The Top 10, Top 10 Busts! – Banner League Division Names

He’s back… After a loooong summer vacation, the Caveman blogger is ready to bust out a plethora of columns for the 2009 football season!

First off, the highly anticipated “Banner Division” names column. Each year I put together a column to name the divisions in my work fantasy football league. In 2007 the theme was “worst NFL head coaches” and last year it was “greatest sports chokes”. This year, despite many hours spent contemplating, I was drawing a blank.

I had a couple good ideas, like “teams with a roster full of the least likeable people in the world” (Yankees) or “teams that peaked too early but failed to win a title” (Yankees 2009). I had a couple good football ideas – “worst starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl” and “all-time fantasy single season killers”. But each idea has a fatal flaw – not enough depth in the quarterbacks in the Super Bowl to make a decent column and too much subjectivity and research on the fantasy killers.

Shortly after 2009 NFL draft, I was thinking about how Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez will be gargantuan NFL busts and it hit me – NFL draft busts! I quickly gathered some criteria:

• Player had to be draft in the Top 10
• Post-merger
• More weight was given to the higher picks
• Another, better, option was available. Quarterback A was selected and Quarterback B was available, Quarterback B had a hall of fame career.
• More grace is given for an injury riddled career versus plain Joshua 23suckage or self-induced destruction

Here is my list of the 10 biggest top-10 draft pick busts. The top two will be the names of the Banner Fantasy divisions and the other eight will have a 2009 Banner Fantasy league award in their (dis) honor.

10. Kevin Allen, T – Philadelphia Eagles #9 pick in 1985. The Eagles plan worked to perfection in the 1985 draft as they picked up a “franchise” tackle in Allen in the first round and then got their franchise quarterback, Randall Cunningham in round two. Allen, when he wasn’t protecting Cunningham’s blind-side, would be acting as a road grater in Philadelphia’s powerful running game. Bring on the Lombardi’s!

Not so fast Eagle fans! Allen showed up to camp looking like the character Robert Downey Jr played in “Less Than Zero” (right now every guy who saw that movie shuddered thinking about the scene where Downey was “working” for his fix). The franchise tackle tested positive for cocaine in his first training camp.

Allen started a mere four games and was less than stellar, prompting then Eagles coach Buddy Ryan to comment, “Kevin Allen is a good football player, if you want someone to stand around and kill the grass.” I have a boatload of crab-grass in my backyard I wonder if this guy is a available!

The Eagles waived Allen after one colossal disappointing season. Soon after Allen regained the aggressiveness that made a top 10 pick, unfortunately this was at the expense of a young female whom Allen sexually assaulted. A conviction followed and Allen never returned to the NFL.

Award: “The Kevin Allen award for crash and burn at takeoff “

9. Mike Junkin, LB – Cleveland Browns #5 pick in 1987. I am firm believer that when you want a player, you draft them regardless of how early, bottom line you don’t leave it to chance. That’s exactly what the Browns did in 1987 in drafting Junkin with the 5^th pick overall, problem is Junkin was projected to a 5^th
rounder. So for you fantasy enthusiasts, that would be like an owner taking Brett Favre in the first round!

Flash back to draft 1987 and Junkin decides to go for a late morning, early afternoon quail hunt. He figures to back in time to see the 4^th round, just in time to fry up the “catch” from earlier and hear his name called. Imagine his disappointment when he gets home and his pops tells him he went 5^th –
“Really, I thought for sure I could be a 4^th rounder”, dad – “No son, you went 5^th overall, 1^st round, we’re rich!” This was Junkin’s lottery ticket and how many people, after winning the lottery, continue to work their job? Not many!

Junkin rewarded the Browns confidence with seven starts in two un-eventful years. Let’s forget the fact that the Browns passed on Shane Conlan and instead focus on the 45 linebackers drafted after Junkin that had more productive careers. Of course, I had a more productive career for the Browns than Junkin did.

Award: “The Mike Junkin award for biggest draft day reach”

8. Todd Blackledge, QB – Kansas City Chiefs #7 pick in 1983. You’re the Chiefs, you need a quarterback and the 1983 draft is a quarterback utopia featuring six top rated quarterbacks. You have the 7^th pick so you’re pretty confident in getting one of those quarterbacks. Sure enough, you have your pick of all but Elway and you choose, Todd Blackledge. People get fired over decisions like that!

Blackledge had a fair career, throwing for almost 5300 career yards, but considering the Chiefs could have picked Jim Kelly or Dan Marino, Blackledge has to be considered a gigantic bust and yes, it did cost Chiefs president Jack Steadman his job. Hell, the Chiefs would have done ok with Tony Eason or Ken O’Brien. Or maybe go with a hall of fame offensive lineman, Bruce Matthews.

The lowlights – a 6 (yes, 6!) interception game at home against the Los Angeles Rams in 1985 and posting a Rex Grossman-like 60.2 career quarterback rating.

Award: “The Todd Blackledge award for playing quarterback Russian Roulette and drawing the bullet.”

7. Andre Ware, QB – Detroit Lions #7 pick in 1990. It’s tough to blame the Lions for using the #7 pick on Ware, after all he was the Heisman trophy winner and set several NCAA passing records. Most importantly, there was no evidence that a “Run and Shoot” quarterback would fail miserably in the NFL.

Ware compiled 1112 career passing yards, a total he would throw for in roughly two college games. After leaving the Lions as free agent, he cut three times before finishing his career in NFL Europe. Whoa! I guess the local semi-pro team was all set at quarterback.

As a top 10 pick in the NFL, Ware makes a pretty good ESPN color commentator.

Award: “The Andre Ware award for being a product of the system”

6. Reggie Rogers, DE – Detroit Lions #7 pick in 1987. 1987 was perhaps the worst top 10 in the history of the NFL draft – 2 top 10’s, and three others in consideration (Kelly Stouffer, Brent Fullwood and Alonzo Highsmith). Rogers is clearly the top bust of that group, a pass rushing specialist notched two sacks in one NFL season.

Unfortunately, Rogers tale is a truly sad, one of self destruction. Rogers has rung up DUI’s the way a top 10 pick generally collects pro bowl appearances, with at least six to his name including one all the way back while he was in college. Shame on the Lions, they knew of this and still took the chance.

He was convicted vehicular homicide while driving under the influence in 1988 and served 16 months in prison. The career that never really began was effectively over.

Award: “The Reggie Rogers award for doing your due diligence and ignoring a checkered past”

5. Rich Campbell, QB – Green Bay Packers #6 pick in 1981. When the Packers drafted Campbell in 1981, Cheesehead nation was confident they had the next Bart Starr and a player that would lead them to the Promised Land. Well, Campbell may have lead many people to the Promised Land, but not as a quarterback. He became a Baptist Minister after a four year, seven game career with the Packers.

When looking up Campbell’s stats, I had to double check and make sure I wasn’t looking at stats for an offensive lineman. I also think it’s safe to say that opposing defensive backs were salivating when Campbell came into the game, as he had a very Jake Delhomme-esque nine picks in 68 passes.

Award: “The Rich Campbell award for I could be doing something more productive on Sunday than watching my fantasy stats like a teenage boy viewing his first skin flick”

4. Ki-Jana Carter, RB – Penn State #1 pick in 1995. Ki-Jana has the special distinct as being the only #1 overall pick on the list. He had solid numbers, 1144 yards and 21 TDs, if it were for a single season but those were his career numbers and amazingly he played seven seasons. How about this telling stat of mediocrity – he averaged 19.4 yards per game. Other running back busts, like Lawrence Phillips (41.5 yards per game), Curtis Enis (41.6 YPG) and even Blair Thomas (34.9 YPG) had significantly better numbers.

In fairness to Carter, he blew out his knee during the pre-season of his rookie campaign and seemingly never recovered. Without the injury he would have certainly run up at least 1500 yards and 25 TDs! Yep, in my personal opinion he would have been a bust either way.

Award: “The Ki-Jana Carter award for perpetual mediocrity”

3. Akili Smith, QB – Oregon #3 pick in 1999. 1999 was another year filled with a group of tremendous quarterbacks, with Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb, Akili Smith, Duante Culpepper and Cade McNown all going in the first 12 picks. However, Smith, McNabb and Couch were regarded as a cut above the other two. The teams (Cleveland, Philadelphia and Cincinnati) with the first three picks all needed a quarterback. Cincinnati was basically left in the position to take whomever fell to them.

Now this is the Bengals, so the player that dropped to them was Akili and the rest is history. The real question is what would the Bengals have done with the number two pick? That would have happened, if not for squeaking out a one point in week 16 the previous season. I am not a betting man (ok, I am) but my money would have been on the Bengals ending up with Smith whether they picked second or first, for that matter. I mean they wouldn’t be the Bengals if they made good decisions, right?

Smith was another product of a fantastic college system, which granted him the freedom to make plays against lesser competition. In sharp contrast, playing quarterback is as tasking mentally as it is physically. Unfortunately, Akili Smith fell short in the mental part of the game and was out of the league within four years.

His final numbers – 3-14 record as a starter, 2212 yards passing and a 52.8 quarterback rating. Akili Smith’s career resembled Enron stock – from a peak in October 1999 to a virtual end in December 2001.

Award: “The Akili Smith award for catching a falling knife”

Before I unveil the Banner division names in the top two biggest top-10 draft busts, I want to list the players that came oh so close, the dis-honorable mention, if you will:

Larry Stegent, RB, #8/1970 – An injury effective cut his career short. Makes the list if drafted higher

Charles Rogers, WR, #2/2003 – Very productive in his time in the league, two injuries and a drug suspension truncated a promising career. Too productive in his limited time

Lawrence Phillips, RB, #6/1996 – Again, LP was productive for a time, showing flashes of greatness, but probably would be number #11, just outside.

Mike Williams, WR, #10/2005 – Sat out a year on the Maruice Clarett decision, big mistake as he never recovered. A lot of grace is extended for a #10 pick.

Kelly Stouffer, QB, #6/1987 – Drafted by the Cardinals to light a fire under Neil Lomax. Never signed with the Cardinals and never hit his potential.

Bruce Pickens, CB, #3/1991 – I remember when he got drafted I told a buddy – “How did that happen? This guy sucked at Nebraska.” So, that’s when the league didn’t bother to look at whether a guy could actually play football and relied on stats like 40 time, bench press and vertical jump.

Trev Alberts, LB, #5/1994 – This guy had more elbow problems than Tommy John and it effectively cut his career short.

Brian Jozwiak, G, #7/1986 – Three seasons and 28 games was pretty tough to overlook, but at the end of the day he was a Guard, maybe the most “meh” position in the league. Can you imagine the Chiefs fans on draft day 1986 – “Sweet, Keith Byars is there and we need a running back”. “WTF? Who is Josweack?”

Jamal Reynolds, DE, #10/2001 – 18 games in three injury riddled seasons. Funny thing I would have bet anything this guy was the next Bruce Smith.

On to the top-2:

2. Art Schlichter, QB – Ohio State #4 pick in 1982. I bet you didn’t see this coming! For as long as I have been a fan of football, I have seen productive NFL players get chance after chance. It’s wildly understated that Schlichter had (has) personal problems which certainly did not help him in his profession. But the reality is even he had escaped the demons he would have making this list, he just wasn’t good enough. How do I know? As grave as his problems were, teams weren’t lining up to get him.

How about short list of Schlichter by the numbers:

0 – wins as a starting quarterback. Yea, I am pretty sure the Colts were betting they would get a little more out of him

3 – Career touchdown passes, thus killing any fantasy team owner that gambled on him back mid 80s

42.6 – No, it’s not some vig percentage paid to bookies – it’s Schlichter’s career passer rating. For the record that is lower than the, (spoiler alert), #1 bust.

Those are ugly numbers. To make matters worse he killed the Colts franchise wise and in many ways was the catalyst for the ultimate move to Indianapolis. Had Schlichter been productive, they Colts never get raped by Elway and the Broncos, further maybe the city of Baltimore would have been more willing to fulfill the request of Colts ownership for improvements to their stadium.

And, maybe, the Colts don’t pull a Bill Murray in Stripes and sneak out in the middle of the night to Indianapolis. Over-Under on the number of Schlichter fans in Balitmore – .5, I will take the under!

1. Ryan Leaf, QB – Washington State #2 pick in 1998. I wish I had the ability to go back in time to change the details of an event, to see how things would play out differently. One event I would definitely change is the 1998 draft – I would have the Colts select Leaf and the Chargers take Manning.

How does that play out? Well we now know the Manning family felt that San Diego was similar to Archie’s Saints teams (perennial losers), so there is a good chance the Mannings would have pulled something to get Peyton out of San Diego. Maybe they would’ve forced a deal to Philadelphia and Manning could have played his career with sub-standard WR and the most un-imaginative head coach in the NFL. We also know that the Colts roster was stocked with better talent (a hall of fame receiver and running back on the roster) and the Colts had a better coaching staff (by default, Kevin Gillbride is nominee for worst NFL head coach ever).

Could it be possible that Leaf would be Manning and vice versa? I highly doubt it, though remember coming into 1998 draft Manning’s only perceived advantage over Leaf was that he was more “polished”. Virtually everyone agreed that Leaf had better physical tools and more importantly had a personality conducive to playing quarterback in the NFL. Manning was seen as too uptight and there were serious concerns (this has played out to be true) about his ability to win the “big” game.

The Chargers were so confident in either quarterback that they gave up quite a haul to move from #3 to #2, included in the deal were Pro Bowl returner Eric Metcalf, two first round picks, a second round pick and Patrick Sapp.

I would call this “karmic” payback for the Schlichter, that the Colts were able to see what Leaf for what he really was – a Nuke Laloosh, a guy with a million dollar arm and nickel head. Ironically, the Colts magically made a similar decision the very next year by selecting Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams, which may have been the best two back-to-back decisions by GM (Bill Polian) in the history of the NFL.

Leaf’s career started well, winning his first two games as a rookie despite throwing for less than 200 yards in each game and a mere one touchdown. Those two games represent half of the total wins in Leaf’s career. He finished with a career record of 4-17 as a starter and threw a whopping 36 interceptions in 25 games.

My lasting image of Ryan Leaf in the NFL – a game in Seattle where backed-up on his own goalline, as Leaf drops to pass it is very apparent he is completely confused, he gets Jim Everett happy feet and then fires a 100-MPH ball in the middle of the field in to a crowd of, literally, five Seattle DBs, the ball is tipped and intercepted.

But not all is lost, Ryno, you got a full year of glory in the Banner Fantasy league!