Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

#1 - Heath Shuler
#2 - Andre Johnson
#3 - Desmond Howard
#4 - Michael Westbrook
#5 - Rod Gardner

honorable mention: Patrick Ramsey

Who's on your list?

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

I take it we're talking first rounders only?

If so, hard to argue with that list

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;548777]#1 - Heath Shuler
#2 - Andre Johnson
#3 - Desmond Howard
#4 - Michael Westbrook
#5 - Rod Gardner

honorable mention: Patrick Ramsey

Who's on your list?[/quote]

Well Heath Shuler should not even be a debate. He's far and away #1 ... and didn't Andre Johnson not even make the team out of training camp? Am I thinking of someone else..but I thought we had some really high draft pick not even make it through camp....

Desmod Howard was a huge bust for the Skins' and while not a great player, he was still a Super Bowl MVP...

I'd put Ramsey way ahead of both Westbrook and Gardner and a couple other guys ahead of that.... I mean Westbrook started for the Redskins for what? 8-9 years? I mean he was never great, but he was still a starter in the league for us for a while, so its hard to call him a bust... Gardner is kind of the same... I mean he still had some really nice plays and a few REALLY good games (I'll never forget that one Cowboys game in 2004 on MNF) ... but never was able to put it all together and dropped some REALLY bad balls...but again I wouldnt mark him as a complete and total bust.....

I'd say Ramsey is ahead of both of them on the list, basically because (even though I defended that guy to the death)... he really did nothing for the Redskins. He won a handful of really meaningless games....

I mean if you look at all the Skins 1st round picks since 1990... its actually pretty depressing.

Bobby Wilson , Desomond Howard , Tom Carter-, Heath Shuler, Westbrook, Johnson, Kenard Lang, Champ Bailey, LaVar Arrington, Chris Samuels, Rod Gardner, Patrick Ramsey, Sean Taylor, Carols Rogers, Jason Campbell and LaRon Landry...


I mean who has really lived up to being a first round pick? Bailey, Samuels, Taylor? I mean Rogers/Campbell/Landry are all still really young... but there is a TON of busts on there....

... thats why sometimes this "build through the draft" thing kind of gets me... cause I'm sure were not the only team whos 1st round picks look awful... its really such a crap shoot.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

1. Heath Shuler
2. Desmond Howard
3. Patrick Ramsey
4. Tom Carter
5.Andre Johnson

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

Lavar Arrington falls right behind Shuler in my book.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=WaldSkins;548797]Lavar Arrington falls right behind Shuler in my book.[/quote]

A 3 time Pro Bowler a bust?

Things kinda fell apart for him at the end with injuries. I don't know, I have a hard time calling him a bust.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

1. Heath Shuler
2. Desmond Howard
3. Michael Westbrook
4. Andre Johnson
5. Patrick Ramsey

Honorable mention-Taylor Jacobs. My favorite Jacobs story is from the '05 season when he was pressed into duty late in the year. He got hit hard once and after the play ran off the field screaming, 'I think I have a concussion!'

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Gmanc711;548791]I'd put Ramsey way ahead of both Westbrook and Gardner and a couple other guys ahead of that.... I mean Westbrook started for the Redskins for what? 8-9 years? I mean he was never great, but he was still a starter in the league for us for a while, so its hard to call him a bust... Gardner is kind of the same... I mean he still had some really nice plays and a few REALLY good games (I'll never forget that one Cowboys game in 2004 on MNF) ... but never was able to put it all together and dropped some REALLY bad balls...but again I wouldnt mark him as a complete and total bust.....[/quote]

You have to take Westbrook over Ramsey just because he was picked so high. You can't miss at #4 and you look at some of the guys taken behind him, notably Joey Galloway and Warren Sapp, and you have to take opportunity costs into account. Westbrook was always a supreme talent, but only played 16 games twice (1999 and 2001) and only had one very good season as a pro (not coincidentally, 1999). He put up some semi-decent numbers for a 2nd or 3rd receiver but was never a #1, which you have to get a #4 overall.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;548801]A 3 time Pro Bowler a bust?

Things kinda fell apart for him at the end with injuries. I don't know, I have a hard time calling him a bust.[/quote]

He wasn't the worst player ever drafted but from the way he played in college to his time with the skins, he was far from being same player.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=WaldSkins;548810]He wasn't the worst player ever drafted but from the way he played in college to his time with the skins, he was far from being same player.[/quote]

He might not have lived up to the immense hype he had coming out of college, but I think you would be hard pressed to find him on any bust lists.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=WaldSkins;548797]Lavar Arrington falls right behind Shuler in my book.[/quote]

Come on, Lavar Arrington a bust????? :spank:

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=REDSKIN1;548834]Come on, Lavar Arrington a bust????? :spank:[/quote]

Madden generation. If you don't make super human plays and are elected to the Hall of Fame then you are a bust.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

It's interesting how few times (3 I think) we even had a first round pick during the Beathard years.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

You folks need to go back to the annals of Redskin drafts to find out about Ray McDonald (University of Idaho)and Gary Beban (UCLA Heisman Trophy winner). Both were first round picks. Great college careers; lots of credentials; great workout numbers. Neither one ever amounted to a pinch of poop in the NFL.

You want busts? These two were the Dolly Parton of busts...

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;548777]#1 - Heath Shuler
#2 - Andre Johnson
#3 - Desmond Howard
#4 - Michael Westbrook
#5 - Rod Gardner

honorable mention: Patrick Ramsey

Who's on your list?[/quote]

No argument here. It's kinda funny/sad remembering how good these guys were suppose to be and how they actually turned out. That's a pretty sad bag of failure right there.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

I think when you put Patrick Ramsey you should put Spurrier in parenthesis.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;548801]A 3 time Pro Bowler a bust?

Things kinda fell apart for him at the end with injuries. I don't know, I have a hard time calling him a bust.[/quote]

He never lived up to the hype IMO. He missed far too many tackles and jumped off sides at least two times a game. He did however, end Aikman's career so that has got to bump him out of the top-5.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;548777][B]#1 - Heath Shuler [/B]
#2 - Andre Johnson
[B]#3 - Desmond Howard[/B]
[B]#4 - Michael Westbrook[/B]
#5 - Rod Gardner

honorable mention: Patrick Ramsey

Who's on your list?[/quote]Howard, Shuler, and Westbrook were all selected in the top 5 within 4 years. It is nearly impossible to blow three top-5 picks in 4 years (unless you're Detroit). That FO ineptitude haunted this franchise for the remainder of the 90's.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=John Denny;548947]He never lived up to the hype IMO. He missed far too many tackles and jumped off sides at least two times a game. He did however, end Aikman's career so that has got to bump him out of the top-5.[/quote]

He definitely didn't live up to the hype, but a bust doesn't go to multiple Pro Bowls.

I think we need to check the definition of bust before tossing LaVar's name out there.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=sportscurmudgeon;548924]You folks need to go back to the annals of Redskin drafts to find out about Ray McDonald (University of Idaho)and Gary Beban (UCLA Heisman Trophy winner). Both were first round picks. Great college careers; lots of credentials; great workout numbers. Neither one ever amounted to a pinch of poop in the NFL.

You want busts? These two were the Dolly Parton of busts...[/quote]

Outstanding job! People talked about Beban coming out of school like he was the second coming of Jesus. For the Redskins he was an utter flop. He was the most bustitudinous of them all.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=sportscurmudgeon;548924]You folks need to go back to the annals of Redskin drafts to find out about Ray McDonald (University of Idaho)and Gary Beban (UCLA Heisman Trophy winner). Both were first round picks. Great college careers; lots of credentials; great workout numbers. Neither one ever amounted to a pinch of poop in the NFL.

You want busts? These two were the Dolly Parton of busts...[/quote]

I'll have to take your word on those guys, way before my time

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[QUOTE=SouperMeister;548995]Howard, Shuler, and Westbrook were all selected in the top 5 within 4 years. It is nearly impossible to blow three top-5 picks in 4 years (unless you're Detroit). That FO ineptitude haunted this franchise for the remainder of the 90's.[/QUOTE
Oh yea this is right on the money. This is the reason we have not sniffed a Super Bowl since 1991. Are drafts picks at the top have not panned out. They save you live and die by the drafts. So of course we now try to buy our way to the Super Bowl with free agenecy spending. How has this practice worked?

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

What do you guys classify as a bust?
Is a player a bust because he cannot fulfill the expectations or is the "Draft Pick" a bust because the GM/Owner/Coach drafted the wrong guy?

Heath Shuler is a classic bust in my book. Over hyped talent who just did not have the ability to play in the NFL. The NFL missed on this guy.



I don't want to call Westbrook a bust because when he was healthy, he could play. There is no way of knowing he was going to be so fragile. Can you classify a guy as a bust if injuries shortened his career? If you say yes, Would you classify Robert Edwards( Patriots rookie RB who tore up his knee at the probowl challenge) as a bust?

I don't think Howard is a bust. He is what he is. He is great with the ball in his hands in the open field. The Redskins did not do their homework and made the assumption he could get away from press coverage. He is a very good return man. He had the type of career any of us would love to have. It's the Redskins fault they fell in love with him.



My list:
Shuler
Andre Johnson
Bobby Wilson
Patrick Ramsey
Taylor Jacobs ( we passed up on Anquan Boldin for this loser...)

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=Mattyk72;549000]He definitely didn't live up to the hype, but a bust doesn't go to multiple Pro Bowls.

I think we need to check the definition of bust before tossing LaVar's name out there.[/quote]

*cough* Michael Vick *cough*

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=jamf;549072]What do you guys classify as a bust?
Is a player a bust because he cannot fulfill the expectations or is the "Draft Pick" a bust because the GM/Owner/Coach drafted the wrong guy?

Heath Shuler is a classic bust in my book. Over hyped talent who just did not have the ability to play in the NFL. The NFL missed on this guy.

I don't want to call Westbrook a bust because when he was healthy, he could play. There is no way of knowing he was going to be so fragile. Can you classify a guy as a bust if injuries shortened his career? If you say yes, Would you classify Robert Edwards( Patriots rookie RB who tore up his knee at the probowl challenge) as a bust?

I don't think Howard is a bust. He is what he is. He is great with the ball in his hands in the open field. The Redskins did not do their homework and made the assumption he could get away from press coverage. He is a very good return man. He had the type of career any of us would love to have. It's the Redskins fault they fell in love with him.

My list:
Shuler
Andre Johnson
Bobby Wilson
Patrick Ramsey
[B]Taylor Jacobs ( we passed up on Anquan Boldin for this loser...)[/B][/quote]

Ouch!

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

[quote=SmootSmack;548845]It's interesting how few times (3 I think) we even had a first round pick during the Beathard years.[/quote]

The great Beathard bust that comes to mind is Walter Murray. Also Bob Slater. But Beathard had the amazing knack for finding solid NFL career guys in the bottom of the draft (which was of course 12 rounds then) and in rookie FA. For example:

1979
Round 11: Monte Coleman
Round 7: Rich Milot
Round 4: Don Warren

1981
Round 12: Clint Didier
Round 9: Darryl Grant
Round 8: Charlie Brown
Round 6: Karry Kubin
Round 5: Dexter Manley

1982
Round 9: Ken Coffey

1983
Round 7: Kelvin Bryant

1984
Round 10: Keith Griffin

1985
Round 12: Dean Hamel
Round 11: Raleigh Meckenzie
Round 10: Terry Orr
Round 8: Barry Wilburn

1986
Round 8: Kurt Gouveia
Round 6 Mark Rypien

These are just players who contributed fairly significantly. More made the rosters of the Redskins or other teams for multiple seasons but are not names that jump out at you.

Also if you look at Beathards drafts from 79 to 82 and then you add in a few huge stars that had been added during the George Allen days (Theismann, Riggins, Moseley, Butz) and you realize how three or four consecutive solid drafts build a team. They don't have to have superstars but their relative strength from the top to the bottom will determine to a large extent how good your team will be.

Re: Top 5 Redskins Draft Busts
 

Players who go to pro bowl(s) can definitely still bust. However, Lavar was a legitimately great linebacker before injuries and a general non-willingness to put in the work to return from them killed his career.

He certainly wasn't destined for greatness, but he had talent and played with good football sense.