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John's top 10 list of the biggest and most disappointing bust players in NFL Draft history. Who are the worst and players ever to be drafted in NFL history?
The 2025 NFL Draft is coming up. It's impossible to avoid busts in just about every season, and this year will be no different. It's controversial to say that players who look promising before the season will be busts, yet won't perform well in the NFL. But that's how it works.
At some point, NFL teams will stop salivating over players who fit the archetypes of many busts in the past. Nah, who am I kidding? I'd be kidding if I said I wasn't affected by recency bias because I wasn't around for some of these players' careers, or was way too young to understand football.
Recency bias is nice because it allows us to highlight players that we actually remember watching, maybe. The first player on this list will be affected by it, though. Regardless, let's dive into the 10 biggest draft busts in totally not recent history.
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10. Mac Jones, QB, New England Patriots
Jones was widely regarded as one of the best quarterback prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was selected 15th overall by the Patriots. He was not the spiritual successor to Tom Brady. In fact, he was absolutely terrible and likely accelerated the eventual firing of longtime head coach Bill Belichick.
How is Mac Jones still in the NFL??
He is AWFUL.pic.twitter.com/7oU0oKA1uU
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 8, 2024
Jones's tape is much worse than his stats showed. As soon as a few more decent quarterback classes come out of college, he'll spend a few more years as a backup before being replaced.
9. Corey Coleman, WR, Cleveland Browns
The first of three former Oklahoma State players to make this list, Coleman was drafted with the 15th-overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2016 NFL Draft. After a 74-catch, 1,363 receiving yard, 20-touchdown performance in his final season at Baylor University and a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, Coleman was seen as an elite vertical threat at the next level, and a player who could develop into a star.
A ton of you DMed me asking for this so here you go...
Corey Coleman's dropped pass to go 0-16 + Sad Titanic Music. Sigh. pic.twitter.com/vJMTIPIo5B
— paco (@AllaireMatt) December 31, 2017
The most iconic moment of his career was dropping a pass from QB DeShone Kizer, another bust of a pick, in the final game of the regular season for the Browns in 2016, sealing their ignominious fate as one of only two 0-16 teams in NFL history.
After an unremarkable 2017 season, he demanded to be traded in a moment captured on Hard Knocks in 2018. He was traded to the Buffalo Bills for a future seventh-round pick and released less than a month later. He later tore his ACL with the New York Giants during practice, and that was that.
8. Justin Gilbert, CB, Cleveland Browns
Gilbert was drafted by the Browns in 2014. After being a consensus All-American and making the first-team All-Big 12 once and second-team twice, Gilbert was seen as one of the best CB prospects in the draft. He was not.
We've traded DB Justin Gilbert to Pittsburgh
Details » https://t.co/u4NlVXeqHD pic.twitter.com/Z19nQG8OiI
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 3, 2016
After just two seasons, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth-round pick. One year after that, he was out of the NFL.
7. Justin Blackmon, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Blackmon played in 38 games as an Oklahoma State Cowboy. In his career, he caught 253 passes for 3,564 yards and 40 touchdowns. His final two seasons featured 38 of those scores and seasons of over 1,700 and over 1,500 yards, so it seemed like he'd have a great NFL career. He was a stud in college, after all. But something about OSU guys...
Justin Blackmon's sophomore and junior seasons at Oklahoma State were unreal (2010-2011)
233 REC / 3,304 YDS / 38 TD
2x Biletnikoff Award winner
2x Unanimous All-American pic.twitter.com/TPl1HE8uzc— CFB History (@CFB_History) October 22, 2021
Blackmon laid the path for two other huge busts from OSU, cornerback Gilbert and WR Coleman, by lasting just two seasons in the NFL due to constantly violating the league's substance abuse policy. I can't blame anyone for using marijuana, as it's now legal in a ton of states and isn't a deadly drug, but with that much money on the line, it's a stupid thing to do.
6. Charles Rogers, WR, Detroit Lions
Rogers was selected with the second-overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft. After an illustrious college career with the Michigan State Spartans, in which he broke Hall of Famer Randy Moss's record for most consecutive games with a TD catch, and racked up 135 catches for 2,821 yards (20.9 yards per reception) and 27 touchdowns, Rogers was seen as the team's new top WR, and likely to be one of the NFL's best in the near future.
September 7, 2003: In his first NFL game @AnquanBoldin catches 10 balls for 217 yards and 2 TDs in a Cardinals loss to Lions 42-24.
Also, rookie Charles Rogers catches 2 TDs. pic.twitter.com/u4Vc34HZOY
— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) September 7, 2023
A broken clavicle eventually ended his rookie season, which started off impressively. He caught 22 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns in five games. Then, in 2004, his second season, he broke his clavicle again, after just three plays. He was allowed to go home and stay away from the team for the whole season after that, which doesn't seem like a good idea.
Three violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy later, he was suspended, hardly played in more games after that, got embroiled in a legal battle with his team, and was eventually released. It was reported that he had an addiction to prescription painkillers, so this might be why. Sad story. He had serious potential.
5. Zach Wilson, QB, New York Jets
It's important to include as many quarterbacks as possible here because it's the most important position in the NFL. Wilson makes it onto this list as another highly-selected quarterback who did basically nothing. He was not ready for the NFL and probably will never be, yet after an "impressive" COVID season against extremely poor competition, the Jets selected him second overall.
Zach Wilson was hilariously bad https://t.co/qJhGgVf30M pic.twitter.com/PgKXtB1daw
— Aiden Béchamps (@ABechamps) July 16, 2023
At some point, NFL teams decide to draft people who are dressed up in jerseys and join teams to sling a football around, but just aren't real quarterbacks. Wilson played horribly and was benched after two seasons. Then, Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon, and poor Jets fans had to suffer through another one.
4. Akili Smith, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals should thank the heavens every day that they were lucky enough to have the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which they used to select QB Joe Burrow. They spent decades in quarterback purgatory, making their worst pick ever at the position, QB Akili Smith, with the third-overall pick in 1999.
November 25, 2001: Shutout🏈
Chris Berman: “It’s Cincinnati being the Bengals”
Butch Davis & boys beat Bungles 18-0 at home#DawgPound Defense: 5 INTs
Jon Kitna, Scott Mitchell, Akili Smith at QB for Cincy…(sounds like our QB room rather than an opponent!)#BattleOfOhio pic.twitter.com/0yyGHs9KfO
— Mr. Cleveland Sports (@MrCleveland_216) November 25, 2024
He threw five TDs and 13 INTs in four seasons with the Bengals, having been benched for the final two, before being released. He had a few stints with other teams, but never saw regular season action after that.
3. Trey Lance, QB, San Francisco 49ers
49ers general manager John Lynch is widely regarded as one of the most intelligent personnel executives in the NFL. But his biggest mistake was one of the biggest in NFL Draft history. San Francisco traded three (!!!) first-round picks and a third-round pick to move up to the third pick to select Lance.
Trey Lance with his first interception of the day. Budda Baker picks it up! pic.twitter.com/gnVwGCWQTo
— Main Team (@MainTeamSports) October 10, 2021
The rest is history, which you're familiar with, I'm sure. Lance now serves as a cautionary tale: Don't invest massive draft capital in a quarterback with hardly any starting experience. The Indianapolis Colts didn't learn their lesson when they drafted QB Anthony Richardson with the fourth overall pick in 2023. Perhaps he'll make his way onto this list at some point.
Kinda Ironic…
I think it’s crazy that Trey Lance signs to the team that he threw a record-breaking 5 interceptions to. This happened during the #DallasCowboys last preseason game of the 2024 season by the way. https://t.co/E8QqtGRhln pic.twitter.com/K3GdMPhRc3
— Dallas Cowboys Plug 🔌 (@Cowboyz_Plug) April 8, 2025
Lance's hystertical five-interception preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers will go down in history as one of the worst performances of a highly-drafted quarterback in history. It was horrific play.
2. Ryan Leaf, QB, San Diego Chargers
It seems like an eternity ago that the Los Angeles Chargers were the San Diego Chargers. They're a franchise that's been marred by ineptitude through much of their existence, though many of the years with quarterback Philip Rivers were exciting to watch, if not consistently heartbreaking in the offseason. The years that weren't exciting to watch were those with former quarterback Ryan Leaf.
Ryan Leaf made this same throw https://t.co/Sf3i7CmN1g pic.twitter.com/NMASt7cXyu
— Johnny barks (@Johnny_Barks) August 17, 2024
Leaf was talented, as many busts are. However, his character issues grew through the roof, and his work ethic was highly questionable. He gained 20 pounds from the end of his final college season to the NFL Combine, in which he participated. He would regularly get into shouting matches with coaches or try to accost fans, and never seemed to have his head in the game.
Leaf lasted just three seasons with the Chargers. It's only due to his high draft capital that he survived past his rookie season, in which he threw just two passing touchdowns to 15 interceptions. Even after massively improving that TD to INT ratio in the subsequent season, in which he threw 11 touchdowns and 18 picks, he never had a positive TD:INT ratio, and his career flamed out quickly. He even ended up in jail at one point for drug and burglary charges.
1. Jamarcus Russell, QB, Oakland Raiders
Russell's gap between his performance and the expectations around him was insanely bleak. Coming out of college, he was seen as one of the best quarterback prospects ever, with a rocket launcher for an arm on a big body and seriously impressive athleticism.
The Jamarcus Russell LSU tape‼️ Showcased elite arm talent back in 06 💪 pic.twitter.com/zYMXXAI4m7
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) January 27, 2024
But one of the reasons it's difficult to evaluate how great college talents will translate to the pros at the quarterback position is that it's what's between the ears that's more important. The story of his refusal to watch film and subsequent exposure for it, is the stuff of legends and song.
Raiders coaches didn't think JaMarcus Russell was watching film.
So they sent him blank tapes to see. pic.twitter.com/PhpvmOrSUN
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 4, 2018
Russell's refusal to watch film led to him throwing just three touchdowns to 11 interceptions in his final season. He was an active detriment to his team the whole time and weighed them down with his poor play. He was one of the biggest and most prominent harbingers of misery in the minds of Raiders fans. He remains a symbol of their ineptitude to this day.
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