Decade’s Top Draft Busts

by Tony | Dec 30, 2009 | NFL Draft, NFL History

With the end of the decade approaching, a lot of people are putting out top 10 lists for the decade–so of course we figured, why should we be any different?

Rather than talk more about hall of fame level players, though, we decided to take a different approach–who were the top draft busts for the decade?

The criteria we tried to stick to for defining a bust was this:

• Had to be a first round pick–it sucks when later round picks don’t pan out, but they don’t have the expectations of first round guys.
• Not playing for a lengthy period of time due to football related injuries doesn’t necessarily equal a bust (think Ki-Jana Carter or David Pollack).
• However, injury due to a guy being an idiot can qualify him for bust status (Andre Smith’s getting fat, holding out, Charles Rogers possibly making his bones more brittle by smoking dope, etc).
• Obviously guys from this year’s (and maybe last year’s) aren’t fully qualified busts–but first round guys should always contribute something in their first season, second at worst, so they can be on the list.
• The rest of the first round does influence things—so if there are a bunch of busts early (like in 2002), it may be less likely that a guy is a bust later in the round, because there was probably quality to pick from…

With that, here’s our list:

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