Was Jonathan Baldwin the Chiefs’ worst first round pick of last decade?

A new column at Bleacher Report tracks the worst draft picks of the last decade for each team and Jon Baldwin came up for the Kansas City Chiefs.

It’s interesting to look back at NFL drafts of the past and figure what went right and what went wrong. It’s an interesting scenario to see who deserves credit for making great decisions, and the reasons certain GMs were fired over time. But what about the single worst draft pick of the last decade? Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report says that when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs, that honor goes to Jonathan Baldwin.

Back in the 2011 NFL Draft, Scott Pioli was looking for more firepower to place around his starting quarterback Matt Cassel. Head coach Todd Haley had been hired for the work he’d done on a Super Bowl surprise team with the Arizona Cardinals. Yet his best wideout was Dwayne Bowe and then a precipitous drop—Bowe had 1,162 yards in 2010 and then Chris Chambers was the next wide receiver at 213 yards receiving.

Entering the 2011 season, the Chiefs had an emerging Dexter McCluster and a returning vet in Terrance Copper. Fortunately, a former Cardinals pass catcher named Steve Breaston would arrive in free agency and take some of the load, but Pioli had envisioned a stud wideout to give Haley a trio of options.

In the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft at No. 26 overall, the Chiefs submitted a card with Baldwin’s name on it. Baldwin was a giant receiver from Pitt who weighed 230 pounds and stood over any secondary at 6’4. He also ran the 40-yard dash in 4.49 seconds. Over his previous two seasons at Pitt, Baldwin had put up 110 total receptions for 1,933 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Unfortunately such a physical specimen was never able to adjust to the pro level. In fact, his tenure with the team felt doomed from the beginning. A preseason fight with Thomas Jones left him sidelined until the regular season and he didn’t even play his first game until the team’s sixth game against the Oakland Raiders. He had a single catch for 14 yards.

The next game, however, would prove to be the lone inking for coaches and fans that Baldwin could be the star. In his very next game, a win over the San Diego Chargers, Baldwin caught 5 of 8 targets for 82 yards and his first NFL touchdown. He proved to be the difference in a three-point win over a division rival. No one knew at that point that he would never again catch that many passes or earn that many yards. Baldwin would only have one more touchdown in his NFL career.

For that first round investment, the Chiefs would receive 41 catches for 579 yards and 2 touchdowns in two full seasons. Two years later, John Dorsey would send Baldwin to the San Francisco 49ers for A.J. Jenkins in a swap of disappointments but that wouldn’t pan out for either side.

Unfortunately for Baldwin, there is absolutely no competition here when it comes to the Chiefs other first round picks. At their best, the Chiefs were very good at drafting over the last 10 years with their first round selections—Patrick Mahomes, Eric Berry, Marcus Peters, Eric Fisher, Dontari Poe, Dee Ford. Tyson Jackson might have disappointed given how early he was taken, but even he played in 122 games in his eight-year NFL career.

What makes Baldwin’s selection even more painful was that the players taken immediately after him were cornerback Jimmy Smith (still with the Baltimore Ravens) and running back Mark Ingram. After the Chicago Bears wasted a pick on OT Gabe Carimi, the following two picks were defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson and defensive end Cameron Heyward.

Moton was right. Baldwin was the worst first-round pick by the Chiefs over the last decade. In fact, it wasn’t even close.