I knew something was truly amiss with the New York Jets’ drafting strategies when I watched my first NFL draft in 1991. Seven-year-old Akiva was confused why the Jets did not have a first round pick until it was explained that Gang Green had used its first rounder in the previous July’s supplemental draft on WR Rob Moore. If that sounds strange, it is; no team has wasted their first round pick in the Supplemental Draft on a non-QB in the ensuing 28 years.

The pick the Jets forfeited would have been about 7th overall, pending tiebreakers. It has been said that they would have used that pick on Brett Favre, whom they coveted in the 2nd round. Instead, they drafted Browning Nagle when Favre was selected by the Falcons one pick earlier.

But, as bad as 1991 was, unbeknownst at the time to young Akiva, only five years earlier the Jets had a draft so truly egregious, the entire front office should have been arrested for gross mismanagement. This is the story of the Jets’ 1986 Draft.

1986

First Round- 22nd Overall

Mike Haight, G, Iowa

Much has been written about the Jets comically atrocious first round picks like Johnny “Lam” Jones, Ron Faurot, Blair Thomas and Roger Vick, a fullback who was picked 21st overall. A fullback. But this pick might have been the biggest reach of all.

Here was Mike Haight’s reaction to being drafted in the first round:

‘This has been a real big surprise,’ Haight told the UPI. ‘I never knew I was wanted that bad.’ Haight had been expecting to go as late as Round 5.

Haight was injured in his first ever scrimmage. That injury, coupled with what a team trainer deemed a lack of strength, meant Haight rarely played his first two seasons. Eventually, Haight moved into the starting lineup for parts of four seasons, never playing more than 14 games in a season. He was out of football in 1992 after a stint with the Redskins. This is a good time to mention that Mike Haight was, by far, the Jets best pick of the 1986 Draft.

Second Round- 49th Overall

Doug Williams, T, Texas A&M

The Jets were primarily in the market for offensive linemen and linebackers in 1986. Eight of their 11 draft picks were from those two positions. After the Jets selected Williams, the next three picks were OL Tom Newberry, who made multiple Pro Bowls, then LB’s Pepper Johnson and John Offerdahl, who each also made multiple Pro Bowls. A few picks later, the Saints selected LB Pat Swilling who made 5 Pro Bowls. All four of those guys played more games in Hawaii than Williams played in New York.

Doug Williams held out after the ’86 Draft and did not sign until late July, when he inked a four-year contract for $925,000.

When he was drafted, the Jets player personnel director Mike Hickey said of of the 6'5" 290 pound Williams:

‘’Doug is a massive physical specimen with good athletic ability and excellent feet for pass-blocking. ’He is very strong and can be a devastating run-blocker.’’

Just four weeks later Williams became a devastating bust, when he was cut.

Williams’ agent seemed more upset at the Jets for drafting him than anything else.

Agent, Joe Courrege: ‘’I can’t believe the scouting system could miss a player so badly. If the guy’s not a performer, who bears the brunt of that? The scouting, the coaching?’’

The NYJ offensive line coach, Dan Radakovich, said Williams ‘’was lacking in skills and judgment to play professional football.’’

Jets star DL Mark Gastineau said Williams had “poor foot-speed.”

Williams signed with the Houston Oilers where he started nine games over 2 seasons. He resurfaced in 1992 with the San Antonio Riders of the World League.

Amazingly, this was far from the only time a Jets second-round pick never played a snap for the team.

In 1980 the team picked Ralph Clayton from Michigan. They tried to convert him from WR to RB, he got hurt, and was out of the league after playing in 7 games for the Rams the following year, never recording a stat.

In 1965, they picked Heisman winning QB John Huarte in Round 2 to back up Joe Namath who they picked first overall. Huarte never got off the practice squad for the Jets, and only started one game in his career, for the 1968 Eagles.

Per @dailysportsstat, every team in the league has drafted a Pro Bowler in Round 2 in the past 20 years. The Jets have not done so in 40 years.

Third Round- 79th Overall

Tim Crawford, OLB, Texas Tech

Crawford injured his knee and missed the 1986 season. The team tried to convert him to DE the next year, but he did not make the team. He played for the Cleveland Browns as a scab during the 1987 strike, and actually recorded 3 sacks in 3 games, but never played again after the strike ended.

Fourth Round- 105th Overall

Rogers Alexander, OLB, Penn St.

Alexander, who was a star for Penn State, never caught on with the Jets. Alexander, who was only 219 pounds and was called undersized by his own position coach, was cut in August, then again in November after playing one game with the team. He played three games with the Patriots in 1987 and then was out of football.

Fifth Round- 132nd Overall

Ron Hadley, LB, Washington

Hadley struggled in the preseason and didn’t come close to making the team. He played six games for the 49ers in 1987–88, earning a Super Bowl ring in the process.

Sixth Round- No Pick

The Jets traded their 1986 6th round pick to the 49ers the previous season for OL Billy Shields, who played three games for Gang Green. The 49ers used the pick to select DB Don Griffin, who started for them for a decade, including two Super Bowl victories. Griffin had a strip-sack of John Elway in the Super Bowl, which is one more sack than this entire draft class of pass rushers produced for the Jets.

Seventh Round- 189th Overall

Bob White, C, Rhode Island

White got injured in training camp and was put on IR. He never played for the Jets, but he did start 10 games for the Cowboys, after breaking in with the Rhinestone Cowboys during the 1987 strike.

Eighth Round- 215th Overall

Robert Ducksworth, DB, Southern Mississippi

Ducksworth was a QB at Southern Miss, where he threw 10 TD and 22 INT. The Jets tried to convert him to safety. He was actually the first of the 11 rookies to be cut, but they brought him back later in the season, where he would play his only two career games. The Jets brought him back in 1987 but he quit before the season because he “felt I wasn’t making any progress.”

Ninth Round- 245th Overall

Nuu Faaola, RB Hawaii

Faaola was probably the Jets best value pick, considering he went 245th overall. Nuu was on-and-off the roster his rookie season, but this was back in the day when teams rostered two fullbacks, and even though the Jets selected FB Roger Vick with their first round pick, Nuu had two rushing TD’s in 1987 on 14 carries as the backup FB.

Tenth Round- 272nd Overall

Carl Carr, LB North Carolina

Carr was the fourth and final LB the Jets selected. Combined they played a grand total of one career game for the team. Like Tim Crawford, Carl Carr’s only NFL action came as a scab player in 1987, when he recorded two sacks in three games for the Lions.

Eleventh Round- 299th Overall

Vince Amoia, RB Arizona St.

The Jets drafted Amoia despite the fact that he only carried the ball 100 times in his ASU career. Whatever, this is Round 11.

Amoia is the only player of the Jets eleven to never make it onto an NFL field.

Amoia was actually considered likely to make the 1986 team before he had a catastrophic knee injury. Still around in 1989, he was busted for steroids and out of the league for good.

He is currently a chiropractor in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Twelfth Round- 328th Overall

Sal Cesario, OT Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo

Another player who appeared during the 1987 replacement player games, Cesario’s only NFL experience was starting those three games for the Cowboys.

The Worst Ever?

The Jets ’86 draft is, by every metric, the least successful in team history, but is it truly the worst draft in league history?

ESPN analyzed every draft ever based on Pro Football Reference’s approximate value metric and the 1986 Jets only graded out as the 21st worst draft ever. But, most of the drafts in the top 20 were from teams in the 1970’s who were missing a first round pick, in some cases missing picks in the first three or four rounds. Certain teams really did not value the draft in the 1970’s, especially the Redskins, who had zero first picks in the entire decade. That is a real stat. They traded their first round pick eleven years in a row.

The only other team that could make a case for worst draft ever is the 2012 49ers. They picked WR A.J. Jenkins in the first round and Jenkins became the only WR in the modern era picked in round 1 to have zero career TD’s. Minnesota’s Laquon Treadwell is actually challenging to become the second ever to pull off that feat.

San Francisco picked RB LaMichael James in Round 2. James was definitely a bust, but his play in the 2012 playoffs, particularly in the NFC Championship Game, probably adds more value than anything an ’86 Jet did. Also, 4th round pick OL JOE Looney still being in the league doesn’t help the Niners cause.

The 1986 Jets are the only team in the modern era to have zero players make the opening day roster and that is probably enough to crown them as the worst draft ever.