25 Years of Crappy 1st Round Draft Picks-1985

So we start this bloggery with 25 years of crappy 1st round draft picks for the Holiday season. For this piece I will choose the worst pick from the NBA and NFL for a given year.

1985
NFL Draft
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#9 - Philadelphia Eagles - Kevin Allen-Offensive Tackle - Indiana
Kevin Allen was a 4 year Letterman at Indiana and according to www.lostlettermen.com was a holdout that signed a series of one year contracts with the Eagles (editors note: smooth move). Kevin didn't last long in the NFL playing just the 1985 season before testing positive for cocaine heading into the 1986 season. He was released and with all the free time on his hands thought it would be good to get into the lucrative market of sexual assaults. He served three years and was eventually banned from the NFL. Coach Buddy Ryan did say he was a good player...if you needed someone to stand around and kill the grass.

In the second round the Eagles took Randall Cunningham who was a very talented but at times trouble QB but wouldn't it have been great if the Eagles took future Hall of Famer/GOAT Jerry Rice to partner with Cunningham? It could have happened, Rice was taken 16th by the 49ers that year. Even if they didn't want to go with Rice the next offensive tackle picked was Jim Lachey who played 10 years and made 3 Pro Bowls with the Chargers, Raiders and Redskins. But that doesn't really matter, taking anyone else that would start more than four games in one season before getting booted from the league would have been better. And for all this Kevin Allen is the worst NFL first round pick of 1985.

NBA Draft

Photo courtesy of TheDraftReview.com

#14 - San Antonio Spurs - Alfredrick Hughes - Shooting Guard - Loyola
This was very close to being another Indiana player selected (Uwe Blab C) I almost picked him for his name alone but there was a ton of horrible centers taken in that draft. The pick of Hughes is different because the next SG picked was McNeese State alum and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars. Hughes played in just one season for the Spurs averaging 5.2 ppg. While many may point to Kenny Green taken that year at #12 by Washington as being the worst (he played 60 total games to Hughes' 65) he did it in parts of 2 seasons and the closer the team gets to having a Hall of Famer accidentally falling in their lap, the worse the pick in my mind. In addition, Green was more of a forward anyways. Spurs fans nowadays worry that their next pick will be another Hughes, so he has left a lingering effect on the fan base; though the Spurs have found much success since these days.

And there you have it the first entry, I hope you enjoyed it. Tomorrow 1986 will be posted.