Home NFL Buccaneers Worst-5 Draft Pick of All-Time

Buccaneers kicker Roberto Aguayo / via NFL.com

Buccaneers Worst-5 Draft Pick of All-Time

April 2, 2024

With the NFL and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading towards the draft we thought it’d be fun to list the Pewter Pirates “Worst-5 Draft Picks of All-Time” as seen by our staff of content creators. Up first is columnist Devin Sanguinett.

Devin Sanguinett

1. Roberto Aguayo
2. Bo Jackson
3. Vernon Hargreaves
4. Josh Freeman
5. Vinny Testaverde

It’s hard to be worse than a player who never took a snap with the team, but by God Roberto Aguayo did it. What an awful pick. It’s not like one of those hindsight things in which it was a bad pick in retrospect (which I would argue Jameis Winston was). There is no excuse to TRADE up in the second round to draft a kicker. None, zero. I don’t care if it’s Justin Tucker. Which Aguayo was far away from. The longest kick he made in his one NFL season was 43 yards. That says it all.

Bo Jackson was a bad pick only for the Bucs since he told them he wouldn’t play for the team. And he didn’t. Vernon Hargreaves picture is next to the definition of a paper tiger. And Josh Freeman and Vinny just sucked. Screw Freeman and screw Greg Schiano.

Carter Brantley

1. Roberto Aguayo
2. Jameis Winston
3. Vernon Hargreaves
4. Kyle Trask
5. O.J. Howard

No pre-21st century picks? Well, in all fairness, I wasn’t alive back then. Plus, other than the 2 Super Bowl years, there have been some incredibly lean years in this century, too. Aguayo was an easy #1 for me in that they traded up to get him, a kicker, who ended up getting cut after one season.

Winston was productive from a statistical standpoint, sure, but he was a number 1 overall pick who didn’t last past his rookie deal. He had off-the-field issues that continued to persist with the Bucs. Just a huge letdown. Vernon, poor guy, he even went to my high school, but boy he just really didn’t work out as a first round pick. You can say the same for Howard, and I included Trask because he was a 2nd round pick following winning the Super Bowl, at a position that was occupied by the GOAT, when the roster had some other real needs. He’s started no actual regular season games. Can only imagine what that 2021-2022 team could’ve done if they were given an actual 2nd round talent instead of someone who didn’t suit up at all.

Greg D’Cruz

1. Bo Jackson
2. Mark Barron
3. Keith McCants
4. Eric Curry
5. Gaines Adams

When I think of bad drafts, I immediately look at the first round. The players picked here are expected to make an impact.

Wasting a pick on a kicker in later rounds, fails in comparison for missing out on a guy in the first round (IMHO).

At the top of my list is Bo Jackson. When you have the first overall pick you can pick anyone. They chose a guy who told them he wasn’t going to play for them.

The other 4, ironically all on Defense, never made an impact and lasted a total of 13 years ….COMBINED!

What’s worse is that all 4 of these were drafted number 7 or earlier.

Jeremy Morrow

When we think of bad draft picks we tend to think about those who failed to live up to expectations and who didn’t contribute. Now the Buccaneers have had their fair share of those. I focused my search primarily on the first-rounders who failed to change the franchise. So here are some particularly noteworthy ones.

In 1996 Marcus Jones was selected 22nd overall in the draft. The reward? In his first four seasons, he rarely saw the field and totaled 8 sacks. Though in 2000, his fifth year, he finally had a good season with 13 sacks. It was just a flash in the pan.

With the 16th pick in the 1997 draft, the BUccaneers selected Reidel Anthony. What should have been a number-one receiver wound up only reaching a total of 1,846 yards…in five seasons.

The 2016 NFL draft had to be one of the worst for the Buccaneers. With three picks in the first two rounds, you would think one player would pan out. Vernon Hargreaves, Robert Aguayo, and Noah Spence just plain stunk.

This one stings but it’s not on the player. Even after telling the Buccaneers he was not going to play for them they still drafted Bo Jackson. He kept his word.

Bucs Report Staff

1. Bo Jackson
2. Keith McCants
3. Eric Curry
4. Gaines Adams
5. Roberto Aguayo

Honorable Mention: Cadillac Williams

This wasn’t hard for some of us Buccaneer old-heads. Starting with Bo Jackson telling the team he wouldn’t play for them, AND them drafting him anyway. Keith McCants was the 4th overall picks by the Bucs in the 1990 NFL Draft. He played 42 games for the Bucs and totaled 12 sacks. To make this pick seem even worse, the San Diego Chargers selected Junior Seau with the next pick. Yeesh.

Eric Curry was the 6th overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft. He played 59 games for the Bucs, totaling 12 sacks. Gaines Adams was the 4th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. He totaled 13.5 sacks in 37 games for the Bucs. He was later traded to the Chicago Bears. Kicker Robert Aguayo was supposed to be a generational kicker. General Manager Jason Licht traded up to get him. He was gone after just one year.