The Rich History of the 11th NFL Draft Pick: Legends and Busts

Pick number 11 in the NFL draft just might be the sweet spot.

Or is it a total trap?

At number 11, you aren't just drafting a player.

You're either finding a Hall of Fame cornerstone or a franchise altering headache.

Think about it.

This is a slot that gave us J.J. watt, the most dominant defender of a generation and Big Ben, a two time super bowl champ who was the third quarterback taken in his own class.

But it's not the same spot where the Saints also use a first round pick on a punter.

From the legendary pass rushers to special teams, what ifs and a history of the 11th pick is wilder than you may think.

Today we're ranking the biggest steals, the massive busts and the icons of the number 11 spot.

Let's dive in because we're 32 straight days of getting ready for the NFL draft looking at the 32 top spots with our friend Ed Cleese joining us here on Pigskin Dispatch.

If you're tuning in today, we release this.

If you have missed any of them, go back here in pigskindispatch.com or on the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel and check them out.

Ed Cleese has been my guest here through this journey and he's with us again today for slot number 11.

Ed, welcome back to the pig pen.

Hey Darren, how are you today?

I'm doing super, Ed.

I said, you know, we are really rolling along here.

About a week and a half out of the draft.

We'll be knowing what the futures of our teams are going to be as they select the, the top college players in the nation.

And we got a lot of great legends to talk about tonight.

This is really a big booming pick here at number 11.

Some really big stars.

So, but what's your overall?

Yeah, I think, you know, we talked about the last two days.

Have we, have we reached the point in this countdown where things have changed?

And I'd say yes, clearly they have.

We're at the point now where in this case I'm going to have a guy that's not in my top five, that is in the hall of Fame and he's not in my top five.

So that, that, that just right off the bat tells you how strong this has been.

And it's, it's, it, it's, we talked about 13 being really good and 12 being pretty good.

11 Is better than both, I would say, just kind of like in terms of Volume and just overall oomph, for sure.

Yeah.

By far, I think we have more than double of any other pick we've talked about so far.

They're in the hall of Fame so far, and we probably have a handful of others that probably will find their way to Canton in the next 10 years.

Right?

Yeah, so.

So talking about that lately, it hasn't been, you know, lately.

We talked about the 12th pick looking really kind of strong.

The 11th pick, not as much in recent history, in the last, like, 12 years or so.

You know, Minka Fitzpatrick is having a very nice career, for sure.

He was the 11th pick.

And Chris Olave is very good and very talented, but he's got to stay healthy.

You know, he's had those.

Those concussion issues that are kind of holding him back a little bit, but he's.

He's a really good player.

And then I would say in the negative about this pick would be like, this was some major, major hits and some major, major misses.

The quarterbacks were kind of in between.

We had.

Justin Fields, I would say, is not trending great at this point.

Jay Cutler, who had a little bit of a polarizing career, I'd say.

But Justin Fields may be the starter for the Chief.

So.

Yeah, we'll see.

I bet you probably.

I'll bet you any money he's ready.

Mahomes is ready by week one.

We'll see.

But Jay Cutler was taken here and Dante Culpepper, so guys that, you know, were good and had and certainly were not busts, but also weren't, you know, elite or anything like that.

There were a lot of busts, though.

And then the other 10 combined players, Darren, they combined for one Pro bowl appearance.

So it was a long stretch of guys that were taken.

Number 11 overall, that didn't amount to a lot.

And there were some real notable ones.

And then this was hard to do.

He was in three teams for three seasons.

He had one start and one stack.

He recovered a fumble, and I don't know how that works, but he didn't have a tackle, he didn't have an assist.

He has nothing else but one fumble recovery in his.

In his entire career.

So he did scratch somehow.

He fell on the wall.

So congratulations to Mr. Knight and one on Wikipedia, on Miss, on Sean Knight.

It actually calls him one of the biggest busts in draft history.

I mean, I think based on the fact that he saw the field so little.

He had eight interceptions in one year and then did nothing else.

So I guess the rest of his career was kind of, you could say, flaccid.

Yeah, you're just making me think, you know, after.

After your.

Your bad jokes, I got to throw one in there too.

I wonder if know when they had Anthony Hancock sign his contract is.

Hey, let's put your Anthony Hancock on.

The line here, please.

Right, right.

We.

We should just stop right there.

Yeah, yeah, we probably dash.

I've had that one.

I've had that one in the chamber for a couple days and I couldn't wait to.

To let it go.

So he's one of a couple Heisman trophy winners we have selected at this spot.

Right, right.

And he.

So he didn't.

He didn't turn into much.

And then I'm just going to name one honorable mention that wasn't really top five worthy.

And that would be Wilbur Marshall, one of my personal favorites.

I loved Wilbur.

He was.

He played on the late 80s, early 90s, Redskins, was on the 91 Redskins.

The great 91 Redskins.

He was.

He had a lot of swag.

He was so fun.

So he was on the 85 bears and he was on the 91 Redskins.

So that's really awesome.

And he was a heck of a player.

He was really good.

He had two first team all pros in 92.

Probably had one of the best seasons in the Redskins history as a defensive player was dominant.

You know, his career wasn't super long and you know, maybe his peak wasn't.

He wasn't like a super superstar, but he was a heck of a player.

Really good player.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

You know, when you're playing on to the great defenses that you just talked about.

85 Bears and the skins in the early 90s, you know, that's.

And he, he was one of the stars of it too.

So he was like.

I said, he was just.

He was just a easy guy to root for.

And I thought he was so cool when I was a kid.

No doubt.

Number 58.

Yeah, I thought he was.

So he.

He.

He looked like a linebacker.

He played like A linebacker.

Did he sing in the Super Bowl Shuffle song?

I don't.

I don't.

He didn't have a solo.

I know that because I know all the guys that solo.

I'm sure he was maybe dancing around in the background there.

Maybe.

I figured you were just been listening.

To it earlier over and over again.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't think I've heard it for.

About 40 years, but my one cut Darren from the top five is painful because like I said, this guy's in the hall of fame and that's Dwight Freeney.

He did not make my top five.

Wow.

Had to cut somebody.

Had to cut somebody.

I'm assuming that you did take some people that are not in the hall of Fame at this moment.

At this actually.

Well, I think two at this moment, but I think are both sure fire.

Yeah, I think.

Okay.

I just wanted to say that you left a hall of Famer out and there's two guys not in there.

Okay.

This will be a good one.

This is gonna be a fun ride.

Yep.

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So number five.

This is number five, the guy that beat him out.

And I like this because they played the exact same position and they played in the similar, not the exact same, but a similar era.

And this actually wasn't that hard of a decision.

And the reason this, you know, I'm not necessarily like a, like the stats are end all be all.

You know, I'm an eye test guy, I'm a field guy.

I'm like especially in football with where there's not as much sample who really affected the game the most.

But if, if you have two guys that are very similar, then let's let the stats break the tie.

And in this case, FreeMe played 40 more games than where, but where had 13 more sacks and 300 more tackles than Free.

Yes.

And I was going to guess, I would have guessed maybe Freeney had more.

No, and where had seven all pros to four.

And I would just kind of say the eye test as well.

Freeney was more to me of a specialist, he was a pass rushing specialist, whereas where was more of just an all around grade great defensive end.

And it kind of backs it up with all the extra tackles that we saw.

So two great players.

Obviously you're going to be thrilled with either one if you take them with the 11th pick in the draft.

But I do think Ware was better than Freeney and I think there's some good reasoning behind it.

Yeah, that's definitely.

It'd be interesting to say in this era that we're in now of the edge rusher being so highly regarded and maybe would either one of these guys last to number 11 in today's market?

Right, right, right.

So going on to number four.

Darren.

I know as a, as a historian you're gonna appreciate maybe this reference, but this player reminds me of the defensive version of Gail Sayers.

And, and when I say that I mean a short career, but almost unparalleled in that career.

You know, Gail Sayers made the hall of Fame by what, six, seven years was it?

Not very many before he was couldn't overcome his injuries.

And I've got Patrick Willis at number four.

Oh yeah.

He was an All Pro every single year except to this last year, which he did make the Pro bowl in that year he only played.

And then that was it.

It was over.

So he really only played seven seasons in the NFL, but those seven seasons were exceptional.

A plus, dominant.

Arguably best defensive player in the league for like seven years.

So for me he is in the whole thing and I think he deserves to be much like Sayers.

Yeah.

Or Sayers or Terrell Davis, you know.

Right.

That same thing where they have that such an impact in your, your short amount of time that you did shine, your star was pretty bright.

So yeah, I think great, great selection.

Love, love Patrick Willis.

Yep.

So moving on to number three is a guy that I don't love to talk about, but I have a pretty strong proponent of and I would, I would guess that there will be people that wouldn't have this player quite as high.

But I've got Michael Irvin at number three.

I think some of the Cowboys.

We talked about this with Emmett Smith a little bit when we talked about him.

I think some of the Cowboys from that era suffer from their own dominance.

Meaning the Cowboys offense in Those early to mid-90s was so good that they only had to do so much and they didn't need any one guy to carry the load all the time.

And so they won a lot of blowout games.

They ran the ball a lot.

They were very balanced, run and pass.

So his stats stacked up against other hall of Fame receivers don't really stand out.

So big.

What we call him Playmaker.

Right.

That was his nickname.

So a big time player stretched the field, was also a major third down threat.

Big time.

He was a gamer, just a big game player.

He gave them, he gave the Cowboys that extra like juice on offense.

You know, they were pounding people with that offensive line and Emmett and then they just crushed you when they needed to through the air.

I bet you if he would have played in an offense like with, you know, Marino during that era or something like that, he probably would have put up bigger numbers.

Hall of Fame receiver.

I'll, I'll take him against a lot of guys.

Yeah, he made a lot of big plays when they need to make plays.

But I think that's a good point that you say when you have Emmett Smith, you know, knocking off five yards per carry and you have a gigantic offensive line and just, you know, beating the defender, defensive line in submission every game, do you really need to put the ball up in the air?

Because there's only, you know, a couple things that can happen and you know, most of them are bad.

When you throw a pass, running the ball with a, you know, the league's leading rusher for his career, that's not a bad option to have.

So that I think that definitely hurt his stats a little bit.

Yeah, for sure.

I think some people look at that and you know, so we have to adjust for eras as well.

You know, it was just a little bit of a different game.

We are taught it's hard to believe.

Makes me feel it's hard to, you know, we're taught he was drafted like almost 40 years ago, you know, so I mean it's, it's a different, it's a different league, you know, so.

And he did get off to a slow start in his career.

He didn't take off until they took off really.

But he was a big reason they did take off.

So now we got top two and this wasn't.

I went back and forth a little bit on these top two and I just had.

I didn't want to do it, but I'm going to do it.

I've got J.J. watt at number two.

I'm kind of surprised you have them there.

Yeah, well I've got some reasoning for it.

He defensive end by the Texans.

He's going to be in the hall of Fame.

I don't.

There's no question he's not eligible yet.

He had an okay rookie year and then he had perhaps is it the best four year run that any defensive player in the history of the NFL has ever had?

Maybe.

I mean he was the defense LT maybe.

Yeah, I mean he was defensive player of the year three out of four years and that ties.

Do you know who that ties for the most all time?

I'd say Lawrence Taylor maybe.

No, it's Bruce Smith.

So Bruce Smith and J.J. watt both have three defensive player of the years.

Smiths were kind of spread out.

Watts was three times in four years we said that he was the best defensive player in the NFL.

That's nuts.

69 Sacks over that.

Just that span.

Just that span.

He had 16 sacks and was first team all pro again.

So somewhat similar to Patrick Willis.

Not quite as dramatic of ending, you know, but in terms of like just being insanely good and then having it kind of unravel a little bit.

But I think he was good for long enough for us all to see that this guy's going to Canton and he's one of the more dominant players we've ever seen on the defensive side of the ball.

Yeah, I mean, I can only always remember that four year run.

Like you're saying, it seemed like every time you would see a highlight or hear anything about the Houston Texans, there's J.J. watt knocking a pass down or knocking a quarterback down.

It seemed, you know, he would terrorize the, the signal callers on the opposition.

And I wish he would have just.

He could have been with Derek and T.J. and, you know, had three brothers.

Probably the first time since the Nestler brothers back in the 20s, you know, playing Darren, Darren.

Cool Darren.

This feels grandiose now that you know what we're about to talk about.

But you still had to talk more about.

About the Steelers.

He could have been a Western Pennsylvania.

You had to talk more about the Steelers from the guy that never played in Pittsburgh.

You know what I'm about to say here at number one.

So I'm just going to say it, I guess.

That's Big Ben.

It's.

It's Ben Roethlisberger.

He's my number one.

I.

I thought he's the most overrated quarterback in the NFL.

I really argued that early in his career.

I thought he was more of a game manager.

I thought he was just kind of there and I was sort of.

He had the bus behind him.

Yeah, exactly.

Have to do as a rookie, you know.

Yeah.

So I was kind of like this guy's all right.

But then he really sold me through the middle and like later part of his career where at some point you go like, okay, I guess I'm wrong.

So he's seventh all time in yards, he's ninth all time in touchdowns.

And one thing that stuck out, he's only 24th all time in interceptions.

So we have like far, you know, who's first all time in interceptions at the top of the list.

You know, at least during the regular season, Big Ben really didn't, wasn't a mistake prone quarterback.

And then I think what, he had one more interception in his career than Bradshaw did.

And he threw the ball so many more times than Terry Bradshaw did.

Yeah, I think he one of the, if he's not the most, he's one of the most what, 500 yard games in a career?

Yes, yes.

Just big time.

That's dumb.

And then he, his career average was going 11 and 5.

That was his like average season.

So for essentially 20 years, he's putting up major numbers.

He's going 11 and 5 every year or better.

The Steelers are always in the playoffs.

Earlier in his career, they win two Super Bowls.

If you're going to poke any holes.

His third, he's 13 and 10, a career playoff record.

His touchdown interception ratio in the playoffs was 36 to 28 through 28 postseason interceptions.

That's a lot.

And in the last three times they made the playoffs, they were one and done each time.

So like his playoff success kind of ended, you know, earlier in his career and then it kind of almost became the opposite where they kind of had the reputation of making the playoffs but not advancing.

And yeah, I don't really know pin that on him so much, but it's there as part of his story.

So for me, the reason I put him ahead a Watt was at some point the longevity does matter, you know, and it's almost like he had double the career of J.J. watt.

So yeah, I think J.J. watt was probably a little bit of a better defensive end than Ben Roethlisberger was a quarterback.

But Big Ben did it for so long and at such a high level that that just puts him over the top for me.

You know, Roethlisberger isn't going to be in like, like top five quarterbacks of all time, but he's easily a Hall of Famer.

Everybody would be thrilled to have him.

Well, I, I'm.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you had him number one.

I'm happy that you did as a.

As a Steeler fan.

But, you know, there's a couple things that I think people forget.

You know, Tommy Maddox was the starting quarterback when.

When Roethlisberger was a rookie.

Maddox gets hurt week two, and Roethlisberger goes on a 15 and one.

Steelers had a 151 record that year.

The only game they lost was the game that he entered into that Maddux was losing when he entered the game, and until they lost in the AFC Championship game.

And the next year, he promised if Bettis.

If Bettis would come back, he would take him to a Super bowl, and he paid off on it.

So when a guy says that in his second year and promises this old grizzled veteran that's already on his way to Canton, hey, if you come back one more year, I'll take you to the Super Bowl.

And he paid, you know, paid off for it.

And the other thing is, I think the year.

And that next year, yeah, The Steelers went 110 during the COVID season, but there was no passes thrown by him more than, like, five yards downfield.

So finally people started to catch on to that and, you know, disrupted that.

But, yeah, he's a polarizing figure.

His whole career, you know, had some.

Some legal trouble, had some scandals, had some motorcycle accidents, but won a couple Super Bowls and lost one.

So I guess you can't complain about that for your franchise quarterback for almost 20 years.

Nope.

You certainly cannot.

We.

I told you we had another Heisman Trophy winner.

John Cappelletti was drafted.

He was.

By the Rams.

He was a Heisman Trophy winner with the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Of course, they had the.

The movie Something for Joey was on.

Probably you don't remember, but I remember it.

I mean, I remember seeing it.

Yeah.

So his brother had some health issues, and John Cappelletti, in his Heisman year, sort of dedicated his season to it and had a lot of fame there.

You know, Browns had some pretty good teams there.

Pick up Warfield and you know, he had a great career both with them and believe he went on with the Dolphins too.

But this is kind of an amazing four year span.

No, Malini, I'm sorry, San Francisco was drafted.

Then two years later, Frank Giffords drafted by the Giants.

So those early 50s really produced a lot of great players that are have the bus in Canton.

And Gifford was a Monday Night Football legend too.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

But he was even probably a better player than he was an announcer.

The draft stat of the day.

I'm sorry, our most popular position.

I almost forgot that defensive end.

So you talk about, you know, the J.J. watts of the world and some others.

We talked about.

Well, that's the most popular position with our eight hall of Famers.

And our draft stat of the day takes us to, to kind of an interesting facet.

We talked, you know, a few days ago about kind of a neat draft history.

Well, how about this one?

70, 72.

I'm sorry, Norm Van Brocklin, the Dutchman was coach for the Falcons and he was kind of bored and he decided to draft a guy by the name of Marion Morrison, who was 64 years old, who's better known as John Wayne.

And he said his, his reasoning was, he told his people at the draft bag, he goes, don't you guys want to get the roughest, toughest SOB there is off the board?

So he drafts them.

Of course, you know, the, the commissioner would not disallowed this.

Well, they end up taking the Falcons.

Running back Bill Holland replaced the Duke on the Falcons that year, but.

So it was more of a joke type thing to leave the spirits up.

But they, they went to the podium with, uh, John Wayne as their pick.

Those kooky Falcons.

Yeah, and they haven't been the same since.

Maybe they should have took, uh.

Right.

So.

All right, well, I think that wraps up our number 11 pick.

We talked about a lot of great players here.

You know, a good portion of Canton was on this draft slot.

And we have some more great things because tomorrow we enter into the top 10 and love to have you back again, Ed.

We'll Talk about the 10 spot.

See you tomorrow.

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