How do you define an NFL draft bust? Is it someone who doesn't last long in the league, or a player who just doesn't meet expectations? Depending on how harshly you grade draft picks, your opinion could fall between either one of those extremes.
And that brings us to former New Orleans Saints first-round draft pick Sedrick Ellis, who the team traded up to get back in 2008. Pro Football Focus analysts Max Chadwick, Dalton Wasserman, and Trevor Sikkema spun the clock all the way back for a do-over of that draft class using the benefits of hindsight. And they didn't have the Saints trading up three spots from No. 10 to pick Ellis, or even drafting him at all. Instead, they went with future three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
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PFF's explanation? Surrounding Drew Brees with more weapons to start his Saints career, adding Jackson to a receiving corps that already featured Marques Colston, Lance Moore, and Devery Henderson, plus running backs Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas. The Saints also had Robert Meachem coming off of rookie-year knee surgery but Jackson would've given the receiving corps significantly more juice.
While Ellis wasn't taken in the first round of this redraft (which isn't too surprising; he washed out of the league after playing out his five-year rookie contract with the Saints), one of his teammates was. Carl Nicks was picked in the fifth round by New Orleans but in this do-over went at No. 18 overall to the Houston Texans. Here's why:
Nicks was forced to retire after just six seasons due to a MRSA infection. He was named a first-team All-Pro once, a second-team All-Pro once and a Pro Bowler twice. He earned an 83.0-plus PFF overall grade in each of his four seasons with New Orleans, and even recorded 77.0-plus PFF overall grades in each of his seasons with the Buccaneers before retiring. He is one of the best value picks in this draft.
If not for that unfortunate injury Nicks may have made his case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame just like his tag-team partner Jahri Evans did. It's a shame his career didn't last longer in New Orleans. He was one of three members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were diagnosed with MRSA infections, two of whom had their careers cut short by it. Playing for Houston or staying with the Saints may have made a world of difference for him.
