Breaking down one of the riskiest draft moves by the Oakland Raiders over the past 25 years:

Round/overall selection: First, 23rd

Did the risk pay off? In a word, no. Especially when you consider the Raiders actually traded up three spots to get cornerback Fabian Washington out of Nebraska after his "workout warrior" performance at the 2005 combine. Washington, who posted a 40 time of 4.29 seconds, lasted just three seasons with the Raiders. He started 28 of 45 games and made five interceptions before being traded for a fourth-round draft pick, No. 125 overall, to the Baltimore Ravens. "I don't blame them at all," Washington later told The Baltimore Sun of the Raiders. "I blame myself. I was the one on the field. If I was playing well, I would still be there right now. I was playing terrible. At the time, I would have traded myself if I was playing that bad." The Raiders deemed him expendable after he lost his starting job to Stanford Routt and the team acquired DeAngelo Hall, who proved to be such a bust he was cut after eight games and making $8 million. Routt then started opposite Nnamdi Asomugha. Washington last played in an NFL game in 2010. The Raiders, you might say, compounded their problem in that 2005 draft by doubling down in the second round and drafting another cornerback in Routt, who ran a 4.27-second 40 time at the combine. The Raiders are still looking for their first winning season since 2002.

Was there a safer move? No doubt. The guy drafted exactly one slot after Washington was just about to get started on his Hall of Fame career when Washington was traded to the Ravens. Aaron Rodgers sat for three years with the Green Bay Packers before taking over for Brett Favre. Rodgers, a five-time Pro Bowler, has won a Super Bowl and two league MVP awards since then. Wait, you say the Raiders were not necessarily in the market for a quarterback that year with Kerry Collins already entrenched as the starter? Then why did they use their third-round pick on Arizona State's Andrew Walter? Oakland could have had Rodgers in the first round and likely Washington or definitely Routt, who was more serviceable than Washington, in the second. The situation is reminiscent of 1991, when the Raiders gambled on USC's Todd Marinovich at No. 24 overall when Favre went nine picks later, and 1983, when the Raiders took offensive lineman Don Mosebar at No. 26, one spot before Dan Marino was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. How, you may ask, is JaMarcus Russell not noted here despite being the biggest bust in NFL history? He was the consensus No. 1 pick in 2007, so there was little perceived risk on draft day.