Kansas City Chiefs Draft Day Disasters: Five Worst Picks in Team History

By John Viril | Apr 22, 2014

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Ryan Sims #90 of the Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

4. DT Ryan Sims, North Carolina, 1st Round 2002—The early 2000’s Chiefs of Dick Vermeil landed a cornucopia of veteran offensive talent. By bringing in QB Trent Green, RB Priest Holmes, LT Willie Roaf, G Brian Waters (signed off the Dallas practice squad), WR Eddie Kennison, and C Casey Wiegmann, the Kansas City Chiefs built an offense that terrorized the NFL during the middle 2000’s.

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Unfortunately, after spending their resources building the offense, the Kansas City Chiefs needed to construct the defense from draft picks. GM Carl Peterson couldn’t get it done, with Ryan Sims as the capstone for his failure. With the Chiefs offensive ringing up points like a deranged pinball machine, all the defense needed to do was slow teams down.

A run-plugging interior lineman would have gone a long way toward achieving that goal. The Chiefs chose Sims as that guy, after getting a recommendation from North Carolina coach John Bunting—an old friend of Dick Vermeil.

Sims was a huge bust. About the only thing Ryans Sims succeeded in clogging in Kansas City were his arteries, and the ever-expanding waistline of his football pants. What makes the selection even more painful is that the Chiefs passed up 2-time pro-bowl DT John Henderson who would have been a perfect fit for their needs.

The busted pick meant the high-scoring Vermeil era ended with one playoff appearance: the infamous divisional-round loss to the Colts in which neither team punted.

Drafting John Henderson instead of Sims might have meant Vermeil and Peterson would have gotten to lift a Lombardi trophy before owner Lamar Hunt passed away in 2006.

Next: Number THREE

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