25 Years of Crappy 1st Round Draft Picks-1987

Ahh back to the years of high tops haircuts and windbreakers, the late 1980's. Today we look at 1987 and a couple of average drafts.

1987
NFL Draft

Photo courtesy of ESPN.com

#5 - Cleveland Browns - Mike Junkin - Linebacker - Duke
Why Cleveland?! Why?! These poor Cleveland fans have had to deal with so much crap and then they miss with this turd of a 5th overall pick. Junkin was supposed to be a building block for the defense. The Browns coach at the time was Marty Schottenheimer and he liked what he saw from Junkin. The Browns weren't worried that this linebacker was coming from a basketball school. Junkin only lasted 2 seasons with the Browns and finished his 3rd and final season with the Kansas City Chiefs. Junkin didn't do much of anything but break the fans of Cleveland's hearts one more time. Junkin now spends his time finding himself on the various biggest draft busts lists that NFL Network and ESPN put out. His older brother played almost 20 years in the NFL as a tight end/long snapper. If the Browns were dead set on linebacker they could have went with three time Pro Bowler Shane Conlan, drafted three picks later. The worst thing about the selection is the Steelers took a giant defensive building block in cornerback Rod Woodson only 5 picks later, adding insult to injury and flames to the fire that is Browns/Steelers.

NBA Draft

Photo courtesy of TheDraftReview.com

#17 - Portland Trail Blazers - Ronnie Murphy - SG - Jacksonville
I was going to use a less grainy, glossy photo of Mr. Murphy that I found on his Facebook page but couldn't copy the link location of his "glamour shot" so I said screw it. Most people point to 1987's Next Jordan Dennis Hopson as the biggest bust of this draft but Hopson wasn't horrendous and high expectations did him in more than his actual performance with the Nets. Murphy played a total of one season in the league. He averaged 2 points and 0.6 rebounds per game in the 18 games he played in. The Trail Blazers could have gotten All Star Reggie Lewis a few picks later for Shooting Guard or All-Star point guard Mark Jackson who was taken with the very next pick. Taking a player that only plays in 18 career games with bad averages is bad enough but when there are All-Stars left on the board it makes the mistake hurt even worse. Ronnie now spends his time creeping the Jacksonville athletic page on Facebook.

That's all for today folks, I'll be back tomorrow with 1988.