The ten worst draft picks in Arizona Cardinals history

While the Arizona Cardinals have had a great amount of success in the draft room they’ve also had picks who’ve flopped

They can’t all be winners. The Arizona Cardinals, like any other NFL team, know that the draft is not an exact science.

So much goes into finding those premier players. Kids are evaluated through their game tapes, at private workouts, at the scouting combine in Indianapolis every February. But even with all the work that goes into the search there are no guarantees.

The following is a compilation of the ten worst draft picks the Cards have had since they’ve moved to the desert. They are in no particular order.

DT Wendell Bryant (1st round, #12, 2002)

Bryant, out of Wisconsin, had a career that lasted a measly three years. Before the start of what would’ve been his fourth season he committed his third strike of the NFL’ s substance abuse policy. He had a grand total of 39 tackles and 1.5 sacks and was actually drafted 12 picks BEFORE legendary safety Ed Reed.

QB Tony Sacca (2nd round, #46, 1992)

The big, strong-armed signal caller out of Penn State lasted one season in the NFL. He finished with zero TDs, two picks and 29 yards passing. Sacca once complained that the football in the pros was too large for his hand which obviously could present a problem for someone looking to play quarterback!

WR Bryant Johnson (1st round, #17, 2003)

I hesitated at first to include Johnson with this group because he did actually have a nine year career. But when you research his numbers you find that he never had more than 49 receptions, 740 yards or four TDs in a season. Mediocre numbers like that are fine for a mid to late round draft pick but pretty disappointing for the 17th overall pick in the draft.

CB Tom Knight (1st round, #9, 1997)

It’s bad enough that the ninth overall pick in the draft had only three interceptions in a six year career. What really hurts Cards fans is that Pro Bowl defensive backs like Ronde Barber and Darren Sharper were drafted after Knight. Besides the lack of production his career was marred by minor, nagging injuries.

RB Ryan Williams ( 2nd round, #38, 2011)

A knee injury cut short his Cardinals career. The promising speedster out of Virginia Tech carried the ball 58 times for a total of 164 yards in 2012, the only season he saw action. He went on to sign with the Dallas Cowboys but never got back on the field.

RB Anthony Thompson ( 2nd round, #31, 1990)

Thompson’s best season was when he was a rookie in 1990. He rushed for 390 yards and found the end zone four times that year but things went downhill from there. He finished his career as a Rams and is currently a pastor at a church in Bloomington, Indiana. 

DE Andre Wadsworth (1st round, #3, 1998)

Excitement filled the Valley when Wadsworth was drafted, joining defensive linemates Eric Swann, Simeon Rice and Mark Smith to form “Desert Storm”. Three seasons later the Florida State star was released after three knee surgeries. He tallied eight sacks, one pick and 96 tackles in 36 career games, perhaps the biggest bust in the organization’s history.

QB Matt Leinart (1st round, #10, 2006)

Leinart had his moments in the NFL but seemed to prefer partying and womanizing to actually studying a playbook. Despite “sit-downs” with Kurt Warner and head coach Ken Whisenhunt he never changed his ways. He ultimately lost his starting job to Warner and was released by the Cardinals in 2010.

OT Levi Brown (1st round, #5, 2007)

Brown actually started 79 games in his career, alternating between right and left tackle. He just never showed the skills or gumption that a fifth overall pick in the draft should. What’s hard to swallow is that quite a few in the organization believed that the seventh overall pick of that very same draft, future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, should’ve been the choice over Brown (rumor was that group included then Director of College Scouting Steve Keim).

QB Logan Thomas (4th round, #120, 2014)

The problem with Thomas was that he was drafted too early for what he projected to bring to the table. He probably would’ve been available in the seventh round and possibly could’ve even been signed as an undrafted free agent. Thomas was so bad that during the 2014 season, after Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton were out with knee injuries, the terrible Ryan Lindley was given the starting gig over him.