Rick Mirer (Notre Dame)
Legendary 49ers coach Bill Walsh was right about a lot of things during his time in the NFL, but his evaluation of Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer was not one of them. After observing Mirer during his college days, Walsh boldly called him the second-coming of Joe Montana. Apparently Walsh wasn’t alone in thinking Mirer was the greatest thing since sliced bread, because the Seattle Seahawks took him with the #2 pick in the 1993 draft.
Mirer started all 16 games his rookie season, and managed to set rookie records for attempts, completions, and yards. But Mirer’s record setting rookie season wasn’t nearly as impressive as it sounds — if you dig a little deeper you’d see he threw for just 12 touchdowns and tossed 17 interceptions. Mirer strung together a few more mediocre seasons in Seattle before he was eventually traded to the Bears. When Mirer officially retired after the 2004 season, he had played for 7 teams, and tallied just 50 touchdowns compared to 76 interceptions.