Oakland Raiders: Worst First Round Draft Picks In Franchise History

Patrick Bates (Twelfth Overall – 1993)

at 6’3”, 215 lbs., Patrick Bates was a hard hitting safety. A member of Texas A&M’s infamous “Wrecking Crew.” He was big, fast, and talented. Many believed he could have played cornerback or safety equally as effectively. Most believed that Bates was about as much of a sure thing as one could get in the draft.

Yeah, about that…

Al Davis used the twelfth overall pick in 1993 to snatch Bates up with most thinking he’d be a great addition to the secondary. It didn’t take long for that idea to get blown up.

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Bates played just two seasons with the Raiders – a total of 29 games – and made just nine total starts. Over those two seasons, Bates racked up just 84 total tackles and had one single interception. One. Not exactly the sort of production that you want to get out of a first round draft pick.

Bates left the game in 1995 to “clear his head” and evaluate his options outside of football. He returned in 1996 after the Raiders had orchestrated his trade to the Atlanta Falcons – where Bates was just as ineffective, notching 51 tackles and not a single interception.

He gave several interviews in which he says his lack of production on the pro level was because of the dysfunction within the Raiders’ organization.

Now, as any good Raider fan can tell you, it’s a franchise that has had plenty of dysfunction over the years. But many players have flourished within the franchise in spite of that. Not to mention the fact that Bates had a similar lack of success in Atlanta where he described the team and the organization as the “real deal” and his teammates as “real cats,” going on to say playing it Atlanta was a comfort and felt it was “where he belonged.”

He was out of football for good after his one year stint in Atlanta.

Next: The 2005 Draft