Washington Redskins Top Ten Biggest Draft Busts--Durant Brooks

My only gripe would be the weird nose, but otherwise very nice work for a punter.

someone has to keep you in line Parks…even if only mathematically.

Gardner may have been 50-50, but sometimes he showed up.

Ramsey I totally blame on Spurrier; Ramsey could have been, SHOULD have been, a good QB, but he got so gun shy by the fact that his own coach threw him under the busother teams defensive line on EVERY FREAKING PLAY, that he was just ruined as a QB before he had a chance.

Michael Westbrook was only a bust because he was a first rounder; he would just have been a “Meh” player as a 2nd or third, and would have been a “Yeah, he wasn’t bad” player if we’d drafted him later.

Since you want more recent picks (and lets face it, all three of our first round picks from the 1969 and 1990 were greats, with two of the three already in the HOF), how about we start with Bobby Wilson or Tom Carter? Neither of those did jack for us.

I don’t remember him much, but you could talk about 1968’s Jim Smith, who suffered a neck injury as a rookie, and never played again. He was taken #12 overall. (BTW, this guy should be an article all on his own, regardless of draft bust or boon, since we wouldn’t be having a discussion about the 2011 NFL draft if…. well, lets just say folks need to research this guy as part of the draft coverage). He is the reason why there WON’T be a 2012 draft if there isn’t an agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA.

Or you can look at Ray McDonald, from 1967… his career lasted only two seasons, not that there was anything wrong with that (even if he did get arrested). RIP, too. At least Jerry Smith DID live up to his billing.

And even as a kicker, Durrant Brooks isn’t an awful use of a draft pick. Although he was a decent kicker, folks would be up in arms if we used our #10 pick on a PLACEKICKER like Charlie Gogolak, back in 1966 (#6 overall, to our Washington Redskins). Yes, he was a decent kicker (not great, but ok), but #6 overall??

Heck, our #1 pick (#1 OVERALL; yeah, we picked him FIRST) in 1962 NEVER EVEN PLAYED FOR US. We traded him before we signed him (technically, we traded him before we even drafted him, but that’s a different story). Tragically, he never played for the team who traded for him, though, either, as he died of leukemia during the summer between the draft and what would have been his rookie season (and yes, he probably WOULD have been a great one if he had lived). We did get Bobby Mitchell and a first rounder for him, though.

How about Richie Lucas? He never even signed with us after we drafted him #4 overall… he decided he would rather play for the AFL’s Bills. He was out of the league in three years anyway, but still…… He was Buffalo’s first ever player. Seems to me they owe us a draft pick because of that, a first rounder……

Don Allard had a longer career, but was just as bad… we drafted him #4 as well and he opted for the CFL (yeah, CANADA). Then he went to the NY Titans (the Jets) as one of their first players for a year, then to the Patriots, and then to the NFL’s attempt at AAA ball, the ACFL. (As an aside, I still remember going to an old Norfolk Neptunes game, and remember an exhibition game between the Redskins and the Neptunes back in the early 70s; no, I do not remember seeing the (so far) only female professional football player when she played as a holder in the ACFL).

If you want to add a bit of history, though, we do have (as a franchise) the distinction of having the first player who was ever drafted and signed by an NFL team as our first ever draft pick (#2 overall, the absolute first player drafted never signed and never played in the NFL). That would be Riley Smith, who in two of his seasons played all but three minutes. Total, combined, for both seasons. Three minutes. It took an injury to knock him out of the game (and out of the league) in his third season.