The FanHouse recently did a piece that revisited the 2005 Cincinnati Bengals draft. What looked like a solid draft on paper, at the time, turned out to be quite a disaster just a few years later.
1.17 – David Pollack: Retired
2.48 – Odell Thurman: Released
3.83 – Chris Henry: Released
4.119 – Eric Ghiaciuc: Starting C
5.153 – Adam Kieft: Not Tendered
6.190 – Tab Perry: Plays for Miami
7.233 – Jonathan Fanene: Backup DE
Yes, having your top three selections be complete busts/felons only three years later may come off as a tad on the “not-so-good” side; but if we really wanted to be optimists, we could point out that they did at least come out with a starting center and a backup Defensive End still in tow.
I mean, that’s a goldmine compared to the 2000 Draft of the Cleveland Browns, right?
1.1 - Courtney Brown: Released
2.32 - Dennis Northcutt: Jaguars via FA
3.63 - Travis Prentice: Released, now Retired
3.79 – JaJuan Dawson: Released, now Retired
4.95 – Lewis Sanders: New England via FA
4.110 – Aaron Shea: Released via Free Agency
5.130 - Anthony Mallbrough: CFL
5.146 - Lamar Chapman: Released
6.183 - Spergon Wynn: CFL
6.206 – Brad Bedell: Released, now Retired
7.207 – Manuia Savea: Not Tendered
7.209 – Eric Chandler: Not Tendered
7.225 – Rashidi Barnes: Not Tendered
Now, one can argue that a lot more time has expired since this draft given NFL player shelf-life and that whole issue. However, even if you were to back this post up to say 2005, the most we would have would be Dennis Northcutt. I mean, look at the shear number of players that were selected during this year. None of them stuck to the wall?
It pains me to think that Northcutt is currently ranked 10th all time for Browns receivers; but given that he dropped that crucial pass for the Jaguars last season, I would be lying if I told you that I missed having him around. Shea is a good guy (despite his Michigan ties) that just happened to be hampered by injuries over the last few seasons.
Oh, and need I remind you that Spergon Wynn was taken 16 selections before Tom Brady?
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1700 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Hey, don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. Droughns did put that hit on Pollack that ended his career after all.
…conveniently after we turned it over…
[...] At Drafting Posted on May 20, 2008 by The Seaward WFNY had a fun little riff this morning comparing the Bengals disastrous 2005 draft with the Browns catastrophic 2000 draft, and that got me to thinking about all the different drafts the Browns have had since 1999, [...]