By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

Bill Belichick may be a drafting wiz, but he’s had his blunders too. As the yin and yang symbolizes there is always a good with the bad. Last week we gave you the good, this week the bad. So, while the good on the Patriots during Belichick’s rain have outweighed the bad, there were still some bad picks and I’ve identified the five worst. This list will start with the fifth worse pick, and countdown to the one that was just a complete disappointment. Lets hope Belichick does better this year, so next SuperBowl Sunday won’t suck as much.

5. Kevin O’Connell, QB. Drafted: 2008, third round, number 94 overall.

Since drafting Tom Brady the Patriots have selected four other quarterbacks: Rohan Davey, Kliff Kingsbury, Matt Cassell, and O’Connell.

Drafted out of San Diego State, he had the highest draft position out of any quarterback taken by Belichick, and the highest quarterback drafted since Drew Bledsoe was taken first overall in the 1993 draft. He spent one season there, appearing in two games and throwing six passes. Then in the 2009 preseason, after he threw two interceptions in a preseason game he was waived.

Why spend such a high pick on such a disposable player?

Lucky for the Patriots, and the only reason why this pick doesn’t rank higher, is because no Pro Bowlers—or any players of significance really yet—were selected in the remainder of the draft.

4. Chad Jackson, WR. Drafted: 2006, second round, number 36 overall.

Jackson had a good college career and looked good in the combine, so it was tough not to like him. But the Patriots traded up an astonishing 16 spots, along with one of their third round selections, with the Green Bay Packers in order to select him.

A hamstring injury nagged him in his two seasons with the team in which he only played 14 games. He did catch three touchdowns his rookie season, but only played in two games the following season.

The Patriots gave up a considerable amount to draft him for little gain. In the second round spot that New England traded to Green Bay the Packers selected wide receiver Greg Jennings, who has enjoyed a much better career than Jackson. By picking Jackson New England also passed up on future Pro Bowlers OT Marcus McNeill,   CB Devin Hester, and RB Maurice Jones-Drew.

Further compounding how bad things were, with their third round pick they drafted TE David Thomas, a pedestrian player that also played in only two games his second season (although he would last one more year with New England before moving on to play for New Orleans). Selected twelve spots later? Pro Bowl TE Owen Daniels.

3. Adrian Klemm, OT. Drafted: 2000, second round, number 46 overall.

The Patriots lost their first round draft pick to the New York Jets as compensation for signing Belichick as their head coach. So good value there.

When it was finally time to for the coach to make his mark in the draft, he selected the offensive lineman out of Hawaii. Not much of a splash there. Klemm was on the roster from 2000-2004. He played in a total of 26 games, including missing his entire second season. Klemm played in one more season for the Green Bay Packers and then was out of the NFL.

They passed on Pro Bowl linebacker Marcus Washington.

2. Bethel Johnson, WR. Drafted: 2003, second round, number 45 overall.

In three seasons with the Patriots, the “return specialist” caught four total touchdowns and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. Nothing special about it.

The Patriots criticized him for his ego and work ethic and traded him to the Saints, who cut him before the regular season after a knee injury and criticisms of his conditioning, stamina, and endurance. He played that season for the Minnesota Vikings and failed to make another NFL roster. He was even cut from the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts because he wasn’t progressing.

Pro Bowlers passed on were WR Anquan Boldin (taken nine spots later), DE Osi Umenyiora, LB Lance Briggs, TE Jason Witten, RB Chris Brown, CB Terrence McGee.

Really? Bethel Johnson over Anquan Boldin? It doesn’t even need to be said how poor the judgment was on this pick. Does that scout still have a job?

1. Laurence Maroney, RB. Drafted: 2006, first round, number 21 overall.

If he wasn’t a first-rounder, maybe he isn’t as high on this list. And Maroney has been productive at times. Yet he is entirely too unreliable as a first-round starting running back.

Maroney’s rushing yards-per-carry average each of his four seasons are impressive, but he’s never rushed for 1,000 yards—the most he’s ever rushed for in a season are 835.

This season he fumbled the ball three times in the red zone. Unforgivable.

He’s been so unpredictable that the Patriots have more-so relied on running backs Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris, and even brought in the aging Fred Taylor in this past offseason. As a result Maroney only started five games this past season.

Another interesting thought: he’s caught only one touchdown pass in his entire career. With Tom Brady as your quarterback you know the Patriots are going to lean more on the pass than the rush. He spreads the ball around and hits his running backs. Since 2001, Kevin Faulk has caught at least one rushing touchdown in all but one season.

Is Maroney that bad of a pass-catcher? Is he that bad in the red zone? Is he just not getting enough playing time?

All three of those are terrible questions to be asked about your first-round starting running back.

What makes this selection worse is the players they passed on. Between the pick of Maroney and Jackson (yes, 2006 should be dubbed the Patriots’ worst draft) future Pro Bowlers OG Davin Joseph, RB DeAngelo Williams, C Nick Mangold, RB Joseph Addai, and LB DeMeco Ryans. Also taken in the draft were future Pro Bowl running backs Maurice Jones-Drew and Leon Washington.

With the Patriots’ current situation at linebacker don’t you think they’d love to have the young and energetic Ryans?

And New England passed on four Pro-Bowl running backs for Maroney (although to be fair Washington’s selection was more for his return skills).

How about Williams though? He has proved to be one of the NFL’s most dynamic rushers and the Pats offense would be unstoppable if they had him to rely on in the running game.

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