The Washington Football Team picks 19th in the upcoming NFL Draft, as the team looks to improve upon a group that capitalized on a lowly NFC East and reached the playoffs last season.
Washington hopes to avoid a fate similar to these five past draft selections, who all make up some of the biggest busts in franchise history. Washington has had terrible luck drafting receivers during its history, but a recent quarterback selection also makes this list.
Here are the five forgettables:
Dwayne Haskins
We’ll start with the most recent entry on this list, with Haskins receiving the “bust” label after he was released by the team last year. Drafted 15th overall in the 2019 draft, Haskins made 16 starts for Washington, throwing 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions with a 74.4 quarterback rating.
He was released shortly after being photographed at a party without a mask just after the team’s loss to the Seahawks in December, his second violation of COVID-19 protocols that season. A first-round pick released at just 23 years old certainly qualifies as a bust.
Robert Griffin III
To be fair, Griffin was the signal caller for Washington’s last great season, but given his second overall selection after the team traded three (!) first-round picks and a second-round pick just to move up four spots and take him at No. 2, that has to account for a bust.
At first, it looked like Washington made a good move when Griffin went 9-6 and earned a Pro Bowl selection in his rookie season, leading Washington to the playoffs. But he went 3-10 the following year, was hit with injuries and eventually lost the starting job to Kirk Cousins. He most recently was the backup to Lamar Jackson with the Ravens.
Josh Doctson
Doctson is one of the many wide receivers Washington has missed on in its NFL Draft history. Taken 22nd overall in the 2016 draft, Doctson was expected to be an impact receiver out of TCU, but he suffered an Achilles injury as a rookie and never found his way toward his potential.
Doctson was able to get healthy after the Achilles injury, playing in all 16 games his sophomore season, but logged just 502 yards, and he was cut in 2019 despite Washington having an underwhelming receiving core.
Cal Rossi
Is it possible to draft a bust twice? Washington found a way in 1946 and 1947, drafting Rossi in the first round when he wasn’t even eligible for the NFL in ’46, and the team grabbed him a year later in ’47, after he completed a standout college career at UCLA, but found out Rossi was joining the Navy, and would never play a single snap with Washington. Tough break.
Heath Shuler
We’ll conclude with one of the biggest busts in NFL history, not just in Washington. Shuler was taken third overall by Washington in the 1994 draft after he finished second in the Heisman voting, but the Tennessee star never panned out in the NFL. In fact, he flat-out flopped, throwing for 13 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in three seasons, winning just four games, before losing the starting job to Gus Frerotte.
Shuler was traded to the Saints in 1996 and started nine games before calling it a career.
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