Worst 1st Round Pick Since 1990

[HoosierCat 598]

So I saw this article on Josh's twitter:

/>http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25137781/examining-the-worst-first-round-nfl-draft-pick-for-each-team-since-1990

Here's the Bengals:

Cincinnati Bengals

Akili Smith, QB, 3rd, 1999 - 1

It's amazing how far the Bengals have come in terms of scouting and drafting players. It was an annual tradition in the 1990's for them to botch a high first-round selection. Now you expect them to do something savvy on the first night of the draft. In the span of five years, they used a top five pick on Ki-Jana Carter, Akili Smith and Peter Warrick. Smith has gotta be the worst of the selections but it's an incredible all-around list.

Notable:

David Klinger, QB, 6th, 1992

Ki-Jana Carter, RB, 1st, 1995

Peter Warrick, WR, 4th, 2000

Hard to argue with Akili as the worst selection,and Klingler and Carter are certainly a legit 2-3. But I can think of a couple guys I'd definitely put in front of Warrick:

Two-Carry Perry (h/t TJ)

David Pollack

Also up for consideration:

Reinard Wilson

John Copeland

Brian Simmons

Keith Rivers

And then you've got productive but ultimately destructive head cases like Gresham and Big Daddy.

[skyline 61]

I exclude anyone that was a bust due to injury. You don't have a crystal ball for that stuff.

Akili, no doubt. He just wasn't a finished product and was in no way ready for the NFL game. A 2nd/3rd rounder? Absolutely. #1, overall? eek...

[ArmyBengal 671]

Hard to argue that Smith holds the #1 spot.

I also don't like to include injury guys.

Who knows what Pollak could have been ??

[HoosierCat 598]

I generally put injury busts in a different category as well, but this article clearly isn't. If you're going to include Ki-Jana, you've got to include Perry as well.

Re Pollack, there were rumors back then that he could have returned, but eventually chose to retire because the Bengals wouldn't let him move back to DE. I don't know the truth of that, but it's notable that in the years since he's slagged the organization several times. So where you file him is cloudy.

[ArmyBengal 671]

I still don't really understand why they wanted to move him from DE to OLB.

[Dimster28 52]

Hard to argue that Smith holds the #1 spot.

I also don't like to include injury guys.

Who knows what Pollak could have been ??

did you do this on purpose because of me? lol

[ArmyBengal 671]

Hard to argue that Smith holds the #1 spot.

I also don't like to include injury guys.

Who knows what Pollak could have been ??

did you do this on purpose because of me? lol

Nope. lol

[milanooco 0]

JaMarcus Russell.