First off I hate the term aughts but saying the zeros sounded even dumber. I wanted to put my ranking out there of all of the #1 overall picks between 2000-2009….aka the aughts. Gross.
#1 – Eli Manning – This was a no brainer. He has two Super Bowl rings, two Super Bowl MVPs to match and four Pro Bowl appearances. Say what you want about his .500 win percentage but Eli Manning is not only a HOFer but the best in his decade.
#2 – Michael Vick – The two spot was tough but Vick revolutionized the game. He was a decade (or two) ahead of his time and made way for players like Watson, Wilson, Murray, Jackson and Mahomes. The true mobile QB never won the big one but he was a four-time Pro Bowler and every defenses nightmare. The Michael Vick Experience.
#3 – Jake Long – Offensive linemen never get any love especially when matched up against stat collecting defensive linemen and skill positions. Long was good for a long time (see what I did there) and was also a four-time Pro Bowler. Poor guy was just stuck on the Dolphins and then bounced around the league.
#4 – Mario Williams – He will always be compared to Reggie Bush but quite honestly he might have had a better career. He was never a J.J. Watt type of player but he did accumulate 97.5 sacks in his career and saw the Pro-Bowl four times. 5 of 11 seasons he posted double-digit sacks too He could have easily been my #2 or #3 as well.
#5 – Alex Smith – Remember when everyone thought that Smith was a bust when he went #1 overall and compiled a few bad seasons? Then remember he exploded in San Francisco. Then remember he went to KC and was the perfect mentor for Patrick Mahomes and almost got them to the Super Bowl? Oh yeah and then he was going to be the starter in Washington for the next 4-5 years to bring stability to the team. Smith was a baller and went from boom to bust to boom again.
#6 – Carson Palmer – I hate having the quitter this high on my top 10 but Palmer did accumulate some stats in his career. He just did not accumulate playoff wins and his frustrations allowed him to quit on his team and be traded away for a kings ransom to Oakland and then to Arizona. He went to three Pro Bowls but was never considered one of the elite quarterbacks, very similar to Joe Flacco. At least Cool Joe won a Super Bowl though. Suck it Carson Palmer.
#7 – Matthew Stafford – Everyone says that Stafford is just a stat collector but no one wants to call him a bad quarterback. For God’s sake people he has been stuck in Detroit his entire career. Had Stafford been somewhere else the story might be vastly different but he likes money and Detroit seems to always been willing to make it rain on him. He will go into the Hall of Very Good when his career is over
#8 – David Carr – Total bust but there was also a ton of expectations on Carr when he was drafted by the Texans. He isn’t even the best Carr brother in the NFL, and the current one isn’t that good and will likely be out of work soon. 2005 was Carr’s best year when he threw 14 TDs and just 11 INTs. Not a great career for the #1 overall guy.
#9 – Courtney Brown – I had to go out and seriously look stats up on Brown. He survived for six years in the league, five of them being in the Factory of Sadness. Health was his main issue and only played one entire 16 game season. 19 sacks in 6 years is not so hot for an edge rusher, especially one that was taken first overall. It couldn’t happen to a nicer team either :).
#10 – JaMarcus Russell – Tubbs McGee was the ultimate bust in this group. He basically ate himself out of the league after having so much athletic promise coming out of LSU. Russell only lasted three seasons before he officially became the Stay Puff Marshmallow QB and his best season was his second best posting 13 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in 15 games.