Your Worst Niner Draft Pick Of All Time

Originally posted by Olejohnnyboy:
AJ Jenkins is the worst as I have stated in another thread. Zero productivity his rookie year and dumped shortly after. Very seldom does a franchise give up on a 1st rounder after one year. He was so bad the coaches did even see a glimmer of hope. And even worse he was on a cheap rookie contract. As my high school football coach used to say, "He's about as worthless as two dead flies!" Lol

Which would be true if we didn't get a 2011 first round pick WR Baldwin in return for him. So somebody sees some glimmer of hope. He wasn't "dumped" he was traded. And he is worth something.

I based my picks off of this criteria:
- Total production for 49ers
- Who we could've drafted
- Damage to team development/fxn

So, with that criteria, McGrew/Shell/Mays/DeLong/Balmer/Rumph/Jenkins/Hall were bad picks, but were reasonable either by contribution (still helped team win games), lack of talent at the spot chosen (just b/c some 6th/7th rounder became HOFer doesn't mean the draft pick at the time was incorrect), and/or didn't damage 49ers success (didn't interfere with draft/FA strategy).


With that, here's my Top 5:

5. Jim Drunkenmiller
- Not only did he suck enough to barely be the starter on an XFL team, but we lost out on Jake Plummer, who, under Mariucci and Walsh's occasional help, could've been our 3rd straight superstar QB.

4. Kwame Harris
- Yes, he started @ LT/RT and will become a HOF for most holding penalties of all time, but we missed out on numerous OL talent until Staley. Also, lost out on Larry Johnson, Nnadmi, Stinchcomb, Boldin, and Tillman.

3. Steve Spurrier
- Talk about a draft bust, didn't produce for us, but we lost out on Floyd Little, Gene Upshaw, and Alan Page. If only he started coaching earlier...

2. JJ Stokes
- Now, StoneHands did produce numbers, but the VAST loss of talent we lost at obtaining hurt even more. Missed out on Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ty Law, and Hugh Douglas in 1995, then lost out w/Marvin Harrison, Ray Lewis, Lawyer Milloy, and Mike Alstott.

1. Rashaun Woods
- Probably our worst draft pick EVER! No production, set us back for years losing out on Vince Wilfork (switching to 3-4 that year), Steven Jackson (Kevan Barlow..enough said), and Chris Gamble. This pick set us back through 2 head coaches and numerous OCs.

Originally posted by VPofCarnage:
Woods easily because of how much I wanted Wilfork.

This right here, passed twice on wilfork for that scrub!

Originally posted by ninerdemonsjotoplasm:
I based my picks off of this criteria:
- Total production for 49ers
- Who we could've drafted
- Damage to team development/fxn

So, with that criteria, McGrew/Shell/Mays/DeLong/Balmer/Rumph/Jenkins/Hall were bad picks, but were reasonable either by contribution (still helped team win games), lack of talent at the spot chosen (just b/c some 6th/7th rounder became HOFer doesn't mean the draft pick at the time was incorrect), and/or didn't damage 49ers success (didn't interfere with draft/FA strategy).


With that, here's my Top 5:

5. Jim Drunkenmiller
- Not only did he suck enough to barely be the starter on an XFL team, but we lost out on Jake Plummer, who, under Mariucci and Walsh's occasional help, could've been our 3rd straight superstar QB.

4. Kwame Harris
- Yes, he started @ LT/RT and will become a HOF for most holding penalties of all time, but we missed out on numerous OL talent until Staley. Also, lost out on Larry Johnson, Nnadmi, Stinchcomb, Boldin, and Tillman.

3. Steve Spurrier
- Talk about a draft bust, didn't produce for us, but we lost out on Floyd Little, Gene Upshaw, and Alan Page. If only he started coaching earlier...

2. JJ Stokes
- Now, StoneHands did produce numbers, but the VAST loss of talent we lost at obtaining hurt even more. Missed out on Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ty Law, and Hugh Douglas in 1995, then lost out w/Marvin Harrison, Ray Lewis, Lawyer Milloy, and Mike Alstott.

1. Rashaun Woods
- Probably our worst draft pick EVER! No production, set us back for years losing out on Vince Wilfork (switching to 3-4 that year), Steven Jackson (Kevan Barlow..enough said), and Chris Gamble. This pick set us back through 2 head coaches and numerous OCs.

spurrier took over for brodie and led us into the playoffs. he was very good for 6 or 7 games and then brodie came to the rescue in the playoffs. so he was not a big bust, without him that year, we never would have made the playoffs 72 i think

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Amazingly, out of all those picks Jenkins contributed the least. At least he never got the chance to screw us over in a game. Carmazzi didn't do s**t neither, but he was a 3rd rounder so I don't even care about him.

And with that, I'd like to nominate Dana Hall. He was drafted as a need to help defend the Cowboys (Irvin, AHarper). The 49ers used him and he was not effective in helping the 49ers get over the hump (Cowboys in the NFCC). When he was drafted, I thought it was a great pick because they got the best safety in the draft. "Awesome, we shored up the secondary". Hall's ineffectiveness hurt the 49ers in very meaningful games. Perhaps not the biggest bust because he did set foot on the field, but his poor play hurt a team that had high aspirations.

Ten spots later in that 1992 draft, S Darryl Williams was drafted. Williams was a solid safety who played for many years.

Israel Ifeanyi. Boom!

Originally posted by Rizvi49er:

Originally posted by AB83Rules:

Originally posted by Rizvi49er:
has to be jenkins. 0 starts 0 catches 1 drop in a career

woods caught a td
drunkenmiller beat the rams as a rookie
mcgrew i'm sure made a tackle at some point
balmer see mcgrew
jj was supposed to be the next jerry lol he was a good to ok WR
others who cares

Not fair to call him a bust. He never got the chances that Mays, Balmer, Harris, and even Alex did.

Alex would be the ultimate bust if on list. He had 6 suckage years here. Worst #1 pick by us. Yeah he had a good 2011, but he didn't throw many TDs, he was a game manager. A 1st pick should be a TD machine. And Alex isnt.

he wasn't the savior we all wanted...but if anyone thinks rodgers woulda fared better with nolan and singletary smh. 1 year he played half his games with a separated throwing shoulder because his coach said he was fine and he didn't want to look weak. come on that's not the sign of a bust.

the sign of a bust is when the GoAT asks to train you and you blow him off and show up outta shape and start getting put on your tail in training camp and then proceed to drop the only pass thrown your way while u are running wide open.

alex >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> jenkins

Not saying Rodgers would of played better. But we took Alex not Rodgers. And by my evaluations, Alex was the worst #1 pick by us. He was s**t, mediocre, and every thing in between for 6 years. He got lucky with Harbaugh. He had what 17 TDs, a #1 pick has 25+ TD passes. Not in the teens. He was never a passing QB. He was injury prone.

Jenkins showed some potential, more than Alex did in 6 years of suckage. I dont get the Alex love, is it because of Harbaugh, because If I remember correctly, only us wanted Alex back. Miami had a chance, and passed in 2012 offseason. He had no other option. He isn't Tim Tebow. But he isn't a Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was the local kid, he should of been the pick. Nolan and Scot M are/were idiots. They didn't know how to manage a roster. Signing busts like Jonas Jennings to a huge deal. Nate Clements never panned out, $45M for a CB that wasn't great here, not even very good. And 30M for a SS Michael Lewis, who I liked, but wasn't the best.

Then Tully Banta-Cain, Dilfer(Yeah, he sucked), the list goes on and on. Alex couldn't stay healthy. I was saying hell yeah when he was traded, we have a better option, in Kaepernick. Younger, Faster, and better.

Originally posted by AB83Rules:
Not saying Rodgers would of played better. But we took Alex not Rodgers. And by my evaluations, Alex was the worst #1 pick by us. He was s**t, mediocre, and every thing in between for 6 years. He got lucky with Harbaugh. He had what 17 TDs, a #1 pick has 25+ TD passes. Not in the teens. He was never a passing QB. He was injury prone.

Jenkins showed some potential, more than Alex did in 6 years of suckage. I dont get the Alex love, is it because of Harbaugh, because If I remember correctly, only us wanted Alex back. Miami had a chance, and passed in 2012 offseason. He had no other option. He isn't Tim Tebow. But he isn't a Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was the local kid, he should of been the pick. Nolan and Scot M are/were idiots. They didn't know how to manage a roster. Signing busts like Jonas Jennings to a huge deal. Nate Clements never panned out, $45M for a CB that wasn't great here, not even very good. And 30M for a SS Michael Lewis, who I liked, but wasn't the best.

Then Tully Banta-Cain, Dilfer(Yeah, he sucked), the list goes on and on. Alex couldn't stay healthy. I was saying hell yeah when he was traded, we have a better option, in Kaepernick. Younger, Faster, and better.

Jason you have to be joking. AJ set an NFL record by doing nothing. Not since the 1970 merger has a player not done what he has.

You cant blame a Alex for getting hurt, then having the coaches put him back out when its not healed properly and re-injuring it. If we put Latt on the field tomorrow and he reshredded his knee would it be his fault or the coaches?

Alex had heart, determination, and never stopped trying. AJ never gave a s**t.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by AB83Rules:
Not saying Rodgers would of played better. But we took Alex not Rodgers. And by my evaluations, Alex was the worst #1 pick by us. He was s**t, mediocre, and every thing in between for 6 years. He got lucky with Harbaugh. He had what 17 TDs, a #1 pick has 25+ TD passes. Not in the teens. He was never a passing QB. He was injury prone.

Jenkins showed some potential, more than Alex did in 6 years of suckage. I dont get the Alex love, is it because of Harbaugh, because If I remember correctly, only us wanted Alex back. Miami had a chance, and passed in 2012 offseason. He had no other option. He isn't Tim Tebow. But he isn't a Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was the local kid, he should of been the pick. Nolan and Scot M are/were idiots. They didn't know how to manage a roster. Signing busts like Jonas Jennings to a huge deal. Nate Clements never panned out, $45M for a CB that wasn't great here, not even very good. And 30M for a SS Michael Lewis, who I liked, but wasn't the best.

Then Tully Banta-Cain, Dilfer(Yeah, he sucked), the list goes on and on. Alex couldn't stay healthy. I was saying hell yeah when he was traded, we have a better option, in Kaepernick. Younger, Faster, and better.

Jason you have to be joking. AJ set an NFL record by doing nothing. Not since the 1970 merger has a player not done what he has.

You cant blame a Alex for getting hurt, then having the coaches put him back out when its not healed properly and re-injuring it. If we put Latt on the field tomorrow and he reshredded his knee would it be his fault or the coaches?

Alex had heart, determination, and never stopped trying. AJ never gave a s**t.

Justin I dont doubt he had heart. And he couldn't help getting injured. But we all get caught up in the injury prone issue. And he was. I hope he does great in KC, I just doubt he will be "The Best QB" Like his GM said he was.

A.J. showed potential in preseason 2012, but nothing else. I dont think AJ was great, or even good. Alex never showed potential until Harbaugh got here. 11 INTs in yr 1, and 1 TD. I dont care if the team was bad. Alex had no right being the #1 pick. That whole 2005 1st rd sucked. It was the worst time to get the top pick. We should of taken Rodgers. Rodgers throws over 30 TDs, Alex 18 TDs.

I dont hate Alex, like I dont hate AJ, but Alex was crap here. And those who say he "lead" us to the NFC Champ game are fooling themselves. Our D was the reason. What was it, +20 something in Turnover differential. The Defense was the reason.

And my main reasoning for Alex is he was supposed to be the savior, as the top pick, you should be the next best thing. And he wasn't.

Todd Kelly pick number 27 in the 1993 draft. Hardly anyone remembers this bum. Worst Niner pick ever. Of course we took Dana Stubblefield at 26 that year so all was not lost but Kelly and AJ Jenkins are the two worst draft picks the Niners have ever made as neither made ANY contribution.

I had a bunch of names to put on the list but with hindsight I didn't put any. It's much tougher to find the gems in the draft. Busts happen on every team.

Originally posted by AB83Rules:
Justin I dont doubt he had heart. And he couldn't help getting injured. But we all get caught up in the injury prone issue. And he was. I hope he does great in KC, I just doubt he will be "The Best QB" Like his GM said he was.

A.J. showed potential in preseason 2012, but nothing else. I dont think AJ was great, or even good. Alex never showed potential until Harbaugh got here. 11 INTs in yr 1, and 1 TD. I dont care if the team was bad. Alex had no right being the #1 pick. That whole 2005 1st rd sucked. It was the worst time to get the top pick. We should of taken Rodgers. Rodgers throws over 30 TDs, Alex 18 TDs.

I dont hate Alex, like I dont hate AJ, but Alex was crap here. And those who say he "lead" us to the NFC Champ game are fooling themselves. Our D was the reason. What was it, +20 something in Turnover differential. The Defense was the reason.

With the ultimate cluster f**k that Nolan created, I really doubt Rodgers would be a major upgrade at the time. The OL was shabby, the WR situation was pretty bad, and even Vernon didn't get it until Sing straightened his ass out. We were drafting that high for a reason and throwing a rookie out that fast with a team that bad is a recipe for disaster. In Alex's defense (in a lock out year) he looked good with Harbs. Had he been in that situation day 1, I think the legacy of Smith would be a lot different. Part of what makes a bust is not giving the extra effort or having heart. While Alex can be classified as a letdown, I dont look at him like a JaMarcus or Leaf. I think he was just given a s**t sandwich year after year and by the time the proper help arrived he was replaced.

Love it or hate it we dont get to the NFCCG without a stable QB.

If it wasn't for Harbaugh (and at an extent Norv), then Alex Smith would have been up there.

It took proper coaching to straighten him out.

Woods