The episode delves into the profound ramifications of poor decision-making in the NFL draft, with a particular focus on the egregious selections made by the Washington Redskins in 1946 and 1947. Timothy P. Brown presents a compelling narrative surrounding these selections, which culminated in the team drafting the same player, Cal Rossi, in consecutive years without securing his commitment to play professional football. This discussion elucidates the lack of due diligence and foresight exhibited by franchise leadership, specifically George Preston Marshall, who epitomizes the pitfalls of a haphazard drafting approach. By examining the broader implications of these blunders, we gain insight into the evolution of scouting and player recruitment practices in the National Football League. As we explore these historical missteps, we are reminded of the enduring significance of strategic acumen in the realm of sports management.

The conversation is based on Tim's recent article titled: The Two Dumbest NFL Draft Picks Ever

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Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

We have talked a lot about the NFL draft and the worst draft busts ever recently here on Pigskin Dispatch.

But Timothy P. Brown may have come up with perhaps the worst drafting by any team ever, and it happened a couple years in a row.

Tim's up in just a moment to tell us all about it.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your.

Portal puzzle to football history.

And welcome to another edition where we talk with Timothy p. Brown of footballarchaeology.com Tim, welcome back to the Pig Penny.

Hey, Derek.

Looking forward to chatting today.

This is a story about number one draft picks being a load of number two.

Oh, hello to number two.

Oh, that's a lot of manure.

Yeah, it was well above head high.

All right, well, we're sort of segueing into an article that you wrote that you titled the 2 Dumbest NFL Draft picks ever.

So this is, you know, we're just freshly out of the draft season and you're getting into training camps and getting.

Ready for football season.

What can you tell us about these two dumbest draft picks?

Well, the, you know, there have been bad draft picks in the past.

I mean, there, there have been draft picks where, you know, either people just had outsized expectations of a player or he just never developed.

I know, you know, as a Packer fan growing up.

So the whole Tony Mandrich pick was, has always, you know, been considered one of their worst.

But even then, you know, he was a tremendous college football player, you know, and I'm not going to speculate on why he never worked out and, you know, for the Packers.

But there have been other draft picks that have just been dumb because of incompetence, not caring, whatever.

And so I will just say that the two dumbest draft picks, in my opinion, were both by the same franchise.

And they were one year after another, which is amazing.

So,.

George Preston Marshall was the owner.

And he is not a guy who's well thought of from a history standpoint, but one thing was pretty sure is that he was pretty cheap.

And so at, at a time when teams were spending some money on drafting, scouting, you know, they, they'd kind of look into their players.

He was still operating under the, hey, I got a buddy that, you know, an old fraternity brother who lives in San Francisco and he says this kid is good.

You know, they, you know, or just like picking up magazines, leafing through them and, you know, figuring out who you're going to can draft from them.

And then obviously the All Star Games, you know, were a big deal back then for evaluating, but one way or another, they just obviously didn't spend much money on their drafting process.

So.

So now we're going to segue into a player, a college football player named Cal Rossi.

So then in 44, he transfers to UCLA and he's a freshman starter at halfback.

Now, you know, rosters were depleted then, but, you know, college rosters, but still, you know, he's, he was a, you know, really top notch, you know, running back coming out of Santa, Santa Barbara High School.

And then in 45, he ends up, he leads a team in rushing.

He's all Pacific Coast Conference, the predecessor of the PAC12.

So, you know, I mean, definitely a highly regarded football player.

And so the Redskins draft him.

They take him in the first round.

And the problem was that he was ineligible for the draft.

So I couldn't even, you know, it was like they picked them in the, the draft.

The NFL said, sorry, no, you can't, you know, you forfeited your draft.

So, I mean, he just completed his sophomore year.

And, you know, there were some goofy things back then.

Sometimes teams could pick future picks.

They formalized that later.

But when you did a future picket, the guy should have been a junior, you know, so that was kind of the established practice.

So anyways, so then in, in 40s, the season of 46, he's, you know, second team, all PCC, and he, you know, he's on the road, UCLA goes to the Rose Bowl.

So, you know, good player on a good squad.

So they draft the same guy two years in a row in the first round.

And that time he would have qualified as a future pick.

But he had been telling people all along, I don't want to play pro football.

You know, this is not something I'm interested.

He wanted to get into coaching.

So, you know, they, you know, so after the 47 season, he doesn't report or after the 47 draft, he doesn't report.

He plays a 47 season.

His senior season, you know, as a Bruin, he ends up playing in the East West Shrine Game.

So again, good player.

He leaves UCLA at The time as their all time per carry average.

But he never reports to the Redskins, never reports to any AAFC team or anything.

He goes right in the coaching high school football and does that for about six, seven years and then he eventually moves in more to.

He works for like Cal teachers which is I believe like like the, the state union for you know, for high school maybe you know, grade school teachers too.

So you know, heck of a player, certainly draft worthy if you draft him when he's eligible or when he, if he wanted to play but he'd been telling everybody didn't want to play.

So it's just to draft the same guy two years in a row with your first round pick and never sign them is just the epitome of dumb.

Yeah, it sure is.

I don't think Marshall was reading a tea leaves very well with.

With him, was he?

No, no, he.

Yeah.

I mean that's just such basic mistakes.

You just can't even believe anybody could could do that.

But such, I mean so it, it still does tell you that some of these leagues were pretty.

I mean even the NFL was a little bit of a, you know, it wasn't the sophisticated organization that we know it to be today.

Yeah, I mean I guess it wasn't super uncommon.

Like I mean if it happens that happened today, we would all be you know, flabbergasted but you know, like the very first draft pick, Jay Buranger, first Heisman Trophy winner.

The Eagles draft them and he says hey, I can make more money, you know, selling whatever some commodity he was selling in Chicago.

She said I don't want to play football.

Never played football.

So the Eagles lost their first draft pick to that and you know, I guess more modern times, wasn't it.

John Elway said that he did not.

I think it was the, the Colts.

He said I do, I will not play for the Colts.

Don't draft me.

And they drafted him anyway and end up having to trade him a of couple a couple days later traders rights to the Broncos.

So I, I guess it still happens to some extent.

Yeah, I mean so I mean there was a point where okay, so like Burwinger, you know, he really could make more money, you know, outside of football and you know, and then even like you know when you had the AAFC going on, you know, there's a little bit of competition and even in like the.

I just was reading something interesting last night this morning about the difference in pay between the CFL and the NFL because it used to be a lot closer and so the CFL, even in the 50s, was still signing like number one draft choices and getting guys to sign with them.

I mean, there are, you know, Heisman Trophy winners signed with them instead of with the NFL.

But then, you know, the pay discrepancy has become so large now, you know, that, you know, I probably.

Maybe there's a couple of quarterbacks in the CFL who make more than the NFL minimum, but not many.

Right.

I mean, it's just.

It is what it is.

And it's mostly just television revenue.

I think so.

Yeah.

But nevertheless, don't draft a guy who doesn't want to play football.

Yeah.

Call me crazy, right?

Yeah.

Just ask.

I think another one, Eli Manning, the, the Chargers didn't end up drafting.

They traded their pick to the.

The Giants late, but they were talking about it, you know, that's.

So it still happens, I guess.

And, and I guess I was just reading something recently with Archie Manning, Eli's father.

We kept telling him, he said, you know, don't, don't do that.

You know, don't tell them you're not going to play for him.

And, and I guess it was a misunderstanding.

Eli said something out of context that they believed and they trade him.

So Eli Manning could have played for the, the Chargers, I guess, is what the stories are saying now.

And they would have been okay with that.

But.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

Interesting stuff.

So, you know, this is another one.

Of those times where you go back.

And you research, you know, some, some.

Stories that maybe we've forgotten about through.

Time and, you know, some other more interesting things pop up, you know, more shiny objects in the NFL and college football.

But then you go back and you research it and bring it to light again in your tidbits and maybe you could tell us how we can get into.

To enjoy some of your tidbits, just.

Go to footballarchaeology.com it's a substack site.

And, you know, there's, with very few exceptions, is all free, but of course you can get a paid subscription and I certainly appreciate that, but you can subscribe for free or paid.

And once you subscribe, you get an email every time that I add a new article and the email contains the full article, but you can also go out there anytime you want.

So.

Yeah, if you're just looking for some football history, put type in a couple of keywords and you'll probably find something along those lines.

So.

All right.

Well, Tim, we sure appreciate all the hard work that you do.

And the research and, you know, bringing us the facts of this, these great eras of football that we've forgotten about.

And we'd love to talk to you again next Tuesday about a new story.

Let's make it happen.

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