Starting April 4th and continuing through April 29th, Canal Street Chronicles will be counting down the top 10 draft busts and then the top 10 draft successes in Saints history. Feel free to to use these posts as a springboard for discussion about how awful or how great each draft pick turned out.
Top Bust #7: Alvin Toles
It was 1985, the Saints were coming off a 7-9 season and new owner Tom Benson wanted a post-season playoff berth desperately. With the Saints first round selection they took Alvin Toles, a linebacker from Tennessee. The Saints already had future Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson on their roster but just needed a few more pieces to their puzzle.
Toles would not be that missing piece. The 24th overall selection would play just four seasons in New Orleans before leaving football for greener pastures.
The Saints would go on to finish 5-11 that 1985 season. The following year would see a new head coach in Jim Mora - replacing Bum Phillips - and three new linebackers to aid Rickey Jackson. Toles would not be part of what would later become known as the Dome Patrol, unable to crack the starting lineup after the 1986 season. He would leave the team after the 1988 season. One of many first rounders to achieve next to nothing.
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