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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