Roberto Aguayo Is Probably Not Even the Worst Second Round Pick of the 2016 Draft

Roberto Aguayo was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one year after the team traded up into the 2nd round to draft the kicker. Now, this was not a good move at the time, even if Aguayo had turned out to be an average kicker who started for 5 years. But his struggles have merely emphasized what a poor process it was to trade up for a kicker.

So yes, it was a bad move. A really bad move. I was highly critical of it at the time. But it is not the worst draft pick of all-time. That might be a tad hyperbolic.

Set aside all the disastrous picks in the top 5 of the NFL Draft in history, or other first rounders. There have been 15 different 2nd round picks (between 1978 and 2014) who never played a down in the NFL. The Chiefs took Mike Elkins and Matt Blundin the 2nd round between 1989 and 1992. They combined to play in 4 games, completing 3 passes to their own team and 3 to the opponent. They started zero combined games.

Over 10% of all 2nd round picks fail to ever play in 20 NFL games. Aguayo has been bad, but I’m not writing off his career.

Meanwhile, the Aguayo pick may not even prove to be the worst draft pick … of the 2016 2nd round.

The New York Jets took Christian Hackenberg a few picks before Aguayo. Hackenberg didn’t play last year, and I’m going to go out with a hot take that he will start fewer than 8 games in the NFL. The Jets took Hackenberg, who barely completed more than half of his passes in college, while Dak Prescott went a few rounds later. The jury is still out on what will even prove to be the worst pick of Aguayo’s own draft and round, let alone of all-time.