The NFL Draft is just days away and the New York Jets finally said goodbye to one of their biggest mistakes in draft history. Quarterback Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, was dealt to the Denver Broncos with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick. The two teams are evenly splitting Wilson’s $5.5 million cap hit, giving New York minor cap relief and a moderate jump for their second-to-last pick in the draft.
The deal ends Wilson’s disastrous tenure in New York, where he went 13-21 in 34 starts with 23 touchdown passes and 25 interceptions while completing just 57 percent of his passes. Given the hype surrounding Wilson entering the NFL, he is certainly up there in terms of most disappointing draft picks ever, but is he the biggest bust in New York sports history? Let’s look at a few notable candidates for other franchises in town.
Giants: The most notable bust for the Giants was defensive end Cedric Jones, who was picked fifth overall in 1996, and largely underachieved in his tenure. Jones did, however, produce a 7.5-sack season in 1999 and was a rotational player on the Giants’ Super Bowl team in 2000. Some recent underachievers include Eli Apple, Ereck Flowers and Kadarius Toney but none of them really touch Wilson.
Yankees: The top choice for the Yankees would be pitcher Brien Taylor, who was the first overall pick in the 1991 MLB Draft and dominated his first few years of minor league ball. It all came crashing down when Taylor got into a bar fight to defend his brother and saw his pitching arm get pushed behind his head on a punch. The result was a devastating rotator cuff tear that left Taylor a shell of himself and he never made it to the majors.
Mets: We’re going to the way back machine with the Mets to focus on Steve Chilcott, who was the top pick in the 1976 MLB Draft. Chilcott never made the majors after suffering a debilitating shoulder injury in the minor leagues, making him the first top overall pick to never reach the majors. To add insult to injury, the second pick in that draft was future Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson, which could have significantly impacted the course of baseball history if he ended up in Queens instead of Oakland.
Knicks: There is no shortage of busts in Knicks history, with the names Frederic Weis, Michael Sweetney, Jordan Hill, Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina and Renaldo Balkman causing a respective shudder from fans. While they collectively are bad picks, with some of them being chosen ahead of future All Stars, no one had the level of expectations Wilson did with the Jets.
Nets: The Nets’ draft history isn’t as littered with misses as the Knicks but they do have some notable busts, including the back-to-back picks of Marcus Williams and Josh Boone from UCONN in 2006. The biggest miss was Ed O’Bannon, who was a Wooden Award winner with UCLA in 1995, but washed out of the league quickly as New Jersey bypassed a slew of players who went on to play in a decade in the NBA.
Rangers: Outside of the Jets, there may not be a New York franchise with a more checkered history of first-round busts than the Rangers, who routinely whiffed their first-rounders over the past few decades. Names like Al Montoya and Hugh Jessiman live in infamy with Rangers’ fans while Vitaly Kravtsov and Lias Andersson rate among recent first-round flops. The top bust pick here is Pavel Brendl, who was picked fourth overall in 1999 and never played a game for the franchise, getting dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eric Lindros trade.
Islanders: Unlike their cross-town rivals, the Islanders haven’t been as bad in the draft but they have had a few notable mistakes. The biggest is Dave Chyzowski, the second overall pick in 1989, who was an extremely productive player in juniors but scored just 15 career NHL goals in 126 games. Recent mistakes include Griffin Reinhart and Michael Dal Colle.
Jets: The all-important question to answer here is if Wilson is, in fact, the biggest draft bust in the history of the Jets. This is a loaded question since the Jets have struggled in the draft, seeing high picks like Sam Darnold, Dewayne Robertson, Johnny Lam Jones and Kyle Brady significantly underachieve. The two top contenders for biggest Jets’ bust include cornerback Dee Milliner, who was drafted to replace Darrelle Revis in 2013 and was out of the league in three years, and edge rusher Vernon Gholston. The latter was a classic workout warrior who the Jets fell in love with at the combine but never generated a sack as a pro, an astonishing display of ineptitude.
There are plenty of compelling cases here, including both baseball teams producing a top overall pick that failed to make the big leagues, which has happened just one other time to date. Injuries played a significant role in those failures, however, which leaves the debate coming down to Wilson, Gholston, Brendl and Chyzowski. Chyzowski was a huge whiff, especially considering a few Hall of Famers were picked right after him, and Brendl at least was used as a chip to get a star player to New York.
In the end, however, Wilson was tasked with becoming the future of the Jets’ franchise and he was a complete disaster. While things weren’t perfect for Wilson in New York, which saw the Jets fail to build a competent offensive line and had the tragic passing of quarterback coach Greg Knapp in a bike accident prior to his rookie year, he had plenty of opportunities to succeed and never evolved beyond the bad habits he carried over from college.
The Jets were stubborn to a fault with Wilson, arguably letting him sink two seasons because they didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and you could tell his teammates weren’t big fans of Wilson. The offense also seemed to elevate its level any time someone other than Wilson was under center, which is a big problem when you are the No. 2 pick in the draft. Whiffing on a quarterback at No. 2 can set a franchise back for years, which makes it incredible that GM Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh were able to survive Wilson, who is the biggest draft bust to play for a New York team.
Just End The Suffering 