Top 10 Kansas City Chiefs draft busts of all time
Eric Fisher
The Chiefs selected offensive tackle Eric Fisher out of Central Michigan with the first pick overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. It was only the second time in the history of the Chiefs’ franchise that they had the first overall pick. For comparison, the other occurrence was in 1963 when the Chiefs selected defensive tackle Junious “Buck” Buchanan with the first overall pick. Buchanan went on to have a storied NFL career and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.
Fisher was an athletic standout at offensive tackle at Central Michigan. What’s more, Central Michigan has a pretty notable history of producing some great NFL players. While it is a mid-major program, and thus the level of competition is slightly lower, Fisher looked like the next on that list with potential for a great NFL career.
Adding to his college production and athleticism on tape was a stellar performance at the NFL Combine. At 6’7″ and 306 pounds Fisher ran a 5.05 second forty-yard dash, cranked out 27 reps on the bench press, ran a 7.59 second three-cone drill, and ran a 4.22 second 20-yard shuttle. These were all great numbers, and most assumed with NFL coaching Fisher was a great prospect.
To be fair to Fisher, part of the reason he went first overall was due to the fact that the 2013 NFL Draft was a little weaker in the first round than your typical draft. There weren’t any clear cut franchise quarterbacks available, with only EJ Manuel going in the first round. Unfortunately, Manuel didn’t have a great career and never lived up to his status as a first round pick.
If you look through the rest of the first rounders that year, there are a handful who have been moderately to very successful including Deandre Hopkins, Ezekiel Ansah, and Sheldon Richardson. However, in comparison to most, Fisher was probably still the most surefire pick at that spot.
Ultimately, the fact that Fisher made this list as an honorable mention may surprise people. He has actually had what most would think is a solid career with the Chiefs. He’s been relatively successful, in that he has stayed with the team into his second contract and started 90 of 94 games that he’s played in—a fixture on the offensive line since he entered the NFL.
So this isn’t necessarily an indictment on him as a player, athlete or person. He’s even had some pretty positive years on the left side of the Chiefs’ offensive line. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus he’s graded “Above Average” to “Good” in almost all categories throughout his career.
The problem with Eric Fisher is that he was the first pick overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. With the status of first pick overall comes a heavy set of expectations. These expectations are generally unfair, but they are expectations nonetheless. The list that usually comes to mind includes a number of All Pro nominations, Pro Bowls, and just overall incredible play.
Based on these factors, here is a look at how Fisher scored according to my criteria:
As you can see, Fisher received a negative score of 32 for being the first overall pick. This is the biggest strike against him. Which, in all fairness, he has no control over. It happened nonetheless.
His biggest positives, different from most of the members on this list, is that he has played through his rookie contract and received a second contract from the team. He has also started the majority of the games which he has been a Chief and has been invited to one Pro Bowl. All in all, of all the players on this list, he has had the most memorable Chiefs’ career. If not for being the first pick overall, he likely wouldn’t even make this list as an honorable mention.
CRITERIA SCORE: 88
Marcus Peters
The Chiefs selected cornerback Marcus Peters out of Washington with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Now, did Marcus Peters have a great career with the Chiefs? It’s arguable he absolutely did. He was electric his rookie year in 2015, tallying 8 interceptions, 2 returned for touchdowns, and 26 pass breakups. Those are crazy numbers for a rookie corner in the NFL. He was actually one of my favorite players on the defense for quite some time.
Peters makes this list of draft busts as an honorable mention solely because he was a first-round pick that didn’t make it through his rookie deal with the team. On top of this, it was somewhat of an acrimonious split. This fits in the criteria because, while the Chiefs seemed to get great value for him his first few years they ultimately received a second-round pick for him. For a player who was compared to Dale Carter after his rookie year, this is far less value than they should have gotten.
Based on these factors, here is a look at how Peters scored according my criteria:
As you can see, coming in at the 18th pick, Peters received a negative scored of -14 for pick impact. He received a large number of points for his two Pro Bowls and one All Pro selection. Given the number of games he started for the Chiefs and his overall point total, you’ll see he would have fared decently well if he had been included in the official top 10.
CRITERIA SCORE: 71
Tanoh Kpassagnon
This is a personal one for me. He’s an honorable mention on this list of draft busts because he doesn’t technically fit the criteria. The Chiefs drafted defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon out of Villanova with the 59th overall pick in the second round, after all. But, second round picks are still incredibly valuable picks. The Chiefs probably reached quite a bit for this player, and he hasn’t seemed to develop into even a semi-productive rotational player. Only time will tell, but usually developmental players don’t get a ton of time if they don’t actually develop.
I remember sitting on my couch watching the draft when they picked Tanoh Kpassagnon in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. I’ll be honest, even though he came from the FCS ranks I was excited. When you watched his film, it looked like he had the makings of a physically dominant NFL athlete. Kpassagnon is a physical freak, and the way he dominated FCS lineman was fun to watch.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t seemed to develop. It’s starting to look more and more like the Chiefs wasted this pick.
Based on these factors, here is a look at how Kpassagnon scored according to my criteria:
As you can see, because he was the 59th pick in the draft he actually had a positive score of 27. Based on his lack of other scores, the only reason Kpassagnon isn’t on the official list is because he was a second-round pick.
CRITERIA SCORE: 28