5 most shocking moments in NFL draft day history
The 2022 NFL Draft will kick off in just a few weeks. Commissioner Roger Goodell is due to get the proceedings underway in Las Vegas on April 28. Teams across the league will be hoping that their new players will make an immediate impact for them. They are hoping they won’t instantly regret the pick they’ve made.
Sometimes, fans across the NFL aren’t surprised by the selections, as the player is touted to go to a specific team, or draft analysts use their sources to predict where a player will end up.
However, there have been a number of shocking moments that have happened throughout the years during the NFL Draft, and here are five of the biggest all-time shockers.
NFL Draft's most shocking moments
#5 - Raiders take Kicker Janikowski in Round 1
The Oakland Raiders took kicker Sebastian Janikowski with the 17th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. With this selection, the Pole became only the third kicker in NFL history to be selected in the first-round of the draft. To add some context to why this pick is so shocking, future Hall of Fame Justin Tucker, widely regarded as the best kicker of his generation, went undrafted coming out of college.
While many analysts labeled Janikowski a bust after he struggled during his rookie season, he went on to prove the pick more than worthy, as he is the Raiders’ all-time leading points scorer, completing 436 out of 542 field goals during his career and also hit a 63-yarder in his time in the NFL, the third-longest field goal in league history.
#4 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers select the wrong player
Yes, you read that right, back in the 1982 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers managed to select the wrong player. The Bucs were deciding between guard Sean Farrell and defensive end Booker Reese with their 17th overall pick. The team had decided to go with Reese, but due to a communication error between equipment manager Pat Marcuccillo and personal executive Ken Herock, they ended up selecting Farrell.
Herock told the tale to Sports Illustrated: "We thought we needed both of those players, but after we mulled it over and discussed it, the selection was to go with Booker Reese. So I told Pat, I said, ‘Listen, Pat, you’ve got two names there.’ I said ‘We’re not going with Sean Farrell. We’re going with Booker Reese. Turn it in.’ But he didn’t hear the Booker Reese part of it because of the noise. He took it that we were going with Sean Farrell and turned it in.”
The Buccaneers still managed to grab Reese, trading a future first-rounder to pick him, as well as Farrell. Reese was a bust, but Farrell carved out a decent career, playing 11 seasons in the NFL.