Ranking the biggest 1st-round busts in Eagles history

For every Mike Quick, there’s been a whole bunch of Freddie Mitchells. For every Fletcher Cox, there’s been about seven or eight Marcus Smiths. And for every Lane Johnson, there’s been God knows how many Leonard Mitchells.

And it’s not just Howie Roseman, who's had some huge swings and misses. The Eagles have been blowing 1^st-round picks for decades.

No team hits on all their 1^st-round picks, but the Eagles misses over the last 40 or so years have been particularly spectacular.

The Eagles have drafted 38 players in the first round since 1980. Fourteen have made at least one Pro Bowl with the Eagles, nine made multiple Pro Bowls and seven have been all-pros.

“Bust” is a relative term, but we figured any 1^st-round pick that never made a Pro Bowl and never got a second contract at least qualifies for consideration.

Some of these are debatable. Most are not.

But of the 38 players the Eagles have taken in the first round since 1980, there are 19 who we consider extreme underachievers based on where they were selected.

Exactly half.

The picks we’re not including — the non-busts — are Fletcher Cox, Donovan McNabb, Mike Quick, Keith Jackson, Lane Johnson, Tra Thomas, Shawn Andrews, Jerome Brown, Lito Sheppard, Carson Wentz, Corey Simon, Jermane Mayberry, Brandon Graham, Roynell Young, Keith Byars, Ben Smith, DeVonta Smith, Mike Patterson and Jeremy Maclin.

Of the non-bust group, Mayberry, Graham and Byars — and even Wentz and Andrews in a way — were considered busts at one point but did enough to avoid the list. Mayberry and Byars even became Pro Bowlers late in their career at new positions.

To determine our Eagles Bust ranking, we took into consideration where in the first round a player was taken, how long his Eagles career lasted, his production while he was here and who else was available when he was selected.

So here we go … from worst to not-quite-so-worst ... the Eagles’ biggest 1st-round busts since 1980. Make yourself comfortable. This is going to take a while.

Kevin Allen [OT, Indiana, 9^th, 1985]: The less we say about Allen the better. He played one season before he wound up in prison, his career over before his 23^rd birthday. Seven picks after the Eagles took Allen? The 49ers took Jerry Rice. A decision that haunted this franchise for years.

Leonard Renfro [DT, Colorado, 24^th, 1993]: Bud Carson didn’t want to play Renfro, but Norman Braman had invested a lot of money in the rookie, so Bud was over-ruled by the owner. Middle of the 1993 season, Renfro started two games and in those games the Cowboys and Cards rushed for 271 and 243 yards, and Emmitt Smith (237) and Ron Moore (160) both had career highs. That remains the only time in Eagles history they’ve allowed 240 rushing yards in back-to-back weeks. Renfro never started another game. His career amounted to 23 games, those two starts and three solo tackles, and he was out of the league before his 25^th birthday. Oh, and the Giants took Michael Strahan 16 picks later.

Jon Harris [DE, Virginia, 25^th, 1997]: When we got on a conference call after the draft with Harris and asked where he was watching when his name was selected, he told us he wasn’t even watching yet because he didn’t expect to get picked for a couple more rounds. That pretty much says it all. Ray Rhodes called Harris the next Too Tall Jones. Almost. Too Tall had 106 sacks (57 ½ after they became an official stat) and played 16 seasons. Harris had two sacks and played two seasons. One of nine linemen the Eagles have drafted in the first round since 1985 to start fewer than 20 games as an Eagle.

RELATED: Howie Roseman's best and worst picks by round

Jerome McDougle [DE, Miami, 15^th, 2003]: The greatest thing about McDougle’s three career sacks for 18 yards is that on one of them he was penalized 30 yards – 15 for a facemask on Bucs QB Bruce Gradkowski and 15 more for kicking the ref’s flag. So he actually had negative-12 career net sack yards. Great kid and overcame gunshot wounds from a carjacking to return to the NFL and play two more years. And he did inflict what Eli Manning says was the hardest hit he ever took. But 15^th overall? Guess who was drafted one pick later. Troy Polamalu.

Marcus Smith [DE, Louisville, 26^th, 2014]: Continuing our unfathomable run of defensive end busts is Smith, taken eight picks before DeMarcus Lawrence. Smith lasted three seasons with the Eagles and like McDougle never started a game. He managed four sacks in 37 games as an Eagle, which nudges him ahead of Harris and McDougle, and finished his career with the Seahawks and Washington. He has been vocal about the mental issues and depression he suffered from while struggling to get his career going, which is very important work, so good for him on that. There have been five defensive ends drafted in the first round over the last 20 years that never started a game for the team that drafted them. The Eagles took two of them. 

Jalen Reagor [WR, Texas Christian, 21^st, 2020]: Only 22 receivers have been drafted in the first round over the last 40 years who didn’t have at least 400 yards in either of their first two seasons. The Eagles have drafted three of them. We’ll get to the other two. Reagor has a chance to move up this list or even off this list, but so far 695 yards through two seasons as a 1^st-round pick is pitiful. He’s played in 29 games and has never had more than 57 yards in a game. He’s had more games with 15 or fewer yards [13] than more than 25 yards [12]. Who was he drafted before? You already know.

Michael Haddix [RB, Mississippi State, 8^th, 1983]: One pick before Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews, six picks before Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, 19 and 20 picks before Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Darrell Green, the Eagles drafted a fullback who finished his career with the lowest rushing average by a non-quarterback with at least 500 career carries since 1940. Yes, Haddix was a very good blocker and a decent receiver. But if you’re the eight pick overall, 3.0 yards per carry is historically awful. There’s never even been a quarterback drafted with a top-10 pick who had 500 carries and averaged 3.0 yards per carry.

Danny Watkins [OG, Baylor, 23^rd, 2011]: Ah, yes, good ol’ Fireman Danny. The dude had no interest in playing football. Just wanted to ride Mr. Firetruck. How does that even happen? You scout a guy, watch a guy, study a guy, learn all you can about him, and then he gets here and, oh, he just doesn’t want to play. Watkins, already 26 when he made it to the NFL, managed to start 18 games in his two years here before losing his job to Dennis Kelly, a 6^th-round pick who’s still in the league. In the same draft, 168 picks later, the Eagles drafted another offensive lineman, Jason Kelce.

Kenny Jackson [WR, Penn State, 4^th, 1984]: Jackson started to show something in Year 2 and even had a 134-yard game against the Cowboys. But when all was said and done, Jackson caught only 126 passes over eight seasons – four with the Oilers and 122 in two forgettable stints with the Eagles. As a top-5 pick. One of only five top-5 WRs drafted in the last 40 years who had fewer than 130 career catches.

Leonard Mitchell [OT, Houston, 27^th, 1981]: Unlike many of these guys, Mitchell actually became a starter. It took him till Year 4 and a switch from defensive line to offensive line, and once he did become a starter he was the right tackle on one of the worst offensive lines ever assembled. From 1984 through 1986, his three years as an Eagles starter, the Eagles won just 19 games and allowed a staggering 219 sacks – an average of 73 per year, the 3^rd-most any team has ever allowed during a three-year span (behind the 1985 through 1987 Eagles and 1986 through 1988 Eagles). Among the players the Eagles bypassed to take Mitchell were Hall of Famers Mike Singletary, Howie Long, Rickey Jackson and Russ Grimm. 

Freddie Mitchell [WR, UCLA, 25^th, 2001]: He’ll always have 4^th-and-26, one of the greatest plays in Eagles history. But in the big picture, Fred-X caught just 90 passes for 1,263 yards and five touchdowns in a four-year career that ended  after he inexplicably trash talked Rodney Harrison before Super Bowl XXXIX against the Patriots in Jacksonville. Harrison had two interceptions in the Patriots’ win, Mitchell one 11-yard catch. “All he does is talk,” Bill Belichick said. “He’s terrible and you can print that. I was happy when he was in the game.” What makes this such a horrible pick is who the Eagles bypassed to draft Mitchell: Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith, Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chris Chambers were all still available. Those five combined for 4,034 catches, 55,020 yards, 336 touchdown catches and 19 Pro Bowls. They also had a combined 12 seasons with at least 90 catches. Freddy had 90 catches in his career.

Bernard Williams [OT, Georgia, 14^th, 1994]: Williams is different than most of the guys on this list because he was actually a very talented player. He started all 16 games at left tackle as a rookie and made the all-rookie team. But he was suspended for a positive marijuana test after the season, never applied for reinstatement and never played in the NFL again (although he did play in the CFL, AFL and XFL). Imagine if the Eagles had Isaac Bruce throughout the 1990s? They could have. Kevin Mawae and Larry Allen were also on the board. Only six other top-15 picks over the last 50 years (not including players from the last two drafts) played in fewer career games. Since 1985, there have been only two offensive linemen taken with a top-15 pick who never played more than 16 games in their career, and the Eagles drafted both of them.

Andre Dillard [OT, Washington, 22^nd, 2019]: Dillard still has a chance to lose the “bust” tag, but three years into his career the once-ballyhooed 1^st-round pick has started nine games, gotten benched at right tackle in the middle of a game, lost his job at left tackle to a 7^th-round rugby player who never played football before, missed an entire season with an injury and been the subject of constant trade rumors. The Eagles essentially used the 22^nd pick in the draft to take a backup offensive tackle who can only play on one side. Do you think Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown or D.K. Metcalf could have helped the Eagles the last few years? All were available.

Lester Holmes [G, Jackson State, 19^th, 1993]: He managed to start 38 games at right guard over four years with the Eagles before finally getting benched for Joe Panos late in the 1996 season during a playoff run. He only played one full season as a starter with the Eagles, although he did eventually start three seasons in Arizona. Holmes was just an utterly inconsequential player, which isn’t what you’re looking for in the top 20. And, yes, Hall of Fame guard Will Shields was there when the Eagles picked Holmes.

Antone Davis [OT, Tennessee, 8^th, 1991]: Davis was actually a five-year starter, first at right tackle and then at left guard, and even started on playoff teams in 1992 and 1995. But he was just bad, especially at pass blocking, and never showed any motivation to work on his game or improve, and as a top-10 pick you expected so much more. Who could the Eagles have had? They bypassed four-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Erik Williams, who happened to play high school ball five miles from the Vet at Bartram. All Williams ever did was make 1^st-team all-pro twice and four Pro Bowls and start on three Super Bowl champion teams for the Cowboys.

Brodrick Bunkley [DT, Florida State, 14^th, 2006]: Bunkley is another one who was at worst a functional player. He started 52 games in five years with the Eagles, but if he ever made a big play nobody remembers it. He was an OK run stuffer but really just another guy, and as a top half of the 1^st-round pick you expect a heck of a lot more. What if the Eagles believed in taking 1^st-round linebackers? Chad Greenway, a two-time Pro Bowler with the Vikings, went two picks after Bunkley.

Derek Barnett [DE, Tennessee, 14^th, 2017]: Five years and 21 ½ sacks definitely qualifies as a bust if they’re drafted this high. Barnett just never developed into a consistent pass rusher, and his ineffectiveness reached historic levels this past year, when he had two sacks all year. Heck, Reggie White, whose Tennessee records Barnett broke, had 50 career games with two sacks. And we can talk all we want about drafting Reagor when Justin Jefferson was on the board, but the Eagles drafted Barnett when T.J. Watt was on the board. Watt had more sacks last year (22 ½) than Barnett has in his career.

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Mike Mamula [DE, Boston College, 7^th, 1995]: Mamula was better than people remember and never should have been playing every down at 6-5, 245 pounds. If he was drafted today, he’d be a 3^rd-down specialist and never would have suffered the debilitating injuries that cut his career short. And Mamula did have 31 ½ sacks in his brief five-year career, which makes him the most productive 1^st-round edge rusher the Eagles have ever drafted in terms of sacks per game. But we have to include him on the list because of how high he went and who the Eagles could have had. They traded up with the Bucs from 12 to 7, and five picks after the Eagles took Mamula, the Bucs took Hall of Famer Warren Sapp with the pick they got from the Eagles. Guys like Ty Law, Derrick Brooks, Ruben Brown and Hugh Douglas were available as well.

Nelson Agholor [WR, USC, 20^th, 2015]: Oh, Nelly. The stats say bust, but Agholor did have his best year in 2017 and had a very good postseason, including 9-for-84 during the Super Bowl. Three of those catches were first downs on the game-winning drive. That was a legendary performance and is probably enough itself to lift Agholor out of busthood. But in the big picture, Agholor averaged 45 catches for 503 yards in five years with the Eagles and that’s just awful production for a top-20 pick. Of 63 WRs who’ve been drafted with a top-20 pick since 1960 and have averaged at least 10 starts per season, only three have had fewer yards after seven seasons than Nelly, and all three were drafted in 1972 or earlier (J.D. Hill, Monty Stickles, Jerome Barkum).