Cardinal Draft Day Horror stories-What is your worst memory?

[Lomax to Green 84]

I am a lifer Cards fan so this one is before the team moved to the desert:

1987-With the 6th selection in the 1987 NFL draft the St. Louis Cardinals select Kelly Stouffer Quarterback Colorado State University.

I was a huge Miami Hurricanes fan and absolutely loved Jerome Brown DT from Miami. I had my draft guide all ready, I had plotted and planned the perfect scenerio that would allow the Cards to get Jerome Brown (who actually was projected to go earlier) and when the team selecting before the Cards passed on Brown I just knew that he was going to end up a Cardinal.

I swore I would never be a fan again after that fiasco. Of course I forgave them and then suddenly tried to justify why Stouffer was going to be a good pick.

Its hell being a Cards fan sometimes.

 

[SECTION 11]

The real horror stories really occur about four years later, when you're left pondering questions like;

"What can we get for him in a trade?"
"Why the hell did we draft this guy?"
"What the hell does a 300 pound barber want from him anyway?"

Or statements like;

"Let's make him play special teams."
"No way. He wants to play with a contender."
"If we don't tag him he's a goner."
"Hey, the sheep needed help over the fence. He was there, and he's a good samaritan."

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

In retrospect, the entire 1997 draft. I can't say there was ever a draft where I wasn't excited about our picks at the time, but some of these picks were wacko. Here's a run down of 1997:

1st round (#9)-Tom Knight, DB, Iowa (DUD!)
2nd round (#42)-Jake Plummer, QB, ASU (he broke our hearts!)
3rd round (#84)-Ty Howard, DB, Ohio State (DUD!)
4th round (#106)-Chris Disman, OL, Nebraska (Ok, I guess. I'm not a big fan of his...definately the cream of this pittiful crop!)
5th round (#139)-Chad Carpenter, WR, Washington State (Before Sullivan's time, would have become a #1 reciever if given the time!)
6th round (#175)-Rod Brown, RB, NC State (who?)
6th round (#188}-Tony McCombs, LB, E, Kentucky (WTF?)
7th round (#212)-Mark Smith, DT, Auburn (had all the tools until Swanny got into his head!)

There you have it, the Cardinals worst draft (in my opinion) that I can remember...

 

[Ed B]

3 picks stand out:

1989, Walter Reeves in the second round. The guy was a backup in college.

1991, trading our 1st rounder for Randal Hill (who Miami of course couldn't wait to unload because he stunk)

2000, drafting thomas jones. I wanted Urlacher so badly I couldn't stand it.

 

[Dback Jon]

With the 5th Pick of the 1986 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Cardinals take Kicker John Lee from UCLA........

 

[ChiCard]

My worst draft day story occurred several years ago when the Cardinals had the 5th pick and used up the whole 15 minutes. Time expired and before they could get their card in the Lions who had the 6th pick rushed up there and took the guy they wanted to pick!

1st Runner up: 1967 1st pick the immortal Larry Stegent. Tore a knee out on the first play of the first pre-season game and never played a down for them. Ever.

2nd runner up. Cards draft Jim Corregal in 1968 and he promptly sneeks into Canada to avoid the draft and never plays for them.

 

[AZCB34]

This years draft day will be the worst after Ed shoots himself in the foot and then Section 11 shoots Ed in the foot...all over the drafting of I think a Nebraska DL.

 

[ChiCard]

Larry John Lee Stegent, Jr.

 

[ChiCard]

Walter Reeves. Man that guy was strickly from hunger. Walter Reeves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[red desert]

2000 draft -

with Brian Urlacher available we take what's his name.

I'm from Albuquerque and knew all too well what a special player Urlacher was going to be. You know he came to University of New Mexico as a walk on. I kicked my wife out of the house for the day (a tradition in my household on draftday) and when she came home she found me crying - balling like a baby.

 

[SECTION 11]

Changing direction like Newman on the cone drill

Originally posted by red desert
balling like a baby

"I ain't trippin. My dad's a big baller. Let's roll. Let's go."

-ASU QB Ryan Kealy


That's one of my favorite sports quotes of all times.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

How about this one...

Jason Kapono after the loss to USC

"We got punked"

 

[SECTION 11]

"I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important —like a league game or something."

-Dick Butkus

 

[Houdini]

Not my worst memory, but an interesting tidbit. The Cardinals lost the coinflip (actually their name being pulled out of a hat) to the Green Bay Packers for the first pick in the 1957 draft. With that pick the Packers took a future Hall of Fame player. "The Golden Boy", Paul Hornung.

 

[dbcard74]

The worst? Clyde Duncan, the alleged wide receiver from Tennessee, has to rank right up there. He was, what, about the No. 17 pick in the first round? I'm not sure he ever caught a pass in the NFL. Does anybody know?

But Steve Pisarkiewicz (sp?) also shouldn't be overlooked. I think most teams had him rated about the third round or lower. The Cards reached for him way, way, way early, for who knows what reason. And you know how it turned out.

 

[PACardsFan]

The WORST Cardinal blunder of all time: they were fortunate enough to draft JOE NAMATH. They then proceeded to allow the AFL New York Jets to sign him. This one blunder set this organization back 30 yrs.

 

[JHall]

Yeah, but Namath wanted a CAR along with his $250,000.

The nerve of that guy.

 

[Ed B]

John Lee was a second round pick, not the #5 pick in the draft. If we picked him at #5 i think the league would have revoked our franchise.

 

[john h]

Originally posted by ChiCard
My worst draft day story occurred several years ago when the Cardinals had the 5th pick and used up the whole 15 minutes. Time expired and before they could get their card in the Lions who had the 6th pick rushed up there and took the guy they wanted to pick!

1st Runner up: 1967 1st pick the immortal Larry Stegent. Tore a knee out on the first play of the first pre-season game and never played a down for them. Ever.

2nd runner up. Cards draft Jim Corregal in 1968 and he promptly sneeks into Canada to avoid the draft and never plays for them.

Definitely Kelly stoffuer for me. He never threw a darn pass.

 

[JeffGollin]

The worst? Clyde Duncan
I'll drink to that (actually I never stopped due to that trauma).

You might add Leeland McElroy and who can forget Johnny McW?

 

[jmr667]

I nominate this thread as the most depressing Cards thread ever.



Anybody second the motion?

 

[Krangodnzr]

I second that!

McElroy was the number one since I've been watching.

Knight, imo, was just the breaks of the draft. Hell, Jimmy Johnson wanted him over Sam Madison. The funny thing is: Johnson wanted a LB Francis, who was never a good player, over Emmitt Smith.

 

[Russ Smith]

For me it had to be the '84 draft. I was 19 and that's when I first accepted that Bidwill either didn't get it or didn't care about anything but saving cash.

The Cards had one of the best offenses in the NFL, defense was allright, but the glaring weakness was #3WR behind Roy Green and I think Tilley at the time. Basically everyone who knew anything about the players knew the Cards were going to take Louis Lipps or a defensive player, so the Cards take.... Clyde Duncan WR Tennessee. Jaws dropped, snickers abounded, NFL GMs frantically trying to understand why the Cards picked a guy in round 1 that they had pegged to go in round 3 or 4. The Steelers took Lipps, he won the NFL offensive ROY award, Duncan promptly held out because the Cards offered him 3rd round money and told his agent he was lucky they had picked him that high(they did the same thing to Anthony Bell when they reached for him). he ultimately signed and caught ZERO balls that year, 4 the next year and was cut in training camp the following season. Hanifan wanted to cut him in camp in 1985 but was overruled by management(read Bidwill) because it would be embarassing to cut your # 1 pick a year earlier.

Most scouting reports had Duncan listed as fast and athletic but very raw and with bad hands, precisely what he was revealed to be. he was so bad in 84 that CB Cedric Mack was converted to WR during the season and he caught 5 balls before being moved back to CB because he dropped too many passes. Duncan was the 17th pick, Lipps went like 22nd. It was a VERY weak draft to be certain but it was a classic case of the Cards taking a guy they thought would be cheaper to sign. That was the year we lost to Washington on the last day of the regular season and missed the playoffs as a result.

 

[blindseyed]

I don't know of any specific DAY but my pick for 2 of the worse picks
#1 Leeland McElroy- Didn't he hold out? (Out of football)
#2 Andre Wadsworth- Hold out, too! (Out of football)

 

[Ed B]

You can't say guys like McElroy or Wadsworth because <b>at the time we picked them</b>, everyone was excited. We didn't find out they sucked until years later.

The truly horrible picks are the ones that you know were a waste immediately.