NFL Draft Rewind: Ranking The Worst No. 3 Picks In Draft History

We all have bad hair days. For NFL teams, it’s a bad draft day. There have been some great choices from the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft over the years (Larry Fitzgerald, Barry Sanders) and then there were some choices that we would soon like to forget. This is a list of those players.

To make things fair, I have gone through the past 30 years of the NFL Draft and cut out names we are not too familiar with (maybe a reason they were so bad). In any case, here is a list of them for all the world to see.

The worst picks from the number three position in the NFL Draft.

VINCE YOUNG

The third overall pick that the Titans used to take Vince Young in 2006 was the highest pick the organization had since 1995, when the team also had the third overall pick and took Steve McNair. McNair ended up being probably one of the better pick in draft history for the organization, but the same can't be said of Young.

According to Bleacherreports.com, Young had some good times. In fact, he had some box office moments that put the Titans in the national spotlight. However, those times don't outweigh all of the headaches that he caused.

Those headaches eventually ran head coach Jeff Fisher out of town, and the Titans haven't enjoyed any real success sense.

This pick is still haunting the Titans in 2014. They are facing quarterback questions that they may not be facing if they had passed on Young and taken another quarterback available in that draft class.

The popular name thrown out there is Jay Cutler, and it's fair to say that things could have worked out a lot differently. Cutler had way more to offer as a pro-style quarterback than Young did, but everyone was still riding the high of what Young had done in the national title game just a couple months prior

.JOEY HARRINGTON

During his rookie season, Harrington made 12 starts and appeared in 14 games. Per prideofdetroit.com, he completed only 50.1 percent of his passes and threw for 2,294 yards, 12 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Over the next two seasons he started 32 games and averaged a completion percentage of 55.9 and threw for an average of 2,964 yards, 18 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. The Lions did improve their record from 3-13 to 5-11 and to 6-10 over those three seasons, but progress didn't seem to be made at the quarterback position.

In 2005, things hit the fan when Harrington was benched in favor of Jeff Garcia. Harrington still started 11 games, completing 57 percent of his passes and throwing for 2,021 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The Lions' record regressed to 5-11, however, and in the offseason the Lions traded Harrington to the Dolphins.

GERARD WARREN

Warren attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1998 to 2000.

As a junior team captain in 2000, Warren posted 76 tackles and 4.5 quarterback sacks at defensive tackle and was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a second-team All-American.

He finished his three-season career as a Gator with 159 tackles, 9.5 sacks, and 30 tackles for a loss in 35 games and 22 starts.

The NFL was a different story. Warren was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the third overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft.

He played in 15 games a rookie in 2001, all starts, and finished with 83 tackles and five sacks. In 2002, Warren started all 16 games, recording 56 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. He started 15 games for the Browns in 2003, picking up 70 tackles and a career-high 5.5 sacks. In his final season in Cleveland, 2004, Warren played in and started 13 games, missing three to injury, and finished with 38 tackles and four sacks.

AKILI SMITH

He didn’t make anyone forget Ken Anderson or Boomer Esiason or even Jack Thompson.

Smith had so much promise from the college level, but forgot to bring that promise with him to Cincinnati.

According to NFL.com, it's not all Akili Smith's fault, but when the Bengals took the one-year wonder out of Oregon they thought he was the answer. But a rookie holdout, rookie receivers in his second season, and a lack of accuracy and decisiveness in an unfamiliar offense doomed him. He was 3-14 as a starter, had just five TDs and appeared in three games his last two seasons before getting cut after four seasons. He never appeared in the NFL again.

HEATH SHULER

A better congressman than football player. As Elliott Harrison of NFL.com explains, it’s another first-round pick gone wrong. Shuler held out, got outplayed by sixth-round pick Gus Frerotte, and threw five picks against Buddy Ryan's Cardinals in a game the Redskins lost by three points. He went 11 of 32 in that game, 120 of 265 that season, and 292 of 593 (49.2 percent) for his NFL career, which includes a cup of coffee with the Saints in 1997.

Washington really needed a quarterback after Mark Rypien's play had declined precipitously during the '92 and '93 seasons. Shuler was a fantastic player at Tennessee, and the organization thought they had a franchise-level player in Washington for the next decade. Shuler did, in fact, become a player in Washington...as a congressman from North Carolina (2007-2013). He's a cool story, but a lousy draft pick. That's the way it goes...

BRUCE PICKENS

Pickens was a case of a fast time at the Combine, combined with a poor draft pool overall.

Bruce Pickens was fast. He clocked a 4.43 at the scouting combine before the draft. In the end, he was out of the league pretty fast as well. Pickens started eight games and hauled in two interceptions in two and a half seasons with Atlanta before being traded to Green Bay.

The former Nebraska star lasted four seasons in the NFL, eventually flaming out with Oakland.