Looking back at the best 3 and worst 3 picks of the 2016 NFL Draft

Editor’s note: In conjunction with the Trib’s coverage leading to the April 25 start of the NFL Draft, we’ll look at the three best and three worst picks of each draft across the league over the past five years.

A quick glance at the 2016 NFL Draft reveals what appears to be a predictable outcome: The top five picks and six of the first seven have made at least one Pro Bowl in their first three seasons, but only one other first-rounder has.

The draft was notable for the blockbuster trades the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles made to move up to select quarterbacks. By the end of that year, it looked like it would remembered more for the transformation of the Dallas Cowboys. Coming off a 4-12 season, the selections of Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott helped turn them into a 13-3 division champion.

The Steelers, meanwhile, in 2016 looked to reconstruct their defense, as their top three picks all became starters as rookies. As the years have passed, though, things have changed. Cornerback Artie Burns was demoted, and safety Sean Davis isn’t a slam-dunk candidate for a contract extension.

A look at some of the best and worst of the 2016 draft:

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3 best

1. Dak Prescott

QB, 135th overall, Cowboys

It can be debated where Prescott ranks among NFL quarterbacks. But what can’t be debated is turning a fourth-round choice into a legitimate franchise quarterback who has been to the playoffs and the Pro Bowl in two of his first three seasons is organization-altering.

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2. Michael Thomas

WR, 47th overall, Saints

After a mediocre group of five receivers was taken between picks 15-40, New Orleans grabbed the best of the bunch in the middle of Round 2. Thomas has 321 catches since he entered the league — more than Antonio Brown and Julio Jones.

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3. Joey Bosa

DE, 3rd overall, Chargers

Bosa has been the most consistent of the top-five picks. Despite missing more than half of last season, Bosa has 28½ sacks in 35 career games.

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3 worst

1. Paxton Lynch

QB, 26th overall, Broncos

Lynch was John Elway’s hand-picked choice as Denver’s next quarterback after the retirement of Peyton Manning. Safe to say it didn’t work out. Lynch made just four starts over two seasons with the team, getting cut at the end of his third training camp after failing to beat out players such as Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler and Chad Kelly during his tenure.

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2. Corey Coleman

WR, 15th overall, Browns

Part of a long lineage of blown first-round picks by Cleveland, Browns fans are hopeful this was the end of that trend. New management has contributed to the organization putting together better drafts in 2017-18, but Coleman’s tenure (56 catches, five touchdowns in two seasons before getting traded for a seventh-round pick) still stings.

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3. Eli Apple

CB, 10th overall, Giants

Apple hasn’t been awful on the field, but his downfall with the Giants came in the locker room and off the field. Then-teammate Landon Collins called him a “cancer,” and Apple was suspended a game for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Apple was traded to the Saints last year for a fourth-round pick.

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