarterbacks who were pretty good but victims of circumstance. That happened to Ken O’Brien, who was a decent quarterback for the New York Jets, but he happened to be taken ahead of Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL Draft. He wasn’t even close to the first QB taken, but because he’s not Marino, and Marino tortured the Jets while playing for Miami, he becomes a notorious bust.
Josh Rosen is a different story. He was a member of the legendary 2018 NFL Draft, going 10th overall to the Arizona Cardinals. He was taken two picks after reigning MVP Josh Allen and 22 picks ahead of multi-time MVP winner Lamar Jackson. This is a pick that went in the tank almost immediately.
The Cardinals moved on from Rosen, who again was the 10th overall pick, after just one season. He brought them to the number-one overall pick, and the Cardinals kicked him to the curb so they could take Kyler Murray. It was a smart move. Murray is still the Cardinals’ quarterback to this day, and Rosen is out of the league.
Rosen was given a shot with six different franchises after leaving the Cardinals, but he never lasted more than a year with any of them. Something was just off about his approach. Now, imagine what the Cardinals could have done if they didn’t take Rosen. Eight of the next 10 picks in the draft became Pro Bowlers, including Minkah Fitzpatrick, Vita Vea, Derwin James, and Jaire Alexander.
14. Sam Darnold
2018 NFL Draft
3rd overall pick
Sam Darnold could be the top pick on this list in other circumstances, but we’ll get to why he’s not later. He’s had a career resurgence in the last 12 months, going from notorious bust to surprise renaissance. While he just signed a big contract with the Seattle Seahawks, his first journey in the NFL was to save the New York Jets.
Well, we all know how that turned out. Danold was haunted in New Jersey, and the end of his tenure came when he was caught on a live mic telling his coaches that he was “seeing ghosts” against the New England Patriots. While he still played after that, there was no coming back from saying that on Monday Night Football.
Darnold was traded to the Carolina Panthers, where he once again struggled. He wasn’t able to recover from the start of his career until he played under Kyle Shanahan then got an opportunity the next year in Minnesota. Now, he’s finally a starting QB, and he ironically replaces Geno Smith in Seattle, who is also a recovering Jet.
This seemed like a no brainer for the Jets in 2018, but he just never turned into the player he was at USC. In a perfect world, he’d be the Jets quarterback for another 10 years, but for Darnold, this world has been anything but perfect.
13. Blake Bortles
2014 NFL Draft
3rd overall pick
There were a lot of interesting quarterbacks in the 2014 NFL Draft. We already mentioned Johnny Manziel, who was easily the headliner and brought the most eyes to the league. He dominated college football, which isn’t what we would say about Blake Bortles. He played for the University of Central Florida before that school became a household name. So when the Jacksonville Jaguars took him third overall, it shocked the football world.
At first, this looked like a slam dunk. Many of the other QBs in the draft were struggling, and Bortles was putting up video game numbers for the Jaguars, even in losing efforts. He was doing it with nobody around him. When the Jaguars finally put something around him, he almost took them to the Super Bowl.
Let’s talk about that for a second. Bortles would be looked at so differently if they said Myles Jack wasn’t down. He would be a Super Bowl starter. Instead, he had to fight for his spot again.
Bortles issues came to a head that next season, and the Jaguars knew he was more bad than good at this point. He was throwing way too many interceptions. While his other numbers were still good, the Jaguars decided to go forward with Nick Foles as their QB. Bortles failing has the Jaguars still in purgatory to this day.
12. Will Levis
2023 NFL Draft
33rd overall pick
Sometimes a player drops in the draft because of circumstance, but other times, there’s a good reason they are falling. We’re starting to learn why Will Levis isn’t actually a first-round quarterback. It’s because he wasn’t good enough to be a first-round quarterback, and it’s the reason why the Tennessee Titans are picking first overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, likely taking another quarterback.
Levis showed signs of promise early in his career. Replacing Ryan Tannehill in 2023, Levis has some big numbers in losing efforts. He was making the best of a bad situation. His numbers gave some confidence that he could lead the Titans to compete in the weak AFC South.
Yeah, that didn’t happen. In 2024, Levis was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, and he ended up losing his job to Mason Rudolph. His game sense was non-existent at times, as he’d make ill-timed throws that would literally lose games for Tennessee. The Titans needed a quarterback who made perfect decisions with the offense they built around Levis. He did the opposite.
Who knows what the future holds for Levis. However, him falling to the Titans was actually a problem in disguise. It wasn’t a blessing to get him, as now they have to figure out what to do with him when they take Cam Ward.
11. Brock Osweiler
2012 NFL Draft
57th overall pick
We just recently talked about Tim Tebow, who saw his opportunity with the league disappear thanks to Peyton Manning. Here, we get the quarterback who almost took Manning’s final opportunity with the Broncos. Denver felt they had the future of the position in Brock Osweiler. He was built like a QB in the NFL, and he showed promise from time to time. He was also in the Broncos system for four years when he finally got his first opportunity.
Osweiler took over for Manning in a November game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning threw four interceptions and posted a 0.0 QB rating. The Broncos clearly had a championship-level defense, and first-year head coach Gary Kubiak had a hard decision to make. He kept starting Osweiler to see what he had in the kid.
In a cruel twist of fate, Osweiler suffered an injury in Week 17 and lost his job back to Manning, who led the Broncos to a Super Bowl championship. That offseason, Manning retired and Osweiler left for the Houston Texans. That started a very bad trend for the Broncos.
Denver traded up to get Paxton Lynch, who could very well be on this list, but it was Osweiler spurning the Broncos in free agency and taking the money that left Denver in a bad way. This move eventually led to the Lynch drafting, the Trevor Siemian era, the Joe Flacco trade, the Russell Wilson trade, and the Drew Lock pick, and more quarterback turmoil in the Mile High City.
10. Jameis Winston
2015 NFL Draft
1st overall pick
Covering the Jameis Winston Tampa Bay Buccaneers was a roller coaster. From start to finish, it was a wild ride. But it wasn’t the type of roller coaster that has you understanding the meaning of life and asking to get back in line. No, this is more like the roller coaster you see at a traveling carnival that was put together by a questionable “contractor” who knows they'll be in the next town before the lawsuit hits.
Winston had these highs that made it seem like he was worth the first-overall pick, but he could never get the Bucs into the playoffs. There was a ceiling to what he was doing. Even when he was at his best, his worst wasn’t too far behind.
In 2019, Winston had more than 5,100 yards on the season and his first 30-touchdown season. You can count on one hand the quarterbacks who have thrown more yards in a season than Winston did in 2019. That should have been his breakout. Unfortunately, he also threw 30 interceptions. There is one player since the turn of the century who has thrown 30 interceptions, and that’s Winston.
The Bucs got out of the Winston business that offseason, letting him go to free agency. They ended up signing Tom Brady that offseason and immediately won a Super Bowl. So, that’s not so bad, but they are still technically paying for that failed pick today. Baker Mayfield is a decent quarterback and a former first overall himself, but they are just under the rung of top flight quarterbacks because Winston didn’t work out.
9. Mac Jones
2021 NFL Draft
15th overall pick
It’s a tall task to ask someone to succeed Tom Brady in New England. However, someone who survived running an offense under Nick Saban should be able to do it. There were Tom Brady-like factors to Mac Jones. Well, at least 2000 Tom Brady. He had an incredibly high IQ on the field. He seemed to be fine making the simple but effective play. If the Patriots were surviving, then it was a positive experience.
Then, the bottom dropped out. Jones went from making the playoffs in his first season and pushing a legendary Ja’Marr Chase rookie season for Offensive Rookie of the Year honors to being the problem in New England. All of a sudden, the Patriots had a quarterback problem. Jones was easily frustrated, had trouble grasping the system (although, to be fair, it was a Matt Patricia system), and he was making more mistakes than he did in his rookie season.
Things didn’t get better in year three, and the Patriots knew they had to draft a quarterback again. If they didn’t get Drake Maye, who looks like the true successor to Brady, this would be higher on the list. The future might be bright in New England, but it was dark with Jones under center.
8. Trey Lance
2021 NFL Draft
3rd overall pick
This one would arguably be the number one on this list if it weren’t for “Mr. Irrelevant” Brock Purdy. The San Francisco 49ers were saved by pure luck. Purdy, who had a great run at Iowa State, fell to the very end of the draft, and he ended up becoming a good quarterback. But what was supposed to happen was that Trey Lance was going to take over for Jimmy Garoppolo and run a Super Bowl-level roster.
Not only did the San Francisco 49ers use a third overall pick on Lance, but they sent the Miami Dolphins three first-round picks and a third-round pick to move up from 12 to three in the draft. The Dolphins used their extra picks to move up and draft Jaylen Waddle in a future year and acquire Bradley Chubb.
There were just too many people talking about how “special” Lance was in his rookie year before we ever saw him take a real snap. It just started to feel performative when a story like this came out every week. When Jimmy G got hurt, everyone those Lance would take it up a notch.
For as talented as Lance was, there was a disconnect with his game. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong, but there were issues with him reading defenses, and he kept getting injuries that took him off the field. Eventually, the 49ers cut their losses and traded Lance to the Dallas Cowboys at a huge loss. If Lance worked out, the 49ers would have another Super Bowl at this point.
7. Kenny Pickett
2022 NFL Draft
20th overall pick
The Pittsburgh Steelers started Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last season. It was messy. Today, they are starting… Mason Rudolph??? That’s who is currently listed as QB1 prior to the NFL Draft. We can’t imagine that’s who they start the season with. Whether they sign Aaron Rodgers or draft someone, the situation in Pittsburgh is dire.
And all that is because the local kid didn’t work out. It seemed like fate that the best quarterback of the 2022 NFL Draft who happened to dominate at the University of Pittsburgh fell to the Steelers at 20th overall. The city was celebrating. They finally got the guy to replace Ben Roethlisberger.
Whoops. Pickett was bad for his entire Steelers’ tenure. He had a “decent for a rookie” first season, but he was dreadful in his sophomore campaign. Pickett was dreadful, and the Steelers sent him to Philadelphia because he felt bad that the Steelers signed Russell Wilson. It was clear they had a player who wasn’t able to handle Pittsburgh on a professional level.
Pickett is now on his third franchise in four years. We’ve seen this script before. It doesn’t tend to turn into a successful career. For every Sam Darnold, there are 10 Josh Rosens. Pickett seems destined to be the latter.
6. Anthony Richardson
2023 NFL Draft
4th overall pick
The Indianapolis Colts are in a bad way. It really seems like they are staring a rebuild in the face. They have an aging roster, with their stars starting to his the wrong end of the curve. They still have superstar running back Jonathan Taylor, but he’s watching players like Jahmyr Gibbs and Kyren Williams overtake his throne, and Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry are turning back the clock. That’s why it made sense at the time to take a chance on the talent of Anthony Richardson.
Unfortunately, we just didn’t see enough in college to warrant the fourth-overall pick. After showcasing his incredible talent in the first few games of his rookie season, Richardson suffered a shoulder injury that ended that campaign. He returned as one of the most exciting young players in the league, but that never turned into good play on the field.
Richardson was dreadful last season, and it pushed the Colts to pay Daniel Jones $14 million this season just to come in and provide competition for Richardson. That doesn’t seem like a “competition” salary. Also, are we sure we want to be signing Daniel Jones in 2025?
It seems like the Colts are close to tapping themselves out of their Richardson relationship. There’s a nonzero chance they just cut him in training camp if he hasn’t shown immense development. And this could be the reason the Colts go through a full rebuild. Well, that and…
5. Andrew Luck
2012 NFL Draft
1st overall pick
Nobody thought we’d ever be here with Andrew Luck. He was supposed to be the next great player at his position. In many people’s minds, there was nothing that could stop him from being a top-five quarterback of all time. Luck was going to be the next big thing in NFL football. Some even said he was better than John Elway as a QB prospect.
The early returns were robust. He made three straight Pro Bowls to start his career. He led the league in touchdowns with 40 in 2014. His numbers were crazy like all the top QBs in the league, but in 2015, the injuries started to pile up.
We all know how this ended. Luck missed all of the 2017 season with injuries. He got through the 2018 season, even winning the Comeback Player of the Year award, but that wasn’t enough to keep him moving forward. Luck was in training camp in 2019 and looked like he’d be ready to go. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Luck retired.
The decision shocked football. Luck was walking away from the sport and 10s of millions of dollars at the age of 29. Six years later, and the Colts are still recovering. The entire organization is being questioned after years as a top-flight front office, and it’s all because of how they have rebuilt post-Luck. While Luck isn’t a bust, him leaving so early in his career left the Colts scrambling and still impacts them to this day.
4. JaMarcus Russell
2007 NFL Draft
1st overall pick
It’s been almost 20 years since the then-Oakland Raiders drafted JaMarcus Russell with the first overall pick in the draft. It’s famously known as the worst draft pick of all time. There’s no real competition. The Raiders thought that Russell was their savior. He was an anchor to a sinking ship.
The Raiders thought they were going to quickly get back to contention in 2007. They hired 31-year-old Lane Kiffin to be the head coach. They signed Daunte Culpepper to help lead Russell and revive his career after a disastrous run with Miami. There was a reason to be hopeful, even after they traded Randy Moss to New England for a handful of nickels (or a fourth-round pick).
They made big moves in 2008 to build around Russell, drafting Darren McFadden with the fourth pick, signing Javon Walker to give him a number-one wide receiver, and trading for DeAngelo Hall to solidify the secondary. It didn’t work because the quarterback wasn’t good.
That next offseason was swirled with rumors of Russell’s weight, which some say ballooned to 300 lbs. The Raiders wanted nothing to do with it and cut him in May. To this day, the Raiders are still looking for their quarterback of the future. They have Geno Smith, which is good for now, but the position is still not on solid ground.
3. Mitchell Trubisky
2017 NFL Draft
2nd overall pick
There are a few examples on this list of teams who drafted someone in front of an all-time great, but this one feels like the worst. Maybe it’s because it happened so recently, and Patrick Mahomes is actually building his resume as one of the best ever in front of our eyes, but the Mitchell Trubisky draft pick is getting worse by the week. The Chicago Bears have selected two quarterbacks in the first round since they took Trubisky with the second pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, but this is the one pick haunting them.
Mahomes is insane. Nothing more needs to be said there. The way the Bears handled the situation was pretty insane. They traded with the 49ers to move up one pick to take Trubisky, sending them two third-round picks and a fourth-round pick. It was one pick, even if it was second overall, and nobody thought the 49ers would take a QB at the time.
The Bears under Trubisky were bad. He had some flashes, especially in his second year when he won 11 games and made a Pro Bowl, but he seemingly got worse every year. This is way more about who the Bears didn’t get than it is about who they did get, but we have to acknowledge that the Bears gave up on their guy after just four seasons.
2. Daniel Jones
2019 NFL Draft
6th overall pick
And we’re back to Daniel Jones. Mr. $14 million put the Giants in a bad way. Here’s the biggest problem with Daniel Jones: he’s just good enough to talk yourself into another season. Unfortunately, the way quarterback contracts work, you can’t pay for just one season. The Giants are literally paying for Jones this season, incurring a $22+ million charge on the salary cap since he’s not on the roster.
It’s also put the Giants in a very bad way. New York/New Jersey is going into training camp with Jameis Winston, Tommy DeVito, and Russell Wilson as their quarterbacks. That’s… something. If Jones was just normally bad like most busts, the Giants could have moved on years ago.
Now, the Giants not only have a dreadful quarterback room, possibly the worst in the NFL, but they now have a lame duck head coach and general manager. Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen seem to be playing to avoid the unemployment line this season, and there doesn’t seem to be anything they can do to avoid it.
Jones really hurt the Giants in the short and long term. On top of that, the Giants don’t even know if they want to draft a quarterbacks this season. Maybe they know what they are and they want to tank for Arch Manning.
1. Zach Wilson
2021 NFL Draft
2nd overall pick
There is no more painful situation than the one facing the New York Jets. They had this fantastic roster, one of the best in the league, but they didn’t have the quarterback who could take advantage of it. Garrett Wilson was doing his best to make the most out of his situation and still make big plays. The defense was full of stars. This was a team that just needed a player to perform under center. They didn’t need a superstar. It would have been nice, but it’s not what they needed.
When the Jets took Wilson with the second-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, many thought his floor would be a really good quarterback and his ceiling was beyond reproach. He had Hall of Fame potential in the eyes of some draft analysts. There was no overreaction to how good he could be.
He was AWFUL. Zach Wilson was downgraded on multiple occasions, seeing the bench in favor of guys like Mike White, Joe Flacco, Chris Streveler, Tim Boyle, and Trevor Siemian. They aren’t examples of being replaced by a four-time MVP. Wilson was just worse than so many bad quarterbacks.
Wilson is in Miami now, but the reputation and the expectations are basically nil. His career is kind of done, at least as a starting quarterback. The Jets are in shambles and took a big chance on Justin Fields this offseason. Confidence is low for Gang Green.