The 2020 NFL Season Has Been Ugly To No. 2 Overall Picks
Any football fan who feels the 2020 season hasn’t been kind to former No. 2 overall picks can take it up with Nick Bosa, Saquon Barkley, and others.
Barkley and Bosa, two of the game’s best rising stars, will miss the rest of the season with serious injuries. Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles are off to an ugly start.
Many expected this year to be the strangest in league history. But no one could have predicted how bad it would have been for former No. 2 overall picks.
Saquon Barkley and others have gotten hurt
A quick glance at the NFL’s injury report shows an interesting trend: several former No. 2 overall picks are injured.
Giants star running back Saquon Barkley tore his ACL in a Week 2 loss to the Chicago Bears. That same afternoon, 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa suffered the same injury in a rout over the New York Jets.
Barkley, the 2nd overall pick in 2018, opened his career with two 1,000-yard seasons and 23 touchdowns from scrimmage. After an ugly Week 1 against the Steelers, Barkley had 28 yards on four carries against the Bears.
Nick Bosa earned Pro Bowl honors with nine sacks, 16 tackles for loss, and 25 quarterback hits last year. The reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, Bosa added four sacks, three TFLs, and a forced fumble in three playoff games.
Bosa had six tackles and a forced fumble this season before suffering his injury.
Don’t forget Von Miller, the Denver Broncos’ Pro Bowl linebacker who suffered a severe ankle injury in training camp. Miller, the second overall pick in 2011, totaled 106 sacks, 26 forced fumbles, 135 tackles for loss, and 216 QB hits in his first nine seasons.
Carson Wentz is having a forgettable year
Unlike Saquon Barkley or Nick Bosa, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is healthy.
Given how poorly he and the Eagles have looked to start the season, his fans may prefer he was on injured reserve.
Wentz completed 58.8% of his passes for 512 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions in the Eagles’ first two games. Philadelphia blew a 17-0 lead to the Washington Football Team in Week 1 and allowed 27 unanswered points.
The Eagles started slow in a Week 2 loss to the Rams and were embarrassed in front of an empty Lincoln Financial Field.
Wentz already has four interceptions this season after not throwing more than seven in one season since the14 he chucked as a rookie in 2017.
Things could be worse for Wentz, though. Marcus Mariota, the 2nd overall pick in 2015, opened last year as a starter in Tennessee and now serves as Derek Carr‘s backup in Las Vegas.
They could also be Greg Robinson, the former Rams and Browns offensive lineman. Robinson, the 2nd overall pick in 2014, and ex-NFL receiver Quan Bray were arrested while carrying 157 pounds of marijuana earlier this year.
According to CBS Sports, the two were charged with “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.”
Mitchell Trubisky is one of the few highlights
In the same game Saquon Barkley saw his 2020 season end, Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky continued a resurgence.
Trubisky, the second pick in 2017, threw two touchdowns in a 17-13 victory over the Giants. Trubisky did throw two interceptions, though, and took four sacks.
Still, Chicago is 2-0 and Trubisky completed 59.4% of his passes for 432 yards, five touchdowns, and two picks in those games. Not bad for a quarterback who didn’t have his fifth-year option picked up this offseason.
Washington rookie Chase Young totaled at least one sack in each of his first two games. The No. 2 overall pick earlier this year, Young also forced a fumble in a Week 1 victory over Philadelphia and had two tackles for loss last week against Arizona.
Buccaneers defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who went second in the 2010 draft, had two sacks in a Week 2 victory over Carolina.
And who has a better job than Robert Griffin III? RG3, who went second in 2012, gets to sit behind reigning MVP Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and only play in garbage time on a Super Bowl favorite … so long as Jackson stays healthy, of course.
Like Sportscasting on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @sportscasting19.
