Washington Redskins Top Ten Biggest Draft Busts: Rod Gardner

by Ken Meringolo on Apr 19, 2011 9:26 AM EDT in Redskins 2011 Draft

Just to prove that Vinny Cerrato is not the only one guilty of making a bad choice over the years (the very nature of the draft lends itself to making even the smartest people look silly), we feature a pick championed by Marty Schottenheimer.

I could easily take this post in a whole new direction from here, seizing the opportunity to talk about the ONLY coach to not have a losing record since Joe Gibbs' first run. I could talk about that Carolina game where Lavar intercepted a pass at FedEx and turned around an entire season. That 8-8 finish was hard-earned and could have been the year we built from to get to annual contention.

Sigh...

At #15 overall in the 2001 draft, we took a receiver out of Clemson that actually played pretty darn well in college. Rod Gardner was a big target that played the ball in the air and showed all kinds of signs of breaking out in the league. His 71 catch, 1,006 yard performance in his second season had everyone thinking that this guy was going to be good for a long time. Everyone was wrong. After just four years in burgundy and gold, Gardner left town and never started another game (though he bounced around from Carolina to Green Bay to Kansas City.)

There have been worse busts in the game and certainly in D.C. But Rod Gardner earned his place among them with his catchy nickname, "50-50"...pun intended.

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50-50

I liked Gardner, I really did. I kept rooting for him to get over the oopsies; folks even speculated that a hit had messed up his depth perception.

I mean, the man WORKED the ball. He gave the effort. He played hard (most of the time) even when he wasn’t the target, though his blocking skills for a big guy seemed underwhelming.

But he never delivered the goods. No, he’s not the hugest busts ever, and he would/should have been a good pick; I might have pulled the trigger on him myself, if I’d been the GM. But yes, he definitely disappointed. One great, incredible play a game was the best you could get, plus a few workmen like catch, and a few D’OH! drops.

No Danny, Nooooooo - Tom Landry, 1982., and Washington Redskins fans, 1999-

by BillWard on Apr 19, 2011 10:56 AM EDT reply actions

I remember watching that draft, hoping we’d pick Santana Moss at 15. We didn’t obviously. He went 16 to the Jets. It just took Moss a little longer to get here.

by tckols on Apr 19, 2011 11:47 AM EDT reply actions

Agree he's a bust but...

I consider all three of Vinny’s trio to be bigger busts. At least Gardner produced one good year which created the hope he could do it. Which, also, was not the case. The trio hasn’t done anything.

by 44ever on Apr 19, 2011 11:57 AM EDT reply actions