The Philadelphia Eagles have gone through multiple extended periods of ineptitude in their franchise history, with one of the more recently painful ones being the latter half of the 1980s. Perhaps the main reason Philly was in the dumps was their inability to hit on high draft picks.
In the span of three consecutive NFL Drafts between 1983 and 1985, the Eagles were gift-wrapped the eighth, fourth, and ninth overall picks, respectively. Philadelphia not only failed to land any stars with those picks, but all three of those names managed to bust.
Eagles fans can look at any one of these three players picked between 1983 and 1985 and argue that they are the worst draft pick in franchise history. It's a relief that Philly has recently earned the title of best drafting team, as the 80s were a dark time for their front offices.
The Philadelphia Eagles made their 3 worst NFL Draft picks back-to-back-to-back
The legendary 1983 NFL Draft produced Hall of Famers like John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, and Eric Dickerson. Rather than jumping at the chance to throw Kelly or Marino into the fold, Philly boldly chose to take this golden opportunity and throw it in the dumpster by selecting Mississippi State running back Michael Haddix.
Haddix was a 6-2, 220-pound bowling ball who ran for over 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns with the Bulldogs. Rather than solidify the backfield for years to come, Haddix became one of the main reasons there is some hesitancy about picking running backs high in the Draft.
Haddix holds the dubious honor of the fewest yards per carry among qualified running backs at 3.0 per tote. While he lasted for eight years in the NFL after converting to fullback, Haddix never hit 2,000 career rushing yards and only once had more than 300 yards rushing in a season.
1984 brought more misery Philadelphia's way. With names like John Alt, Wilber Marshall, and Boomer Esiason still on the board, the Eagles, armed with the No. 4 pick in the draft, selected Penn State wide receiver Kenny Jackson in a move that looked somewhat controversial from the jump.
While Jackson did play for a Nittany Lions team that ran the ball as much as possible, the fact that Philly took a wide receiver that had just one year of more than 500 yards receiving at the college level this high in the draft was already setting this pick up for some serious issues coming into the pros.
Jackson played for seven years in the NFL, but he amassed just over 2,100 career yards and onyl once topped 600 yards in any given season. That's solid production for a third-round pick, not a No. 4 selection who was supposed to be Randall Cunningham's best friend down the field.
The Eagles followed this pick up with perhaps their worst ever combination of bad player and bad person, as his pro career was marred by serious criminal offenses.
The Eagles had the chance to draft stars like Kevin Greene, Andre Reed, and the greatest receiver ever in Jerry Rice in the 1985 Draft. While they did land Cunningham in the second round, Philly's No. 9 pick, Indiana offensive tackle Kevin Allen, was one of the worst players in NFL history.
In Allen's first pro game, he was part of an Eagles offensive line that gave up eight sacks against the New York Giants. Before the end of the year, Allen was benched and moved to center. Buddy Ryan despised Allen, calling him a "USFL reject" and saying he is only useful "if you want someone to stand around and kill the grass." Ryan nicknamed him "the General" in reference to General Hospital for his injury woes.
Allen was cut in 1986 after testing positive for cocaine. Days later, he and an accomplice were charged with rape. Allen was sentenced to 15 years in prison (of which he served five) and bounced around low-rent Arena League teams for a few years.
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The Eagles' bad drafting days are mercifully at an end, as all Howie Roseman has to do now is look at what his franchise was going in the 1980s and pull off the exact opposite move.