NFL Draft: 30 worst first-round picks of the 21st century

It was the very first draft of the 21st century and the Cincinnati Bengals were on the board early. Even with studs like running backs Jamal Lewis and Shaun Alexander, linebacker Brian Urlacher, and defensive end Jonathan Abraham on the board, the Bengals selected wide receiver Peter Warrick  out of Florida State.

This just happened to be a case of a team falling in love with the tape and ignoring the workouts because Warrick was less than impressive when being tested ahead of the draft. A player who showed amazing speed on film tested rather low in the 40-yard dash. Cincinnati ignored this and took Warrick anyway. Unsurprisingly, he never lived up to his status.

He ended up playing five seasons with the team and showed signs of the playmaker he once was. For example, he had 819 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in 2003. That led to some hope that he could become the star they wanted him to be. However, he was sidelined for 12 games in 2004 and ended up losing his job to T. J. Houshmandzadeh.

After that, Warrick tried to catch on with the Seattle Seahawks, but managed just 11 receptions that season. The former Florida State star then headed to the Arena Football League, followed by the CFL, and eventually on an Indoor Football League tour.

He wasn’t absolutely terrible, but there’s no way the Bengals feel like they got their investment worth out of this pick. Making it look even worse was the great careers had by the players mentioned above who Cincinnati passed on for Warrick.