FanPost

46-year history of the No. 1 overall draft pick

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

From the FanPosts. This was a fun read. -Joel

I started this research prior to "The Trade" when the #1 overall pick was a debate between OT and QB. I went back as far as the 1967 draft because that was the first Common Draft, when the AFL & NFL held a joint draft. The summary of those 46 drafts are:

20 QB
8 DE
7 RB
4 DT
2 LB
3 OT
2 WR

-8 are HOF picks (Peyton Manning will make it 9 one day)

-13 Have won a Super Bowl (I excluded David Carr, but if you think his ring counts, make it 14)

-6 Are Super Bowl MVP (All 6 are QBs)

So there seems to be a line of thinking that the #1 overall pick should be a HOF player, as it sits now, including Peyton Manning, 19% of these guys are HOFers, this could go up if the recent picks get in but even including those guys, less than half will ever make it to the HOF.

Now when it comes to busts, that's a little more subjective and can be argued. I counted 13 of these guys as busts, I would have made it 14, but since we just traded for Alex Smith, I thought I better take him off that list for now. Like with any other draft pick, you could just get a solid player who is not a bust nor a HOFer.

I'll list each player by position and let you know who I think is a bust. (-B) indicates bust, (*) Indicates HOF, (+) indicates won a super bowl and (++) indicates super bowl MVP.

WR:

Irving Fryer (1984)

Keyshawn Johnson (1996)+

OT:

Ron Yary (1968)*

Orlando Pace (1997)+

Jake Long (2008)

LB:

Tom Cousineau (1979)-B

Aundray Bruce (1988)-B

DT:

Walt Patulski (1972)-B

Russell Maryland (1991)+

Steve Emtman (1992)-B

Dan Wilkinson (1994)

RB:

OJ Simpson (1969)*

Ricky Bell (1977)-B

Earl Campbell (1978)*

Billy Sims (1980)

George Rogers (1981)+

Bo Jackson (1986)

Ki-Jana Carter (1995)-B

DE:

Bubba Smith (1967)+

John Matuszak (1973)

Ed "Too Tall" Jones (1974)+

Lee Roy Selmon (1976)*

Kenneth Sims (1982)-B

Bruce Smith (1985)*

Courtney Brown (2000)-B

Mario Williams (2006)

QB:

Terry Bradshaw (1970)*++

Jim Plunkett (1971)+

Steve Bartkowski (1975)

John Elway (1983)*++

Vinny Testaverde (1987)-B

Troy Aikman (1989)*++

Jeff George (1990)-B

Drew Bledsoe (1993)+

Peyton Manning (1998)++

Tim Couch (1999)-B

Michael Vick (2001)

David Carr (2002)-B

Carson Palmer (2003)

Eli Manning (2004)++

Alex Smith (2005)

Jamarcus Russel (2007)-B

Matthew Stafford (2009)

Sam Bradford (2010)

Cam Newton (2011)

Andrew Luck (2012)

The biggest thing that sticks out to me in recent drafts (since 1990) is the "safe picks" (non-QB) all went on to another team, that's how much of an impact they made. Anything stick out to you?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.