All-Time #1 NFL draft picks

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

Just for reference sake. The first number is years played in the league, the second number is number of Pro Bowls. The list went all the way back to 1936, but I shortened it to the Super Bowl era (1967-Present)

All-Time No. 1 Draft Picks
1967 Bubba Smith, de Michigan State Baltimore 9 2
1968 *Ron Yary, ot Southern Cal. Minnesota 15 7
1969 *O.J. Simpson, rb Southern Cal. Buffalo 11 6
1970 *Terry Bradshaw, qb Louisana Tech Pittsburgh 14 3
1971 Jim Plunkett, qb Stanford New England 15 0
1972 Walt Patulski, dt Notre Dame Buffalo 5 0
1973 John Matuszak, de Tampa Houston 9 0
1974 Ed 'Too Tall' Jones, de Tennessee State Dallas 15 3
1975 Steve Bartkowski, qb California Atlanta 12 2
1976 *Lee Roy Selmon, de Oklahoma Tampa Bay 9 6
1977 Ricky Bell, rb Southern Cal Tampa Bay 6 0
1978 *Earl Campbell, rb Texas Houston 8 5
1979 Tom Cousineau, lb Ohio State Buffalo 6 0
1980 Billy Sims, rb Oklahoma Detroit 5 3
1981 George Rogers, rb South Carolina New Orleans 7 2
1982 Kenneth Sims, dt Texas New England 8 0
1983 *John Elway, qb Stanford Baltimore 16 10
1984 Irving Fryar, wr Nebraska New England 15 5
1985 Bruce Smith, de Virginia Tech Buffalo 18 11
1986 Bo Jackson, rb Auburn Tampa Bay 4 1
1987 Vinny Testaverde, qb Miami, (Fla.) Tampa Bay 17 2
1988 Aundray Bruce, lb Auburn Atlanta 11 0
1989 Troy Aikman, qb UCLA Dallas 12 6
1990 Jeff George, qb Illinois Indianapolis 13 0
1991 Russell Maryland, dt Miami, (Fla.) Dallas 10 1
1992 Steve Emtman, dt Washington Indianapolis 8 0
1993 Drew Bledsoe, qb Washington State New England 12 4
1994 Dan Wilkinson, dt Ohio State Cincinnati 11 0
1995 Ki-Jana Carter, rb Penn State Cincinnati 8 0
1996 Keyshawn Johnson, wr Southern Cal. N.Y. Jets 9 4
1997 Orlando Pace, ot Ohio State St. Louis Rams 8 6
1998 Peyton Manning, qb Tennessee Indianapolis 7 5
1999 Tim Couch, qb Kentucky Cleveland 6 0
2000 Courtney Brown, de Penn State Cleveland 5 0
2001 Michael Vick, qb Virginia Tech Atlanta 4 2
2002 David Carr, qb Fresno State Houston 3 0
2003 Carson Palmer, qb Southern Cal. Cincinnati 2 0
2004 Eli Manning, qb Mississippi San Diego 1 0
* Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

From players that I remember (starting from the mid-80's), I would say the definite busts are Courtney Brown, Tim Couch, Ki-Jana Carter, Steve Emtman, and Aundray Bruce

I would say the players that were definitely worth the #1 pick are Vick, Peyton Manning, Pace, Aikman, Bo (for as good as he was before he got injured), Bruce Smith, and Elway

The jury is still out on Eli, Palmer, and Carr. The rest have had solid, though unspectacular careers

Freak

As 1st overall, I'd say Dan Wilkinson was definitely a bust too. The guy has floated from team to team his whole career and done very little at all. I think he had one solid-ish season, but that was it.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Keyshawn Johnson was definitely not a value #1 pick ..


The guy is a solid player at best.

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

Yeah, I was debating whether to put Wilkinson in the "bust" category or "solid" category. He definitely wasnt worth a #1 overall, but I thought he's been a decent enough DT, and for a long enough period of time, that I would spare him the "bust" label.

Same with Keyshawn

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

Just for reference sake, here are all the #2 picks since 1967:

1967 Clint Jones, rb Michigan St. Minnesota 7 0
1968 Bob Johnson, c Tennessee Cincinnati 12 1
1969 George Kunz, ot Notre Dame Atlanta 11 8
1970 Mike McCoy, dt Notre Dame Green Bay 11 0
1971 Archie Manning, qb Mississippi New Orleans 14 2
1972 Sherman White, de California Cincinnati 12 0
1973 Bert Jones, qb LSU Baltimore 10 1
1974 Bo Matthews, rb Colorado San Diego 8 0
1975 *Randy White, lb Maryland Dallas 14 9
1976 Steve Niehaus, dt Notre Dame Seattle 4 0
1977 *Tony Dorsett, rb Pittsburgh Dallas 12 4
1978 Art Still, de Kentucky Kansas City 13 4
1979 Mike Bell, de Colorado St. Kansas City 12 0
1980 Johnny 'Lam' Jones Texas N.Y. Jets 5 0
1981 *Lawrence Taylor, lb North Carolina N.Y. Giants 13 10
1982 Johnnie Cooks, lb Mississippi State Baltimore 10 0
1983 *Eric Dickerson, rb SMU L.A. Rams 11 6
1984 Dean Steinkuhler, g Nebraska Houston 7 0
1985 Bill Fralic, g Pittsburgh Atlanta 9 4
1986 Tony Casillas, dt Oklahoma Atanta 12 0
1987 Cornelius Bennett, lb Alabama Indianapolis 14 5
1988 Neil Smith, de Nebraska Kansas City 13 6
1989 Tony Manderich, ot Michigan State Green Bay 8 0
1990 Blair Thomas, rb Penn State N.Y. Jets 6 0
1991 Eric Turner, db UCLA Cleveland 9 2
1992 Quentin Coryatt, lb Texas A&M Indianapolis 9 0
1993 Rick Mirer, qb Notre Dame Seattle 12 0
1994 Marshall Faulk, rb San Diego St. Indianapolis 11 7
1995 Tony Boselli, ot Southern Cal. Jacksonville 7 5
1996 Kevin Hardy, lb Illinois Jacksonville 9 1
1997 Darrell Russell, dt Southern Cal. Oakland 5 2
1998 Ryan Leaf, qb Washington St. San Diego 3 0
1999 Donovan McNabb, qb Syracuse Philadelphia 6 5
2000 LaVar Arrington, lb Penn State Washington 5 3
2001 Leonard Davis, ot Texas Arizona 4 0
2002 Julius Peppers, de North Carolina Carolina 3 1
2003 Charles Rogers, wr Michigan State Detroit 2 0
2004 Robert Gallery, ot Iowa Oakland 1 0

There's some good ones in there, most notably Peppers, McNabb, Arrington, Boselli, Faulk, Neil Smith, Bennett, and Dickerson. but I'd say for the most part the #2 pick has been disappointing. Not to mention it includes one of the biggest busts of all time, Tony Mandarich, and THE biggest bust of all time, Ryan Leaf

*edit* and going back a few years further, is my man LT!!! How could I forget?