I'm too young to remember Clark. Mandarich seems to be the obvious choice because of the magnitude of the bust and passing on Sanders to get him, but it wasn't an out of the blue pick. Mandarich was seen by most to be an elite lineman, perhaps the best lineman prospect ever to come out of college.
Harrell was a bust who was an out of the blue pick, and that's tougher for a GM to live down. Especially when there were other options available, such as trading down with the Cowboys so they could draft Quinn. Now after looking up Harrell I just realized he got a Super Bowl ring with us. Ugh. Disgusting.
Jamal Reynolds needs to enter into this conversation more than he does. We traded Hasselbeck to move up and get him in the top 10 in the first round, and he was out of this league just as fast as Harrell.
Reynolds should be graded as a higher bust than Harrell. Reynolds was just completely overwhelmed by the game and not suited to play. Harrell had potential but was constantly hampered by a bad back and other injuries. Didn't he come out of college with a torn biceps too?Harrell was a bust who was an out of the blue pick...
Jamal Reynolds needs to enter into this conversation more than he does...
Reynolds should be graded as a higher bust than Harrell. Reynolds was just completely overwhelmed by the game and not suited to play. Harrell had potential but was constantly hampered by a bad back and other injuries. Didn't he come out of college with a torn biceps too?
In the same mold as Clark was QB Randy Duncan in 1959. Of course, this was a little more common back in the day when playing in the NFL wasn't so glamorous or enriching so they had 30 rounds in the draft! Here is a little bio on Duncan for those not familiar:Clark told the Packers NOT to draft him because he wouldn't play for them, they drafted him, and he signed and played in Canada for 2 years and then came back and played in the NFL for 7 yrs with New Orleans.
He had a thyroid issue!Let's draft the balding kid with extreme acne issues and veins bulging from his muscles. Ya think he might be on steroids?
He had a thyroid issue!
Carrol had a long successful career, just never lived up to his draft slot (Hawk?). Lot of low hanging fruit here. Mandarich of course stands out. One of the funniest lines (painful at the time) was after a GB/Philly game Mandarich's rookie year a Philly d-lineman said something to the effect, "I asked Reggie to let me know which way he was going to throw Mandarich so I wouldn't trip over him on my way to Favre". Reynolds was painful. The one I honestly could not understand at the time was Harrell. A guy who missed virtually his entire senior year, still not 100% at the combine.
IMO the “hate” was due in part because that pick was so unexpected. I don’t remember anyone predicting Harrell would be the Packers pick at that spot. But I think the more important reason was he did have a history of injuries (probably why many/most/all didn’t consider him for that spot in the first round). This is from CBSSports.com:I still don't get the Harrell hate. Yeah, he didn't work out, fine, hate on him for that, but he looked the part of a NFL lineman. The only knock on him coming out was the torn biceps tendon.
Nothing about that screams injury risk. People act like he had a deep history of injury or something. There is nothing to suggest a pattern of injury at the time of the draft, as far as I am aware.
IMO the “hate” was due in part because that pick was so unexpected. I don’t remember anyone predicting Harrell would be the Packers pick at that spot.
But I think the more important reason was he did have a history of injuries (probably why many/most/all didn’t consider him for that spot in the first round). This is from CBSSports.com:
I didn’t quote any of his stats, which were pretty impressive, since this is about his injury history.
I wouldn't compare Hawk to Carroll. Sure, neither lived up to their draft slot, but Hawk has been a healthy 16 game starter his entire career. Serviceable and even good at times, a liability at others.
After Carroll couldn't make it here he pretty much bounced around between the NFL and CFL the rest of his career, never as a good or even serviceable starter, just making rosters wherever he could.
I had never heard that before TJV. That would've been a great trade for us had Thompson pulled the trigger. I'm almost afraid to go back and research what we needed and could have gotten from that trade. Wow, that solidifies my belief that this was Thompson's worst moment as a GM.I agree it's foolish for fans to boo a pick just because they didn't anticipate it. But I believe that was one of the reasons for Packers fans booing Thompson for that pick. Before joining the Packers Harrell had right leg surgery, broke his ankle, re-injured ankle on first snap back, another ankle injury, and a biceps injury all causing him to miss about 30% of his college games. So yes, I think there is merit to the injury risk label. But the only thing I blame Harrell for is arriving at TC overweight and out of shape.
After the draft Thompson said they got offers to trade out of that spot and Jacksonville did trade out one pick after the Packers so we have an idea of what Thompson was offered. Jacksonville received Denver's first, third, and sixth rounders for pick 17. If they offered the Packers the same deal, Thompson would have only had to drop 5 spots in the first round to pick up an extra third and sixth pick, or better. So with perfect 20/20 hindsight...