Being selected high can sometimes be a curse, as some NFL rookies are about to find out after landing in terrible situations following the 2017 NFL Draft.
Take Mitch Trubisky, for example. He’s being thrust into an impossible situation after having the Chicago Bears unbelievably pull off an unnecessary trade to take him No. 2 overall. The price they paid to land him (details here) was ridiculously short-sighted, and now he’s going to face unreasonable expectations the rest of his career.
On that note, we’ll go ahead and start with Trubisky as we explore the ten NFL rookies who ended up landing on the wrong teams. Not all of these guys were selected at the top of the draft. But all of them landed in situations that aren’t conducive to success.
1. Mitch Trubisky, quarterback, Chicago Bears
When was the last time the Chicago Bears had a legitimate franchise passer?
Never mind. It hasn’t happened.
To put this into some perspective, here’s a crazy stat for you: Jay Cutler is the all-time franchise leader in passing yards and touchdowns.
The Windy City has been unkind to passers historically, and now it welcomes a kid who has just 13 starts under his belt and who, despite the organization’s insistence won’t be thrust into the starting job, will end up starting games before he’s ready.
In addition to the historical data which suggests Trubisky won’t succeed in Chicago, he’s about to play for a defensive-minded head coach in John Fox who doesn’t have any history of developing a young passer. Jake Delhomme is the closest thing to it (unless you believe in Tim Tebow and count the 2011 season), so you see where we’re coming from.
We never want to see anyone fail. But watching Trubisky this past year and then seeing him shoved to the head of the line as the “top” quarterback of the 2017 draft class, this scribe cannot help but think we’re looking at Blaine Gabbert 2.0.