David Carr: Being the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft is overrated
Being the top pick in the draft isn't all it's cracked up to be, according to David Carr.
By
John Breech
•
1 min read
If Jared Goff ends up being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday, he might want to get ready for a big letdown, because apparently, being the top pick in the draft isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Former Texans quarterback David Carr, who went No. 1 overall to Houston in 2002, recently described what it's like to be the top pick, and he didn't sound like someone who was too fond of it.
"Being the first pick is overrated," Carr told the Dan Patrick Show. "You're going to a bad team. I had a conversation with Troy Aikman [in 2004]. The Super Bowl was in Houston and he came out for an event and he was like, 'Hey man, you gotta be ready when you're team's ready.' His team was terrible."
The advantage for Aikman is that his team was eventually "ready." Although the Cowboys struggled to a 1-15 record in 1989 after making Aikman the No. 1 overall pick, the team steadily improved after that.
Unfortunately for Carr, that didn't happen in Houston. The Texans were an expansion team in 2002 and they were bad in each of Carr's five seasons with the team, going 4-12, 5-11, 7-9, 2-14 and 6-10.
Things got so ugly for Carr that former Texans general manager Charley Casserly admitted to him recently that Houston shouldn't have drafted a quarterback in 2002.
"'I wouldn't have taken you if I knew we couldn't protect you. We'd have taken Julius Peppers,'" Carr said of Casserly's comment.
Carr had zero protection during his five-year career in Houston. The Texans quarterback was sacked 76 times in 2002, which still stands as the NFL single-season record. Carr was also sacked 68 times in 2005, which is the third most on the all-time list for a single season.
If a No. 1 pick is going to succeed, they have to go into a situation like "Aaron Rodgers or Ben Roethlisberger," according to Carr.
The good news for Goff (or Wentz) is that they'll be going to much better teams than what Carr played for. The Rams and Eagles are a lot closer to success right now than the Texans were heading into the 2002 draft.
