No team can be perfect when it comes to nailing their draft picks. After all, NFL front offices and personnel departments are made up of humans, and to err is human.
According to Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus, who compiled a list of draft picks per team since 2006 and weighted them according to the value spent to take said player, former Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is the worst draft pick for the Houston Texans.
Okoye may not be a Texans legend, but he will always be remembered in draft lore. On draft day back in 2007, Okoye was still only 19 years old — the youngest player ever to be taken in the NFL draft. He was out of the NFL by 25 after his growth curve never quite came to fruition. He peaked with a 60.4 overall grade in a Texans uniform.
The Texans took Okoye in the first round with the 10th overall pick. The 6-2 292-pound defensive tackle provided Houston with 138 combined tackles, 11.0 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, six pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, and two forced fumbles through 62 games from 2007-10, 58 of which Okoye started.
After 5.5 sacks his rookie season, in which he won a defensive rookie of the month award, Okoye never really progressed in his career. When the Texans transitioned from a 4-3 front to a 3-4 scheme under new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, Okoye was out. He found a new home with the Chicago Bears and later the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Okoye missed the 2013 season with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, and his comeback attempt with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014 never manifested.
