St. Louis Rams Top 10 Draft Busts: #7 - Trung Canidate

by Ryan Van Bibber on Apr 7, 2011 6:00 PM CDT in Rams draft busts

Trung Canidate was the St. Louis Rams first round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. Having won the Super Bowl that year, the Rams had the last pick of the first round. They also had a pretty good running back on the roster at that time, a guy named Marshall Faulk.

In August, Faulk will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Trung Canidate will be more than 8 years removed from his last NFL snap.

To this day, I don't think anyone, at least anyone not in the Rams draft room on that fateful day in April 2000, can tell us why the team used their first round pick on Canidate. Sure, in the year 2000, the notion that running backs were over-drafted and valuable starters could be had elsewhere had yet to take hold like it has to the degree in today's pass-first NFL. Funny thing is, the Rams were a pass-first team with a future HOF running back.

Canidate was eventually traded to the Washington Redskins, where he started for 10 games. The next season, he was replaced by Clinton Portis and was never active on an NFL roster again.

The 2000 NFL draft marked a downward slide for the Rams. They managed to draft a useful player here and there, but never hit on a first round pick again until taking Steven Jackson in 2004. The 2005 draft produced some talent with Ron Bartell and Oshiomogho Atogwe, but unremarkable was the rule for Rams drafts until things started to turn around in 2008. Missing on 7 of 8 first round picks (Alex Barron is considered a miss by this assessment) is a recipe for disaster, like say something along the lines of 6 wins in three years.

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stupid pick

just stupid

Needed: Ping Pong table. Anyone wanna donate $78 million?

by sergey606 on Apr 7, 2011 6:23 PM CDT reply actions

agreed. We took a few yrs but got it rite in 04

the mccoy pick is great. Total explosion, even under armor couldnt contain

by caliramsfan1 on Apr 7, 2011 6:36 PM CDT up reply actions

Thats Faulk not Canidate in that pic.

The idea was there “FAST, Playmaking, very athletic RB” so I guess if he woulda panned out the Offense would have had a great new dimension and probably would have let us pass on SJax and who knows where we’d be now….But It didnt work out and we were set back a few long hard years and we have SJax so all in all I hate this guy.

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no PLAYOFFS."
Winston Churchill

by SMASH44 on Apr 7, 2011 6:39 PM CDT reply actions

read the caption

Number 8 is great

by Eric Nagel on Apr 7, 2011 7:18 PM CDT up reply actions

I blame Martz and the idiot who let him draft him this high

I don’t remember if Martz had become HC yet but no way they should have used their first pick on a luxury pick. Stock the team with talent first. Then if you want a RB that can line up in the slot, knock yourself out.

The fact that we are talking about so many bust in such a short period of time makes it obvious that the real bust was the front office all along. This particular pick was definately a front office misfire. Not even a pick of a needed player that didn’t pan out but a pick of a totally unecessary player.

by LARams1968 on Apr 7, 2011 7:16 PM CDT reply actions

Martz was the head coach

and he was the one who wanted Canidate. He liked guys who played fast and thought he would really be a star. Further proof that Martz just wasn’t a good head coach.

by andyhawk on Apr 7, 2011 10:07 PM CDT up reply actions

#7

How in God’s name is this only #7…. that’s really depressing.

by fltfire on Apr 7, 2011 8:32 PM CDT reply actions

Patience-Van's working his way up from 10 to 1. It doesn't mean Tongue was the seventh worst

by Knoxfan on Apr 7, 2011 8:38 PM CDT up reply actions

THAT'S how bad some picks were....sigh

Needed: Ping Pong table. Anyone wanna donate $78 million?

by sergey606 on Apr 8, 2011 12:06 AM CDT up reply actions

I completely agree with fitfire. He needs to be further up on the list.

For me this is the #1 biggest draft bust; not because Canidate didn’t pan out, but it was just illogical to draft a position that was adequately manned by a first ballot hall-of-famer still in his prime as arguably the best offense ever was at its apex. Any argument that looking for Faulk’s replacement in 2000 was forward-thinking is ridiculous imo. It seems to me that drafting a RB at that time is the kind of rationale used by someone who thinks he is a genius, believing that what he did was a historic stroke of brilliance that only those with a top one-percent IQ could envision (Hello Mr.Martz).

As for Canidate, he amassed a paltry 494 yards in 3 seasons with the Rams, and was out of the NFL by 2004.

Life. I'll tell you what life is. Life is having a mother-in-law who sucks and a wife who don't. That's what life is.

-Rodney Dangerfield

by IdGladlySellMySoulJust2KeepTheRamsAlive on Apr 8, 2011 12:16 AM CDT up reply actions

Jay Zygmunt and Shaw the retard twins throw in Scott Loserhan .... rams collapse .... bottom feeders

by Thomas W on Apr 7, 2011 9:53 PM CDT reply actions

Your all dead on.

I think I have some strong confirmation to make about this in particular for 2 reasons – 1. I am a UOFA alumni (96’ graduate) was still watching a lot of college football at the time along with UOFA games. 2. I have been a die hard Rams fan since I was in diapers. I remember this pick clearly 1. they just won the superbowl and wanted to find a way to extend the career of mashall 2. Trung impressed the hell out of the ram scouts with his speed – they guy rumored to run in the 4.2’s, he was a home run threat and had success in the Pac-10. He had durability issues but his speed was too much. The closest analogy I can make is that Rams Drafting Taiwan Jones with their 2nd round pick this year. However, in 2000 the Rams were a little more “loaded” then we are now. Also, I would not say Trung was a total bust (but maybe for a 1st rounder yes) – I believe he had a wrist injury his 1st year the was pretty serious but I remember he had a few 100+yrd games (pass and rush) and did make a few long td runs where it looked like the guy was shot out of a cannon. He just didn’t have the physicality to stand up in the NFl for too long – he was kind of a track turn football player and man he could really explode. I remember marshall sitting on the sidelines one game and was shocked to the point of laughing at how fast that guy ran down the sideline (on the way to a long td run).

by BrettSpokane on Apr 7, 2011 10:12 PM CDT reply actions

I can see why they drafted him...Martz was envisioning

The dual RB system that we regularly see today. If you saw how explosive this guy was in college, 288 or so yards in one game. He and Marshall would have been a great combo if it panned out. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. That said, I think Trung should be much higher than 7….if Phillips didn’t have his problems with the law I would put the two together on that list.

by JordansDad on Apr 8, 2011 2:51 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

honestly

i can remember why he didnt pan out, his second year in 78 attempts he averaged 5.7 ypc what happened injuries? he rushed for 600 yards his last year with washington and only 1 fumble. does any one remember?

by NICKSC on Apr 8, 2011 9:23 AM CDT reply actions

#7 is a good place for Trung.

it might have been a head scratcher of a pick back then, but at least he didn’t implode. Instead, he just fizzled out with no fizz.

So, if we hadn’t done the luxery pick of Trung, would would the Rams had picked instead? It didn’t seem like we had any big needs back then (ahhh, the good o’ days).

so, hmmm, who would be worse than Trung?

by Rams Homer on Apr 8, 2011 11:07 AM CDT reply actions

I looked up who was drafted after Trung...

Mark Roman was drafted 3 spots after Trung. He was a DB and Safety who played 9 years total in the NFL. He played for 3 teams and looks like he was a decent DB. Perhaps we could have drafted him instead since later in the 2nd round, we drafted Jacoby Sheppard (who didn’t amount to anything).

by Rams Homer on Apr 8, 2011 11:20 AM CDT up reply actions

Interesting draft grade from 2000...

ST. LOUIS

1 31 RB Arizona Trung Canidate
2 62 CB Oklahoma St. Jacoby Shepard
3 94 C Virginia John St. Clair
4 104 OG Hawaii Kaulana Noa
5 139 DL U.T.E.P. Brian Young
6 198 DB Iowa Matt Bower
7 220 OL San Diego St Andrew Kline

St. Louis’ draft seemed to resemble that of the NY Giants last year. Canidate in round one? Shepard in round two? Both could
eventually become solid contributors, but the Rams could have either player up late in round three. St. Clair and Noa will add
descent line depth. Andrew Kline could eventually be better than both.
Overall grade: D

Funny, Other than Trung, I only remember St. Clair and Bowers.

by Rams Homer on Apr 8, 2011 12:54 PM CDT reply actions