Top NFL Busts: From Hero to Zero (Part 1)
When new players come to the NFL, they are usually picked later in the draft; this is due to the fact that they are basically unknowns. But some players have a big name before they start playing professionally and most of them live up to their names. There
are of course those few newbies who start in the NFL with great expectations, and then fail to deliver. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top ten players who busted in the NFL.
Few rookie players who come to the NFL have a big ego. Brian Bosworth, also known as “The Boz” is one of those whose head is a little too big. After signing with the Seattle Seahawks for $11 million, Bosworth wasted no time in showing off. He cut his hair
in flamboyant ways, tried to sue the NFL to wear his college number on his league jersey, and wrote his autobiography after his rookie year. Talk about arrogant.
While playing at the University of Oklahoma, Bosworth failed a steroid test, and was not allowed to play in the Orange Bowl. To retaliate, he stood at the sidelines of the game wearing a shirt that stated his personal definition of the NCAA; “National Communists
Against Athletes.” When he played for the Seahawks, he suffered injuries throughout his three years in the NFL which did not support the Seahawk’s decision to give him his record-breaking contract. After leaving the NFL, Bosworth filmed many over-the-top and
pompous movies, much like himself, including the box office bust, “Stone Cold.”
At number nine on the list, we have Tony Mandarich. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “The Incredible Bulk” and was also called "the best offensive line prospect ever." Mandarich claimed that his enormous size was from heavy
weight lifting, and consuming a lot of calories. But later, he admitted that he had used steroids to increase his mass for five years before the draft. After that, Mandarich’s career went down the drain. He had a major attitude problem, and did not perform
well at all, due to an addiction to alcohol and painkillers, and was cut from his initial team, the Green Bay Packers. Many thought that being able to bench-press 225 pounds a record 39 times and running the 40 in a little over 4.5 seconds would make him a
great player, but the 304 pound offensive lineman failed to deliver.
Three years after “The Incredible Bulk” appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he made another cover appearance, but this time proclaiming him “The Incredible Bust.” He then came back to the NFL, playing for the Indianapolis Colts, for two
years and played better than he did for the Packers, but still not to his initial high expectations. He retired in 1998 and now runs his own business, the Mandarich Media Group, which specializes in photo and video production, internet marketing, search engine
optimization, and web design.
Tim Couch was a Heisman Trophy finalist coming from the University of Kentucky, where he was named “Mr. Football” and was first pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. After being rated the number six best high school athlete ever, Couch came to the NFL and crashed.
The Cleveland Browns, who picked Couch, were hastily assembled and did not have proper training or playbook. This led to an inexperienced offensive line, which caused Couch to suffer many injuries during his career. After he was cut from the Browns in 2004,
Couch contacted all 32 NFL teams, in the hope that one might recruit him, but they all said that they had no interest in pursuing him. During the 2007 season, the NFL banned Couch from playing, after it was reported that he had taken human growth hormones
and anabolic steroids while recovering from his second shoulder surgery. Couch has left the NFL, for now, and is an analyst on the Big Blue Sports Network, for the Kentucky Wildcats games.
In the next article, we will take a look at more of the top busts in the NFL.
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