Select an all-time great player in the NFL draft and someday the results can end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With a bust.
Ironic, then, that if you make an all-time stinker of a pick, fans will forever let you know you selected … a bust.
There hasn’t been a football team yet that has avoided such pitfalls, and as Dolfans are painfully aware, Miami’s history is checkered with plenty such errors. Here, then, is our Draft Hall of Shame (parental discretion advised).
1. DE Eric Kumerow, Ohio State (1st, 1988): WHO???? screamed the headline in The Miami Herald.
Three seasons later, when Kumerow’s Dolphins career had ended, that headline could have been resurrected. Kumerow never started a single game in his NFL career.
“My favorite play is getting a blind-side shot at a quarterback,” Kumerow said when he was selected. “There’s no better feeling in the world.”
How did he know? His Dolphins career produced five sacks and just 25 tackles. That’s a steep price for the 16th overall pick, but it gets worse: The Dolphins were so high on Kumerow they rejected a trade-down with the Bears that would have given them an extra second-round selection.
Why didn’t they take … ? RB Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, LB Chris Spielman, CB Eric Allen, LB Ken Norton Jr.
