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

John Viril

Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2014 NFL Draft about three weeks away, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of adding yet another list of draft busts, I wanted to rank which draft picks wrecked the most havoc on the franchise.

The Kansas City Chiefs have had their fair share of Draft Day mistakes

The Kansas City Chiefs have had their fair share of Draft Day mistakes, as every organization has. The key is to not make too many mistakes too many years in a row. That can set back a franchise for years.

A blown draft pick can cause mayhem not just due to a failed player, but can also the impact a team by passing up a crying need, touching off a damaging internal battle among management, or the player’s off-the-field behavior. The effect of one toxic pick can last for years. Several close together, and there will be a whole lot of losing.

To put it another way: what five draft picks caused the most damage to the Kansas City Chiefs “brand”?

Next: The 5th Worst Draft Day Disaster

Aug 2, 2014; Canton, OH, USA; Gale Sayers waves to the crowd at the TimkenSteel Grand Parade on Cleveland Avenue in advance of the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

5. RB Gale Sayers, Kansas, 1st Round 1965—Yes, Chiefs fans, that’s not a misprint. Your Kansas City Chiefs drafted future Hall-of-Fame running back Gale Sayers with their first round pick in 1965.

Sayers, however, chose to sign with the more-established NFL team that also drafted him in the first round: The Chicago Bears.

While we know the Kansas City Chiefs were the dominant team of the AFL era, winning 3 AFL Championships and their only Super Bowl, Sayers would have made a good offense unstoppable.

Already endowed with Hall-of-Fame quarterback Len Dawson, All-AFL WR Otis Taylor, outstanding TE Fred Arbanas, and a massive line led by LT Jim Tyrer and G Ed Budde, the play-making Sayers would have made the Chiefs a historic offensive juggernaut in an era that favored the ground game.

Sayers was a force: running, receiving, and on kick returns. Paired with a defense loaded with 5 future Hall-of-Famers, there’s no telling what the team could have achieved.

Losing the local University of Kansas hero was a significant blow.

With Sayers, the Chiefs might have won 2 of the first four Super Bowls and we’d be talking about a late 60’s Kansas City dynasty instead of Green Bay. Perhaps teams would get awarded the Hank Stram Trophy after winning the Super Bowl instead of that Vince Lombardi guy. You never know.

Next: Number FOUR

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

Steve Fuller #4 of the Chicago Bears (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

3. QB Steve Fuller, Clemson, 1st round 1979—Steve Fuller had a decent little career. After four years in Kansas City, he moved on to Chicago where he subbed for an injured Jim McMahon on a team that made the conference championship game in 1984. Fuller even caddied for five regular season games in Chicago’s Super Bowl winning 1985 team, going 4-1.

Of course, that’s the problem, Steve Fuller was just decent. Not a guy to build a team around.

It’s not as if Montana was hard to spot. Joe merely won a National Championship as a collegiate quarterback at Notre Dame.

What’s even more painful is that 2nd year coach Marv Levy was looking for a mobile quarterback skilled in the short passing game that could complement his run-oriented Wing-T attack. GM Jim Schaaf’s scouting department just happened to pass up the best short-passing quarterback in the history of the game in Joe Montana, who was still available for San Francisco in the 3rd round.

It’s not as if Montana was hard to spot. Joe merely won a National Championship as a collegiate quarterback at Notre Dame.

Schaaf’s failure to secure the most important position on the field ultimately led to the demise of a really good football coach. Marv Levy moved on to Buffalo and showed what he could do when paired with a great quarterback.

Four consecutive Super Bowl appearances is nothing to sneeze at. I’m sure Lamar Hunt would have enjoyed lifting his trophy in victory at least once had Schaaf pulled the trigger on Montana.

Next: Number TWO

Quarterback Todd Blackledge #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images)

2. QB Todd Blackledge, Penn State, 1st round 1983—This is one of the most legendary blunders in NFL history. The Kansas City Chiefs passed up 2 Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks to take Blackledge with the 7th pick, ahead of Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

In all, six quarterbacks were taken in the most famous draft class history. Heck, had the Chiefs been aggressive, they might have been able to swap Blackledge for John Elway, after he refused to play for the Colts who had drafted him with the 1st overall pick.

Of course, the failure that is Todd Blackledge goes far deeper than missing out on 2 Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks. After Blackledge turned into a colossal bust, the CHIEFS HAVEN’T DRAFTED A QUARTERBACK IN THE FIRST ROUND FOR 30 YEARS!

Ever since Blackledge, the Chiefs have tried to patch the most important position on the field with 2nd-hand leavings from other teams. While the team has managed a few pro-bowl years from their journeyman quarterbacks, no one has been able to truly seize the job over the long-term.

It’s hardly a surprise that the Chiefs haven’t won a playoff game since 1993, when they had their one true franchise quarterback since Len Dawson retired: Joe Montana—who only played 2 seasons in KC.

Destroying a team at your position for the next thirty years is a pretty monumental achievement. At least Todd Blackledge managed to get remembered in Kansas City after all these years.

Too bad his name is usually followed by a string of four-letter words among the Kansas City faithful.

Next: Number ONE

Kansas City Chiefs fans – Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

1.TE Elmore Stephens, Kentucky, 2nd Round 1975—Stephens is the poster child for draft failure in Kansas City. Elmore Stephens was so bad that new coach Paul Wiggins unloaded him after only two-preseason games (out of the six teams used to hold in that era). Somehow, President/GM Jack Steadman duped the Giants into dealing a conditional pick for him.

What followed seems like something Hollywood made up, as reported by BobGretz.com:

"September 2 – the Giants placed him on waivers. October 11 – a robbery at Stephens’ apartment in Lexington, Kentucky nets the culprit $1,000 in cash and a $500 wristwatch. Stephens and three other men find the man they believed robbed the apartment, 24-year old Luron Taylor. They kidnap him from his residence and place him in the trunk of their car. October 12 – in the early morning hours of this fall Sunday, Stephens strangles Taylor and the four men dump his body into the Ohio River. October 14 – based on a description from Taylor’s girlfriend, Stephens and two others are arrested on kidnapping charges. They are jailed on a $100,000 bond. October 21 – a body washes up near downtown Louisville and is pulled out of the river by the police. It’s identified as Luron Taylor. October 23 – Stephens and two others are charged with murder. January 24, 1976 – after deliberating for 11 hours, 40 minutes, a jury of 7 women and 5 men in Fayette County Circuit Court found Stephens guilty of kidnapping and reckless homicide charges. February 21, 1976 – Stephens is sentenced to 21 years in prison."

Kidnap, murder, and 21 years in prison. Yeah. Steadman sure knew how to pick ’em in 1975. Stephens was emblematic for a Chiefs scouting department that produced the worst draft in team history.

Of the 11 players picked in 1975, only one saw the field for Kansas City Chiefs (11 games all from 6th round running back Morris LaGrand). The ten other players never logged a down FOR ANY NFL TEAM.

The 1975 draft was notable because it directly led to Steadman stepping down in favor of the legendary Jim Schaaf—whose teams compiled a marvelous 76-119-1 record (.390 winning percentage).

It was the worst era in team history. Despite repeated failures, the incompetent Schaaf kept his job FOR 13 YEARS! Such patience would be unimaginable in today’s internet-driven news cycle. Schaaf made Scott Pioli look like the prospect-whisperer by comparison.

Elmore Stephens was the draft day plague that brought on the franchise’s Dark Age. Let’s hope we never see another Kansas City draft pick like him—though I’d enjoy seeing the Broncos start such an era.

Next: Chiefs Top 5 Draft Day Bargains

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John Viril

Like a lot of people, I am still fixated on the sports teams I followed in my youth. I grew up in Kansas City and naturally became a fan of the Chiefs and Royals. Of course, that means I haven't seen a playoff win in 20 years. Here's to breaking the drought in 2014!