Ranking the 10 worst first-round NFL Draft picks of the last decade

3. Trey Lance, QB, 49ers (2021)

It's tough to lump Trey Lance in with the first two guys mentioned on this list because he hasn't worked out for vastly different reasons. The San Francisco 49ers traded a king's ransom to get up into the 3rd overall slot of the 2021 NFL Draft in order to select Lance, who was one of the biggest risk-reward options in that particular class.

By the time he was drafted into the NFL, Lance hadn't played any real stretch of football in almost two calendar years. Due to the pandemic, he only played one exhibition game at NDSU in 2020 and had just one year as a starter before that in 2019.

Now, Lance is trying to keep his NFL dreams afloat. He was supposed to be the starter for the 49ers in 2022 but suffered an injury early in the season, an injury that started a domino effect leading us to the Brock Purdy era. He was traded last offseason to the Cowboys for a 4th-round pick.

4. Paxton Lynch, QB, Broncos (2016)

The Denver Broncos moved up a handful of spots in the 2016 NFL Draft in order to select Paxton Lynch, the strong-armed QB out of Memphis. The Broncos were spurned by Brock Osweiler in free agency that year. They were denied by Colin Kaepernick after agreeing to a trade with the 49ers because Kaepernick wouldn't agree to a pay cut to fit under Denver's decimated cap.

The post-Super Bowl 50 era for the Broncos began with Trevor Siemian, Mark Sanchez, and Paxton Lynch battling it out for the right to start.

Lynch ended up playing just five games in Denver and was the only first-round pick John Elway had made -- at the time -- to be cut before the end of his rookie deal.