No draft pick is guaranteed to have a nice professional career. Scouts spend hundreds and hundreds of hours scouting players. Checking players background, friends, durability, injury history, and game film is a lot easier said than done. This list isn’t going to include players that battled injury because that is just bad luck. A ‘bust’ should be a player that was healthy and got the opportunity to succeed. Some of these players were never given a chance to grow up through the college experience. The crowds some of these young men were brought up with never went away and it’s the first time in their life they have real spending cash and a lot of bad decisions are made. It’s nice to see former players that were busts make good comebacks. Sam Bradford for instance, can’t be considered a bust because that is just terrible luck what has transpired in his career. Injuries have derailed the former Heisman trophy winner’s legacy.
- Charles Rogers, WR Michigan State University, #2 pick Detroit Lions, 2003
- Charles Rogers was once the best player in college football and had one of the brightest futures in football. Rogers, was one of the top talents to ever come out of college. Rogers put up Antonio Brown type numbers his two seasons at MSU. His Soph. season he had 67 catches, 1,470 yards receiving averaging 21 yards per catch. He also had 14 TD’s. His Junior season he had 68 catches, 1,351 yards and 19 yards per catch with 13 TD’s. He earned All-American honors and had a storybook transition into the NFL by getting drafted by the Lions, staying in Michigan. His NFL career puts him on this list. He had a grand total of 36 catches, 440 yards and 4 TD’s in a 3 year career. Rogers was a legend long before he became a legendary bust.
- Trent Richardson, RB Alabama Crimson Tide, #3 pick in 2012 NFL Draft
- Trent Richardson played running back for the powerhouse Alabama Crimson Tide. He was, to say the least, a monster in between the tackles and was very dynamic in college. The Browns thought they had their future face of the franchise running back. In 2011, Trent Richardson couldn’t do what former Tide RB did, win the Heisman. Richardson finished 3rd that year. His final year in the SEC, he finished with 1,679 yards and 21 TD’s and another 358 yards receiving and 3 TD’s in an offense that doesn’t usually feature the RB in the passing game. All those yards were check downs and making something out of nothing.
- Josh Hamilton, Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, NC, #1 pick in 1999 MLB Draft
- Hamilton is the most unusual situation to make this list because he persevered through serious adversity. He was once a 5 tool prospect, including being one of the most gifted pitching prospects scouts had seen. His senior year he was 7-1 in 47 innings with 83 K’s. His fastball was clocked as high as 96 MPH. Hamilton hit over .500 with a lot of home runs and an arm like a cannon and top-level speed. He was as close to a sure thing in baseball as they come. Baseball is the hardest sport to succeed in. No top pick is a sure thing these days. There is no player that hit rock bottom faster than Josh Hamilton, who was banned from baseball for 3 years after he fell into a drug addiction. He was addicted to crack cocaine and pills. Hamilton was homeless, barely coherent and had attempted suicide. No player has picked themselves back up like Hamilton did. In 2005, be surfaced with the Rangers and became a 5 time all-star and AL MVP. It’s sad that Hamilton is considered a ‘bust’ because of what he overcame. The phrase “what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger,” seems to hold true in Hamilton’s case. Ironic quote he gave to Sports Illustrated writer back in high school when asked about dating and why he WASN’T going to attend the senior prom.I can’t have anything bad happen to me now,” he says. “If I’m put in an awkward situation…there’s too much on the line.- Josh Hamilton in High School leading up to the MLB draft.
- Adam Morrison, SF, Gonzaga University, #3 pick in 2006 NBA Draft
- While at Gonzaga, Adam Morrison could get his shot wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Morrison shedding tears with 7 seconds left and still the game within reach, gave up. That catapulted his downward spiral in basketball. After averaging 28 ppg in his final year at Gonzaga he was taken by the Charlotte Bobcats with the number 3 overall pick. The Bobcats could have taken Brandon Roy, Rajon Rondo, or Kyle Lowry, who were all selected later in the draft.
- Kwame Brown, Glynn Academy, Brunswick, GA, #1 Pick in the 2001 NBA Draft
- Brown was selected number 1 overall by the great Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, Brown never figured out the NBA game. A few years in college against bigger bodies would have been huge for Brown. He wasn’t ready but he was such a unique physical specimen. Kwame wasn’t given much of a chance out of the gate with MJ, who was incredibly hard on the 19 year-old. It’s incredible to think what a few years in college could have done for Brown. He ended up making a nice 12 year career as a role-player with the Lakers. Although he never ended living up to the hype of the top pick, Brown revived his career with the Lakers. After taking some time to let his body heal, he signed on to play with Ice Cube and the BIG3 League on Gary Payton’s team. Although he is on this list, he’s made a decent career. Imagine what we would think of Kwame Brown if he was given a fair chance instead of the hype surrounding him.
- Darko Milicic, SF, Serbia, #2 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft
- Darko was the product of one of the most successful drafts in recent memory. The Detroit Pistons, drafted Darko Milicic with the number 2 pick after Lebron James. The Pistons for some insane reason thought that Darko was going to be the next Dirk. They selected him ahead of Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Boss. All 3 with multiple all-star appearances and Wade and Bosh chipping in some Championships. He played in over 450 games, averaging a very unimpressive 6 points per game.
- Jamarcus Russel, QB, LSU, #1 pick 2007 NFL Draft
Jamarcus Russel should have never been the top pick, but Raiders Owner Al Davis, RIP, loved that ‘sexy’ pick. Russel was definitely the sexy pick with his big arm. Basically if you were a QB in a major conference and you have arm like that, Davis will pick you up. You can be the worst QB ever, like Russel, just having an explosive arm got him paid. Russel’s career was over from the beginning when he was handed his signing bonus, which included 39 million dollars, GUARANTEED… Do we need to continue? I will because I am a Chargers fan and I know a thing or 2 about drafting a Bust, keep reading to find that one out. Any chance I can bring down the Raiders I will. Russel had 4,000 yards, 18 TD’s 23 Interceptions. 39 million guaranteed?
- Brian Bosworth, LB, Oklahoma State Sooners
- There was Brian Bosworth and then there was “The Boz”, his alter-ego. A recent 30 for 30 shows teh best of the Boz, told by Brian Bosworth the person. Although Bosworth wasn’t technically drafted because he was ruled ineligible for steroid use in College, he had tons of question marks but talent wise, there was little to nobody better. The Boz brought it all on himself, he was very immature and selfish. The man Brian Bosworth is today is not even close to his days as ‘the Boz’. His career with the Seahawks was very short-lived, especially when he kept running his mouth about crushing Bo Jackson, until Jackson blew him up on the goal line to score a TD on Prime Time TV.
- Michael Olowokandi, C, Pacific University, #1 Pick LA Clippers
- You can make an argument that Olowokandi is a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf. The players taken after the ‘Kandi’ man as they nicknamed him had very successful careers. The Clippers past on Mike Bibby, Antawn Jameson, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Dirk Nowitzki, just to name a few. That has to keep clippers fans up at night. The Kandi man was kind of an unknown dominating the competition at Pacific University. He averaged 22 ppg his final year in college. That was enough for the Clippers, who made him the number 1 pick that year. He only averaged 8 ppg in his career.
- Ryan Leaf, QB, Washington State University
- Ryan Leaf is the GOAT of draft busts. The man who was neck and neck with Peyton Manning on being the number 1 overall pick. A few voices in the Colts front office actually wanted to draft Leaf over Manning, that’d be a devastating change in the order of NFL history. The Montana Product chose playing QB at Washington State over playing LB at Miami. In his final season, he threw for 330 YPG, 34 TD, he finished 3rd in Heisman Voting behind Peyton and Charles Woodson. Leaf was also Pac 10 POY. An injury and general personality got him into a lot of trouble. Pretty much immediately losing the locker room after he “attempted” to get in Junior Seau’s face, not sure his thinking there. Face of the franchise Junior Seau was having none of it and put him in check real quick. Leaf never chose to listen to any teammates and then began an addiction to narcotics. The one time big name QB, turned addict, turned criminal has now made the most of his second chance at life and is mentoring young people about life, happiness, and how to live the best life you can because he saw the worst side of life, however he still is the GOAT of Busts.
There are so many more players we can argue can be on this list. The uncertainty of how a young man is going to perform with grown men is the whole excitement of the Draft. The draft is the beginning of a process, a process that only the mentally strong and discipline can conquer. It’s not always just about talent, if you don’t have the brains to go along with it you can sing faster than the Titanic. For these players that happened, some of them were able to come out OK, but for a lot of them, they had nothing else to fall back on.
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