The 5: Worst top 10 picks in Cardinals history

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Although he was the 12th pick overall, absolutely the worst ever.

Wendell Bryant!
 

NJCardFan

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I agree that Wadsworthless was a bust but he wasn't the worst. Thomas Jones has to be the worst only because this team didn't realize his potential, something the Bears were obviously able to do. None of the others went anywhere and became the player Jones became.
 

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At least Leinart won some games while QB.Kelly Stouffer was the worst.
 
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TJ

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Although he was the 12th pick overall, absolutely the worst ever.

Wendell Bryant!

How Wendell missed this list is beyond criminal. I'd have that dude #2 behind Leinart.

Wadsworth was a victim of injuries, but when he played, he was productive.

Jones wasn't really a "bust" per se, he just didn't want to play for Arizona and made that abundantly clear when he broke his hand "answering a telephone," and never hustled until he left.

Agree with Levi and Knight. IIRC, Knight wasn't even ranked Top 5 in his position that season. Levi....well...he just sucks.
 

Duckjake

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THE worst, Kelly Stouffer. Did he even see the field once!?

He never even signed. Held out and was picked up later by Seattle. He was terrible. A worse pick than Ryan Leaf. Last 3 seasons he couldn't even complete half his passes. He would have made Double Deuce look like Kurt Warner.

Whoever wrote that doesn't know anything about Cardinal history. Unless he was only looking at draft picks since moving to Arizona.

One of the most overlooked top 10 draft picks was Curtis Greer who played 7 solid years for the Cards and racked up 30 sacks combined in the '83-'84 seasons. I think that is the franchise record for sacks in a two year period.

Best all time draft pick by Arizona? Aeneas Williams in the 3rd round in 1991.

As for Thomas Jones we could make an all-star team of guys the Cardinals drafted and went on to success with another team.
 
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CardsFan88

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Not a good list.

About half of the list and honorable mentions are players that had good careers. Busts are players that tank, not guys that for whatever reason simply didn't do it here, or that much here.

The list shouldn't of been called the worst draft picks in the history of the Cardinals, it should have been called a list of picks that never lived up to their draft status while part of the Arizona Cardinals, and a few outright busts.

The author should of made two lists, or even four. Outright busts and players that never lived up their draft status while a part of the team. Two for Arizona. Two for St. Louis/Chicago. Or simply two, one for each Arizona and St. Louis/Chicago. Or had a broader title and more than five players to encompass the entire history of the Cardinals. Hell really he could of done a total of six lists (or three) and talked about players we passed up in order to draft someone else far less talented, like Levi Brown over AP.

It's a classic case of an author picking a specific title but having a very wide range of topic in mind that ultimately undermines his own work. Had they paused to flesh out their thought when developing the title either before or after they could have avoided it.

It's kind of funny that they had all these common pitfalls in the list but still chose such a small number. It should have been obvious that there's been tons of players we should have drafted over someone else, tons of outright busts, tons of players who went on to have good careers elsewhere, guys who refused to play here, injuries/deaths, and no doubt more subcategories. If someone wants to make a worst pick list and not have it be about outright busts only, they really need more than five players. They could probably come up with 25 players from Kelly Stouffer to Joe Namath.

I wont hate on the person for trying. But they could have done it much better.
 

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Wadsworth was a beast but he couldn't stay away from the surgeon. If he stayed healthy there would be a lot different about this franchise. He ran a 4.65 40 at 280 pounds and could squat 700. Monster.

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How Wendell missed this list is beyond criminal. I'd have that dude #2 behind Leinart.

Wadsworth was a victim of injuries, but when he played, he was productive.

Jones wasn't really a "bust" per se, he just didn't want to play for Arizona and made that abundantly clear when he broke his hand "answering a telephone," and never hustled until he left.

Agree with Levi and Knight. IIRC, Knight wasn't even ranked Top 5 in his position that season. Levi....well...he just sucks.

Jones had hustled his way to a lead in the rushing derby until a high ankle sprain. Then he was treated as a faker, not tough enough, etc and he naturally soured on Az.
 

Cardsfanstl

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They only did it for the time the team has been in Arizona. Here is my list. Some of these are not top ten but still bad picks.

1) Steve Pisarkiewiz
2) Clyde Duncan
3) Steve Little
4) Wendal Bryant
5) Matt Leinart
 
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JeffGollin

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Not even close.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane:

1954 - Lamar McHan QB Arkansas
1958 - King Hill QB Rice (a bonus pick above our 1st round pick)
1960 - George Izo QB Notre Dame
1970 - Larry Stegent RB Texas A&M*
1971 - Norman Thompson CB Utah
1975 - Tim Gray CB Texas A&M
1977 - Steve Pisarkiewicz QB Missouri**
1978 - Steve Little K/P Arkansas
1984 - Clyde Duncan WR Tennessee
1986 - Anthony Bell LB Michigan State***
1987 - Kelly Stouffer QB
1992 - Traded pick for WR Randal Hill****
1997 - Tom Knight CB Iowa*****
2002 - Wendell Bryant DT
xxxx - Matt Leinart QB USC

* Apologies to Stegent's relatives who claim that he actually was good but his career was derailed by injury

** This pick cost Don Coryell his job (Don wanted Robin Cole and protested too passionately when the Cards opted to take Pisarkeiwicz).

*** Rumored to have been picked right out of Street & Smith because of his terrific size/speed numbers.

**** Hill's first name was originally "Randall" but he dropped the second "l" in order to make his name sound lighter.

***** Some of the later Cardinal picks mentioned (like Wads, Swann, Jones, Boston, Rice, Hearst etc.) had at least one good season to verify their worth as draft picks and IMO don't belong on the list. Knight and Leinart did not have good seasons and should be listed.

And before I forget, in 1953, I was really stoked when the Cardinals made FB Johnny Olszewski ("Johnny O" from Cal) their top pick. Seemed like a good move at the time, but Olszewski never delivered on expectations and probably belongs on the list too.
 
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Cardsfanstl

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Not even close.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane:


1977 - Steve Pisarkiewicz QB Missouri**
1978 - Steve Little K/P Arkansas
1984 - Clyde Duncan WR Tennessee


** This pick cost Don Coryell his job (Don wanted Robin Cole and protested too passionately when the Cards opted to take Pisarkeiwicz).

Ah. The infamous drafts of George Boone. Remember Gene Stallings begging them to pick O-line in the draft. Instead Boone picks kicker John Lee in the 2nd rd.
 

Capital Card

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Ah. The infamous drafts of George Boone. Remember Gene Stallings begging them to pick O-line in the draft. Instead Boone picks kicker John Lee in the 2nd rd.

Ah George Boone. Rod Graves never looked so bad to me, compared to the George Boone scouting era.

I met some of the Boone family, and have to admit, they may have been the most passionate Card Fans I've ever met. They were a LOT of fun. I never met George though....

Go Cards!!!
 

Sam Wise

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First this guy is an idiot and doesn't look at draft History. For those who keep mentioning Bryant, he isn't eligible for this list since he was the 12th pick not a top 10. Yes he was still a waste.
 

Duckjake

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What is really sad is that the Cards have had enough top 10 draft picks since moving to Arizona to have a thread like this. :(
 

Buckybird

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What is really sad is that the Cards have had enough top 10 draft picks since moving to Arizona to have a thread like this. :(

We're just like the Astros of the 70s & 80s...draft a bunch of stars them let them shine their brightest once we release or trade them or never sign them. :D The 'Stros traded away at least 1 World Series! The Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals...the minor league franchise of winners.

Dave Butz
Pat Fisher
Simeon Rice
Garrison Hearst
Thomas Jones
Tim McDonald
Ken Harvey
Ahmad Rashad
MacArthur Lane
Joe Namath
Ollie Matson
Etc, etc, etc.
 

FrustratedFan04

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He never even signed. Held out and was picked up later by Seattle. He was terrible. A worse pick than Ryan Leaf. Last 3 seasons he couldn't even complete half his passes. He would have made Double Deuce look like Kurt Warner.

Whoever wrote that doesn't know anything about Cardinal history. Unless he was only looking at draft picks since moving to Arizona.

One of the most overlooked top 10 draft picks was Curtis Greer who played 7 solid years for the Cards and racked up 30 sacks combined in the '83-'84 seasons. I think that is the franchise record for sacks in a two year period.

Best all time draft pick by Arizona? Aeneas Williams in the 3rd round in 1991.

As for Thomas Jones we could make an all-star team of guys the Cardinals drafted and went on to success with another team.

Larry Wilson was a 7th round pick in 1960 so if we going to talk about best picks ever....also Thomas Jones failed on two teams before finding himself with the Bears so lets not be so quick to say we let a star get away. He was so bad in Tampa that they let him go to FA without even making an offer.
 

FrustratedFan04

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We're just like the Astros of the 70s & 80s...draft a bunch of stars them let them shine their brightest once we release or trade them or never sign them. :D The 'Stros traded away at least 1 World Series! The Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals...the minor league franchise of winners.

Dave Butz
Pat Fisher
Simeon Rice
Garrison Hearst
Thomas Jones
Tim McDonald
Ken Harvey
Ahmad Rashad
MacArthur Lane
Joe Namath
Ollie Matson
Etc, etc, etc.

First and foremost several of the people you have listed here left as FA's and were not traded or released. There was nothing that could be done to prevent them from leaving if the wouldn't play for the money the Cards offered.

Dave Butz was traded for (2) 1st round picks AND a 2nd round pick. A trade that most of the people on this board would jump for joy over and it was seen in that light when it was made.

Garrison Hearst, like Thomas Jones, was let go by the Cardinals and was also a bust with the Bengals, who likewise cut him after 1 year. He was an after thought when he was picked up by the 49ers.

Ahmad Rashad, known as Bobby Moore when we drafted him, was let go after 2 seasons in which he caught about 50 passes total. He was a flop with the Bills and signed by Seattle who immediately traded him to the Vikings during camp rather then cut him, so again, it's not the picture of Cardinals ineptitude you and others would make it out to be.

Lastly I'm one of the few people on this board who actually saw Ollie Matson play. He was terrific for the Cards in a career cut short by his time in Korea. Matson was done when the Cards traded him. He never returned another punt or KO for a TD after leaving the Big Red and never again was named an all-pro. We've made our share of mistakes but lets not get carried away.
 

FrustratedFan04

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And I forgot to mention MacArthur Lane. He never rushed for 1000 yards after leaving the Cards and scored 15 TDs in the next 7 years. Donnie Anderson, for whom he was traded, was an integral part of the '73 & '74 play-off teams. He was "Mr. Outside" to Jim Ottis' "Mr. Inside" and scored 25 TD's in his 3 seasons in St.L.
 

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