Bob Garrett, 1954
Garrett was an All-American quarterback at Stanford. The Cleveland Browns needed a replacement for fading Hall-of-Famer Otto Graham. So Garrett seemed like the right fit…until Browns coach Paul Brown discovered that Brown stuttered, and couldn’t call the plays. The first overall pick in the ’54 draft, Garrett was quickly shipped to Green Bay, but the problem didn’t improve. “He couldn’t say words that started with an ‘s,’ like split left or split right,” former Packer Fred Cone told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Garrett threw for 143 yards in his one NFL season.
Next: Terry Baker, 1963
Terry Baker, 1963
Oregon State / Collegiate Images / Getty
Quarterbacks who win the Heisman trophy are famous for their crisp passes, charisma and penchant for spectacular failure in the pros. Baker, a star signal-caller at Oregon State, was the original Heisman quarterback bust, forefather to future flops like Andre Ware and Gino Torretta. How good was Baker in college? He won an incredible 14 national player-of-the year awards, and is still the only athlete to ever win the Heisman, the prestigious Maxwell Award as the best player in college football, and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year. As a basketball point guard, Baker even led the Beavers to the 1963 Final Four.
The Los Angeles Rams selected Baker with the first overall pick, but in his three years with the team, he started just one game at quarterback. He played a season for the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos before leaving pro ball for a successful law career.
Next: Joe Profit, 1971
