The Minnesota Vikings have encountered a handful of draft busts throughout franchise history — some recent ones, even — but for Bleacher Report‘s sake, former wideout Troy Williamson takes the cake.

BR’s collective staff identified the Top 99 draft busts in sports history, and Williamson checked in at No. 49. He was the only Viking to grace the naughty list.

Williamson’s Production Never Matched the Draft Spot

BR: Williamson 49th on Top 99 Draft Bust List

Williamson basically represented the midway point of the BR list, as Davenport wrote, “Remember Troy Williamson? Yeah. The Minnesota Vikings wish they didn’t, too. In 2005, the Vikings needed a deep threat after trading Randy Moss, so the team used the pick obtained in the trade to select Williamson, a speedster from South Carolina.”

“As a rookie, Williamson had over five times as many drops (11) as he did touchdowns (2) — an issue that was famously blamed on ‘depth perception.’”

Years later, Williamson would reveal mental health as a source of his career troubles. In fact, in terms of understanding and empathy, he was about a decade too late for those who wanted to learn about his story. Mental health awareness was not the same in 2007 as in 2017 or today.

Davenport continued, “Williamson himself later admitted that his lack of early success and the criticism that came with it rattled him, and after three years, 79 receptions and three touchdowns, Williamson was traded to Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick. High Vote: 49.”

The Career

Williamson’s NFL career can be summarized as a high-draft pick with exceptional speed who just flat-out failed to launch.

The Vikings selected Williamson seventh overall in the 2005 draft, anticipating an abundance of big plays from his impressive speed. Those expectations were unmet. In three seasons with Minnesota, he recorded just 79 receptions for 1,067 yards and 3 touchdowns. His most productive year was 2006, with 455 receiving yards, but he never achieved a breakout season.

For a Top 10 pick, his career receiving statistics are remarkably low: 87 catches, 1,131 yards, and 4 touchdowns across 49 games, averaging roughly 23 receiving yards per game. While he did contribute as a kick returner, with 47 returns for 987 yards, this wasn’t enough to salvage his receiving career.

A subsequent opportunity with Jacksonville proved equally unproductive, yielding only 8 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.

In short, Williamson possessed raw talent and received ample opportunities as a high draft pick. He was just unable to translate that potential into NFL production.

Shoes Too Big to Fill

On March 3rd, 2005, the Vikings traded Moss to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napoleon Harris, the seventh overall pick — Williamson — and a 7th-Rounder, which would turn into cornerback Adrian Ward, who was waived six months later.

Fans were distraught about the Moss trade; it would be similar to Minnesota trading Justin Jefferson next March. The only would-be savior at the time was Williamson, tabbed directly as Moss’s replacement. He was the one chance to erase the ill will of the Moss trade. And that just didn’t happen.

Drops plagued Williamson, and even without those, he simply wasn’t on Moss’s level or anywhere near it.

Other Vikings’ Draft Busts

Minnesota largely escaped BR’s scorn, but that doesn’t mean it’s had a quiet “bust” history. These are arguably the main busts in Vikings’ history, listed alphabetically:

• Lewis Cine (S, 2022)
• D.J. Dozier (RB, 1987)
• Leo Hayden (RB, 1971)
• Erasmus James (DE, 2005)
• Christian Ponder (QB, 2011)
• Laquon Treadwell (WR, 2016)
• Dimitrius Underwood (LB, 1999)

A few blocks away from the Vikings’ stadium, the Minnesota Timberwolves were represented a few times on the BR list, as Any Bailey wrote about 2011 draft pick Derrick Williams, “During his sophomore season at Arizona, Derrick Williams looked like a can’t-miss prospect. He had prototypical combo forward size. He could ferociously finish above the rim. And he somehow shot a blistering 56.8 percent from deep.”

“But as has happened with others, that size made him more of a tweener than anything else. His outside shooting never translated to the NBA. And he didn’t do nearly enough in the ancillary categories to keep him on the floor. He was out of the league by his mid-20s.”

Variations of the “Williams” last name evidently have rough draft luck in Minnesota.

Timberwolves guard Johnny Flynn checked in at No. 38, and Minnesota North Stars LW Brian Norton ranked No. 51. BR called Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell the top bust in sports history.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker