Your team's biggest mistakes.

[MetSox17]

Originally Posted by yo123

This still hurts to read. I can't think of a worse recent trade off the top of my head.

Randy Moss for a fourth round pick was much, much worse. The trade was the 7th overall pick and Napoleon Harris, then a very serviceable MLB, which was also a position in dire need of addressing. Picking Troy Williamson as the replacement makes this look way worse than it was, but there has been plenty of trades recently that have made this one look impressive.

[Addict]

since everyone is acting like they got issues, I present to you the Lions drafts in the Millen Era... wiiii

Originally Posted by thanks, Matt!

2001
First Round: Jeff Backus, T, Michigan
Second Round: Dominic Raiola, C, Nebraska
Second Round: Shaun Rogers, DT, Texas
Fifth Round: Scotty Anderson, WR, Grambling
Fifth Round: Mike McMahon, QB, Rutgers
Sixth Round: Jason Glenn, LB, Texas A&M

2002
First Round: Joey Harrington, QB, Oregon
Second Round: Kalimba Edwards, DE, South Carolina
Third Round: Andre Goodman, CB, South Carolina
Fourth Round: John Taylor, DE, Montana State
Fifth Round: John Owens, TE, Notre Dame
Sixth Round: Chris Cash, CB, USC
Seventh Round: Luke Staley, RB, BYU
Seventh Round: Matt Murphy, TE, Maryland
Seventh Round: Victor Rogers, OL, Colorado

2003
First Round: Charles Rogers, WR, Michigan State
Second Round: Boss Bailey, LB, Georgia
Third Round: Cory Redding, DT, Texas
Fourth Round: Artose Pinner, RB, Kentucky
Fifth Round: Terrence Holt, S, North Carolina State
Fifth Round: James Davis, LB, West Virginia
Sixth Round: David Kircus, WR, Grand Valley State
Seventh Round: Ben Johnson, OL, Wisconsin
Seventh Round: Blue Adams, CB, Cincinnati
Seventh Round: Brandon Drumm, FB, Colorado
Seventh Round: Travis Anglin, WR, Memphis

2004
First Round: Roy Williams, WR, Texas
First Round: Kevin Jones, RB, Virginia Tech
Second Round: Teddy Lehman, LB, Oklahoma
Third Round: Keith Smith, CB, McNeese State
Fifth Round: Alex Lewis, LB, Wisconsin
Sixth Round: Kelly Butler, T, Purdue

2005
First Round: Mike Williams, WR, USC
Second Round: Shaun Cody, DT, USC
Third Round: Stanley Wilson, CB, Stanford
Fifth Round: Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
Sixth Round: Bill Swancutt, DE, Oregon State
Seventh Round: Johnathan Goddard, LB, Marshall

2006
First Round: Ernie Sims, LB, Florida State
Second Round: Daniel Bullocks, S, Nebraska
Third Round: Brian Calhoun, RB, Wisconsin
Fifth Round: Jonathan Scott, T, Texas
Sixth Round: Alton McCann, CB, West Virginia
Seventh Round: Fred Matua, G, USC
Seventh Round: Anthony Cannon, LB, Tulane

2007
First Round: Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech
Second Round: Drew Stanton, QB, Michigan State
Second Round: Ikaika Alama-Francis, DE, Hawaii
Second Round: Gerald Alexander, S, Boise State
Fourth Round: A.J. Davis, CB, North Carolina State
Fourth Round: Manuel Ramírez, OL, Texas Tech
Fifth Round: Johnny Baldwin, LB, Alabama A&M
Seventh Round: Ramzee Robinson, CB, Alabama

2008
First Round: Gosder Cherilus, T, Boston College
Second Round: Jordon Dizon, LB, Colorado
Third Round: Kevin Smith, RB, UCF
Third Round: Andre Fluellen, DT, Florida State
Third Round: Cliff Avril, DE, Purdue
Fifth Round: Kenneth Moore, WR, Wake Forest
Sixth Round: Jerome Felton, FB, Furman
Seventh Round: Landon Cohen, DT, Ohio
Seventh Round: Caleb Campbell, SS, Army

the bolds are still on our roster. 14, in case you're wondering. That's counting Dizon, Stanton, Landon Cohen and Campbell, who wasn't on roster the past two seasons because of Army obligations. Expect all these guys to get cut sooner rather than later, save perhaps Campbell... then again don't hold your breath.

[bigbluedefense]

Originally Posted by descendency

He doesn't sniff the playoffs without Favre though. That team looked like it had terrible wide receivers and quarterbacks. AD has a fumble problem. The defense would have looked worse without some good offense. Childress is an average coach at best and a terrible personnel guy. That said, there is a lot worse than 6-10 that you can be.

Edit: on topic... drafting this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Katzenmoyer

He made the playoffs the year before....

Once he got the DE he needed on defense, he had a playoff caliber team, with or without Favre.

[shane_man]

Drafting Barbie Carpenter.

Looking back we needed OLB help at the time... But even still. He's been epic fail for the entirety of his career.

There were other needs at the time that could have been addressed with a trade down. And I don't particularly remember Carpenter being MUST Have talent.

Obviously trading away from Steven Jackson.

JJ has been an average(at best) NFL runner. Granted it helped to net our current starting DE in the 3-4 alignment(something which is pretty damn important). In reality we could probably have a one-two punch of Steven Jackson and MBIII and not be deluded enough to think Marion could start in this league.

Roy Williams in the same draft that Ed Reed was taken. Sure it worked out alright for a few years. But since Woodson's retirement. We have basically had a revolving door at both positions.

Drafting Quincy ******* Carter. Sure he beat out Chad the following season for the starting spot. But you are basically looking at almost identical career stats... If we didn't waste the pick on Carter we would essentially be in the same position at QB... with the possible foresight to draft Steve Smith. Sorry. I really hate Quincy Carter.

Anyway. Obviously trading for Joey Galloway and paying such a high price for him when we were alot further away then a WR from being competitive.

A 2nd round pick for Drew Henson at the time when we had our future starter on the roster.

Paying such a ridiculously high price for Roy E Williams. I said at the time it didn't hurt us too considerably because we had a buttload of picks in that year anyway and if Roy was as good as advertised. We helped to fill a need. He wasn't... and so far that draft hasn't produced anything bar a very good KOS.

Brad Johnson!

Other then that we haven't done too bad a job in the last few years and i suppose that shows given how strong we look at the moment. I suppose if you look through the period of 97-01... It explains how terrible we were until 04...

[umphrey]

Letting Mike Sherman draft players

[SenorGato]

- Not being able to get into the top 3 in '03 for Andre Johnson.

- Trading our two first round picks for Dwayne Robetson...then letting Ferguson go when he and Robertson beasted in '04.

- The 35 years before that and the next couple after that.

[LizardState]

I agree with most of those, although I think the real mistakes in Dallas were made in previous HC regimes like Dave Campo, etc. Parcells ran a pretty tight ship in that team & raised the talent level overall in his time there, job well done imo. He has such a dominant personality that there's no way he could've continued to coexist with Jerry however.

Originally Posted by Trogdor

Dallas Cowboys

-Barbie Carpenter : Right you are, he was a Parcells classic draft choice, someone the HC knew personally b/c his father played for him iwth the Giants -- he's trade bait now
-Letting Steve Hoffman go in 2004. Our special teams were a mess till Joe DeCamillis arrived in 2009. Agreed, Annuzzio was an awful ST coach, remember the Philly onsides kick to open the season, no excuse for that, they fired him shortly thereafter.
-Quincy Carter. Disagree, with the 2nd dirty piss test the League was going to suspend him anyway, Parcells just cut his losses after giving him 2 chances to lay off that "undisclosed" substance found & I think that translates as coke, what did it say for the team when your best QB is Quincy ******* Carter?
-Trading Antonio Bryant. Disagree, good riddance, Bryant was a good receiver but a total head case as he proved in his later gig with the 9ers.
-Willingness to let our HOF'ers play for other teams. Who do you mean? Like Emmitt Smith finishing his career with Zona (on IR btw)?
-Not moving Flozell to LG instead of releasing him. *note* May have asked but never reported. Disagree completely, Flo was a major liability, not an asset anymore with all those false start flags, re-upping him to a big new fat contract 2 yrs ago was a big mistake, I thanked God when he was released a few wks ago
-Passing on Steven Jackson. Completely agree, I remember having a tantrum on draft day when they passed on him b/c of his old knee injury.
-Joey Galloway -- (Although we had karma coming for robbing the Vikings blind) -- Agreed again, Giving up 2 1st rd. picks for a player with not one but 2 bad knees was a major setback..... thanks a lot, Jerry

A lot of my mistakes are in the 'Parcells Era'. Not to say he didn't do a lot of good for the Cowboys because I'm grateful but imagine if Jerry would of listened in the 2005 Draft and selected Marcus Spears over Ware...

*shudders*

Agree about the Warewolf, he is a once in a decade player & his sack stats have proved that out.

I would add Jerry's personal reclamation projects to the list of recent mistakes, like they salvaged the career of the Tank from Chicago but only got one yr. out of him, wasn't he taken over Parcells' objections? he still had trouble with the law over owning hundreds of firearms too, some I think illegally. TO too, but he hearned his keep by leading the league in TDs for a time but as alwasy with him you have to ask Was it worth it? The botched suicide attempt & the whining press conferences, but leading the league in drops & dropping the crucial winning TD pass with playoffs on the line was the last straw for me. And then there was the Don't Call Me Pacman Anymore Jones experiment that failed epically, his last play in a Cowboy uni was a fumbled punt lost in a Wk. 17 game with playoff implications & that was less forgivable than getting drunk & causing a public disturbance in a bar even while being chaperoned by a bodyguard who was supposed to prevent that very thing. That guy had character issues bust written all over him, now I saw yesterday on NFL Live he's trying out with the Bengals, won' they ever learn?

[lowlife]

5yr $24mil, $10.5 guaranteed... to Michael ******* Clayton
After passing on Steven Jackson for him, 1 good and 4 underachieving years earlier.

Not being able to land Megatron.

[LizardState]

Originally Posted by YAYareaRB

1. 2008 Draft. Taking Kentwan Balmer

(Any yr. applicable) --> 1. Letting Terry Donahue choose the draft picks.

1a. Drafting OT Kwame Harris #1. (facepalm).

[the dude]

drafting bj sander i the third round

[K Train]

Originally Posted by Addict

since everyone is acting like they got issues, I present to you the Lions drafts in the Millen Era... wiiii



the bolds are still on our roster. 14, in case you're wondering. That's counting Dizon, Stanton, Landon Cohen and Campbell, who wasn't on roster the past two seasons because of Army obligations. Expect all these guys to get cut sooner rather than later, save perhaps Campbell... then again don't hold your breath.

drafting 39 players in 4 years between 02 and 06 and only one remains....ouch

[Brodeur]

Originally Posted by Addict

since everyone is acting like they got issues, I present to you the Lions drafts in the Millen Era... wiiii



the bolds are still on our roster. 14, in case you're wondering. That's counting Dizon, Stanton, Landon Cohen and Campbell, who wasn't on roster the past two seasons because of Army obligations. Expect all these guys to get cut sooner rather than later, save perhaps Campbell... then again don't hold your breath.

Gerald Alexander got traded like 9 months ago.

[mdmgrand]

For the Browns, it has been terrible drafting... It's so bad when you look at it, just going through first round picks

Tim Couch '99 - A rookie quarterback and an expansion team is not the route to go, I still think Couch could have been alright, but the instability of the Browns at the time doomed him.

Courtney Brown '00 - Injuries ruined this man's career... And I really believe he could have been great.

Gerard Warren '01 - Nothing with the Browns, he's been a serviceable journeyman throughout his career, but did not justify the 3rd overall pick

William Green '02 - Solid back, with decent triangle numbers for athleticism, problems arose with drugs and he just did not seem interested when playing

Jeff Faine '03 - To me this pick was head scratching, Faine seemed like an undersized technician center, which in a division with two dominant 3-4 teams , proved to not work out. Another serviceable journeyman, much like Warren.

Kellen Winslow '04 - Injuries and an accident kept him on the sideline the first 2 years. He was a great player for us afterwards though, up until they decided to gut the team.

Braylon Edwards '05 - Up and down with the Browns, still a decent receiver with the Jets, I can't say that he was a bad pick, because he did have the talent.

Kamerion Wimbley '06 - At the time the idea to trade one spot with the Ravens looked terrible, and now it looks even worse, the Browns could have a dominant DT/DE in Ngata, which I believe they were considering, but took a consolation prize, who was a solid player, but nothing special.

Joe Thomas & Brady Quinn - With the addition of these two, I thought the Browns would be perennial division winners. Well Thomas is an All-Pro, and Quinn is in a QB battle with two others in Denver, and judging by his play, he will lose that battle.

The other drafts are too recent for a solid consensus... A few guys panned out like Andra Davis, Eric Wright, D'Qwell Jackson, Anthony Henry, and what looks like decent players in Jerome Harrison and Mohammed Massaquai...

Still missing out on those premium picks really set the franchise back. The Browns right now are, to the fullest extent, rebuilding. They gutted the team of those first rounders and a majority of the 2nd rounders, and seem to be moving along starting with the 2007 draft.

[Addict]

Originally Posted by Brodeur

Gerald Alexander got traded like 9 months ago.

woops I must've overlooked. Edited ^^

[CC.SD]

Can't think of a blessed one.

[wonderbredd24]

The Browns...

Outside of his handling of Ernie Davis and his defense of Earnest Byner, the biggest mistake in Browns history was ever letting Art Modell gain ownership of the team

[Splat]

Originally Posted by CC.SD

Can't think of a blessed one.

And



Off the top of my head.

[JHasley10]

as a chargers fan all i gotta do is say the name BOBBY BEATHARD. and peoples faces cringe.
the guy who gave up a kings ransom to move up 1 DAMN SPOT in the 1998 draft. when the cardinals already had their QB of the future in plummer.

oh yeah did i forget to call him "mr trade all our future 1st round picks for 2nd rounders.

[themaninblack]

Too many to even name or count. At least in the last 5 years or so we've been able to draft pretty well. We're not making the complete bonehead moves we used to even if we continue to go after guys with character concerns. That said, if we let either Leon Hall or Johnathan Joseph go I may shed tears. Getting those two locked up long term should be their biggest goal off the field.

[wonderbredd24]

Originally Posted by themaninblack

Too many to even name or count. At least in the last 5 years or so we've been able to draft pretty well. We're not making the complete bonehead moves we used to even if we continue to go after guys with character concerns. That said, if we let either Leon Hall or Johnathan Joseph go I may shed tears. Getting those two locked up long term should be their biggest goal off the field.

The correct answer is...

Paul Brown picking the offensive line coach over Bill Walsh to succeed him as the head coach.

[Complex]

Double Post

[Complex]

Originally Posted by DoughBoy

I wouldnt call Gage and Washington "garbage", they are just average.

And Nick Harper played well his first couple of years with us, he just got old.

Nate Washington is garbage and Nick Harper was terrible
But I agree gage is average

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

Originally Posted by CC.SD

Can't think of a blessed one.

Hindsight will probably tell us that letting Brees go was a slight mistake, but I suppose if you're gonna let a guy like Brees go, Rivers is about as good a compensation as you're gonna get.

[JonasBlane]

Steelers:
Getting only a 5th rounder for Santonio Holmes.
Retaining Bruce Arians
Waiting so long to fire our OLine and ST coaches.
Waiting until this year to address our OL in the draft.


Overall, I love the way our FO handles things.

[jth1331]

Originally Posted by njx9

jarvis moss, tim crowder, maurice ******* clarett, letting hixon go, moving DJ away from WLB for the craptastic duo of boss bailey and ian gold (then making it worse by putting him at mlb), george foster, ashley lelie, willie middlebrooks, deltha o'neal, marcus nash, letting pryce go, dan williams over anyone (particularly strahan), tommy maddox over carl pickens (or anyone else), not firing reeves sooner, refusing to blitz in the shanahan era, dale carter, brian griese as a starting qb, letting nolan go (possibly), knowshon moreno, refusing to throw down field last year... there's probably more.

Moss, Crowder, Clarett, yeah. Although Clarett wasn't exactly a huge mistake, taking a 3rd round comp pick on him wasn't too bad I think.
Giving up too soon on Hixon, yeah
Moving DJ around all the time and making him an average LB, yeah
Foster, Lelie, Middlebrooks, O'Neal, Nash, all worked out horribly
Letting Pryce go wasn't a mistake IMO. He was due $10 mil and was average with us, and didn't want to restructure. He goes to a team with loads of talent and looks good.
I thought Carter was going to be a good signing, oh boy was I wrong
And Griese, giving him that much money was a big mistake.