I got a ton of mail about last week’s edition of The Hot List, which looked at the top five first-round flops in Patriots’ history. Everyone from Tony Eason to Ken “Game Day” Sims to Gerhardt Schwedes and Ron Sellers was called into question. Basically, just about every first-round pick of the 1960s, the early 1970s (until John Hannah in 1973), the late 1980s and early 1990s was called a bust by the readers.
So, inspired by the raft of e-mails I received, here’s Volume 2 of the worst first-round picks in franchise history.
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1. Ken “Game Day” Sims
Chris,
Kenneth Sims doesn’t lead or even make the list? You gotta be kidding.
Michael
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Chris
What about Kenneth Sims? Wasn’t he drafted #1 overall? Back in the day, we always commented that Kenneth Sims was the first guy to congratulate the player that sacked the QB, rather than sack the QB himself!!!
Kenneth
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Hi Chris, I believe you missed the worst #1 pick our Pats ever made -- Kenneth Sims, I believe he was out of Texas if memory serves me right. He was supposed to be the best defensive lineman since Deacon Jones at the time. I believe he was the #1 draft choice that year. He was a complete bust. Check it out and see if I’m wrong. Thank you for your interesting topics you bring to the table.
Ron C.
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Chris
No Kenneth Sims? I can still picture Ron Meyer promising fans that Ken Sims was going to change the way the game was played and also the Pats fortunes. All I remember from Ken Sims is the broken leg he received when he tried to leg whip someone while on the ground............ good article though!!
Dean
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I got so much mail calling me crazy for not including Sims in the list of first-round busts, you would have thought I went to Texas. Sims was a bust, especially considering the fact that he was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 1982. Coming out of Texas, the 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive lineman appeared to be the sort of player you could build a team around. The winner of the Lombardi Trophy, he certainly had all the physical earmarks of a classic defensive tackle.
And while he had decent career numbers, they were hardly the sort of stats you want from someone taken first overall. In his eight-year career, Sims played in 74 games and finished with just 17 sacks. That sort of time in the league is nice, but not the sort of impact you’re looking for from your No. 1 pick. Making things worse for Sims was his infamous exchange with a reporter, who questioned why he looked so disinterested in practice. Sims replied, “I’ll be there on game day.” (Unfortunately, Sims didn’t say that he was only there on a handful of game days in his career.)
To his credit, Sims recently told the Dallas Morning News that his mistake was that he got caught up in the hype that came with being the No. 1 pick, and didn’t realize how difficult it would be to adjust to life in the NFL.
“I was the guy opening up the bar tab and paying for everyone’s drinks at the end of the night,” Sims said. “It got a little carried away at times. ... When I first got to the pros, I didn’t keep it real. My ego got the best of me. It took me a year to realize it was a job and to put my hard hat on. Those are the principles I live by today.”
In June of 1990, Sims was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. Shortly afterwards the Patriots released him, and he eventually retired.
“I have no regrets,” Sims added. “I played hard and I was the No. 1 pick. The people in football respect me and, more importantly, my peers respect me. That’s all that matters.”
Guys the Patriots drafted after him: While the Patriots may have swung and missed on Sims, they weren’t totally asleep at the switch in 1982. They took eventual Hall of Fame linebacker Andre Tippett in the second round out of Iowa, and defensive back Fred Marion in the fifth round out of Miami.
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