2020 NFL Draft Busts

The 2020 NFL Draft gave teams everything. Franchise quarterbacks. Elite receivers. Premium linemen. It also gave several front offices the kind of early-round mistakes that stay attached to a class for years. That is why this one still holds up so well under hindsight. The hits were huge, but so were the misses.

This page ranks the biggest busts from the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft. This is not about the least talented players in a vacuum. It is about the worst outcomes relative to draft slot, expectation, and long-term value. Missing on a Day 3 flyer is part of football. Missing with premium capital can set a roster back, force a team to re-solve an expensive position, and make every great player drafted after them sting even more.

Some of these busts were obvious early. Others took longer to fully age badly. Either way, enough time has passed to call them what they are.

Editor’s note: Jeff Gladney appears on the graphic, but he is not included in the written rankings out of respect following his death in May 2022.

How These 2020 NFL Draft Busts Were Ranked
2020 NFL Draft Bust Rankings
Why the 2020 First Round Aged So Poorly in Spots
FAQ: 2020 NFL Draft Busts

How These 2020 NFL Draft Busts Were Ranked

This ranking is based on three things: draft slot, expectation, and actual NFL return. A player taken third overall is supposed to become a foundational piece. A late first-round pick still carries real pressure, but not the same franchise-shaping weight. That is why two disappointing careers can still land in different spots here.

Context matters too. Injuries, off-field issues, development failures, and scheme fit all affect how a pick ages. But the core question is simple: how badly did the team miss relative to what that pick should have produced?

2020 NFL Draft busts graphic ranking the biggest busts from the first and second round of the 2020 NFL Draft

2020 NFL Draft Bust Rankings

1. Jeff Okudah (Detroit Lions)

Drafted: 1st round, 3rd overall

This is the clearest No. 1 on the page. Detroit used the third overall pick on a corner and never got anything close to top-three value back. That is a franchise-level miss. It is not just that Okudah failed to become a star. He never stabilized the position, never justified the slot, and never gave Detroit the kind of building-block return a pick that high has to produce.

2. Isaiah Wilson (Tennessee Titans)

Drafted: 1st round, 29th overall

Wilson is one of the worst first-round picks of the era. Tennessee got almost nothing from the selection, and the entire thing unraveled so fast that there is barely a football argument to make in the other direction. The only reason he is not No. 1 is that Okudah was taken much earlier.

3. Damon Arnette (Las Vegas Raiders)

Drafted: 1st round, 19th overall

Arnette already felt like a reach on draft night, which made the fallout even uglier. Las Vegas spent a first-round pick on a corner who did not hold up as a long-term answer and quickly became one of the defining misses from the class. This is the kind of pick that makes teams regret trying to beat the board instead of reading it correctly.

4. C.J. Henderson (Jacksonville Jaguars)

Drafted: 1st round, 9th overall

Top-10 corners are supposed to give a team years of value at one of the hardest positions to solve. Jacksonville got the draft slot without the payoff. Henderson had physical ability, but the actual result was a shortfall from almost every angle that matters. For a pick this high, that is a brutal miss.

5. Jalen Reagor (Philadelphia Eagles)

Drafted: 1st round, 21st overall

Reagor was a miss even before the full context kicked in. Then Justin Jefferson went one pick later and turned into a superstar, which permanently changed how this pick gets remembered. That does not create the bust by itself, but it makes an already bad receiver evaluation look even worse.

6. Henry Ruggs III (Las Vegas Raiders)

Drafted: 1st round, 12th overall

Ruggs had real speed and real talent, but the Raiders still never got the kind of long-term value the 12th overall pick is supposed to deliver. His NFL career ended after a fatal DUI crash in November 2021, which makes the outcome more serious than a normal football miss. It is a sensitive case, but it still belongs in any honest hindsight review of the class.

7. Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Kansas City Chiefs)

Drafted: 1st round, 32nd overall

This was not catastrophic in the same way some of the names above him were, but it still aged badly. Kansas City used a first-round pick on a running back and never got the kind of difference-making payoff that would justify spending that kind of capital on the position. On a team that usually drafts well, this one stands out.

8. Isaiah Simmons (Arizona Cardinals)

Drafted: 1st round, 8th overall

Simmons might be the most frustrating name on the page because the projection was so seductive. He looked like the kind of modern defensive chess piece that could change the shape of a scheme. Instead, the role never fully settled and the impact never matched the imagination. Top-10 picks do not get graded on concept alone.

9. Noah Igbinoghene (Miami Dolphins)

Drafted: 1st round, 30th overall

Igbinoghene was not as loud of a failure as some of the bigger names higher on the list, but he still fits the definition cleanly. Miami spent a first-round pick on a corner and never got a real long-term answer. For a premium position taken in Round 1, that is enough to land here.

10. Mekhi Becton (New York Jets)

Drafted: 1st round, 11th overall

Becton lands lower than some people might expect because there was at least enough talent to understand the original bet. The problem is that the full return still came up well short of what a team hopes to get from the 11th overall pick. Between injuries, inconsistency, and the lack of a true long-term payoff, this pick aged badly even if it was not as empty as the names above him.

Why the 2020 First Round Aged So Poorly in Spots

The biggest reason this class produced so many painful misses is that several teams spent premium picks on projection-heavy players and never got the development curve they were betting on. Some cases were about injuries. Some were about off-field collapse. Some were simply bad evaluations. But the end result was the same: premium draft capital disappeared without premium return.

It is also a reminder that draft mistakes get magnified when stars land right after them. Philadelphia taking Jalen Reagor one pick before Justin Jefferson is the cleanest example. That is not the only reason Reagor is on this list, but it permanently changed the memory of the pick. Las Vegas taking Ruggs while other more complete receiver outcomes were still on the board only made that miss uglier too.

The position groups that took the most damage here were cornerback and edge-related projection bets. Okudah, Arnette, Henderson, Igbinoghene, Chaisson, and Simmons all fit some version of the same lesson: teams paid premium prices for traits, upside, or athletic appeal that never translated into premium NFL value. When those bets fail, they fail loudly.

The last thing that stands out is that this was not a thin class making bad picks look worse. The same draft that produced these busts also gave the league Burrow, Herbert, Jefferson, Wirfs, and Lamb. The teams that missed did not miss because the class lacked talent. They missed because the evaluation was wrong.

Conclusion

The 2020 NFL Draft was not a weak class. That is exactly why these busts still hit so hard. While some teams found franchise players, others managed to waste premium opportunities in the same exact round.

The real lesson is that early-round draft mistakes usually happen when teams overvalue traits, underestimate risk, or convince themselves that upside is the same thing as certainty. The front offices that got that calculation wrong in 2020 paid for it quickly, and the class keeps exposing those mistakes every time the stars from the same board keep producing.

FAQ: 2020 NFL Draft Busts

Who was the biggest bust from the 2020 NFL Draft?

Jeff Okudah has the strongest case because Detroit used the third overall pick on him and never got anything close to top-three value back. Isaiah Wilson is right there too, but the higher draft slot gives Okudah the edge.

Why is Isaiah Wilson ranked so high on the 2020 NFL Draft bust list?

Because Tennessee spent a first-round pick on him and got almost nothing in return. The pick unraveled so quickly that it became one of the clearest first-round failures of the era.

Was Jalen Reagor really a bigger bust than some top-10 picks?

In pure draft-slot terms, not always. But the combination of his underwhelming NFL return and the fact that Justin Jefferson went one pick later makes the miss feel much larger than a typical No. 21 overall bust.

Why is Henry Ruggs III included on a 2020 NFL Draft bust list?

Because the Raiders used the 12th overall pick on him and never got the long-term value that pick is supposed to produce. His case is more serious than a normal football miss, but it still belongs in a full hindsight review of the class.

Was the 2020 NFL Draft first round bad overall?

No. It was volatile. The class produced stars and franchise pieces, but it also produced several very expensive misses. That contrast is exactly why it is so interesting to revisit.