The Biggest QB Bust Debate… The Pick That Keeps On Busting

May 25, 2010

Read the opposing argument from Babe Ruthless.

This is a first for The Sports Debates.

Normally, our career validity debates are to determine which person was the better of greats with debates pitting Roger Federer versus Pete Sampras, Dave Duncan versus Leo Mazzone, and Joe Torre versus Bobby Cox versus Tony LaRussa. Not today, my friends! Today we debate a more dubious distinction…

I will give JaMarcus Russell some credit for his bust-worthiness, but in a one-on-one throw-down with Ryan Leaf, Russell doesn’t stand a CHANCE!

There are three reasons why Ryan Leaf claims the bust crown in this debate. Each one is irrefutable, and each offers a proverbial nail in the coffin to the case for JaMarcus Russell (the poor guy can’t even win in a debate about how bad he is).

Reason #1: Career Statistics

This one is simple, because the numbers don’t lie.

Games Played
Ryan Leaf, 25. JaMarcus Russell, 31.

Passing Attempts-Completions-Percentage
Ryan Leaf, 317-655-48.4 percent. JaMarcus Russell, 354-680-52.1 percent.

Passing Yards
Ryan Leaf, 3,666. JaMarcus Russell, 4,083.

Touchdowns
Ryan Leaf, 14. JaMarcus Russell, 18.

Interceptions
Ryan Leaf, 36. JaMarcus Russell, 23.

Passer Rating
Ryan Leaf, 50.0. JaMarcus Russell, 65.2.

In every single statistic of value for a quarterback, Ryan Leaf’s performance was worse than JaMarcus Russell’s. Leaf played in fewer games during his career, had a worse record, and threw fewer passes for fewer completions, fewer yards, and a worse completion percentage. He also threw for fewer touchdowns, more interceptions, and had a worse career passer rating. Statistically speaking, Ryan Leaf was a greater failure.

Reason #2: Breakdowns On AND Off the Field

For all of his bad performances, errant and (often) intercepted passes, JaMarcus Russell stood in the pocket (or on the sideline) and took it like a man! Not Ryan Leaf, though. Ryan Leaf, the big loser both then and now in the Manning versus Leaf debates of 1998, broke down one fate-filled night in September of 1998 and yelled at a reporter.

This would not be the only time that Leaf would allow his propensity as a head case to add shame-flavored icing onto his crap cake, either. Over a short three-year career, Leaf would also need to be pulled away from a heckling fan, and was caught playing a game of flag football while he was supposed to be rehabilitating from an injured shoulder (he was actually on suspension when this happened, for refusing to work out BECAUSE of the injured shoulder).

Reason #3: The Bust Saga Keeps Going and Going…

Here we sit, ten years after the “retirement” of Ryan Leaf from the NFL, and he continues to live as a laughingstock.

In May of 2009, Leaf was indicted on burglary and drug charges, and has recently been sentenced to ten years probation as a result. According to the charges, Leaf had illegally forced his way into the home of an injured football player to get his hands on the pain-killer Hydrocodone, which he had become addicted to the year prior.

And the Loser Winner Is…

Ryan Leaf has been a disaster ever since announcing his eligibility for the 1998 NFL Draft. He came into the draft that year a full 20 pounds overweight, and that was the HIGH point of his career. From that point he failed MISERABLY as a player, had multiple altercations with the public and press, and was involved in legal disputes over breaches of contract – all within three seasons of football.

Then, just to sweeten the pot, after his retirement he finds himself addicted to pain killers, which he ultimately tries to steal from one of the injured players he was coaching at the time.

It is a tragic story, and now that I have written it, I am torn between recommending Leaf as a candidate for the biggest NFL bust of all time, or recommending him as a candidate for the A&E’s television program Intervention. Either way, there can be no denying the fact that JaMarcus Russell’s shortcomings on the field PALE in comparison to the abysmal disappointments that Ryan Leaf has CONTINUED to dispense.

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Posted by Bleacher Fan

The Biggest QB Bust Debate… Defining Dead Weight

May 25, 2010

Read the opposing argument from Bleacher Fan.

When JaMarcus Russell was released by the Oakland Raiders he set the record for the shortest tenure of a quarterback taken with the first overall draft pick in the NFL’s history. His embarrassing three year stint with the Oakland Raiders, followed by his recent release, secures a lasting legacy for Oakland’s drafting of Russell as one of the worst football decisions of all time. Today’s debate compares Russell with another huge NFL failure – Ryan Leaf. While Russell’s poor performance proved to be ineffective on the football field, it is plenty effective at winning him the title of biggest draft bust.

JaMarcus Russell is the bigger bust both literally and figuratively. Even using ESPN’s flattering numbers, Russell’s 260 pounds outweighs Leaf’s 235 pounds by twenty five pounds. Considering they were both dead weight to their football teams, this adds insult to injury in this bust debate. Judging by more realistic numbers, Russell, the ineffective fatty, galumphed into camps with weights ranging from 275 to 300 plus pounds. While that sounds like a great starting point for a contestant on the Biggest Loser, it is probably not the ideal physique for a franchise quarterback. His personal battle of the bulge demonstrates that he either lacks the dedication or the desire to reach his full potential. Either way, Oakland was forced to bare the wide-load, a burden Ryan Leaf’s teams never had to shoulder.

Equally as important is the fact that Russell is a loser. That sounds harsh, and it is, but I mean that in a literal sense. Over the past three seasons with Oakland he has racked up a record of seven wins across 25 starts. This gives him the dubious honor of having the worst winning percentage of any quarterback taken with the first overall draft pick. Admittedly Leaf had an even worse career winning percentage, but I would argue that the expectations for Russell as the number one overall pick were different. Leaf was a second choice. He was selected after Peyton Manning came off the board, and cannot exactly be viewed or measured in the same regard as Russell when Russell was chosen above every other player in the 2007 draft. Sure, San Diego overpaid, but that is not a representation of how big a bust he is as much as it reflects how poor the Chargers front office was at making draft deals.

Both Russell and Leaf put up terrible numbers and failed to provide the locker room leadership so often associated with the quarterback position. But another area where Russell out-sucked Leaf was in terms of financial sabotage to their respective clubs. Leaf may have gotten a record breaking signing bonus of $11.25M, but Russell received more guaranteed money from Oakland – $31.5M to be exact – more than almost the whole of Ryan Leaf’s initial contract of $31.25M. Russell’s bust factor is compounded by the fact that he held out until September. So, not only did the Raiders epically overpay for their scrub, but he made them look foolish in the process. Numbers like these cannot simply be ignored. Russell is by far the more detrimental player in terms of financial impact.

Russell was chosen by the Raiders over cheaper and more serviceable options like Brady Quinn, Kevin Kolb, and Trent Edwards. Those are players who easily could have been acquired, not to mention the veteran talent that was available by moving the number one overall pick. If the second overall pick that was used to acquire Ryan Leaf can demand two first round picks and change, then certainly the Raiders could have traded down for something similar. Trading down could have truly helped the Raiders franchise.

JaMarcus Russell was supposed to live up to financial and talent expectations, a feat which he failed to come remotely close to completing.

We all know the sad ending to the Ryan Leaf saga, but Russell story is not yet finished. Who knows where rock bottom is for Russell? But, I am betting it is somewhere beneath Ryan Leaf’s in the history of biggest NFL busts.

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Posted by Babe Ruthless

The NFL 2010 Draft Likely Bust Debate… There is No Use Crying Over “Spiller”ed Milk

April 30, 2010

Read the opposing arguments from Babe Ruthless and Sports Geek.

For teams sitting among the top ten picks of the NFL draft each year there are generally two schools of thought when it comes to deciding who to select when the pressure is on and your team is on the clock. Do you take the player who best fits your team’s needs, or do you take the best available player?

While a case can be made for both strategies, I tend to find myself leaning more toward the side of the greatest team need. The notion that certain players are “too good to pass up,” even if you don’t need them, just seems foolish to me. That is like using your rent money to instead pay for a trip to Vegas just because “the deal was too good to pass up.”

Sure, you MIGHT get lucky and win enough to buy a house in the Hamptons, but odds are that by the time the trip is over you will have just wasted a lot of your time and money on flash that brought no real substance to your life.

More often than not, it is better to pay the rent first, THEN think about luxuries like a trip to Vegas. But when the Buffalo Bills selected running back C.J. Spiller as the ninth overall pick in the 2010 draft, it appeared that Chan Gailey and Buddy Nix just could not resist the impulse buy of a perceived “great steal.”

And a luxury is all that Spiller will be for the Bills. With Fred Jackson (over 1,000 yards on the ground last season) and Marshawn Lynch (who WOULD be amazing if he could stay out of trouble) already in the backfield, the Bills now have a very serious logjam at the running back position. Granted, that would be a high-class problem for some teams to have, but when you consider the fact that the Bills essentially have no quarterback and their offensive line couldn’t protect the guy in the pocket even if he WAS Jim Kelly reborn, depth at the running back position should be the LEAST of their concerns. Heck, it’s not even a concern, and THAT’S the concern.

Instead of addressing one of their VERY SERIOUS needs coming out of a disappointing six-win season, the Bills essentially decided that they were okay living in a run-down trailer park, as long as they had three Cadillacs sitting out in the front yard.

Is C.J. Spiller a tremendous athlete with great potential in the NFL? Sure.

Could he be the next Chris Johnson? Of course. But he could also be the next Curtis Enis, and the Bills are in no position to take that gamble right now.

While the Bills sit back and wait for Spiller to hopefully develop into LaDanian Tomlinson, their unimproved 30th-ranked rushing defense will continue to give up more points than their anemic, one-dimensional offense can match.

This creates a no-win situation for the Bills. Failure on the field will speak for itself, but his success will also detract from the team more than it can help it, because it will only come at the expense of an already successful running back (possibly two, if Lynch can keep his head on straight).

Even if Spiller develops into a Pro-Bowl caliber athlete for the Bills, he is ALREADY a draft bust. Not necessarily because he will fail on the field, but instead because he was the wrong choice for a team that will be unable to FULLY maximize his potential. He was not what the Bills needed, nor should he have been what they wanted. He is an unnecessary accessory that will simply distract from the real problems facing the Bills, rather than help to turn them into a legitimate contender in a division that features the Jets, Patriots, AND the Dolphins. He will be unable to solve any of the problems for the Bills, and will therefore ultimately fail to be a real contributor for the team.

I hope C.J. Spiller likes a part-time job on a last place team, because that is exactly who drafted him.

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Posted by Bleacher Fan

The NFL 2010 Draft Likely Bust Debate… Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Even Draft Blunders

April 30, 2010

Read the opposing arguments from Bleacher Fan and Sports Geek.

“And with the 24th pick of the first round the Dallas Cowboys select… Slow-y McPersonal-Baggage… excuse me, I believe I may have read that incorrectly. I meant to say Dez Bryant.”

While those weren’t exactly the words NFL commissioner Roger Goodell uttered into the microphone, I believe they might as well have been. The Dallas Cowboys traded up to get the embattled former Oklahoma State wide receiver, but the move may have been more about making a splash than anything else. The simple fact that he is a Jerry Jones era acquisition makes me question Bryant’s potential. Additionally, Dez Bryant’s physical game is far from being the complete package as he lacks experience playing in a pro-style offense. Add to that the fact that he comes to Big D with more drama than a Jersey Shore marathon, and we are talking about a potential bust bigger than a Dolly Parton statue the size of Mount Rushmore.

In 2008, Dez Bryant proved that he was a talented receiver racking up 1,480 yards and 19 TDs, but that was then, and this is now. Bryant sat out most of last season with a suspension. A year off can put some rust on the machinery, and his game was far from flawless to begin with. In spite of Dez Bryant’s obviously gifted hands and his nose for the end zone, he lacks serious speed. Scouting reports have criticized Bryant’s lack of burst and deep speed. The NFL is all about speed. It is often said that the NFL is a much faster paced game than college football. I question the ability of Bryant to make the jump to the NFL as a result. On top of that, he has suspect route running. Dez Bryant did not play in a pro style offense in college. All of this means his rookie season will consist of him adjusting to the speed of the game, a different offense, a new playbook, and he will no longer be a big fish in a small pond – even more reason he looks like he will bust as quickly as a dollar store water balloon.

Dallas’ selection of Bryant can be described as a desperate reach at best. Jerry Jones can deny it all he wants, but the Dez Bryant pick was an attempt to make up for passing on Randy Moss. Unfortunately for Jones, until they build a time machine (which undoubtedly he would purchase and hang too low over the playing field at Dallas’ new stadium) he can never undo what was done. Instead his meddling seems to be making it worse. He has chalked up mistake after mistake with his pass catching personnel decisions (i.e. passing on Moss, bringing TO in, letting TO go, and trading for Roy Williams), but this one may take the cake. In an NFL that is increasingly airing things out, teams are feasting on a boomer crop of talent. Teams are signing and trading for difference making wide receivers at will, but Jones still attempted to fulfill Dallas’ need through the draft. While it is easy to say that drafting and developing a wide receiver is cheaper than over paying for an established talent, Big D has the money to do exactly that. At least you know what you are getting at the professional level instead of putting all your eggs in the basket of a player who sat out most of last season. Jones and company are also ignoring the fact that rookie wide receivers face an incredible learning curve in the NFL. This may make things harder on Bryant who will be saddled with huge expectations to perform immediately under the big bright lights in the Lone Star State. Maybe Jerry Jones does believe in him or maybe he just drank too much of Kiper Kool-Aid, but I simply do not believe in the upside of Dez Bryant.

But probably the biggest reason of all Dez Bryant will be a bust is his dramatic antics. Normally one might expect Babe Ruthless to love a notorious figure like Bryant simply because he is so controversial, but there is a big difference between Bryant and other dramatic players that have earned my respect. The difference is proven talent at the professional level. Players like Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinqo can be as crazy as they want and show it on the field and off, but they have earned the right to do so by proving they are better than average. Bryant hasn’t done that, yet more drama surrounds him than a high school cheerleader. These days Bryant is getting more press coverage than Tim Tebow because of Momma-Gate 2010. Stories about Bryant being asked about whether his mother was a prostitute have flooded sports media outlets. While admittedly he is not at fault for creating this commotion, he has not really tried to put an end to it either. Why? Because he’s dramatic. Just look at the whole Neon Deon fiasco. If he had been truthful and followed the rules he might have gotten another shot at winning the Heisman and improving his draft status. Instead the public is subjected to his protest about fairness. And this is the future of the Cowboys? I do not think so. This guy is draft joke fodder of Tim Couch and Akili Smith proportions. He is a mistake and will prove it to the world soon enough.

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Posted by Babe Ruthless

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