Who was the biggest Redskins 1st Round Bust

[Henry]

Andre Johnson. We traded WITH THE COWBOYS to move up to get him and he never played a down.

I get the Shuler votes. It's close. When QBs bust they set a team back years. But at least Shuler saw the field once in awhile.

It's close, but for sheer bustitude I say Johnson.

The amazing thing is that Howard, Heath, and A Johnson were all drafted within a 5 year period. And you've got Michael Westbrook tossed into that period as well. 1992-1996 is among the worst 5 year periods any team has ever had in drafting 1st round picks.

Indeed. The Casserly/Turner combo absolutely killed this team in the 90s.

[Yeen80]

Andre Johnson. The guy never made it out of camp.

Desmond Howard would be 2nd because of how much hype surrounded him being the 4th pick overall.

[justice98]

There can be only one: Heath Shuler

I concur. Except for Johnson, the others did at least a little something (albeit Desmond did it somewhere else), and Johnson was a late first round pick rather than a top-5 QB. That makes a difference.

[KevinthePRF]

Andre Johnson. As stated above he didn't make it out of camp and we traded with the Cowboys of all teams to get him, We traded away our second and third round pick to them to move up. They got two eventual starters out of the deal. ELEVEN Pro Bowlers were picked after Johnson in the second and third rounds including Mike Alstott, Brian Dawkins, and Teddy Bruschi.

Rod Gardner should be a close second. Santana Moss, Chad Ochocinco, Reggie Wayne, Chris Chambers, and Steve Smith of Carolina were all picked after him. We needed a WR big time in that draft. The way the draft fell we were HEAVILY favored to get a Pro Bowler out of it. And instead we got Gardner. To top it off we were also desperately needing interior lineman and I was begging the Skins to take Steve Hutchinson who went two picks later to Seattle, he's only been all world the last decade as well.

Shuler I think gets a raw deal. Granted, he was a bad quarterback but we were picking a quarterback hell or highwater and it was him or Dilfer, who wasn't much better. Also the horrible situation he was placed in contributed just as much as his own lack of reading defenses.

Desmond Howard was an eventual Pro Bowler and Super Bowl MVP as a returner so it's hard to put him anywhere close to the top two. The Skins could of used him as the Raiders and Packers did but we just didn't need him as we had Mitchell. Plus it was a WEAK draft that year anyway, there wasn't any sure fire misses, especially at WR. You'd have to look all the way down into round 2 and find Carl Pickens.

Westbrook really shouldn't be on the list. He had a temper problem of course. But he was stuck on bad teams with horrible quarterbacking except for 1999, where he nearly had a Pro Bowl season if not for Norv Turner's love affair with Larry Centers that year. If Westbrook spent the majority of his careeer on a stable franchise and stable QB situation. He would've been a good to consistent Pro Bowl player.

[MarkB452]

Hands down Cal Rossi (blew 2 #1 on this guy):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Rossi ...and you thought Vinny was dumb.......

[MrJL]

Hands down Cal Rossi (blew 2 #1 on this guy):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Rossi ...and you thought Vinny was dumb.......

George Preston Marshall was an idiot who'd draft by looking off of other teams sheets to see who they were high on. Everyone else knew this and carried around fake lists. The reason Rossi didn't play wasn't because he didn't make the team. He didn't want to play pro football.

[Darth Tater]

George Preston Marshall was an idiot who'd draft by looking off of other teams sheets to see who they were high on. Everyone else knew this and carried around fake lists. The reason Rossi didn't play wasn't because he didn't make the team. He didn't want to play pro football.

What makes it supremely stupid is that he had said as much multiple times before we ever drafted him!

[addicted]

How can Andre Johnson NOT be the Redskin's biggest 1st Round Draft busts ever, when he it considered one of the NFL's biggest busts ever ????

IDK but he got my vote.

Feel slightly bad for Mr Johnson to take this kind of heat when his career failure was not entirely his own. If I recall correctly didn't he play RT in college then we drafted him to play LT and he just couldn't make the transition?

Whenever I hear about us drafting a player and expecting him to play out of position I always cringe and think AJ!

[SpacePenguin]

At least Johnson was over fast. I never had to suffer childhood ridicule because of his play.

Heath Shuler on the other hand....he made me ashamed to wear my Redskins jacket. I'm 31 now, so I was a kid. Also a lifelong Bama fan, so the Skins drafting a Vol pissed me off from the start.

The guy was too dumb to play QB, but smart enough to be in Congress. Argh, this world. Voted Schuler.

[justice98]

How can Andre Johnson NOT be the Redskin's biggest 1st Round Draft busts ever, when he it considered one of the NFL's biggest busts ever ????

Any player at the end of the first round isn't going to rank very high on the bust list when there's so many guys with higher expectations that flamed out at the top of the draft.

In a weird way, I think that fact that people barely remember he existed kinda works in his favor.

[JPCreativelab]

i say Shuler.

he sucked so bad and put such a bad taste in my mouth that I decided to broaden my horizons...i didnt stop rooting for the Skins, just decided that I would "add" another team from the two new teams that came out...Panthers and Jacksonville...so i bought a Jacksonville hat and that experiment lasted for a very short time.

[ouvan59]

We didn't. This should be simple math guys. We gave up a future first round pick, plus a second and whatever other picks, for a first round pick in the 200(5?) draft. That doesn't equal 2 firsts. We gave additional compensation to use our future first in the current draft. That is nowhere close to giving up two first round picks for one player.

Julio Jones is an example of a player costing two firsts. Atlanta gave up this year's and next years, for Cleveland's first and then used it. 1 + 1 = 2.

Glad I read the whole thread. I was about to post the same thing. I hear this all the time. The trade was actually the 2006 1st and 4th and the 2005 3rd. So essentially they traded a 3rd and a4th for the ability to use their 2006 1st round pick a year earlier.

I voted Heath Shuler for what it's worth. He's the prime example of what happens when you draft need over BPA.

[Darth Tater]

Still can't understand how anybody could identify anybody but Andre Johnson. Well, Cal Rossi makes sense but that was before most of us were even born. Hell, the Cal Rossi thing happened before many of our posters' parents were even born.

[JPCreativelab]

Still can't understand how anybody could identify anybody but Andre Johnson. Well, Cal Rossi makes sense but that was before most of us were even born. Hell, the Cal Rossi thing happened before many of our posters' parents were even born.

well for one BIG reason, i don't even know who he is....i know i'm not a super extreme redskins nut, but i am a MAJOR fan...didnt come to this site back then, so thats prolly why...

[G1]

I voted Shuler. I think there's a world of difference in using the 30th overall pick on a lineman and the 3rd overall pick on a QB. Johnson made 3 different teams, 1 more than Shuler (OK, so Johnson only made the field for 3 games).

[elkabong82]

Still can't understand how anybody could identify anybody but Andre Johnson. Well, Cal Rossi makes sense but that was before most of us were even born. Hell, the Cal Rossi thing happened before many of our posters' parents were even born.

Really? It's been explained several times in this thread now why people think Shuler is a bigger bust than Johnson. In fact, justice98 explained it just 3 posts above yours. Perhaps you should read the argument and address the points isntead of dismissing other people's opinions without any supporting reasoning.

Yes, Andre Johnson was a first rounder who didn't even start for the Skins. But Shuler was the 3rd pick overall and set the franchise back years with his horrible performance on the field. Shuler had an even more negative impact on the draft than Johnson because he was taken so high, and Shuler hurt the team on the field as well, for several seasons. A high pick QB bust who hurt the team for several seasons vs. a low 1st round bust OT who never saw the field.

[SpacePenguin]

I think it depends on your definition of "bust"

I, and most others, are taking it to mean the player who harms the franchise the most. This is undoubtably Schuler. He was the symbol of a once mighty franchise's fall from grace, losing games on his own for quite awhile. He made it impossible for the team to compete.

If you're approaching it from purely a draft pick value stance, objectively...then a case can be made for a 1st rounder that didn't even make the 53.

Even factoring value in, just because Schuler played, that shouldn't count in his favor, his playing only LOWERED the value obtained by the pick, in my opinion. He was that bad.

smh....what a depressing thread.

[G1]

Just to emphasize the point more. the value of the 3rd overall pick in this year's draft was 2200. The 30th overall pick was 620 which is only 40 points more than the 1st 2nd rounder. In fact in 96 wasn't there only 30 teams in the league? Johnson was 1 pick away from not even making the poll.

[MrJL]

Still can't understand how anybody could identify anybody but Andre Johnson. Well, Cal Rossi makes sense but that was before most of us were even born. Hell, the Cal Rossi thing happened before many of our posters' parents were even born.

the thread asks who was the biggest Redskins 1st round bust. It doesn't specify a time or anything more than that generic question.

---------- Post added May-5th-2011 at 06:42 PM ----------

IDK but he got my vote.

Feel slightly bad for Mr Johnson to take this kind of heat when his career failure was not entirely his own. If I recall correctly didn't he play RT in college then we drafted him to play LT and he just couldn't make the transition?

Whenever I hear about us drafting a player and expecting him to play out of position I always cringe and think AJ!

i'm not sure, but for a first round pick, once it became clear he wasn't going to start at LT we'd at least play him at RT in practice some. He was in camps for three different teams. Someone would have shifted him back to his original position.

[mikemac9]

I voted Shuler, but not rememrber Johnson. At least Shuler beat the cowboys once, I change my vote to Johnson.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Trading back into the first round for Jason costing us two first rounders is the worst for me

agreed.

Yeah. Still can't believe we gave up 2 firsts for a QB that has the uncanny ability NOT to make the big play.

I hereby suggest that any Skins fan who continues to claim we gave up "two 1st round picks" for Jason Campbell be automatically banned from ES, as well as banned from ever using a keyboard again.

---------- Post added May-6th-2011 at 08:50 PM ----------

I think it depends on your definition of "bust"

I, and most others, are taking it to mean the player who harms the franchise the most. This is undoubtably Schuler. He was the symbol of a once mighty franchise's fall from grace, losing games on his own for quite awhile. He made it impossible for the team to compete.

If you're approaching it from purely a draft pick value stance, objectively...then a case can be made for a 1st rounder that didn't even make the 53.

Even factoring value in, just because Schuler played, that shouldn't count in his favor, his playing only LOWERED the value obtained by the pick, in my opinion. He was that bad.

smh....what a depressing thread.

The first perspective sounds more like "Which 1st round bust did the most damage to the franchise?"...

The second perspective sounds more like "Which 1st round draft pick was the biggest bust for the Redskins?"...

[Laxpunk2006]

I hereby suggest that any Skins fan who continues to claim we gave up "two 1st round picks" for Jason Campbell be automatically banned from ES, as well as banned from ever using a keyboard again.QUOTE]

Seconded. I understand Jason isn't a well liked guy around here but his career was mediocre enough that we shouldn't have to exagerate his draft status to rag on him.

This thread makes me sad. I was unaware of Cal Rossi until now. I wish I was still blissfully ignorant.

[HailGreen28]

I hereby suggest that any Skins fan who continues to claim we gave up "two 1st round picks" for Jason Campbell be automatically banned from ES, as well as banned from ever using a keyboard again.

Just to try setting the record straight, we gave up a 3rd, and the following year’s 1st and 4th, for Jason Candle. Right?

[AKM311]

Just to try setting the record straight, we gave up a 3rd, and the following year’s 1st and 4th, for Jason Candle. Right?

Correct.

Califan, I was thinking the same thing. I cannot stand how people claim we gave up two firsts. It's one thing that really get's under my skin for some reason.

[mardi gras skin]

While he wasn't the biggest bust, I'll always think of Desmond Howard as the beginning of the end. Just coming off the crushing Superbowl win with the 6th and 20-something pick to reload and we blow them both on return man. If those two picks become an all-pro and a solid starter, the next decade doesn't look so bad and we never even have the opportunity to whiff on Shuler.