Bracketology: The Worst Draft Pick of All Time (Round 1, Part I)

And finally we begin our quest to find the worst draft pick of all time in the LOC! We're going to zip through the first couple of rounds so we weed out the picks that were bad, but not mega busts. So here we go, part 1

Round 1, Part I

(29) Hakeem Nicks, 2013 ADRZ 2nd Rnd v (2) Hines Ward, 2010 Ashley's Steelers 2nd Rnd
Come 2013, Nicks' injury troubles had been well documented. Coupled with the emergence of Cruz, Nicks didn't score a single TD in '13, only getting 896 yards. Ward meanwhile was an ageing player nearing his last legs, who at least scored some TDs.

Winner: Hakeem Nicks
Reason: Ashley's Steelers didn't know any better


(10) Andre Johnson, 2011 Gridiron Gang 2nd Rnd v (20) Hakeem Nicks, 2012 Gridiron Gang 3rd Rnd
GG having a tough time here. Johnson was an elite WR back in '11, but due to an injury marred campaign where he played only 7 games he only got 61 points. Nicks was just coming off a great season when Coach Stubbs Jr. nabbed him in '12. But an injury plagued year meant he'd only achieve 87 pts.

Winner: Hakeem Nicks
Reason: Johnson was at least useful in the limited games he played


(65) Adrian Peterson, 2016 Forge Flyers 1st Rnd v (66) Jamaal Charles, 2016 IKNAN 1st Rnd
Two stars in the twilight of their careers, with very similar stories. Both of them would only play three games before going down with season ending injuries. Both were ageing backs. The only difference was Peterson had a good '15, while Charles tore his ACL the year before and had issues all offseason.

Winner: Jamaal Charles
Reason: There were many red flags on Charles entering last season


(58) Andre Ellington, 2015 IKNAN 4th Rnd v (40) C.J. Spiller, 2014 Forge Flyers 3rd Rnd
'15 was the famous year where Coach Sherwood's first 3 picks were receivers. Ellington was his first RB in round 4, but lost his job early to Chris Johnson and only got 60 points over 10 games. Meanwhile, Spiller had teased his fantasy value for years. '13 he finally delivered. Coach Leach took the bait in '14 and predictably he got 47 points over 9 games. 

Winner: C.J. Spiller
Reason: injury scuppered Ellington, Spiller was always just a tease


(54) Alshon Jeffery, 2015 Jeff's Seals 3rd Rnd v (67) A.J. Green, 2016 ADRZ 1st Rnd
Jeffery has had many an injury over his career, but when he's on the field he's effective, only playing 9 games he got 87 fantasy points. Green is usually on the field, and just as effective. But he was limited to 10 games in '16, still delivering 120 points.

Winner: A.J. Green
Reason: Jeffery was an auto draft pick, Green didn't deliver 1st round value


(61) Melvin Gordon, 2015 Jeff's Seals 4th Rnd v (50) C.J. Anderson, 2015 Forge Flyers 1st Rnd
Gordon was a rookie in '15 and was a tough player to predict. As it would turn out, he did ok in yardage (833) but not a single TD. Anderson meanwhile was tipped to be Denver's starting RB, and he was. He was just rather ineffective, getting only 110 points in 15 games.

Winner: C.J. Anderson
Reason: Anderson did not come close to living up to the hype


(3) DeAngelo Williams, 2010 The Tuckfards 2nd Rnd v (19) Fred Jackson, 2012 Burdettinators 3rd Rnd
Williams has been an explosive player his whole career, and in '10 he was a home run hitter. But he also had the reputation of being a glass cannon. This was the case here, he got 46 points in only 6 games. Fred Jackson meanwhile has been an eternal steady contributor. But due to injury and a committee backfield, he only got 81 points in '12

Winner: DeAngelo Williams
Reason: higher pick, higher injury risk, lower production


(52) Justin Forsett, 2015 The Dream Team 2nd Rnd v (60) Andre Johnson, 2015 The Tuckfards 4th Rnd
Forsett treated Coach Nathwani well in 2014, so he thought he'd go back to the well and catch lightning twice. But as we know, lightning rarely behaves that year. Forsett wound up with only 91 points in 10 games. The Andre Johnson pick is however an early favourite for worst pick of all time. A pick with much back story, not only was Johnson awful in a colts uni (74 points playing all 16 games), Coach Merritt had already drafted Hilton just 2 rounds prior, a fellow colt receiver.

Winner: Andre Johnson
Reason: production alone would have won this, but the astounding decision to take both colts receivers in the first 4 rounds boggles the mind

Bracketology: The Worst Draft Pick of All Time (Honorary Mentions)

Here it is, at long last! I made you wait for it, but that just means it's gonna be that much sweeter! And you'll get to OD on it cause it's gonna come out thick and fast. It's the off-season series back for a third and perhaps final year! And this year we're looking at a good one, perhaps to most interesting one yet: the worst draft pick of all time. It's going to be ugly, and hilarious, and I had a lot to chose from, but it's gonna be fun. Let's kick it off with the honorary mentions that didn't quite make the cut. 

Honorary mentions

(9) Jamaal Charles, rnd 1 pick 3 2011, 13.2 pts, 2 games, ADRZ
So, yes, in terms of value gained for the third overall pick in the draft, this was a colossal bust. But up to this point Charles was a superstar, and you can never predict injuries like a torn ACL. Not the fault of Coach Wells.

(11) Darren McFadden, rnd 2 pick 12 2011, 104.8 pts, 7 games, Bear Necessities
I mean wow. This is a bust because naturally, you do expect more points than that from a second round pick. But jeez, you are reading that right. 100 points over SEVEN games. It was a tail of what could have been for Bear Necessities, but here we are.

(15) Miles Austin, rnd 4 pick 35 2011, 99.9 pts, 10 games, Forge Flyers
Another bust that was due to an injury shortened season. Miles Austin was on pace for 160 fantasy points in 2011, but due to missing 6 games through injury he didn't quite crack 100. Not ideal, but not the end of the world.

(16) Darren McFadden, rnd 2 pick 14 2012, 112.5 pts, 12 games, The Tuckfards
Ahh our first familiar face of the offseason series already. Get used to it, there's a few of them. Seriously, go check the bracket. I'm looking at you Arian Foster. But McFadden was having a good-not-great 2012, not really getting the production you'd want from a 2nd rounder.

(18) Greg Jennings, rnd 3 pick 21 2012, 60.6 pts, 8 games, Bear Necessities
The "my players are always injured" card is holding up for coach Stubbs sr. so far. Greg Jennings wasn't having the best of seasons, but when your season is cut in half that never helps. Only a third round pick, but you would have hoped for more.

(22) Maurice Jones-Drew, rnd 5 pick 42 2012, 62 pts, 6 games, Touchdown Syndrome
This may have been the year jones-drew held out before the season, I can't remember someone fact check for me. But either way, what looked like a steal in the 5th round ending up going the other way. He was having an alright season too. Pity.

(24) Arian Foster, rnd 1 pick 6 2013, 84.5 pts, 8 games, Bear Necessities
There was a time when Arian Foster wasn't known as a walking injury. But that time ceased to exist after 2013. Alas, he was having a pretty good year before the injury troubles started.

(26) Julio Jones, rnd 1 pick 8 2013, 68 pts, 5 games, Tom's Tyrants
Julio Jones has been a fan favourite of coach barnes both on and off the fantasy gridiron for years, and for good reason. Jones was averaging over 13 points a game on 2013. Sadly though, he only had 5 games. A bother that...

(37) Adrian Peterson, rnd 2 pick 18 2014, 9.3 pts, 1 game, The Dream Team
Note to self: when playing professional football, don't hit child with a branch. Should be easy enough to remember right? Coach Nathwani obviously thought so in 2014 when they drafted A.D. Oh boy, how wrong they were. But yeah, can't really fault Viv for not seeing that one coming.

(44) Stevan Ridley, rnd 4 pick 39 2014, 48 pts, 6 games, Jeff's Seals
It's incredible to think that Stevan Ridley is still in the league. I'm not joking, he plays for the broncos currently, look it up. Once upon a time who was a really good running back. This was not one of those times, though a part of that was due to playing 6 games. Ok it's mostly that.

(44) Ray Rice, rnd 5 pick 46 2014, 0 pts, 0 games, The Dream Team
Kind of hard to believe that Viv had both a child beater and a wife beater on his team in 2014. I'd say what are the odds, but the more I think about it, it's probably harder to find someone who doesn't do either of those things in the NFL nowadays. Anyway, Rice wasn't useful unless the NFL suddenly turned into a boxing league in 2014. Spoilers, it didn't. 

(47) Jamaal Charles, rnd 1 pick 5 2015, 80.1 pts, 5 games, ADRZ
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Both times ADRZ invested a 1st round pick in Charles, he tears his ACL. And he was really tearing it up before he went down too. But yeah, once again not really coach wells' fault.

(62) Joseph Randle, rnd 5 pick 54 2015, 64.1 pts, 6 games, The Tuckfards
Look, we all love ragging about Phil's team whenever something unfortunate happens (which has been quite often the last few years might I add), but this is probably one of the more sensible picks Phil ever made, only for it to go wrong in the most bizarre fashion of an arrest. The irony is poetic. 

(63) Arian Foster, rnd 5 pick 57 2015, 55 pts, 4 games, IKNAN
This guy again? I had to take this one out because we all remember coach Sherwood's heroic 3 receiver strategy to start the draft, and when he scooped up Foster he looked like a genius...for the first 4 games until he inevitably got injured. But this was just bad luck really. 

(72) Keenan Allen, rnd 2 pick 24 2016, 6.3 pts, 1 game, The Brady Bunch
And to round out the honourable mentions, Keenan Allen. Coming off a lacerated kidney the year before (which was for some reason the new hip injury everyone wanted to get in the NFL in 2015) Allen looked poised to bounce back in 2016. Unfortunately his knee ligaments disagreed, and they got into a bit of a tussle. Needless to say it didn't end well for anyone involved, least of all Ross, the innocent bystander in all of this. 

2017: A year in review, 2016

Despite some technical issues on the first attempt, rest assured we weren't going to let you go without an episode of the LOC Report this week! Much credit to Co Host Chris Leach who delivered a stellar performance the first time round, but now it's up to Commissioner Stubbs and Coach Burdett to deliver another good performance. Join us today as we spend 5 minutes (ish) discussing how each team did last season.