WEEI.com: Worst No. 1 picks in team history

[Christopher_Price]

Hey all ... time for this week's debate. The latest edition of The Hot List looks at the five worst first-round picks in Patriots' history. I've already gotten a few suggestions to be added to the list -- e-mail or PM me with your own suggestions. If we get enough, we'll do a round two. (Maybe we'll call them Dishonorable Mentions...)

Christopher Price | The Hot List: The Worst No. 1 Picks in Patriots History

We've also got some confirmations on some small school kids working out for the Patriots on the blog.

It Is What It Is

 

[primetime]

Katzenmoyer was disappointing because he could have been so good, but he looked good before the neck injury that ended his career. If you're going to call him one of the worst, then Robert Edwards also has to be up there. But that's not really fair to either of them. Hart Lee Dykes was another guy whose career was derailed by freak injuries, though Dykes heard footsteps everywhere and grew alligator arms in the pros (the best part of the Dykes story is that they took Coleman from Wyoming in the 2nd round, who Dykes smoked for about 15 catches for 250 yards in a bowl game only a few months before. He wasn't any good either.)

Chris Canty had a pretty long pro career. Too bad most of it ended up being in the 2nd division of the Arena League. Ugh. Yeah, he belongs on this list.

Eugene Chung was a bad pick, too.

Dennis Byrd was before my time, so I can't really say on that, but based on the story he deserves on the list.

Two honorable mentions would be Kenneth Sims (not because he was a horrible player, but because you'd expect more with the 1st overall pick) and Chris Singleton/Ray Agnew (because... well, Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau, Renaldo Turnbull, Richmond Webb, Emmitt Smith...)

 

[FortressX]

This needed to be first on your list I think.


RD 1 #1 Kenneth "Game Day" Simms.

 

[Jimke]

Other duds were Ron Sellers, Phil Olsen, Reggie Dupard, and

Trevor Matich.

 

[Rob0729]

I loved how Bobby Grier admitted when he drafted Canty that he drafted him to be a nickelback. A first round pick as a nickelback. When he could have had Dexter McCleon (2nd round and he wasn't all that great, but much better than Canty), Sam Madison (2nd round), or Ronde Barber (3rd round).

I think Katzenmoyer gets too much of a bum wrap though. The guy looked promising before he was injured. I think he would have always have been a disapointment based on expectations and draft status, but I think he might have turned into a serviceable LB or better if he stayed healthy.

 

[pats60]

I agree Byrd was a joke.
Phil Olsen ditto

 

[maverick4]

Katzenmoyer was disappointing because he could have been so good, but he looked good before the neck injury that ended his career. If you're going to call him one of the worst, then Robert Edwards also has to be up there.

That's not a fair comparison. Robert Edwards had a very strong rookie season, whereas Katz did nothing before ending his career.

 

[Christopher_Price]

I loved how Bobby Grier admitted when he drafted Canty that he drafted him to be a nickelback. A first round pick as a nickelback. When he could have had Dexter McCleon (2nd round and he wasn't all that great, but much better than Canty), Sam Madison (2nd round), or Ronde Barber (3rd round).

I think Katzenmoyer gets too much of a bum wrap though. The guy looked promising before he was injured. I think he would have always have been a disapointment based on expectations and draft status, but I think he might have turned into a serviceable LB or better if he stayed healthy.

I agree with you to some extent on Katzenmoyer, but when you walk out of camp without telling anyone, that's awful hard to come back from. I always wonder if he could have returned to the game, what kind of player he might have been.

But Canty, oh, that was a hideous pick.

 

[ScottieC]

Katzenmoyer was disappointing because he could have been so good, but he looked good before the neck injury that ended his career. If you're going to call him one of the worst, then Robert Edwards also has to be up there. But that's not really fair to either of them. Hart Lee Dykes was another guy whose career was derailed by freak injuries, though Dykes heard footsteps everywhere and grew alligator arms in the pros (the best part of the Dykes story is that they took Coleman from Wyoming in the 2nd round, who Dykes smoked for about 15 catches for 250 yards in a bowl game only a few months before. He wasn't any good either.)

Chris Canty had a pretty long pro career. Too bad most of it ended up being in the 2nd division of the Arena League. Ugh. Yeah, he belongs on this list.

Eugene Chung was a bad pick, too.

Dennis Byrd was before my time, so I can't really say on that, but based on the story he deserves on the list.

Two honorable mentions would be Kenneth Sims (not because he was a horrible player, but because you'd expect more with the 1st overall pick) and Chris Singleton/Ray Agnew (because... well, Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau, Renaldo Turnbull, Richmond Webb, Emmitt Smith...)

Agreed on Katzenmoyer, he was on IR for the Super Bowl season - I guess he got a ring?

 

[ALP]

umm, i agree w/ first one....injuries should nto be counted

 

[ScottieC]

I agree with you to some extent on Katzenmoyer, but when you walk out of camp without telling anyone, that's awful hard to come back from. I always wonder if he could have returned to the game, what kind of player he might have been.

But Canty, oh, that was a hideous pick.

It was always my thought that Andy got to Camp that next year and basically the reality of his injury hit him and he did not want to aggravate the injury to the degree that he would (in him mind) have some paralysis.

I think that came down on him pretty hard and he did not know how to deal with it, from coaches, fans or media - He dealt with it his way.

Does that make it right, hell no. Was it his way of dealing with the fear of losing everything from football, $$'s, to the promise and expected play and behavior of a 1st round pick...yes.

Sad story if you ask me.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Katzenmoyer was disappointing because he could have been so good, but he looked good before the neck injury that ended his career.

well said; that was always my thinking too about him

 

[tanked_as_usual]

leonard russell
pat harlow
tony eason
trevor matich
chris singleton
tebucky jones

are all right up there with the rest mentioned

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

But Canty, oh, that was a hideous pick.

I went to summer camp the year Grier drafted Canty. Access to the players in Smithfield was easy and close. The kid looked like a hydrocephalic dwarf standing next to totally ripped Ty Law. I was far more muscular than spindly legged Chris 'Urkel' Canty.

It's apparent that the 20th century Pats had HORRIBLE drafts, especially given that these teams invariably had much HIGHER picks than we've had in the Belichick era. Only some of our recent era #2s (B Johnson, C Jackson) come close, and not all that close, to the past disasters.

 

[Jimke]

I loved how Bobby Grier admitted when he drafted Canty that he drafted him to be a nickelback. A first round pick as a nickelback. When he could have had Dexter McCleon (2nd round and he wasn't all that great, but much better than Canty), Sam Madison (2nd round), or Ronde Barber (3rd round).

I think Katzenmoyer gets too much of a bum wrap though. The guy looked promising before he was injured. I think he would have always have been a disapointment based on expectations and draft status, but I think he might have turned into a serviceable LB or better if he stayed healthy.

Greer drafted players to be backups. He drafted Tony Simmons and Rod

Rutledge two or three rounds ahead of where they were projected. He

sat on his duff in the Patriot's office instead of attending college pro days.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I am shocked and surprised that Ger Schwedes was not mentioned.

 

[primetime]

leonard russell
pat harlow
tony eason
trevor matich
chris singleton
tebucky jones

Russell and Harlow are both on the Globe's "Team of the 90's", so I don't think that's really fair. Harlow, especially, was a serviceable tackle in the league and had a good if not great career. Maybe not befitting his draft status, but he wasn't horrible. Russell had a few very good years too.

Eason took the team to a Super Bowl and also won the AFC East the next year. He may not have been a star but he wasn't a bust on the level of some of the other guys on the list.

Singleton and Matich probably belong.

Tebucky was a good, not great, safety who started on the Super Bowl team and came up with some big plays in those games. His career went downhill fast and he was never a stud, but he wasn't even close to "worst pick" status.

 

[Jimke]

I am shocked and surprised that Ger Schwedes was not mentioned.

This was a different era when the Pats were dirt poor and had to settle

for whatever they could get. Most of their #1 draft picks bolted to the

NFL. Jack Concannon was a good example. The Pats traded to get

the first pick in the 1964 AFL draft to get him; instead, the Eagles got him

by offering him twice as much as the Pats ($50,000 per year vs $25,000).

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

My bad, I interpreted 'team history' differently. Maybe New England Patriots vs Boston Patriots.

Ger's bustness was different from Concannon's loss for $ to the NFL.

 

[KY Pats Fan]

Simms tops with Canty a close second