I have a friend I see often at the grocery store, because he works the checkout lines there. We found out early on that we have one fundamental difference-- he roots for the Oakland (now Vegas) Raiders and I am a long time Kansas City Chiefs fan. He likes to rib me about the Chiefs, and I sometimes tease about his preference for the Raiders. As many NFL fans know, the Chiefs and Raiders are mortal enemies. Until recently is was the Raiders who usually had the upper hand.

The last time I saw my friend, he asked me what I thought of what the Chiefs did in the recent draft. I paused for a minute, because my answer was a non-answer. I had no idea what I thought about the Chiefs’ picks because I had forgotten all about the draft and hadn’t followed it at all. “Your Chiefs did pretty well, as usual,” he told me. “They loaded up again.” When I asked how his favorite team did, his response was “They did the usual Raider thing, which is to screw up.”

I still haven’t studied the draft in detail, which I will have to do. For me to forget about this particular one was unthinkable. It was conducted in Kansas City after all and I read somewhere since that more than 300,000 people were on hand for the festivities.

But the situation got me to thinking. “How does one really know if a draft is good or bad. The players have to perform and there is no guarantee that the one very special player in college will be a good NFL performer.

I remember a long time ago, that Gale Sayers was drafted by the Chicago Bears of the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs of the rival AFL. Sayers chose Chicago, and had a Hall-of-Fame career there. But his career was way too short as it ended early due to severe knee injuries. No one can foresee what might happen to an individual player. And who knows what might have happened to Sayers had he chosen Kansas City. There are so many variables in picking a person in the draft.

I remember some very disappointing draft selections in history. Probably the most famous of those was Ryan Leaf. Leaf was chosen in the 1998 draft by the San Diego Chargers. Leaf was a Heisman finalist as quarterback at Washington State and was considered the best prospect in the draft. Some were surprised when the Indianapolis Colts, who had the first pick chose Peyton Manning over Leaf, but as it turned out, the choice was a great one. The Chargers had the second pick and they chose Leaf. Manning went on to have an illustrious career with the Colts and Denver Broncos. Leaf flamed out in a matter of a few years. Someone summed up Leaf’s problem s as “poor play, bad behavior, injuries and struggles with his work ethic and ability to stay focused.”

Leaf left the Chargers in 2000 and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys in 2001 and was on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad in 2002. He retired after the 2002 season. He had legal troubles involving drugs and related offenses, including burglary, domestic violence beginning in 2010, but currently is working in a recovery program as an ambassador.

Todd Blackledge is a pick that comes to mind, due to my love for the Chiefs. Blackledge was a part of a rich pool of potential quarterback picks. Also available that year were Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and John Elway. Kansas City was pleased to get Blackledge, who was a star at Penn State. In fact, Blackledge led the Nittany Lions to a national championship. But things were different in Kansas City. Blackledge was prone to being intercepted and in his NFL career, he threw 38 interceptions while passing for only 29 touchdowns. The Chiefs gave up on him after the 1987 season and he went one year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had 5,286 passing yards in his five-year career. The top quarterbacks in 2022 were in the 4,500 range for the year. After his NFL career, Blackledge became a sports broadcaster.

Lawrence Phillips was a star running back at Nebraska, but didn’t pan out in the NFL. The St. Louis Rams chose him sixth overall in the 1996 draft. But Phillips was a troubled man and was constantly in trouble with the law. Frequently accused of domestic violence, he eventually was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after driving his car into three teenagers after a dispute in a pick-up football game. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in a California State Prison. While there he was convicted an earlier charge of assaulting his former girlfriend and sentenced to 25 years. He later was charged with first degree murder after killing his cell mate. While awaiting trial, he was found in his cell, dead by suicide. A talented ball carrier for Nebraska, he never lived up to his potential in the NFL, largely due to a variety of distractions.

I’m sure my grocery store friend is familiar with JaMarcus Russell. Russell was a great quarterback at LSU and was the No. 1 pick overall in the 2007 draft, chosen by the Oakland Raiders. He messed up right off the bat, refusing to sign a contract with the Raiders until the second game of the season had been played. When he did play he was very inconsistent, looking like a world-beater one game only to have a bad outing the next. His best season was 2008, when he played in 15 games and completed 198 passes for 2,463 yards. In three seasons, he started only 25 games. He was released by Oakland in 2009 and no other team picked him up.

Archie Griffin is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner with an outstanding career as a running back at Ohio State. He was a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1976 draft. Griffin wasn’t a total bust with the Bengals, but considering his college credentials, he certainly was considered an underachiever. He played seven seasons in the NFL and rushed for 2,808 yards and seven touchdowns and caught 192 passes for 1,607 yards and six touchdowns. The Bengals gave up on him after the 1982 season.

I read somewhere that the Indianapolis Colts believe that their worst draft pick was John Elway. That may sound surprising, because Elway had a Hall-of-Fame career in the NFL. He was the Colts’ worst pick because he refused to play in Indianapolis. He demanded a trade and chose to be traded to the Denver Broncos. The Colts got very little in return for trading Elway, hence it was a bad draft choice for them. Elway won two Super Bowls with the Broncos and was both Super Bowl and NFL MVP once.

Tim Tebow is a favorite of lots of fans, largely due to his open expression of his Christian faith. However, a recent survey of Denver Broncos fans showed that they think Tebow is their team’s worst draft pick. Tebow won the Heisman as a quarterback at Florida and was the 25th overall pick in the 2010 draft by Denver. He was very inconsistent as a quarterback in Denver, although it should be noted that he won more playoff games with the Broncos than did the highly regarded Peyton Manning. Denver traded him to the New York Jets in 2012 and then he spent three seasons as a practice squad member only for the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. His practice of kneeling on football fields in prayer led to that kind of action as being named “Tebowing.”

I guess I am going to have to look at this year’s draft picks by the Chiefs. Hopefully, none will make a list like this one in future years.