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Home Page >> Football Knowledge >> Football History
The five biggest flops in football history?

Here's mine:
Ryan Leaf
Drew Henson
Maurice Clarett
Lawrence Phillips
Marcus Vick

Honorable mention:
Demetrius Summers
Tony Mandarich
Akili Smith

If you look at results vs. draft position and hype, Ryan Leaf is certainly top of the list (hard to believe in hindsight that some people thought Indy should've taken him over Manning). As for the rest of my top 5:

Ki-Jana Carter (RB, #1 pick in 1995, ran for 1144 yards in his illustrious career, though to be fair it was a knee injury in his very first preseason game that really ruined him - we don't know what he might've done otherwise)
Steve Emtman (DE, #1 pick in 1992, had a grand total of 8 sacks in 6 years and only played in 50 games - just over 3 years' worth - due to constant injuries)
Rick Mirer (QB, #2 pick in 1993, "the Next Joe Montana" finished his career with 50 TDs, 76 INTs, and completed just barely over half his passes)
Kenneth Sims (DE, #1 pick in 1982, had a grand total of 17 sacks in 8 years, and like Emtman was constantly felled by injuries - finally released after the '89 season when he was busted for cocaine possession)

Honorable mentions to Curtis Enis, Akili Smith, Todd Marinovich, Brian Bosworth, Andre Wadsworth, Aundray Bruce, and Dan McGwire.

If you want to look at a flop-loaded draft, 1998 might take the cake. Leaf, Wadsworth, and Enis were all top five draft picks that year, and all three of them were basically done within three years. Wadsworth and Enis never played again after 2000, and Leaf's career was finished after four games with the Cowboys in 2001.

Maurice Clarett shouldn't be considered a bust because eveyone had low expections of him to begin with.

Ryan Leaf
Joey Harrington
Cade McNown
Akili Smith
Todd Marinovich
Curtis Enis
Lawrence Phillips
Demetrius Underwood
Rashaan Salaam
Brian Bosworth Report It

Ryan Leaf is for sure at the top. Not sure I would say Phillips though, and if I did I would put pothead ahead of him. I honestly can't even think of his name. I mean it is right there but I can't get it out. As to Clarett he ISN'T on my list. He never truly made the NFL. It was a mistake to draft him but that was Denver's mistake. As to Marcus Vick the man hasn't really even played. I wouldn't have picked him up but at least it was undrafted and wasn't really expected to be anything as far as that.
Oh and just remembered I was trying to think of Ricky Williams. He is a bust because he has the TALENT, but he has no intrest in the game. He plays because he can't pay for his contract to get out of it.

The biggest player flops of mine are listed below:

Ryan Leaf

Joey Harrigton (For the Lions at least)

David Carr (...)

Maurice Clarett (If GOD gave me his talent I would be playing for M.I.T. right now!)

Ki-Jana Carter

Tim Couch (I guess he just sat on the couch all day...okay not funny)



Worst Trades and signings:

1. Trading Champ Bailey for Clinton Portis

2. Trading Randy Moss away

3. Drafting a whole bucnh of usless WRs (Detroit, besides Roy Williams)

4. Mike Jenkins and Shordy White (Who the f are these guys?)

5. Titans signing Kerry Collins

6. EDGErin James going to Arizona

7. San Francsioc for not resgining Julian Peterson

ryan leaf akili smith tim couch tony mandarich gerard warren just to name a few

#1 yeah we agree on Ryan Leaf.But some of your names there don't make too much sense because they never had a chance to even fail. In my opinion if you are rating Drew Hanson on your list then you should have Bill Parcells on your list of greatest comeback coaching flops. The guy never got a chance to do anything obviously because the Tuna fell in love with Tony Romo. To put Henson in for a Thanksgiving game and not even let him finish the second half is not the player's fault or make him a bust. I dare a team to give him a real chance and let him try and see what he really has. So you should replace Henson on your list with another bad Parcells decision and put in Chad Huthcinson who got plenty of playing time and was a bust. Ok now my top five from my time respectfully.
1.Ryan Leaf - Manning or Leaf? a joke
2.Curtis Enis - Drafted before Fred Taylor?
3.R.J. Soward - Beat old Deon Sanders for lone career highlight
4.Tim Couch - Lost confidence too soon or never good at all?
5.Courtney Brown - 1st pick used on defense? Similar to Houston this year.
There are more but just was thinking off the top of my head.

This list would have to be saturated with overhyped and undertalented Notre Dame Players. . . Ron Powlus, . . . Rick Mirer. . . . ANd soon to add to the list. . .BRADY QUINN!

Guys like Henson, Clarett, and Vick didn't really come in with huge expectations. Henson gets notoriety by picking up paychecks in two sports without performing in either, and Clarett and Vick get notoriety for being trainwrecks.

Ryan Leaf and Tony Mandarich have platinum status in the club. Brian Bosworth was a total disappointmentt, even though many scouts claim to have seen it coming. Walt Patulski was, for a long time, considered the biggest bust ever taken number 1. Aundray Bruce, Jeff George, and Tom Cousineau give him a run for his money. Andre Wadsworth should get a nod too...people forget, but in the Manning-Leaf class he was widely regarded as "Most Likely to Succeed". Maybe not top 5, but he's never mentioned among the top.

1. Ryan Leaf
2. Tony Mandarich
3. Walt Patulski
4. Brian Bosworth
5. Aundray Bruce

"The guy never got a chance to do anything obviously because the Tuna fell in love with Tony Romo. To put Henson in for a Thanksgiving game and not even let him finish the second half is not the player's fault or make him a bust."

Your thinking of Drew Brees, not Drew Henson...

Somewhere in the top five you should include any OL the Raiders have drafted high in the last 15 years.

That's a good list, but I disagree with your calls of Drew Henson and Marcus Vick. The Cowboys thought Henson was going to be great. Most others weren't sure. He wasn't even sure, which was why he chose to play baseball first.

As for Marcus Vick, I really don't think anybody thought he was going to be great in the NFL either. As Phillips was, he would have been drafted as a quarterback high in the draft despite his off-the-field problems if anyone thought he was a superstar. But he wasn't. He made the NFL as a free agent wide receiver.

My list would be:
Ryan Leaf
Tony Mandarich
Lawrence Phillips
Maurice Clarett
Tim Couch

Crying Ryan Leaf (NFL) All talk and No action on the field! College level has to be Maurice Clarett, since he never made it to the NFL and now is spending 3 1/2 years in a Toledo prison for a conviction for aggravated assault and burglary!

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