Buffalo Bills worst draft choices.

[TigerJ]

3 hours ago, GymShorts84 said:

Torrell Troup one pick ahead of Gronk and Watkins over Khalil Mack hit the hardest. Mack might bother me more because how did the organization scouts not have a front row seat for two years?  I know Troup battled injury too, but these two guys would have been hometown heroes. 

Ironic that the reason teams shied away from Gronk was a history of back injuries.  Remember why Troup washed out of football?  It was his bad back.

[BuffaloBills1998]

8 minutes ago, BfloBillsFan said:

I think he was a McDermott guy, I can't remember if Beene or Whaley was GM at the time

I think it was still Whaley, cause if I remember correctly. Terry fired him right after the draft was over

[Bill from NYC]

5 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

Both Willis McGahee and Donte Whitner were both good players, both for the Bills and for other teams during their NFL careers, including Pro Bowl selections, so they hardly qualify for a list of "the worst players we ever drafted".  CJ Spiller also had a decent NFL career, so he doesn't belong on your list, either.  Moreover, Trent Edwards was a third round pick who wasn't even the worst third round QB the Bills ever drafted -- see Gary Marangi (1974) -- and even among the third rounders drafted since 1999/2000, there were some outright busts who never even saw the field.   

 

You need to have some valid criteria beside your personal dislike of a particular player.

You are 100% right, but they were horrible draft picks and a surprising number of posters here knew it from day 1.

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Bill from NYC

[CBD]

The big ones that come to mind when put into context of "when it was happening" are:

 

2009 - Maybin over Orakpo

2006 - Whitner over Ngata

and the trade up for McCargo, who was widely considered a 3rd round prospect; also 2006. 

 

All squarely during the Tom Modrak reign of terror. 

[cage]

4 hours ago, BuffaloBills1998 said:

With the draft coming up I wanted to know some of  your guys lists on the worst players we ever drafted here.

 

mine starts off with Aaron Maybin, Mike Williams, Willis McGahee, CJ spiller, JP Losman, Trent Edwards, Dante Whitner, Erik Flowers, James Hardy, and John McCargo, EJ Manuel etc

 

As a number of people stated, this list needs some criteria.  Not every bust means that the drafting process was flawed.  As some have pointed out Mike Williams was a consensus top 10 pick. Spiller and Whitner were clearly going in the 1st round.  Edwards and Hardy were picked in 3rd and 2nd and considered good choices at that point as was Zay Jones in the 2nd.  Both Hardy and Jones had strong college careers.

 

The really questionable ones in my mind were Maybin having only 1 good year and Orakpo still available.  Forecasting that they would pick a QB in a poor QB draft, essentially forcing the Manuel pick.  The did trade down before taking him, so they had their own doubts.  Trading up for McCargo.  The Flowers and Losman picks I can't comment on as much as I just can't recall the surrounding details.

[Chuck Schick]

Erik Flowers should probably win, just because it was obvious to EVERYONE he didn’t belong at that spot.   I’ll also add from that year Corey Moore out of Va Tech. Great college player, but again literally everyone knew it wouldn’t correlate to any kind of NFL success because of his size and speed.  

[st pete gogolak]

My personal favorite underrated draft choice is from the 1972 draft and no it’s not Walt Patulski.  With the first pick of the 3rd round 

Bills picked Walt’s Norte Dame running mate Fred Swenson.  But you say, “you can’t call a third round pick a monumental bust.  It’s a crapshoot at that point.”  Two things.  Back then only 26 teams were in existence so the first pick in the third round would be closer to a low second round pick today.  Second, SWENSON DIDN’T MAKE IT OUT OF TRAINING CAMP.  Cut before the season started.  That’s a bust.

[SoTier]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBills1998 said:

I’m sorry but I have to disagree with you regarding McGahee, he sucked when he was here and I couldn’t stand him. I thought It was the dumbest move to draft him in the first place especially after that gruesome knee injury he had. He was not worth a first round pick, we should’ve given Bledsoe more O line protection. We were fine with Travis Henry who I feel got screwed over by the Bills. 

 

Seriously?  McGahee didn't suck when he was in Buffalo.  Once again, you are confusing the fact that the Bills made a short-sighted personnel move in the 2003 draft with how the player actually performed.   McGahee didn't play in 2003 because of injury, but he ran for 1128 yards in 2004, for 1247 in 2005, and 990 in 2006 in only 14 games.  He  then went on to run for 1207 yards in 2007 for the Ravens and 1199 yards in 2011 for the Broncos.  He made the Pro Bowl in 2007 and 2011. 

 

I think that the Bills decided that they weren't going to re-sign Travis Henry, possibly because of his off-field issues, but more than likely because the Bills simply didn't re-sign their starting RBs after Polian left.  I think that Thurman Thomas, Fred Jackson, and Sean McCoy may have been the only ones to get a second contract/extension from the Bills in the last 25 years or so.

 

McGahee (2003) and Spiller (2010) were allowed to leave in FA.  Lynch (2007) was traded for a fourth round pick.   They were all first round picks, and McGahee and Lynch were top RBs in their day. 

 

1 hour ago, eball said:

All things considered Erik Flowers may have been the worst draft pick by the franchise, ever.  This was a pick made by a one-foot-out-the-door John Butler (RIP) and may really have been an F-U to Ralph.  Just a horrid pick.  All of the other 1st round busts were guys you could at least imagine a legitimate reason for drafting.

 

IIRC that draft was pretty bad all around.  I think that it may be rated as the worst or one of the very worst drafts since the merger -- by pundits who rate those things.

 

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

And he was a bad pick. Because we had Lynch and Fred. And not much at all at edge rusher or offensive tackle. There were good players on the board at both spots when we took another running back. 

 

I totally agree.  Trading away Lynch, along with the trade that sent Jason Peters to the Eagles, have to be among the stupidest moves ever made by the Bills, and were symptomatic of the mismanagement of the team under Russ Brandon.  Both Lynch and Peters went on to have All Pro careers with their new teams -- and likely will eventually end up in Canton.

 

20 minutes ago, BfloBillsFan said:

I think he was a McDermott guy, I can't remember if Beene or Whaley was GM at the time

 

McDermott ran the 2017 draft with Whaley as the figurehead GM until he was fired the day after the draft.

 

 

[cage]

This made me look up Erik Flowers and the 2000 draft.  We picked him 26th in the first round.  I'm staring at the rest of the first round and top half of the 2nd and the only player of note they could have had is Keith Bullock (LB).  Pretty thin draft from the looks of it so Flowers may have been the best they could do with what was available??

 

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=2000

[SoTier]

5 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

My personal favorite underrated draft choice is from the 1972 draft and no it’s not Walt Patulski.  With the first pick of the 3rd round 

Bills picked Walt’s Norte Dame running mate Fred Swenson.  But you say, “you can’t call a third round pick a monumental bust.  It’s a crapshoot at that point.”  Two things.  Back then only 26 teams were in existence so the first pick in the third round would be closer to a low second round pick today.  Second, SWENSON DIDN’T MAKE IT OUT OF TRAINING CAMP.  Cut before the season started.  That’s a bust.

 

That sort of makes Trent Edwards a Bills Drought Era "Pro Bowler".  ?

[Mickey]

Life these days is not depressing enough, by all means, lets pile on and indulge in this parade of horrors. 

 

What's next, a top ten list of super models who have never been in my kitchen?

How rich I would be if I bought shares in google 20 years ago instead of the used Blazer I just had to freaking have?

 

Serenity NOW!!!!!!!!

[MattM]

4 hours ago, First Round Bust said:

warning this may induce vomiting:

 

Walt Patulski - first pick of entire draft - at least he got traded for a #2 which turned out to be Joe Delvin who played well for us for years

 

more 70s misses

 

Phil Dokes -

the Nebraska twins (LBs Rudd and Nelson)

Tom Cousineau - never signed - went to CFL and Browns after crapping big-time on Buffalo

Rueben Gant - as in can't - TE

 

80s whiffs

Booker Moore - Guillen barre disease

Tony Hunter - TE from ND taken before Jim Kelly

Perry Tuttle - beware WRs from Clemson

 

90s super bowl misfit

 

Darryl Williams (and his flame ######ant jersey)

 

20th century busts

Erik Flowers - John Butler reach

Aaron Maybin

JP Losman - not just a number 1 but we traded more pick

Leo McKelvin (first cb taken in the entire draft)

Torrell Troupe (2nd rounder taken right before Gronk)

 

Love the early part of this list—so many memories come rushing back looking at it, but my favorite there has to be Reuben Gant, who my father dubbed “Stone Fingers” or “Stony” for short.  Just last week my Giants fan cousin was ribbing me about him (until I reminded him of their former number 1 pick Rocky Thompson).....

[Adam]

Haven't gone through the whole thread, but I'm shocked the first page didn't list JD Williams

[Philly McButterpants]

4 hours ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

Troup is the definition of the why we were never good then- he was a low cieling guy who got a very defined role and then failed at it. Picking guys early with very defined roles is dumb, pick players who can do it all and try to coach up specific abilities.

 

I hate this revisionist crap - the guy literally broke his back.  it's not his fault that he got drafted.  he didn't "fail" at anything other than remaining healthy enough to play.  

[Jauronimo]

2 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

If you remember that article about Torell Troup's injury, he wasn't a bad draft pick. He's a guy who was showing every sign of being a very good pick until he got injured and was talked into trying to play through it. Far more of a good pick destroyed by an unlucky injury that the team urged him to play through.

 

 

https://buffalonews.com/2015/11/21/torell-troup-one-pick-ahead-of-gronk/

 

 

As for my picks, the usual suspects: Perry Tuttle and at #1 Mike Williams.

 

Troup was getting pushed around before he hurt his back playing with terrible technique.  Look at these picks of Troup bent backward.  Couldn't have been easy on his back.

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/6/14/2223120/torell-troup-buffalo-bills-film-analysis

[Orlando Buffalo]

1 minute ago, Philly McButterpants said:

 

I hate this revisionist crap - the guy literally broke his back.  it's not his fault that he got drafted.  he didn't "fail" at anything other than remaining healthy enough to play.  

I am aware he broke his back and I do not blame him but I am not revising anything. Troup was not dominant for UCF, he was great at eating up space but had major issues getting off blocks even against lesser players in Conference USA. In the second round you do not take a player with limited ability to get off blocks unless you have a very specific role for him fill.

[dpberr]

Maybin stands out to me because he had all the red flags that the alleged football professionals should have seen and then thought about before making the pick.  They were waving those red flags in Pennsylvania.  

 

He was a one -year wonder, undersized for the position, and had questionable interest in football even in college.  

 

 

 

 

[thenorthremembers]

For me a draft bust is more on the GM than the player.   I usually consider a bust a player who was drafted in the first three rounds that didnt come close to comparing with players of the same position picked after him.  I get the T.J. Graham vs Russell Wilson debate but by position value alone even if Graham played great he would have never have had the impact as Wilson. 

 

Similarly players picked in a year where their position group was substantially weak really doesn't live up to the definition of bust for me.  For instance C.J. Spiller may have been the best Running Back drafted in 2010, only Ryan Matthews comes to mind when I think of a player from his class that had a better career, the real issue is the Bills should have traded back to select him or not selected him at all.   Same issue with Losman, the only other quarterback drafted after him in 2004 who had a decent career was Schaub. 

 

That said the biggest draft busts in for the Bills  since 2001 would go in this order for me

Table shows the player, then the player drafted after them at the same position.  The Watkins pick for me was the worst thing the Bills have done in the first three rounds of the draft since 2001.  There was no reason to move up to 4 to draft a WR when there was that much talent at the position.  

 

Sammy Watkins	Evans	Beckham	Cooks	Adams	Landry	Allen Robinson	John Brown
James Hardy	Eddie Royal	DeSean Jackson	Mario Manningham	Matt Slater	Paul Hubbard	Pierre Garcon	Stevie Johnson
Torell Troup	LaMarr Houston	Linval Joseph	Earl Mitchell	Geno Atkins	Al Woods	Arthur Jones
Zay Jones	Smith Schuster	Kupp	Godwin	Golladay	Westbrook
Adolphus Washington	Javon Hargrave	Andrew Billings	Quinton Jefferson	Matt Ioannidis	D.J. Reader
Cyrus Kouandjio	Justin Britt	Morgan Moses	Billy Turner	Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	Charles Leno
T.J. Graham	Mohammed Sanu	TY Hilton	Travis Benjamin	Marvin Jones	Rishard Matthews
Aaron Maybin	Brian Orakpo	Connor Barwin	Michael Johnson	Clay Matthews
John McCargo	Gabe Watson	Domata Peko	Kyle Williams	Kedric Gholston
Donte Whitner	Jason Allen	Daniel Manning	Roman Harper	Dawan Landry	Antonie Bethea
EJ Manuel	Geno Smith	Matt Barkley	Mike Glennon

Edited April 7, 2020 by thenorthremembers

[JOE IN HAMPTON ROADS]

3 hours ago, Bulldog said:

 

Tom Cousineau was indeed the first overall pick in 1979 - and he never played for us - chose to play in Canada instead. While this was an incredibly bad pick in the short term (wasting the 1st overall pick - how is that even possible!). In the longer term - we maintained his NFL rights and when he wanted to leave Canada & finally play in the NFL - we then traded him to the Cleveland Browns for what was the 14th overall pick in the 1st round. That pick turned out to be Jim Kelly - so I guess in the big picture the pick was actually a good one.

mind ... blown ?

[hjnick]

For me, some of the worst ones... because I didn't like the picks at the time.

 

2010 9th overall pick: CJ Spiller.  I remember I was really looking forward to us getting either DL or OL help with this pick.  I was disappointed when we got a RB.

2013 16th overall pick: EJ Manuel.  This was a dude you could have gotten in the 2nd or 3rd round and I didn't like him as a QB anyway. 

2002 4th overall pick: Mike Williams.  I watch a lot of BigXII sports.  Texas linemen are soft and I didn't like this pick. Just like you also shouldn't draft a Texas WR... soft also.