The funny thing about the NFL Draft is that failure is oftentimes more memorable than success. We look at the Broncos selecting Von Miller with the No. 2 overall pick and say good job, but when the San Diego Chargers select Ryan Leaf at the same position, we spend the next two decades laughing at their incompetence.
Busts live forever, and that’s what’s so scary for a talent evaluator. You could get nine picks right, but if you select Jamarcus Russell or Trent Richardson with that 10th pick, you’ll never live it down.
Luckily, the Broncos have never had a colossal, historically bad bust, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t had their fair share of questionable draft picks — everyone has. So, given that we detailed the Broncos’ best draft picks yesterday, it’s only fair that we look at their worst today.
While bust and bad are essentially the same thing, we’re focusing less on the failure of the player and more on the failure of the franchise. For example, Leaf was a bust because everyone expected him to be a good quarterback, and he wasn’t. The Raiders selecting Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh-overall pick was a bad selection because everybody thought it was dumb the moment it happened.
With that said, here are the five worst draft selections in Denver Broncos history:
5. Ashley Lelie (2002)
Pick: 1st Round (19th Overall) Experience: 7 years (4 with Broncos)
Career Stats: 217 receptions; 3,749 yards; 15 touchdowns
Ashley Lelie wasn’t so much a bad pick because he was a bust. There have been plenty of first-round wide receivers who have had worse careers than him. He was frustrating, absolutely, but he had his moments, catching 54 receptions for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns in 2007.
On the whole, though, he was a disappointment, especially when you consider the guy taken five spots after him: Ed Reed.
Of course, hindsight is always 20-20, but there is no world in which the Broncos would have been better off with Lelie than Reed.
