The Top 10 Mr. Irrelevants

April 22, 2008

With the draft looming large in the minds of football fans everywhere, we’re seeing mock draft after mock draft as well as the perennial “Worst #1 Picks EVER” lists that make Tim Couch and Ki-Jana Carter cry every year. Well, enough of this nonsense! Let’s be positive for a moment and discuss the Top 10 Greatest Mr. Irrelevants of the past 30 years.

Now over the years, we’ve seen some gargantuan flops in the first pick. Those hurt. That’s money and time wasted poorly. You’ve seen those names ad nauseum, so I won’t dip back into that well. We’ve seen big timers come from NEARLY the last pick, even as currently as Marques Colston in 2006 as the 252nd overall selection. We’ve had Donald Driver in 1999 at 213. 1993 saw the drafting of Trent Green at #222 and America’s sweetheart, Troy Brown at #198. Even all the way back in 1978, Bill Kenney, a QB out of Northern Colorado was selected the pick before last and went on to be a Pro Bowl QB for the Kansas City Chiefs and eventually a Senator in Missouri.

But, what about those guys who squeaked in when everyone else in the world, other GMs included, has completely lost interest? Let’s go through the years and find the best of the worst:

10. Tim Washington – DB – Fresno State – 334th Selection/San Fancisco 49ers (1982) – Okay, you know this is panning out to be one sad list when you can be included for having ONE regular season game appearance. But, here he is, with 1 appearance in a game in 1982, TIM WASHINGTON!

9. Michael Reed – DB – Boston College – 249th Selection/Carolina Panthers (1995) – Showing up Tim Washington, Michael Reed decided to double up production. He appeared in 2 games. What did he do during those two games? There’s no telling, the NFL doesn’t keep a Gatorade consumed statistic…I don’t think. I’ll have to speak with Ron Jaworski…

8. Tyrone McGriff – G – Florida A&M – 333rd Selection/Pittsburgh Steelers (1980) – McGriff’s best season came in his rookie season of 1980 when he participated in all 16 games. That season the Steelers had the 15th ranked rushing game, though I feel certain Mr. McGriff had very little to do with it.

7. Norman Jefferson – DB – Louisiana State – 335th Selection/Green Bay Packers (1987) – Norman’s greatest achievements came in 1988 when he was the kick return specialist for the Pack. Okay, he was the kick return specialist for a couple of games where he accrued 4 kick off returns for a 29.0 average return and 5 punts at an average of 3.0 a piece.

6. Ramzee Robinson – CB – Alabama – 255th Selection/Detroit Lions (2007) – Now, we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of the irrelevancy! Ramzee found himself taking part in 6 games last season where he accumulated 7 tackles, 5 OF THEM SOLOS! Matt Millen was pleased in drafting his #4 tackler this late.

5. Matt Elliott – C – Michigan – 336th Selection/Washington Redskins (1992) – Elliott’s best season came in 1995 when he became the full time starting center for the Carolina Panthers for 14 games. Since there’s no stat that really shows the effectiveness of an offensive lineman, I’ll just mention that the Carolina Panthers ranked 30th in Yards Per Rush in 1995 and 24th in passing yards. Hey, but he PLAYED!

4. Jim Finn – RB – Pennsylvania – 253rd Selection/Chicago Bears (1999) – It took Finn a while to catch on and make a contribution. But, in 2005, Finn had his best season playing fullback for the New York Giants where he started 13 games and pulled in 98 receiving yards. Yep, 98 receiving yards gets you #4, baby!

3. Marty More – LB – Kentucky – 222nd Selection/New England Patriots (1994) – It was a tough call between Marty Moore and Jim Finn. Jim Finn technically played longer than Marty Moore did, but in 1997, Marty pulled down 2 interceptions and played in all 16 games. 2 INTs in a season is probably hard. That’s 2 more than Ramzee Robinson, Michael Reed, Norman Jefferson, and Tim Washington had in their entire careers COMBINED!

2. John Tuggle – RB – California – 335th Selection/New York Giants (1983) – Tuggle put together a rookie season that included the only touchdown in the past 30 years of irrelevancy. On top of that sole TD, Tuggle also had 49 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards while playing in all 16 games that year. Tuggle’s career was cut short immediately after his rookie season by cancer that eventually took his life in 1986.

1. Michael Green – S – Northwestern State Louisiana – 254th Selection/Chicago Bears (2000) – Our selection for the best Mr. Irrelevant ever is Michael Green. Still currently in the league with the Seattle Seahawks, Michael green is beginning to show his irrelevancy. But, back in 2004, Green had quite a season with the Chicago Bears. During that season he started all 16 games, made 106 tackles, 1.5 sacks and pulled in 2 interceptions. Pro-Bowl material? Meh…maybe not. Best damn Mr. Irrelevant ever? You’re damn right!

So, did I HAVE to include the first 3 or 4 guys in this list? I did if I wanted to make it a top 10 list. I didn’t even want to research back 30 years, but I had to in order to pull 10 names out who actually saw a regular season game from the field for at least a play.

Enjoy the draft on Saturday, and be sure to check back in this weekend for our annual Drinkin’ & Draftin’ where I will live blog the NFL Draft while getting progressively drunker and drunker. I have a bottle of absinthe set aside for this year. It’s the liquor of poets, apparently. So, expect some Edgar Allen Poe style reporting on the draft come Saturday afternoon.

Related posts:

1. Sleepers & Busters: 2008 RB Edition
2. Sleepers & Busters: 2008 QB Edition
3. Thomas Jones
4. Dissecting RotoDestroyer
5. Why Adrian Peterson Is Gonna Piss You Off…