March 9, 2012

Greg's Top Ten Worst Draft Busts (1-5 Today, 6-10 Tomorrow):

1. JaMarcus Russell: Some people say a player can't be called a bust due to injuries, but do injuries to the brain count? It would take a Herculean act of incompetence to actually unseat Ryan Leaf from the #1 spot on this list, but leave it to JaMarcus to actually manage the feat. I can't recall ever seeing a player fail so miserably at living up to the expectation set by being the #1 overall pick in an NFL draft as Russell did after being taken #1 overall in 2007 by the Oakland Raiders. It's not that his numbers were bad, they were absolutely pathetic in the worst sense and he didn't even both trying. The "didn't even bother trying" part is the key. He was consistently overweight, showed no desire to improve his skills and alienated himself from coaches and teammates. He lasted just three seasons in the NFL, about as long as he needed to rob the Raiders of millions of dollars.

2. Ryan Leaf: The only thing he did that Russell didn't is try to be a decent NFL quarterback. Outside of that he was about as miserable a draft pick as any other bust in NFL history. It didn't help that he was picked right after one of the greatest players in NFL history, Peyton Manning, who was taken by the Colts one pick before Leaf went to San Diego, who reportedly tried to trade the pick. While Manning was showing up to the NFL rookie symposium with notebooks full of information, Leaf showed up looking like he had come back from a weekend binge in Vegas - because instead of studying he DID have a weekend binge in Vegas. That was just the beginning of what was yet to come. Leaf's finest hour as a player on the field - week 3 in 1998 at Kansas City when Leaf was 1 of 15 passing for four yards with 2 interceptions. He finished his rookie year with a quarterback rating of 39.0 which is about as good a rating as your mother could get playing with Aaron Rodgers on Madden 2012.

3. Lawrence Phillips: Look up the word douchebag in Webster's Dictionary and there might be a photo of Lawrence Phillips. The Rams were so enamored with Phillips' performance as a collegiate athlete that they traded Jerome Bettis to the Pittsburgh Steelers the same day they picked Phillips #6 overall in the 1996 NFL Draft. Bettis went on to become a future Hall of Fame rusher with over 13,000 rushing yards to his name. Phillips is currently serving a 31 year prison sentence for attacking his girlfriend and driving his car into three teenagers. In between being drafted and sentenced he managed to pile up a laundry list of criminal violations and team suspensions. He will probably be best remembered by 49ers fans as being the running back that help end Steve Young's career when Phillips, the a 49er, missed a pass rush block that ended with Cardinals safety Aeneas Williams concussing Young who was forced to retire shortly after the blow.

4. Charles Rogers: Rogers was not one of former Lions GM Matt Millen's finest moments. Taken #2 overall in the 2003 NFL Draft, Rogers was supposed to help bolster a weak receiving core for the Lions, who were in desperate need of help at the position. What Rogers ended up doing was amassing just 36 receptions for 440 yards and four touchdowns in his three year NFL career. In 2005 Rogers was suspended for four games for his third substance abuse violation. He was released by the Lions shortly thereafter and has not played in the NFL since. For a little context of just how bad Rogers was in comparison to his colleagues, Andre Johnson was taken one pick later and has nearly 10,000 receiving yards to Rogers' 440.

5. Akili Smith: The 1999 NFL Draft once took on comparisons to the great NFL Draft in 1983 when three Hall of Fame quarterbacks were selected (Dan Marino, John Elway & Jim Kelly) in the first round. The 1999 NFL Draft boasted five quarterbacks taken in the first round in Tim Couch, Cade McNown, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper and Akili Smith. If McNabb was the cream of the crop, then Smith was bottom of the barrel. Simply put, Smith couldn't read defenses. He completely failed to grasp the speed and intellect needed to thrive at the NFL level. 5 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in four years was all the Bengals needed to know he was an abject failure as the 3rd overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. Two picks later the Eagles would select McNabb and reach the NFC Title Game nearly half a dozen times with him under center.