Worst Pats draft class?

[ctpatsfan77]

This came up over on Reddit, so: what would you say is the worst draft class? I'll let you decide what constitutes worst; the only rule is you have to consider the entire Pats draft class. No cherry picking, say, "2024 minus Drake."

 

[mayoclinic]

2017.

 

[bakes781]

2019

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

2024 minus Drake

 

[jmt57]

I'm going back further than most will remember, but 1970 has to rate as the worst.

Only one player, Dennis Wirgowski, ever started for the Pats - for all of three seasons, on bad teams.


1985 and 1997 were runnerups.

Some consider 2007 to be bad, but I don't when you look at the big picture - in other words, what the Patriots did with that draft capital (trading picks for Welker and Moss).

More recently, 2017, 2019 and 2022 are in the discussion.
As the years went by, Belichick did not adequately replace front office staff that departed, and it showed in his last few drafts.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I'm going back further than most will remember, but 1970 has to rate as the worst.

Only one player, Dennis Wirgowski, ever started for the Pats - for all of three seasons, on bad teams.


1985 and 1997 were runnerups.

Some consider 2007 to be bad, but I don't when you look at the big picture - in other words, what the Patriots did with that draft capital (trading picks for Welker and Moss).

I have no conscious memories of the 70s, though I was alive for part of them.

And the trades in 2007 are a fair point, though one could argue that the draft class itself sucked [redacted].

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Chris Canty...god, I remember 1998, freshman year at UConn, having to watch games on my friend's tiny TV with bad reception. And just watching Canty get lit up... he made me so mad during a night game when I was standing on a carpet on those miserable linoleum dorm floors... I somehow slipped the rug out from under me in my 'enthusiasm' in critiquing his play.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

And the trades in 2007 are a fair point, though one could argue that the draft class itself sucked [redacted].

Are you saying 2007 minus trades?

 

[manxman2601]

2017 v 2019 is quite the battle. Only 4 picks in '17 but at least they got someone decent out of it in Wise. When you have 10 picks, as in '19, and the only decent one was a punter, that has to take the biscuit.

Let's hope '26 is more '25 than those years.

My God though, BB was a bad drafter.

 

[Clonamery]

2017 v 2019 is quite the battle. Only 4 picks in '17 but at least they got someone decent out of it in Wise. When you have 10 picks, as in '19, and the only decent one was a punter, that has to take the biscuit.

Let's hope '26 is more '25 than those years.

My God though, BB was a bad drafter.

And it is so ****ing easy.

 

[manxman2601]

And it is so ****ing easy.

We nail it every year......sort of. Well not really.

 

[Clonamery]

We nail it every year......sort of. Well not really.

Well, if you can't find people you trust, you're not going to be good at it, hence Vrabel bringing Cowden in.

 

[mayoclinic]

We nail it every year......sort of. Well not really.

At least we don't sh*t the bed.

 

[Toofy]

2024 - Drake ; 0 contributions from anybody else ; ( sorry had to state this )

2022 draft class

2019 draft class

I don't remember any before 2014 so biased towards these .

 

[PatsFan2]

2017 v 2019 is quite the battle. Only 4 picks in '17 but at least they got someone decent out of it in Wise. When you have 10 picks, as in '19, and the only decent one was a punter, that has to take the biscuit.

Let's hope '26 is more '25 than those years.

My God though, BB was a bad drafter.

What kept you?? I don't miss him or his putrid Drafts.

 

[PatsFan2]

2024 - Drake ; 0 contributions from anybody else ; ( sorry had to state this )

2022 draft class

2019 draft class

I don't remember any before 2014 so biased towards these .

BB Draft stink rubbed off on Wolf.

 

[jmt57]

Here's another bad draft, from back when dinosaurs roamed the earth: 1966.

To begin, consider this: in the same year that OT Karl Singer was drafted third overall in the AFL, he was not drafted in the NFL until the 19th round. The Purdue Boilermaker started just one game before being released after three seasons.

As big as a draft bust as Singer was, that choice was just the tip of the iceberg, exacerbated by a mind-boggling array of horrible selections. Jim Boudreaux (2.10) appeared in just 12 games over three seasons. DT Harold Lucas (3.19) signed with the Cardinals but deserved to be part of the early Pats folklore: he left $300,000 on the table when he walked out of summer camp and quit, upset about having to drop 20+ pounds to reach a team-mandated 280 pound weight limit. DT John Mangum (5.35) started five games in his two-year pro career; the 4th round pick was traded to the Jets; OT Dan Irby (6.43) never played a down; and Jim Battle (7.52) signed with the Browns.

The Patriots selected ten of the first 102 players in that draft, and half of them never played a down in either the NFL or AFL. Of the 18 players drafted by the Patriots (the last being just 174th overall - the equivalent of a fifth round pick today), twelve never played in either of the two leagues; only four ever played with the Patriots; and the most productive of those four was Doug Satcher, who was the starter for just one season with the Pats. The only positive was the trade of their 4th round pick to the Jets, which returned WR Jim Colclough back to the Patriots.

Draft decisions based on monkees flinging poo at a wall could yielded better results than that. It's no wonder that was the exact point when the Patriots went from annual title contenders to seven consecutive losing seasons.

 

[jmt57]

Four years later, the 1970 draft added to the 1966 misery.


With the fourth overall pick of what was now a common draft between the merged leagues, the Patriots drafted Phil Olsen, Merlin's brother. Just because your brother was a good football player, that is no reason to be drafted this early. Phil spent his entire rookie season on IR, then departed for the Rams as a free agent. Never played a single down for the Pats.

The Pats had no 2nd round pick, lost along with Leroy Mitchell as part of a horrible trade with Houston.

Third round, 56th overall was LB Mike 'Cat' Ballou. Drafted one of the few positions the team was set on, Ballou lasted all of one season before being released - and no other team bothered to sign him.

Fourth round, 83rd overall: RB Eddie Ray. Again, not a position of need; the Pats already had Jim Nance and Carl Garrett at RB, but plenty of other positions in need of an upgrade. Ray also lasted only one season with the Patriots before being traded for a 1972 7th, rushing for 13 yards on five attempts.

Fifth round, 107th overall: LB Bob Olson was released before the start of the season, and never played in the NFL - though he was an all-star in 1971 in the minor league Atlantic Coast Football League. The Patriots had this pick as part of another awful trade, sending Nick Buoniconti to Miami.

Fifth round, 108th overall: the Pats traded their own 5th to the Jets for Ezell Jones, who lasted 1½ years with zero starts.

Sixth round, 135th overall: traded to Buffalo for safety Tom Janik, who couldn't crack the starting lineup but did make the roster as a punter.

Seventh round, 160th overall: RB Odell Lawson; again, not a position of pressing need. Lawson lasted two seasons, averaging 1.7 yards per carry on 64 rushes in three fill-in starts due to injuries. Maybe an offensive lineman would have made more sense than these running backs?

Eighth round, 187th overall: traded to the Jets for DT Karl Henke, who lasted one season.

Ninth round, 112th overall: DE Dennis Wirgowski played for three seasons with the Pats and was a starter for the last two. Played in 37 games with 26 starts over three seasons before being traded to Philadelphia. Sadly, he is the highlight of this draft for the Patriots.

Tenth round and beyond: ten draft picks, none of whom ever played a single down in the NFL.


We may rightfully ***** about the last few Belichick drafts, but the 1966 and 1970 drafts were, in my opinion, much worse. They were a major reason why the Patriots were so bad prior to the Chuck Fairbanks teams of the mid to late seventies.