As Sonny Weaver said in the movie Draft Day, some team always walks out of Round 1 looking like a donkey.
It’s the truth. You know about the JaMarcus Russells and the Ryan Leafs because they’re always mentioned among the worst picks in NFL Draft history. But let’s take a look at some of the more slept-on busts — the ones that don’t get enough scrutiny.
Josh Rosen, QB, Arizona Cardinals
Nothing screams “bust” quite like a first-round quarterback who was replaced by the No. 1 overall pick the very next year, but that’s exactly what happened to Josh Rosen.
Rosen was selected No. 10 overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2018 NFL Draft, started just 13 games as a rookie, won only three of them, and was promptly replaced by Kyler Murray — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft.
As a rookie, Rosen threw 11 touchdown passes to 13 interceptions while completing just 55 percent of his passes. He was only 21 years old, though.
He got another opportunity with the Miami Dolphins in 2019, losing all three games that he started while throwing just one touchdown pass compared to five interceptions. His next NFL action came in 2021 with the Atlanta Falcons, where the 24-year-old Rosen didn’t look developed at all, throwing two more interceptions in just 11 attempts.
After bouncing around the league as a third-string quarterback and a practice squad guy, Rosen is currently a student at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Justin Gilbert, CB, Cleveland Browns
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A homeless guy told Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam to draft Johnny Manziel. We’ve all heard the same humdrum story every single draft. But seldom mentioned is the fact that the Browns had an even worse pick at No. 8 overall.
Gilbert was widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in the 2014 class, but the Browns never even met with him before selecting him in the top 10.
He missed practices for oversleeping his alarm and was flat-out unplayable in the secondary.
The No. 8 overall pick started only three games for the Browns — who weren’t exactly stacked with talent at the time — before being traded to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016 for a future sixth-round pick. Talk about giving up on a guy.
Mike Tomlin couldn’t save Gilbert, either. He fell out of the league after just 12 games in Pittsburgh.
His last known stop in football was with the Sioux City Bandits of the National Arena League.
Russell Erxleben, P, New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints made Erxleben the highest-drafted special teams player in the common draft era when they selected the punter No. 11 overall in 1979.
While that might seem like a long time ago, it’s still recent enough to know better.
During his first two seasons, he attempted to be both the kicker and the punter for the Saints but wasn’t great at either. He switched to just punting, where he lasted only three more seasons in New Orleans.
To add insult to injury, he was selected just two slots ahead of Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow. Erxleben would later receive a seven-year sentence for running an illegal investment scam.
Vernon Gholston, OLB, New York Jets
Speaking of Draft Day, Gholston was the original No. 50 outside linebacker out of Ohio State. But he never panned out the way the movie anticipated Vontae Mack would in the NFL.
The Jets drafted Gholston No. 6 overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. He at least lasted three seasons in New York, appearing in 45 games — but starting none of them — and recording exactly zero sacks.
