Was the Bronco's 2018 Draft the Worst in NFL History?

[Norcalbillsfan]

The raiders every year is the worst draft of all time. Other than the steal of Crosby, the raiders have been impressively bad. I thought the broncos stole that draft honestly, Chubb by most analysts was far and away the best player in that draft. They got the best pass rusher in the draft at #5, that's a steal in today's draft. Now they are flipping him for a 1st, not a huge loss.

 

I would look more at the browns and giants as the worst draft of 2018. Browns missed on Allen and Jackson and Chubb with 2 picks. Giants new Eli had maybe a year left in tank and took an RB. Yes saquon is an elite RB, but what good has an elite rb done for them on that roster without a franchise qb and defense? Giants could be building around Allen or Jackson or even chubb right now, not hoping that Daniel Jones miraculously becomes great before saquon is out of his prime.

[Brand J]

1 hour ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

The 2014, 2015, 2016 Bills drafts were arguably as bad, if not worse.

Those 3 drafts were bad, I agree, but none were worse than 2000. It’s not possible. 2016 still has a couple of productive players in the league, the others had contributors as well. None of those 2000 players were worth much outside of Sammy Morris when he wasn’t injured. I could compile a list of the undrafted players from 2000 that would be far more productive than the Bills picks.

[PatsFanNH]

13 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

OK, maybe not the absolute worst in NFL history but they are sitting at #5 in a supposedly historic QB class and their QB is Case Keenum.  Not only do they not draft Josh Allen but they turn down a trade with the Bills because they absolutely, positively have to have Bradley Chubb at #5.  They churn through Keenum, Paxton Lynch and Drew Lock and decide they are a QB away from the Super Bowl and give the farm away for what looks like a washed Russell Wilson.  The cherry on top is now trading Chubb for a #1.  What a frickin' disaster.  

Except it wasn’t a historic QB Class. You have 1 stud and Lamar Jackson the rest are stiffs. 
 

The trade for Wilson looks awful, but has nothing to do with that draft.

[Captain Hindsight]

8 hours ago, mabden said:

They are tanking to draft a QB in the draft.

They don’t have a first round pick until 2024 that will be high enough to get a QB. They also gave Wilson 165 million guaranteed 2 months ago. They aren’t trying to tank 

[dpberr]

Time has faded the fact that the the Indianapolis Colts had terrible drafting in the early 1990s.  They have candidates for worst draft in history with their 1990 and 1992 drafts.

 

In 1990, they picked Jeff George 1st overall, despite all his problems at Illinois, choosing him over guys like Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau, Emmitt Smith.  He was gone by 1993.

 

In 1992, they were one of only 2 teams in NFL history to have both the #1 and #2 picks.  They picked Steve Emtman (50 games) and Quentin Coryatt (82 games).  That draft was arguably also one of the worst in NFL history.  No HOF players.  

[T master]

18 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

OK, maybe not the absolute worst in NFL history but they are sitting at #5 in a supposedly historic QB class and their QB is Case Keenum.  Not only do they not draft Josh Allen but they turn down a trade with the Bills because they absolutely, positively have to have Bradley Chubb at #5.  They churn through Keenum, Paxton Lynch and Drew Lock and decide they are a QB away from the Super Bowl and give the farm away for what looks like a washed Russell Wilson.  The cherry on top is now trading Chubb for a #1.  What a frickin' disaster.  

 

Well the Broncos are now the Walmart of the NFL so should we expect more ?? 

[nucci]

Bills 2000 Draft

[BuffaloBill]

Every team can likely argue it has had “the worst” draft.  The Bills have finally gotten back on track but it helps when you have a QB that plays lie he is Superman from another planet.  Until the QB is in place your team is likely to go through a GM and coaching carousel.  This is death for drafts because each incoming regime wants something a little different.

[The Frankish Reich]

2016 Bills draft has got to be in the Top 10 all-time bad drafts:

Shaq Lawson 

Reggie Ragland 

Adolphus Washington

Cardale Jones

Jonathan Williams

Kolby Listenbee

Kevon Seymour

[Big Turk]

Go look at the Bills 2000 draft class and get back to me.

[gobills404]

Chubb, Sutton, and Josey Jewell are all good players so no, it’s not even close to the “worst of all time”. I can think of several Bills drafts off the top of my head that were much worse.

[The Frankish Reich]

11 hours ago, gobills404 said:

Chubb, Sutton, and Josey Jewell are all good players so no, it’s not even close to the “worst of all time”. I can think of several Bills drafts off the top of my head that were much worse.

Right. There’s a difference between “none of your picks from that draft amounted to anything” and “I can’t believe they picked Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan/Bradley Chubb ahead of Josh Allen.” 

[Punching Bag]

On 11/2/2022 at 5:39 PM, Watkins101 said:

Also, there have been many worse returns than a 1st after 4 years of play for a top 5 pick. Take Baker Mayfield from the same draft, who went 1 OA, then traded him for scraps to Carolina. 

 

That is because Browns front office is dealing with scraps for minds in Cleveland.

[st pete gogolak]

The title of the thread was more for effect than anything.  Of course, Broncos' 2018 draft wasn't worst of all time.  Many, many drafts were worse.  I guess the point I was trying to make is that unless you have Allen, Mahones, Brady in his prime, etc.  you have to evaluate your QB situation every single year.  Someone pointed out that Keenum wasn't a Bronco at draft time.  I didn't realize that but it makes the Broncos situation that year even more puzzling.  At #5, they had firepower to move up (possibly) to get a QB.  Did they do their homework on Allen (who played next door at Wyoming for goodness sakes) and didn't believe him worthy?   Just puzzling draft from that perspective.

[Rigotz]

"Worst Draft Ever"

 

1st round pick: Bradley Chubb, Pro-bowler, impact player

2nd round pick: Courtland Sutton, Pro-bowler, impact player

3rd round pick: Royce Freeman, role player, 1,356 rushing yards

4th round pick: Josey Jewell, led team in tackles in 2020, still a decent player

 

How in god's name could you possibly call this the worst draft ever...

[Captain Hindsight]

On 11/3/2022 at 9:16 AM, dpberr said:

Time has faded the fact that the the Indianapolis Colts had terrible drafting in the early 1990s.  They have candidates for worst draft in history with their 1990 and 1992 drafts.

 

In 1990, they picked Jeff George 1st overall, despite all his problems at Illinois, choosing him over guys like Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau, Emmitt Smith.  He was gone by 1993.

 

In 1992, they were one of only 2 teams in NFL history to have both the #1 and #2 picks.  They picked Steve Emtman (50 games) and Quentin Coryatt (82 games).  That draft was arguably also one of the worst in NFL history.  No HOF players.  

Looked this up becuase I was so curious. Both of these guys had terrible injuries. Rough luck for the Colts and players

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

1 hour ago, st pete gogolak said:

The title of the thread was more for effect than anything.  Of course, Broncos' 2018 draft wasn't worst of all time.  Many, many drafts were worse.  I guess the point I was trying to make is that unless you have Allen, Mahones, Brady in his prime, etc.  you have to evaluate your QB situation every single year.  Someone pointed out that Keenum wasn't a Bronco at draft time.  I didn't realize that but it makes the Broncos situation that year even more puzzling.  At #5, they had firepower to move up (possibly) to get a QB.  Did they do their homework on Allen (who played next door at Wyoming for goodness sakes) and didn't believe him worthy?   Just puzzling draft from that perspective.

 

Allen was an exceptionally polarizing prospect. Some had him rated as the #1 overall best prospect. Others didn't rate him as even a 1st rounder. 

 

I don't think it's a surprise to see the Broncos pass on him to take a "sure-fire" defensive guy (who I'll note has been a very good player in the NFL). 

 

My comparison would be the 2017 Bills passing on Mahomes and Watson. The Bills hit on Allen the next year and the rest, as they say, is history. The Broncos haven't hit on the QB position since then, but if Wilson wasn't such a shocking failure I think this would be a very different conversation. 

[Captain Hindsight]

1 hour ago, st pete gogolak said:

The title of the thread was more for effect than anything.  Of course, Broncos' 2018 draft wasn't worst of all time.  Many, many drafts were worse.  I guess the point I was trying to make is that unless you have Allen, Mahones, Brady in his prime, etc.  you have to evaluate your QB situation every single year.  Someone pointed out that Keenum wasn't a Bronco at draft time.  I didn't realize that but it makes the Broncos situation that year even more puzzling.  At #5, they had firepower to move up (possibly) to get a QB.  Did they do their homework on Allen (who played next door at Wyoming for goodness sakes) and didn't believe him worthy?   Just puzzling draft from that perspective.

Well that is just false

 

On March 14, 2018, Keenum signed a two-year, $36 million contract with the Denver Broncos.[84]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Keenum

 

Draft was April 26th that year

[Bill from NYC]

Can anything be worse than this:

 

1994112727Jeff BurrisDBNotre Dame

 221948Bucky BrooksWRNorth Carolina

 323261Lonnie JohnsonTEFlorida State

 423564Sam RogersLBColorado

 531681Marlo PerryLBJackson State

 633398Corey LouchieyTSouth Carolina

 7427130Sean CrockerDBNorth Carolina

 8527158A.J. OfodileTEMissouri

 9627188Anthony AbramsDEClark

 10631192Kevin KnoxWRFlorida State

 11727221Filmel JohnsonDBIllinois

[st pete gogolak]

19 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Can anything be worse than this:

 

1994112727Jeff BurrisDBNotre Dame

 221948Bucky BrooksWRNorth Carolina

 323261Lonnie JohnsonTEFlorida State

 423564Sam RogersLBColorado

 531681Marlo PerryLBJackson State

 633398Corey LouchieyTSouth Carolina

 7427130Sean CrockerDBNorth Carolina

 8527158A.J. OfodileTEMissouri

 9627188Anthony AbramsDEClark

 10631192Kevin KnoxWRFlorida State

 11727221Filmel JohnsonDBIllinois

Actually, I think Burris and Rogers elevates this in the decent category, let alone not "worst of all time".  Marlo Perry and Lonnie Johnson has some moments as well.  Not great, but far from terrible.