10 biggest NFL draft busts in Oklahoma football history
Oklahoma has produced plenty of first-round draft picks, and most of them have gone on to have successful careers, but a few underwhelmed in the NFL.
By Josh Yourish
The 2024 draft is approaching and the Oklahoma Sooners will likely produce a first-round offensive tackle for the second straight year. Anton Harrison went to the Jaguars in 2023 and Tyler Guyton will likely hear his name called on night one in 2024.
The Sooners have produced plenty of first-round draft picks who have turned into elite NFL players, especially on the offensive line. Trent Williams and Lane Johnson are still dominating the NFL after being top-five picks over a decade ago, but there have been some former Oklahoma players who didn’t live up to the first-round expectations.
The ones who fell short have found their way onto this list of the biggest NFL draft busts in Oklahoma history. Luckily for the QBU reputation, no quarterbacks made my top 10. Though not on Hall of Fame trajectories, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray have been quality NFL starters, and even Sam Bradford had a decent career, especially compared to the other QBs in that draft class.
So, of the 49 first-round NFL draft picks to come out of Oklahoma, these are the players who returned the least on their team’s investment.
1984. No. 14 overall. Jackie Shipp, LB. 10. player. 59. Jackie Shipp. . Jackie Shipp, LB.
Tackle stats are not the most reliable even in the 1980s, so it’s a bit hard to quantify Shipp’s impact in his six-year career, but he only started 44 of 74 games and recorded just one sack and three fumble recoveries. He was not an impactful player at any point in his career with the Dolphins and they were all too happy to let him go to the Raiders for his sixth and final year in the league.
In 1989 with the Raiders, Shipp played just three games, all starts, and was out of professional football before the age of 28. The first round of the 1984 draft was not an especially stellar one, so even though the Dolphins were disappointed by Shipp’s production, they didn’t miss out on a superstar in the back half of the first round.
There was not a single NFL Hall of Famer selected in the 1984 draft.