What’s strange is—though there is some turnover in NFL front offices, the teams themselves seem to be creatures of habit. So much so that they will repeat history over and over again until they get it right.
Unfortunately, for a lot of the teams across the NFL, there is no “getting it right” when it comes to the draft. Instead, they continue to be plagued by the same Draft Day blunders year in and year out.
Let’s take a look back at the last few years—and check out every NFL team’s favorite mistake to make in the draft.
What mistake is your favorite team guilty of committing in each and every NFL draft?
Arizona Cardinals – Reaching for an ego maniac QB that their team will hate
The Arizona Cardinals love themselves a good reach. Which, ironically, is what their current quarterback, who they reached for at first overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, needs to do when he wants cookies off the top shelf for a late-night Call of Duty snack.
What makes matters worse for Arizona is that when they do reach out, it’s for a guy who thinks way too highly of himself.
Between taking Murray first—and packaging picks to move up and take Josh Rosen 10th—the Cardinals have left themselves in quarterback no-man’s-land over the past 10 or so years.
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Atlanta Falcons – Taking skill position players that don’t fit their offense
Just ask any Kyle Pitts or Drake London fantasy owners about this one… The Falcons draft strategy makes no sense.
All they do is reach for guys, who have exciting potential, like the aforementioned Pitts and London, but who also don’t fit into the run-heavy offense that the current regime wants to utilize.
Baltimore Ravens – Picking underachieving pass catchers
Listen to these names and stop me when you get one you like… Charlie Kolar, Isaiah Likely, Rashod Bateman, Tylan Wallace… Even Devin Duvernay… All have been very underwhelming pass catchers in the grand scheme of things.
We’d have to go all the way back to 2018 when they took Mark Andrews to find a good one—and they lose credit on that pick because they took him in the third round of the NFL draft after wasting their first-rounder on Hayden Hurst.
Buffalo Bills – Ignoring their roster needs
The Bills are one of those teams that seems to focus on deep value rather than what would actually help fill out their roster.
I’m all for prioritizing key positions like the defensive line, cornerback, and so on—but not when those are not actually the areas of need for the organization.
Carolina Panthers – Gambling away their picks on retread quarterbacks
The Panthers seem to be deploying the “can’t make bad picks if you trade them” philosophy, but unfortunately, they continue to trade their picks away for retread first-round QBs, which Carolina greatly overvalues.
Baker Mayfield… Sam Darnold—bet they’d like to have all of that draft capital back.
Chicago Bears – Trading away all their picks for a roster that isn’t “win-now”
What’s worse than going all in by trading a slew of picks to move up and take a quarterback you could’ve gotten later in the draft?
How about proceeding to package multiple firsts to make ANOTHER trade, essentially doubling down and declaring that with Khalil Mack in tow, your team is ready to go deep in the postseason with the previously alluded to Mitch Trubisky?
The only bright side is that Chicago seems to have realized their error and has recently leveraged the same temptation that led them astray against the Panthers in a trade!
Cincinnati Bengals – Not investing high picks in offensive lineman
The good news is Cincinnati is trying to address its positional needs. The Bengals have drafted five o-lineman in the last three NFL drafts.
The problem? None of them have been in the first round—and just one was in the second.
Tough to build a legit o-line off the scrap heap!
Cleveland Browns – Terrible in the 3rd round every year
Have to give a hat tip to PFF for catching this one, but man, are the Browns horrendous at drafting guys in the third round for some reason.
I’d list them off, but these names are so irrelevant that it would really be a waste of time—because I doubt y’all remember any of them. As a reference point—the three they took in the 2022 draft only started a combined 14 games.
Dallas Cowboys – Looking for a flashy pick
It’s a few years back now, but Ezekiel Elliott is a good example of Dallas prioritizing the glamour of a pick over value.
It’s hard to argue against his production, but there’s such strong analytics against taking a running back that high in the draft—and it’s hard to think that Jones and co. weren’t swayed by his epic showing during Ohio State’s National Championship run ahead of the NFL draft.
Denver Broncos – Striking out on pass catchers
Maybe it’s a good thing that Denver gave up all its picks for Russell Wilson—at least now they won’t waste all their high picks striking out on pass catchers.
KJ Hamler… Greg Dulcich… Noah Fant… Even Jerry Jeudy, who they took 15th overall, has largely been a disappointment.
Courtland Sutton, really, is the only exception—certainly not the rule.
Detroit Lions – Ignoring positional value
The Detroit Lions are, in many ways, far from the pinnacle of efficiency… And their drafting philosophy is no exception.
The suits in the Motor City always fall to the temptation of “their guy” and overlook positional value. For example… when they took TJ Hockeson, a tight end, eighth overall—or the 2020 draft when they took an admittedly good running back, D’Andre Swift, 35th.
Green Bay Packers – Not picking players to win now
Usually, when a team has… even a good quarterback… they will become increasingly aggressive in the NFL draft trying to build around them.
After all, in the NFL, quality quarterback play is rare and you need to capitalize.
The Packers, however, were evidently spoiled and continued to make bizarre picks—like the Jordan Love selection—rather than drafting to capitalize on the twilight years of Aaron Rodgers’ career.
Houston Texans – Letting the wrong people make all the decisions
While it might seem like it makes sense to consolidate the personnel decisions—giving your head coach the final say often goes awry quickly. Head coaches are only human too—and more often than not they will start letting personalities play too much of a role—and making roster moves that, really, are more about keeping their own job secure than anything else.
Both of which we saw play out in Houston with Bill O’Brien at the wheel.
The only thing worse than that would be if you let some wanna-be standup comedian slash evangelical egomaniac make comically bad decisions—for reasons unknown… Honestly, that Jack Easterby era will always confound me.
Can’t wait to find out in the next year or so why Nick Caserio was an outrageously bad choice as well—because, in Houston, there’s always a reason that comes out!
Indianapolis Colts – Trading first-rounders despite a mediocre roster
Indianapolis has only had a first-round pick twice in the last five years… making them the Rams of the Midwest—only without any real postseason success to show for it.
Instead, they’ve gambled away their picks to bring in veteran quarterbacks to fill the gaping hole that Andrew Luck left in their hearts.
And every time Jim Irsay pushes those chips back into the middle of the table—the rebuild gets delayed more and more—and things only get worse for the organization as whole.
Jacksonville Jaguars – Drafting a quarterback bust
Trevor Lawrence started to show some signs down the stretch last year, but the jury’s still out on him as far as I’m concerned… Either way, he is a HUGE improvement over the bust quarterbacks that Jacksonville tends to pick high in the NFL draft—like Blake Bortles and Blaine Gabbert to name a couple.
Kansas City Chiefs – Picking wrong complementary pieces
Tough to go wrong when you have one of the best teams in the league, but Kansas City routinely seems to do so.
In fairness, they usually pick at the end of the round, but it would be great if they could hit on those picks to fill the little needs here and there—rather than swinging and missing on big names, like Clyde Edwards-Helaire—when they don’t really have a need at running back.
Las Vegas Raiders – Picking low character players
The Raiders have a long tradition of risking it for the biscuit on players coming out of college with legitimate character concerns.
And unsurprisingly, we’ve seen the chickens come home to roost more than a couple of times over the years.
Los Angeles Chargers – Wasting picks on running backs
The Chargers are like the person who keeps trying to recreate their ex in a new relationship… They had a public split with Melvin Gordon in 2019—and ever since they’ve tried to find his clone in the NFL draft.
After taking just one running back in between 2016 and 2019—they took four in three years—and poetically, Austin Ekeler has turned into their guy—and he was undrafted entirely!
Los Angeles Rams – Legit just never having picks
Not much to say on this one… The Rams simply never have picks—which would be a mistake—had they not cashed in on actually winning a Super Bowl.
Check back in around 2047, when the Rams actually have relevant draft capital again for an update!
Miami Dolphins – Whiffing on offensive linemen
I don’t know if it’s the Miami heat… nightlife… or the developmental system. Or, perhaps, the lack thereof—but the o-lineman that the Dolphins take never seems to pan out.
Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson, who they took in the second and first rounds, respectively, in 2021 and 2020—have been underwhelming at best.
Minnesota Vikings – Not investing high enough picks in defensive end
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the franchise that infamously missed a draft selection entirely by letting the clock expire still has some drafting woes to this day.
Minny has confoundingly tried to buck the trend of picking edge rushers high in the NFL draft, something that is all but mandatory considering the freakish athleticism required at the position. The Vikes haven’t taken a defensive end higher than the fourth round since 2015! And even then, it was in the third.
Maybe they keep expecting to find a diamond in the rough because they lucked out with Danielle Hunter that year!
New England Patriots – Terrible at picking wide receivers
New England has been the gold standard in the NFL for over 20 years, but if there’s been any chink in the armor… you know—besides letting Tom Brady go for those last couple of years—it has been their inability to draft wide receivers.
And this has gotten increasingly worse with time… Cough, cough—I’m looking at you N’Keal Harry.
New Orleans Saints – Not looking for a franchise quarterback
New Orleans got lucky that Drew Brees fell into their lap—and proceeded to have a career renaissance.
Now, the Saints brass seems to have fallen victim to the gambler’s fallacy, as they continue to ignore the most important position in the game during the draft process—instead opting to shuffle through retreads, like Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton and now, Derek Carr.
New York Giants – Can’t nail a high draft pick
The Giants don’t always have a super high draft pick, but when they do—they always seem to botch it.
Last year, they took defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux fifth overall out of Oregon—and he amassed just four sacks in 14 games—and seventh overall pick, offensive lineman Evan Neal was even worse.
Andrew Thomas has been meh. And let’s face it, Daniel Jones just became legitimately playable. We’ll see if he can ever deliver the return on investment you’d want from a sixth-overall NFL draft pick.
New York Jets – Going big on a quarterback
If looking at the Zach Wilson experiment isn’t evidence enough—think back to names of yesteryear like Mark Sanchez… Or even Christian Hackenberg… or Bryce Petty to a lesser extent.
The Jets either take a QB way too high—or go after the big name coming out of college and it NEVER works out.
Philadelphia Eagles – Drafting bust wide receivers
Desean Jackson is just about the only wide receiver that Philly’s taken high in the draft that hasn’t been a flat-out bust. Devonta Smith may be bucking that trend, but it will take more than one decent pick to overwrite years of history.
Especially with the likes of Jalen Reagor, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and Nelson Agholor having eaten up valuable draft capital in Philly!
Pittsburgh Steelers – No love for the trenches
The Steelers have a troubling trend of ignoring the trenches at the top of the NFL draft. It has been over ten years since they took a lineman in the first round—and that was six-time Pro Bowler David DeCastro, which begs the question—why do they neglect this integral part of their roster?
San Francisco 49ers – Drafting running backs that they don’t need
Much has been made about how any running back can play in Kyle Shanahan’s system, which makes it all the more confusing that they continue to cast such a wide net on the position in the draft when they don’t need to—for example, Tyrion Davis-Price last year and Trey Sermon the year before.
Seattle Seahawks – Pretending they don’t need an o-line
For years Seattle all but fully abandoned the offensive line during their draft process, instead, allowing Tom Cable to try and piece together a line throughout the year with castaways and positional converts.
Bold strategy.
Here’s to Seahawks fans everywhere, hoping the Charles Cross selection in 2022 was a sign of more positive change to come.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Low ceiling quarterback prospects
Let’s take a trip down memory lane—Kyle Trask, Jameis Winston, Mike Glennon… None of these guys, even Jameis, really screamed hall-of-fame potential.
The Bucs may swing for a QB in the NFL draft, but it is never a swing for the fences. Never even close.
Tennessee Titans – Wasting all their high picks
The Titans, well, they seem to just outright waste their top draft picks year in and year out. So much so that it’s almost like it’s fun for them!
Treylon Burks was rough last year, but perhaps the most embarrassing example would be Isaiah Wilson, who, after being drafted in 2020, played just one game in the pros.
Washington Commanders – Choosing the wrong quarterbacks
The Washington Commanders always seem to choose the wrong quarterbacks. RGIII was a flash in the pan. Kirk Cousins was an insurance policy brought to life.
I don’t want to speak lightly about the Dwayne Haskins tragedy, but he only lasted two seasons with the team after being taken 15th overall in 2019.
Now, they are so snakebitten that they just take flyers on guys like Sam Howell and Nate Sudfeld late in the NFL draft, which, c’mon—that’s not going to do anyone any good!
