10 biggest NFL draft busts in UCLA football history
By Josh Yourish
No. 31 overall. Robert Thomas, LB. 9. player. 51. 2002. Robert Thomas, LB. Robert Thomas. .
Thomas was the heart of the UCLA defense, winning the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award in 2001, his final season in the program. So, it was time for Thomas to make the jump to the NFL, and after losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Rams selected Thomas 31st overall to help sure up their run defense.
Over his first three years with the Rams, Thomas was a regular at inside linebacker, playing 42 games with 30 starts and 164 tackles. However, near the end of training camp before 2005, the Rams traded him to Green Bay for cornerback Chris Johnson. His value had fallen dramatically and the Rams were more interested in salvaging the asset, so Thomas played the 2005 season in Green Bay.
After that year, Thomas signed in Oakland with the Raiders for the final three years of his career, only once (2007) topping 50 tackles in a year. Thomas was a serviceable starting linebacker who played 84 games in his NFL career, but the Rams’ willingness to move on after just three seasons lands him on this list as a first-round bust.