Bill Cowher's Top 5 Draft Busts

They discussed this on Steelers Insider but I missed the fifth guy and can't remember the fourth guy . I believe they mentioned the three guys below for sure:

1) Scott Shields (Safety, Weber State)

2)Jamain Stephens (Tackle, NC A&T)

3) Troy Edwards (1999 draft, WR Louisiana Tech)

Anybody know who the other two are?

 

Sweed?

 

It was unnecessary for that guy to reply if he wasn't contributing anything....besides i was only stating facts.

 

Tomlin drafted Sweed.

 

The linebacker Nathaniel Adibi has to be up there!

 

My mistake....Reread your orig.post. See what you were asking now. SORRY!!!

 

These are my votes
1996 R1 Jamain Stephens T
2004 R2 Ricardo Colclough CB
2003 R2 Alonzo Jackson LB
1999 R2 Scott Shields DB
2000 R3 Hank Poteat CB

 

Oops, that's right.

 

Alonzo Jackson... Yep, that's probably who I meant so we'll extend it to top 10 and include Adibi because those were two supposed sure fire lb'ers that fell on their ass, and we usually dont miss in that dept. or at least back then, it seemed we were better at acquiring talent for that roster spot!

 

I remember Adibi. It's weird. Va Tech LB'ers almost always disappoint.

 

I'm probably putting too much faith in wikipedia but I'm convinced now Alonzo Jackson was one of the five guys mentioned because they were talking about someone who was switched from defensive end to outside linebacker and how bad of a move that was since he was a one trick pony and his only talent was pass rush. (I know this sounds a lot like Huey Richardson, but Richardson was drafted by Knoll apparently the year before Cowher was hired).

 

Who drafted Chad Scott?

 

He was a 97 draft pick so it would be Cowher. He was on the Steelers quite awhile though so i don't think his name came up.

 

Chad Fn Scott! If the guy would've switched to FS , he would've been a Pro Bowler many times.

 

The other contenders:

Steve Conley, LB, Rd 3 1996
Paul Wiggins, T, Rd 3 1997
Jeremy Staat, DE, Rd 2 1998
Chris Conrad, T, Rd 3 1998
Kendrick Clancy, DT, Rd 3, 2000
Anthony Smith, DB, rd 2 2006

 

Kendrick Clancy? I love that guy. He played a valuable role for us throughout his stay. Not all third round picks are Mike Wallace and Keenan Lewis. If Clancy's your definition of a bust...

Also, I believe Smith was a 3rd rounder. We traded back. That was a horrible decision.

 

I see a trend here, beyond what the OP was asking, which to me points to the great success that BC had while he was here - look at all the high picks he dedicated to improving and solidifying the trenches and defense! And those are just the ones considered busts! The guy knew how to build a team, that's for sure, and imagine if these busts actually panned out.

I can't think of any other player that I would consider a draft bust that hasn't already been mentioned.

 

I was going to say both of these things.

Smith was a 3rd rounder. And he had soooo much potential - the old board was all over his aggressive style. All that support vanished pretty quickly after the NE debacle. He never really developed.

Agree with most here that the biggest bust was probably Alonzo Jackson. The worst thing was how long they kept him around, when he produced nothing, and let other players go instead.

Kendrell Bell is also a good contender. For me, the definition of a "bust" has to include how much potential was there in the first place, and Bell had that aplenty.

 

Chad Scott had 19 INT's in 8 seasons, 4 of which were returned for TD's.

Compare that to 14 INT's and 1 returned for a TD from Ike Taylor in 11 seasons.

Both of them have been majorly burned in coverage.

So who is the bigger bust or should neither of them be considered a bust?