On “Inside The Cave” this week, Ian Wendt and John Roberts gave their Top 5 April Fools Busts in sports. These are players that were built up to be great, but fell short. Every sports fan has their list. They may be skewed one way or another based on where they live, favorite team, and other factors.
John’s list:
5. Tony Mandarich – College football’s “greatest offensive lineman”. Flamed out a couple years later with the Packers.
4. Jamarcus Russell – Number 1 pick in NFL draft in 2007. All the tools for success in the pros. Struggled to master the playbook and fizzled out after a few years.
3. Charles Rogers – Champion HS athlete from Saginaw. All-American at MSU. Transcendent size and speed combo. Personal issues derailed his NFL career.
2. Matt Anderson – Fireball RHP from Rice picked number 1 overall by the Tigers to be the cornerstone pitcher in their rebuild in the late 90’s. Never panned out after bouncing from starter to closer.
1. Joe Murphy – All-American player at MSU. Consensus number 1 pick with scoring ability. Supposed to join Steve Yzerman as a cornerstone of the Red Wings. Never was able to adjust to the NHL and was traded away before his retirement to end a lackluster career.
Ian’s list:
5. Johnathan Ericsson – He was supposed to take over defensive duties in a major way for the Detroit Red Wings with the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom. At 6′ 4″ , he was never a big-time physical presence and has not lived up to the hype.
4. Greg Oden – The number one pick by the Portland Trailblazers in the 2007 NBA draft, the 7-foot-tall Ohio State Buckeye had a career that was riddled with injuries. Oden was out of the NBA after the 2014 season. Considered by many basketball analysts to be one of the greatest draft busts in NBA history.
3. Ryan Leaf – The player selected #2 in the 1998 NFL draft. Leaf was out of the NFL by 2002, is a common name on sports busts lists.
2. Jamarcus Russell – The only repeat between the two lists. Russell had a cannon for an arm, but could not turn arm talent into on-the-field success.
1. Joey Harrington – Picked #3 in the 2002 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, Harrington was supposed to take the reins in the Motor City and make the Lions relevant again. He threw more interceptions than touchdowns (60 tds-62 ints) and had a sub-.500 record as quarterback (18-37) in Detroit. There was certainly not a plethora of talent on the Lions squad, but Harrington did not make the team better. He was out of football after the 2007 season.