Bear Draft Bombs
Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 11:56 am
Inspired by another thread, here are my worst Bear Draft Picks of 1993-2017
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14390&p=241523#p241523
Ranks are based on a combination of:
• The overall NFL careers of the selection
• The level of stupidity involved in the selection
GMs responsible were as follows:
Graves/Wanny/Phillips?/MMcCaskey?/shitshow 1993 1997 5
Hatley 1998 2001 4
Angelo 2002 2011 10
Emery 2012 2014 3
Pace 2015 2017* 3*
(The list may make Angelo look good by comparison, but as a caveat, virtually all my ‘near misses because they were just Bad, but not quite Legendarily Bad’ are his.)
Round Three
In round 3, there’ve been enough complete disasters that I just can’t find a dividing line to limit it to 5. Honestly, you could legitimately put the 7 in almost any order.
7) 2002 Angelo CB Roosevelt Williams
You can draft small school successes with great physical traits and you can draft huge collegiate stars with iffy physical traits. And you can draft small schoolers with subpar measurables, too, I guess, but this is what you tend to get.
6) 1997 Graves/Wanny G Bob Sapp
Technique and questionable mental toughness led to 1 career NFL appearance. Life after the NFL was a lot more interesting.
5) 2012 Emery S Brandon Hardin
Came with a history of injury problems and only added to it. Never saw the field.
4) 2000 Hatley TE Dustin Lyman
After the success of using a R5 pick to convert Jerry Azumah from a small school RB to an NFL CB, Hatley became mad with arrogance and decided to use a top 100 pick to shift a player from LB to TE. Turns out, radical position switches are longshots and not something you should typically go in intending to do with high picks. Who knew? Everyone? No way!
3) 2009 Angelo DE Jarron Gilbert
5 NFL games to his name. Here's the highlight of his career:
2) 2009 Angelo WR Juaquin Iglesias
Beats Jarron with only 1 lifetime NFL appearance
1) 2007 Angelo LB Michael Okwo
Never made an NFL roster
Round Two
5) 2014 Emery DT Ego Ferguson
2 NFL seasons and 27 tackles. Thanks for the memories.
4) 2017 Pace TE Adam Shaheen
Overdrafted by at least 1 round, injuries, and work ethic problems netted 249 yards in 3 seasons.
3) 2007 Angelo DE Dan Bazuin
Hurt in rookie minicamp and never played again
2) 1997 Graves/Wanny TE John Allred
The yardstick by which all reaches are measured. A slightly small TE with very, very modest college success and dreadful combine numbers. Projected to be drafted in the 7th round, somehow Wanny became convinced everyone else was as deeply in love with his intangibles as he was, and the only way to land him was to use a 2nd rounder. A HIGH second rounder. 281 career yards
1) 1995 Graves/Wanny DT Patrick Riley
Appeared in 1 NFL game, compiling no stats. Such a nobody, I don’t even remember him or how I felt about the pick.
Round One
5) 2003 Angelo DE Michael Haynes
Very productive in college, but had a lousy combine, which the Bears ignored to take him high (14). 3 years and 5.5 sacks later, his NFL career was over.
4) 2015 Pace WR Kevin White
Bears needed a top receiver badly, but there was only 1 blue-chipper, then a steep cliff. The one went early, as expected, then Pace reached hard at 7.
3) 2012 Emery LB Shea McClellin
You might notice that I listed him as a LB, rather than DE, which is what he was drafted as. That's because everyone with an ounce of sense agreed he was much better suited to LB at the pro level…which excluded Phil Emery, unfortunately
2) 1998 Hatley HB Curtis (P)Enis
Enis was the consensus player at this spot - but the Bears needed other things much more than HB and they had trade offers. Hatley felt they were 'too light' and he had to establish himself in his first draft as someone who couldn't be pushed around. So he stubbornly took Enis out of spite. And from there, Enis held out all summer, got hurt (coincidence, I’m sure), and sucked so much he got moved to FB, before everyone called it quits.
1) 1999 Hatley QB Cade McNown
A colossal disaster in all regards. Everyone knew the Bears desperately needed a franchise QB in this draft, but fortunately there were 3-5 legit prospects, depending on your source, and the Bears were picking 12th. Well, the Bears stood pat while all 4 got snapped up, leaving them to overreach horribly on a vastly overrated prospect. He had poor size, bad mechanics, and a subpar arm, but he was supposed to get by on swagger. So much for that theory.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14390&p=241523#p241523
Ranks are based on a combination of:
• The overall NFL careers of the selection
• The level of stupidity involved in the selection
GMs responsible were as follows:
Graves/Wanny/Phillips?/MMcCaskey?/shitshow 1993 1997 5
Hatley 1998 2001 4
Angelo 2002 2011 10
Emery 2012 2014 3
Pace 2015 2017* 3*
(The list may make Angelo look good by comparison, but as a caveat, virtually all my ‘near misses because they were just Bad, but not quite Legendarily Bad’ are his.)
Round Three
In round 3, there’ve been enough complete disasters that I just can’t find a dividing line to limit it to 5. Honestly, you could legitimately put the 7 in almost any order.
7) 2002 Angelo CB Roosevelt Williams
You can draft small school successes with great physical traits and you can draft huge collegiate stars with iffy physical traits. And you can draft small schoolers with subpar measurables, too, I guess, but this is what you tend to get.
6) 1997 Graves/Wanny G Bob Sapp
Technique and questionable mental toughness led to 1 career NFL appearance. Life after the NFL was a lot more interesting.
5) 2012 Emery S Brandon Hardin
Came with a history of injury problems and only added to it. Never saw the field.
4) 2000 Hatley TE Dustin Lyman
After the success of using a R5 pick to convert Jerry Azumah from a small school RB to an NFL CB, Hatley became mad with arrogance and decided to use a top 100 pick to shift a player from LB to TE. Turns out, radical position switches are longshots and not something you should typically go in intending to do with high picks. Who knew? Everyone? No way!
3) 2009 Angelo DE Jarron Gilbert
5 NFL games to his name. Here's the highlight of his career:
2) 2009 Angelo WR Juaquin Iglesias
Beats Jarron with only 1 lifetime NFL appearance
1) 2007 Angelo LB Michael Okwo
Never made an NFL roster
Round Two
5) 2014 Emery DT Ego Ferguson
2 NFL seasons and 27 tackles. Thanks for the memories.
4) 2017 Pace TE Adam Shaheen
Overdrafted by at least 1 round, injuries, and work ethic problems netted 249 yards in 3 seasons.
3) 2007 Angelo DE Dan Bazuin
Hurt in rookie minicamp and never played again
2) 1997 Graves/Wanny TE John Allred
The yardstick by which all reaches are measured. A slightly small TE with very, very modest college success and dreadful combine numbers. Projected to be drafted in the 7th round, somehow Wanny became convinced everyone else was as deeply in love with his intangibles as he was, and the only way to land him was to use a 2nd rounder. A HIGH second rounder. 281 career yards
1) 1995 Graves/Wanny DT Patrick Riley
Appeared in 1 NFL game, compiling no stats. Such a nobody, I don’t even remember him or how I felt about the pick.
Round One
5) 2003 Angelo DE Michael Haynes
Very productive in college, but had a lousy combine, which the Bears ignored to take him high (14). 3 years and 5.5 sacks later, his NFL career was over.
4) 2015 Pace WR Kevin White
Bears needed a top receiver badly, but there was only 1 blue-chipper, then a steep cliff. The one went early, as expected, then Pace reached hard at 7.
3) 2012 Emery LB Shea McClellin
You might notice that I listed him as a LB, rather than DE, which is what he was drafted as. That's because everyone with an ounce of sense agreed he was much better suited to LB at the pro level…which excluded Phil Emery, unfortunately
2) 1998 Hatley HB Curtis (P)Enis
Enis was the consensus player at this spot - but the Bears needed other things much more than HB and they had trade offers. Hatley felt they were 'too light' and he had to establish himself in his first draft as someone who couldn't be pushed around. So he stubbornly took Enis out of spite. And from there, Enis held out all summer, got hurt (coincidence, I’m sure), and sucked so much he got moved to FB, before everyone called it quits.
1) 1999 Hatley QB Cade McNown
A colossal disaster in all regards. Everyone knew the Bears desperately needed a franchise QB in this draft, but fortunately there were 3-5 legit prospects, depending on your source, and the Bears were picking 12th. Well, the Bears stood pat while all 4 got snapped up, leaving them to overreach horribly on a vastly overrated prospect. He had poor size, bad mechanics, and a subpar arm, but he was supposed to get by on swagger. So much for that theory.