#2 according to this site...NFL Draft: 10 best and worst of the New Orleans Saints -- No. 2 worst | NOLA.com "Knight never made an impact. He reported late to camp, fell out of favor with the coaching staff and was dealt to Denver a year later for the Broncos' 1987 first-round pick Ted Gregory, another bust. Knight started one game in his three-year NFL career. The only official statistic he recorded in 31 games was a single fumble recovery." That stat is pitiful. He's got the same amount of sacks, and tackles in the nfl that I do and i didn't even play high school football!
He'll probably be #1, but how can he be worse than Knight? 1 fumble recovery in 31 games??? 0 tackles? At least Erxleben played..he also helped the falcons beat us 40-34 in ot with a throw like a girl. actually, that's insulting to girls. He threw worse than a 90 yr old.
Seriously though, any team, taking a punter in the first round, has their head so far up their ass, they'd have to be the 1970's or early 80's saints. I don't care if he averages 85 yards a punt and puts it inside the 20 every time, that's just a boneheaded move. At least his facemask was probably a little cheaper than everyone else's. :lol:
Erxleben will definitely be #1, but richdog makes a good case for Knight. He's got my vote. Roaf and Rickey will be #'s 1 and 2 for best picks. I'd go with Rickey. Everyone had Roaf as a top 10 pick in his draft, and he lived up to his credentials. Jackson was a second rounder, and the argument could be made that his production exceeded the expectations. This has been a good series. I thought about doing my own lists here on TF and beating nola to the punch, but I didn't have time to do the research. My top ten worsts would have included Vaughn Dunbar, who loco mentioned. In '92, Hilliard and Fenerty were coming off productive years, Craig Heyward was beginning to come into his own, Fred McAfee was coming off a promising rookie year, and we had signed Allen Pinkett away from Houston in free agency. We really didn't need a tailback. We did (as usual, during the Mora years) need a WR who could stretch defenses, and Tennessee's Carl Pickens was on the board when we took Dunbar instead. Pickens went to Cincinnati, where he caught more than 500 passes and was a 2-time Pro Bowler. In 3 seasons with the Saints, Dunbar averaged 23 yards a game rushing, scoring a grand total of 3 touchdowns. A category worth exploring in Saints draft history is the wasted pick. This is the guy who ended up producing for someone else. Number one on this list would have to be Ken Burrough. A small college product, "double 0" (yep, he wore 00) was a prototypical West Coast offense receiver a decade and a half before the WCO was a glint in Bill Walsh's eye. 6'3, 215 pounds and could run like a deer. The Saints invested their #1 pick in 1970 for Burrough. He started out like gangbusters, but got injured a few games into the season and was unproductive when he got back on the field. One season was enough, and the Saints shipped him off to Houston, where he caught more than 400 passes over the next 11 years, averaging nearly 17 yards a catch. Man, what he could have meant to Archie Manning.....
The Saints brain trust had a genius idea. Lets draft a guy that can punt, kick field goals, and kick off this will save a roster spot. Ya know cause they had such valuable players then they didn't want to loose any. He never had the leg for the dick offs, and below tells you eveything you need to know about the rest. He gets my vote. "His first NFL game was a portent of his pro career. On September 2, 1979, the Saints and the archrival Atlanta Falcons went into overtime with the game tied 34-34. Midway through overtime, a snap went over Erxleben's head and rolled to the goal line. Erxleben picked the ball up and made a hurried chest pass. The pass was intercepted by Atlanta's James Mayberry at the 6-yard line, and he trotted into the end zone for a touchdown and a 40-34 Falcon victory. The loss proved to be devastating for the Saints, as it cost the team their first winning season. New Orleans finished the year at 8-8, one game behind the Los Angeles Rams, who won the division at 9-7 and played in Super Bowl XIV. In the 1980 season opener, Erxleben blew a game-tying field goal attempt in a 26-23 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, a team that had won four games over the previous two seasons. The loss was the first of 14 consecutive defeats for the Saints, who ended the year 1-15"
In his book The Saga of the Saints, Wayne Mack said that he interviewed Erxleben after he retired, and he revealed that he had an almost paranoid fear of performing in front of people.
