From Stardom to Obscurity: The 26th Pick Phenomenon

The first pick makes you a superstar.

The 32nd pick makes you a Super bowl contender's missing piece.

But what about the guys stuck in the middle?

Welcome to slot number 26 archives.

It's the draft position where the hall of Fame talent meets some of the biggest what ifs in gridiron history.

From the legends who defied the odds to the names that vanished overnight, we're tracing the legacy of the NFL's most overlooked prime real estate.

Because a pick 20, 26th, you're a solid player going to a contender.

Historian Ed Cleese joins us once again in the pig pen as we go to pigskin dispatch journey through the draft positions.

Hey, Darren, how are you?

I am doing super as we're getting so much closer to this day where we all, you know, love in the off season, probably the, the biggest day in the off season of the National Football League, that's draft day.

But some great picks have come through.

That's slot number 26 that we're going to talk about today.

Yes, sir.

One of the.

We'll start one.

If you want to start with the most recent one, we probably should skip it because last year James Pierce went number 26 and his career might be over.

Darren, with his very serious off the field allegations, accusations that sounds like he's in big, big trouble and he may or may not see the field again.

So that, and that, that not the off field stuff, but that goes with this number, this pick.

The last 25 years, not great, very unimpressive list of players for pretty much the last 25 years.

Prior to that, there was a strong run.

So our top five is not too bad, especially at the top.

But recently, you know, we got Montez sweat, you've got Calvin Ridley, guys that were drafted somewhat.

Those are fine players, you know, guys that play, but nobody that anybody would write home about.

And you know, we're getting to the point now in the draft in our countdown where I think you can kind of really start talking about busts.

You know, you're getting high enough now to where you draft a guy, you know, 26, you expect him to be a key contributor for your team.

And if he's not at all, then I think the bust label is fair.

Those two players, Darren, combined for five career starts.

First round quarterbacks combined for five career starts.

That Is bad.

Yeah, that's kind of a waste of a pick, that's for sure.

Yeah.

And then Drunken Miller kind of like also had some off field stuff too.

He was accused of some things.

And so it was not.

It was a rough go for him.

He was out of the league quickly and as was Lynch.

I think lynch was in the league for two years.

So, you know.

And then they're gone.

There was one quarterback who's not on my list who is not in the top five and also is not a bust.

And he's a current NFL head coach and I'm sure you know who that is.

I'm drawing a blank right now.

Okay.

Current NFL head coach was taken.

Number 26 was Jim Harbaugh.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Gosh, think of that.

Yeah.

Jim Harbaugh was taken number 26 and he had a fine career.

Not spectacular.

I'm not sure if they would say that that was a pick they wound up being happy with or not, but he certainly was a good career.

Had some, had some, had some good moments.

There are also some running back busts.

A bunch of running backs that never really made a mark.

Certainly were not first round worthy at all.

And then we got some.

There's a few.

I found some honorable mention types that didn't make the top five.

But Robert Porsche was drafted by the Lions in 92 and I didn't realize he played his entire career with Detroit.

I think it was like 15 years.

Never spectacular, but a real steady contributor, a pretty good pass rusher, a nice player on some pretty lousy teams.

Don Most Bar was the center for the Raiders for over a decade throughout the mid-80s to like the mid-90s.

And then one.

Fifteen sacks from an interior defensive lineman is amazing.

Between the 97 and 98 seasons he was a free agent.

He signed a massive deal with the Redskins and as with the same off season that they signed Big Daddy Wilkinson.

So they signed two defensive tackles, both to massive contracts, both massive busts because Stubblefield's Career ended the minute he signed that contract with the Redskins.

Basically he had, like I said, he had 40 sacks in his first five years.

He had 14 the rest of his six seasons in the NFL.

It was a massive rages deal.

One of the biggest deals in the, in the history of the league at the time.

He never panned out.

It's like he got his money and basically quiet retired at that point.

I think Washington's had quite a few of those.

When they pay big money to a free agent defensive lineman, it seems like the guys are really at the top of their game.

They go there and just sort of fizzle out and a lot of money spent.

We had about a 20 year period where we won in March and then lost every other month.

Pretty much, you know, we were, yeah, they're the, the, the, the first 50 now Stubblefield was actually before Snyder, two years before Snyder got there.

But for about the first 15 years of the Snyder era, they were pretty infamous for overpaying and being very disappointed with the results of the, of the players that wound up in Washington.

Poor management.

But yeah, Stubblefield was well on his way to being in the top five, but he didn't make it because he flamed out way too fast.

Yeah, well, let's not get too depressed here.

You're gonna have some good guys to pick for the, the top five because we have three hall of Famers that came out of the number 27 pick so far.

And that's pretty good compared to some of the other dates or slots that we've talked about already here this past week.

So why don't we get into your top five?

Well, I'm doing something I haven't done very often with number five with somebody in my top five and I'm projecting here a little bit.

Of course, his career is off to a good start.

We can debate whether or not we think he's on that elite level or whatever, but I think it's pretty clear that Jordan Love is going to have a good career in the NFL.

At worst, he's going to have a good career in the NFL.

And looking at this list of those, some of those other honorable mention guys, I'm pretty confident that Love's ultimately going to be better than they are.

So I've got him at number five.

Okay.

I think that's a pretty solid pick.

You know, I've seen enough.

Yeah, he's take him to the playoffs.

He's played very well.

He's been in, you know, probably the top 10 quarterbacks the last couple of years in National Football League and that's a pretty good start.

So.

Yeah.

So who do you have above him?

Number four.

One of those guys that probably most people maybe not remember or, you know, isn't really top of mind, like, oh, that guy.

But he was in the league for 16 years.

He was on the All Pro team three different times in multiple Pro Bowls.

Very durable.

And then he had kind of like a second career with the Seahawks where he was kind of a stalwart for them as well.

You know, if you get a 16 year starter at offensive tackle, that's going to Pro Bowls and making all pro teams, you made a heck of a pick.

Yeah, I love those guys in the trenches when they last that long.

That's great.

Yep.

And number, number three was kind of interesting.

He was shot out of a cannon to start his career.

And his.

He was the defensive rookie of the year.

He was an all Pro right after that.

He was a very good player for the first five or six years of his career.

Probably near the top of the league in the linebacker rankings.

And he was sort of a pure pass rusher as well as kind of like that traditional like outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor position.

But his career was relatively short, only 11 seasons and it ended with the Rams sort of unceremoniously, you know, he was just one of those guys that things were going great and then he got kind of average and then he was out.

But those first four, the first few years, he was a tremendous player.

Look like he might even be like on a Canton trajectory and then just never quite got the volume to get there.

Yeah, it comes from a great stock of family members that have played in the NFL.

But I think maybe his undoing, I'm saying this tongue in cheek was his appearance in the movie Pitch Perfect.

I think maybe that derailed his career.

That'll do you in that.

Sure.

Well, that'll do you.

And so now number two is going to be a one you're going to like a lot, I'm sure.

I feel like we've had too many Steelers on this list, but there is one for sure that you can never.

Have too many Steelers on any.

Not much you can say.

You know, it's hard to analyze the interior line sometimes.

But he missed two games in 13 years.

Eight straight all pro first or second teams first of all.

So eight straight and six of them were first team.

So anybody that's listening to this knows what that means.

But if you happen to not know what that means, there are two guards in the NFL every year named to the all pro team and six out of eight years he was one of them.

So essentially for over half a decade he was considered the first or second best player in the league at his position.

And that's going to get you into Canton, which a very deserving guy.

And he made it in easily one of the better interior linemen probably ever was on some very, very good teams.

Won a Super bowl and end his career one year with Arizona.

Yeah, I feel very connected.

Not only because he was a Steeler, but I, I was at the Canton when he was enshrined.

I was in stadium on it.

And the Steelers played the Cowboys in the game and five Steelers went in that weekend between those, those two years, which I don't.

No fan can ever say that they would be able to do that again.

So it was an experience of a lifetime.

Sounds like overkill.

It was just a great weekend.

You know who could do any better.

But yeah, so yeah, definitely a great pick there and I have a feeling I know who you're going to have above him.

Yeah, number one is easy and it's the opposite of a great, of a Steeler.

Great is.

We're going to say it's.

Of course he was the defensive rookie of the year.

He was defensive player of the year twice.

He was 11 all pro teams.

He made it all pro team at age 35 and with I think, I think the best middle linebacker in the history of the National Football League.

There are.

It's, it's tough.

There's, you know, we can go and I'm going way back.

I'm talking Butkus, I'm talking.

But Narric.

I'm talking, I'm talking all the.

I'm going way back.

I think he's the best.

I think he's the most decorated and I think he's the most athletic.

And he also very much passed the eye test.

Meaning Ray Lewis showed up in the big games all the time.

He was very good when it mattered.

He was on a historically good defense.

He was the leader of that defense.

We can take Take the off the field incident, the controversy that.

That kind of hung over his entire career for however you want.

But on the field, unparalleled, in my opinion, the best middle linebacker of all time and obviously without question the best number 20, 26 pick of all time.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd.

I'd put him at the very best there because there's a lot of great names that have played middle linebacker.

But yeah, he's definitely in the conversation.

And it's interesting that him and Fanuca, your top two, they swapped a few times.

Some helmet pain, I'm sure over the years because the linebacker and a guard going at it twice a year.

Yep.

They were drafted two years apart.

So they were in that division together for a long time.

Yeah, most definitely.

So, yeah, so that's two of the hall of Famers.

And I am going to butcher the.

We also have our draft stat of the day and this is going back.

We're going to talk a little bit about Southern cal again.

Miami and Alabama rose up and had the same.

So we have a, you know, a big tie there with these, these guys, all the number one draft picks.

I mean, think about that.

That's still a lot for from one school.

Yeah, no doubt.

That's very impressive.

Yeah.

All right, well, I think that wraps up day 26 and we are back here for 25 more days as we prepare you for the draft.

Ed, we will talk to you again tomorrow.

We'll see you tomorrow, Darren.

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