In 55 years of the common draft, you could fill a roster with the Green Bay Packers’ terrible draft picks. So, we did, in our all-busts team.
Who’s the biggest draft bust in Green Bay Packers history? Tony Mandarich is the most famous. Bruce Clark is perhaps the most infamous.
They’d be captains on our Packers Draft Busts Team.
Our team includes players drafted in the common-draft era, which coincides with the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Only players selected in the first three rounds were considered for obvious reasons.
Hold your nose and let’s go.
Quarterbacks
Randy Duncan, the No. 1 overall pick of the 1959 draft, would have been the easy choice if we looked beyond 1970. Rather than playing for Vince Lombardi’s Packers, he opted to play in Canada. It all worked out, though. Bart Starr eventually took command of the starting job late in 1959, and the rest is history.
Jerry Tagge: Tagge was the choice for the Packers’ all-time worst draft choice, as selected by Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame. The 11th pick of the 1972 draft and the supposed successor to Bart Starr, the Green Bay native started 12 games in three seasons. He threw three touchdowns and 19 interceptions, including one touchdown and 10 picks in 1974. He was released at the end of training camp in 1975 and never played in another NFL game.
Rich Campbell: Campbell was the sixth pick in 1981. In four seasons, he started zero games and threw three touchdowns vs. nine interceptions. He didn’t even throw a pass in 1982 and 1983, as he was behind Lynn Dickey and David Whitehurst. After four seasons in Green Bay, he was traded to the Raiders but didn’t play in a game. If you think the Packers drafting Kevin King over T.J. Watt was a big deal, the Packers could have drafted Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott.
Running backs
Brent Fullwood: The fourth pick of the 1987 draft, Fullwood actually made one Pro Bowl team. However, he fumbled six times in 1988 and six more times in 1989. In 1990, he pulled himself from a game at Chicago due to illness. That night, he was spotted at a Green Bay nightclub. The Packers released him shortly thereafter and he never played in another game, his career ending with 19 total touchdowns and 15 fumbles.
Brent Fullwood / Manny Rubio-Imagn Images
Virgil Robinson: After the Packers picked running back John Brockington in the first round in 1971, they picked another running back in the second round of that draft with Robinson. He didn’t even make the opening roster. He carried the ball 34 times in two seasons with the Saints.
Receivers
Amari Rodgers: The Packers never, ever draft short receivers. But they did with Rodgers in the third round in 2021. He lasted less than two seasons in Green Bay. He was ineffective as a receiver and unreliable as a returner. In 26 career games, he had eight receptions and seven fumbles.
Frankie Neal: A third-round pick in 1987, Neal had a solid rookie season with 36 receptions for 420 yards. He reported to camp out of shape the following season and was released. In 1990, he was arrested for shoplifting a pair of shoes.
Barry Smith: Using a first-round pick on a receiver doesn’t guarantee anything. Smith was the 21st pick in 1973. In three seasons with the Packers, he caught 45 passes and scored four touchdowns. He played one more season, catching four passes for the expansion Buccaneers, who went 0-14.
Tight ends
Gary Lewis: A second-round pick in 1981, Lewis in four seasons caught 21 passes for 285 yards and one touchdown. A rare blood disorder ended his career in 1984. While he never became the Robin to Paul Coffman’s Batman, he allegedly blocked 11 kicks in a stretch of 12 games and forced the NFL to change kick-blocking rules.
Jace Sternberger: A third-round pick in 2019, Sternberger caught 12 passes in 18 career games in two seasons. The Packers released him early in the 2021 season after he served a two-game NFL suspension.
Jace Sternberger catches a pass against the Vikings. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
Offensive line
Tony Mandarich: He is the dictionary definition of a bust. Making matters worse, the Packers could have drafted running back Barry Sanders, pass rusher Derrick Thomas or cornerback Deion Sanders – Hall of Famers one and all.
A steroid-filled hype machine led to him being the No. 2 overall pick of the 1989 draft. After a holdout, he became the highest-paid offensive tackle in the NFL, only to watch the season from the bench. He started 31 of a possible 32 games the next two seasons.
New coach Mike Holmgren moved him to guard in 1992. A thyroid problem sent him to injured reserve and ended his Packers career. Remarkably, after not playing in a game in four seasons, he started 32 games for the Colts from 1996 through 1998.
Derek Sherrod: The 32nd pick in 2011 barely played as a rookie before suffering a gruesome broken leg late in the season. He missed all of 2012 and made his one and only NFL start in 2014. The injury, obviously, ruined his career, so the “bust” tag isn’t exactly fair, but his rookie season wasn’t exactly impressive.
John Michels: The 27th pick in 1996, Michels was benched in favor of veteran Bruce Wilkerson for the team’s Super Bowl run. He missed the second half of 1997 with a knee injury, all of 1998 with another knee injury and was traded to the Eagles during training camp in 1999 but never played in a game. Packers GM Ron Wolf took Michaels after Ray Lewis – the man he wanted – went to the Ravens a pick earlier.
Jason Spriggs: Here’s another player who was zapped by injuries. Spriggs was a second-round pick in 2016 with a superb combination of strength and athleticism. Though not to the extent of Sherrod and Michels, injuries derailed Spriggs, as well. He started nine games in three seasons with the team.
Dave Croston: An All-American at Iowa, the 1987 third-round pick spent his rookie season on injured reserve, started one game in 1988 and spent 1989 on injured reserve.
Dave Drechsler: A second-round pick in 1983, Drechsler, who is considered one of the best offensive linemen in North Carolina history as a two-time first-team All-American, was released during training camp in 1985 and never played again.
Bill Bain: Sometimes the player is bad. Sometimes the team is wrong. Bain was a second-round pick in 1975. After starting only three games as a rookie, he was traded to Denver for a third-round pick. The highlight of his 11-year career was being a second-team All-Pro in 1984.
Defensive line
With more “bust” defensive linemen than linebackers, this team will run an unorthodox 5-2.
DE Datone Jones: The 26th pick in 2013, Jones during his introductory news conference talked hopefully of being the next Reggie White. He had nine sacks in four seasons with the Packers and 10 sacks for his career.
DT Justin Harrell: The 16th pick in 2007, Harrell played in 14 games in four years with the team and finished with zero sacks and two tackles for losses. He missed all of 2009 with a back injury – being out of shape contributed – and most of 2010 with a torn ACL and never played again.
Justin Harrell / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
DT Jonathan Brown: A third-round pick in 1998, Brown played in four games as a rookie and was released before the kickoff of the 1999 season. He didn’t record a single tackle in his NFL career.
DT Bruce Clark: Clark was the No. 4 overall pick of the 1980 draft. Rather than play nose tackle for the Packers, he received more money from the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, who were coached by former Packers legend Willie Wood. After a couple years in Canada, the Packers traded him to the Saints for their first-round pick. In 1984, he had 10.5 sacks to earn Pro Bowl honors.
The Packers used that first-round pick on cornerback Tim Lewis, who had 16 interceptions in his first three seasons but suffered a career-ending neck injury in 1986.
DE Jamal Reynolds: The Packers moved up from No. 17 of the first round to No. 10 by trading Matt Hasselbeck to the Seahawks. Reynolds had 12 sacks during his final season at Florida State. In 18 games over three seasons with the Packers, “Too Small Jamal” had three sacks and was released.
Linebackers
Torrance Marshall: A third-round pick in 2001, Marshall started one game during his first two seasons, then was suspended for the first four games of the 2023 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He was released at the end of the 2004 season, having started only two games.
Mark D’Onofrio: As is the case with a few players on this list, the “bust” tag is harsh. A second-round pick in 1992 after missing most of his senior season at Penn State with a shoulder injury, D’Onofrio missed most of his rookie season with a hamstring injury and all of 1993 with a knee injury. He never returned to action. A longtime college assistant coach, he is the new linebackers coach at Central Florida.
Cornerbacks
Ahmad Carroll: The 25th pick of the 2004 draft, Carroll survived two penalty-filled seasons but not a third. After a dreadful performance in Week 4 against the Eagles in which he gave up two touchdowns and was guilty of three penalties, the Packers gave up and released him. Not even making him wear boxing gloves at practice could break his habit of grabbing.
Nate Burleson catches a pass over Ahmad Carroll as the Vikings beat the Packers in the playoffs. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
Terrell Buckley: The fifth pick of the 1992 draft played 14 NFL seasons and intercepted 50 passes. That’s a pretty good career. However, he lasted just three seasons with the Packers. In April 1995, they traded him to the Dolphins for the ever-popular “past considerations.” Buckley made a lot of big plays; at 5-foot-9, he also gave up a lot of big plays.
Vinnie Clark: The 19th pick of the 1991 draft had two interceptions as a rookie and two interceptions in 1992 before he was traded to the Falcons for a fourth-round pick. On the bright side, the Packers traded back before selecting Clark. They picked up an extra first-round pick in the process, which helped them acquire Brett Favre.
What about Kevin King? The first pick of the second round of the 2017 draft, he’s the player the Packers selected after trading out of the first round and bypassing T.J. Watt. King gave up a 52.2 percent completion rate in 2018 and had five interceptions and 15 passes defensed in 2019, but injuries were a constant nuisance.
Safeties
Josh Jones: A second-round pick in 2017, Jones had the speed of a safety and the size of a linebacker. As it turns out, he wasn’t good at either spot. He started 12 games in two seasons with the Packers but was released late in camp in 2019.
Damarious Randall: The 30th pick of the 2015 draft, Randall started 30 games at cornerback in three seasons with the Packers. About a month before the 2019 draft, the Packers traded Randall to the Browns for quarterback DeShone Kizer, as both teams dumped failed draft choices. With the Browns, Randall moved to safety – the position some pundits thought he should have been playing all along and the position he’ll “play” on this team.
Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant (88) beats Damarious Randall for a touchdown. / Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images
Specialists
K Brett Conway: A third-round pick in 1997, Conway was supposed to replace Chris Jacke. Instead, he went 0-for-4 on field goals in two preseason games before being shut down with an injured quad. The Packers went with Ryan Longwell, and Conway ended up kicking for five teams in six seasons.
P B.J. Sander: What’s worse than drafting a kicker in the third round? Drafting a punter in the third round, obviously. Sander won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best punter in 2003 at Ohio State. He was stashed on the practice squad as a rookie, struggled in 2005 and never punted in a regular-season game again.
LS Hunter Bradley: The Packers have drafted only one long snapper, Bradley, a seventh-round pick in 2018. He was released at midseason in 2021 and never played in another game.