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These days
the ability to see talent is everything. A good eye
for talent will deliver you a superstar, while
shrouded vision will leave your team in the gutter
for years. Ryan Leaf. Two words which will forever
be synonymous with disappointment, failure, and NFL
bust. The same can be said for Tim Couch and Ki-Jana
Carter, as surely their respective teams fans will
quickly agree. In 1998, there were two top
quarterbacks, two that you could make an argument as
to who was the best, one of them being Ryan Leaf,
and one being Peyton Manning. The Colts had the
first pick, Chargers traded up for the second, there
was no clear favorite for the number one spot. Then
in April, the two top picks were arguably the best
and the worst picks of all-time. The Colts took
Manning, Chargers took Leaf. Manning has turned out
to be the best quarterback in the NFL, and is on
pace to be one of the best ever. Leaf on the other
hand had so many issues, you would need an excel
spreadsheet to keep track of them. Leaf is now out
of the NFL, and probably the biggest “bust” the NFL
has yet to see. That is just one of many examples of
players who had great collegiate careers, and were
high draft picks, who turned out to have horrible
NFL careers. There is no way to tell who is going to
be a bust or not anymore. The draft is now basically
a crapshoot, sure you draft by needs, and sometimes
best player available, but you never know when the
player you draft will completely fail at the NFL
level.
But what really bothers me, is when people try and
predict a collegiate player will be a bust in the
NFL. There has only been one player I have truly
felt that way about, which was Alex Smith. But I had
reasoning, he had one good year that put him on the
map, he ran a gimmicky offense at Utah, and was over-hyped by the media. Never
mind my ranting there. Well the thing I am hearing
now is that Reggie Bush will be a bust. And right
now I will attempt to debunk the reasoning for those
statements. Here we go….
“Reggie Bush
can’t handle 20+ carries at the next level.” Well,
let’s see here, the only reason Bush doesn’t get
those 20+ is because they have another great runner
back there in LenDale White. Also, if this is true,
which I’m not saying it is, why can’t you give him
18 carries, split him out at wide-out for 10 plays,
and have him return punts and kicks? He would be
just as much of a threat and could take it to the
house every single play.
“He can’t run
between the tackles” The people who say this must
only see Bush’s SportsCenter highlights. Reggie runs
inside all the time, and when he gets tackled he
falls forward, which gains an extra 3-4 yards every
play. Okay, I’m done trying to change people’s
minds. I don’t think it will work until Bush gets in
the NFL and proves them right, or proves them wrong.
There is no way to tell right now, and there is no
reason for me to try and prove my point about
something so unpredictable.
Every team has a bust, in fact fewer than half of
the first round selections in the draft, go on to
start for their respective teams, let alone be the
players they were expected to be. You can make an
argument that any player coming into the league will
be a bust for some reason or another. Whether he is
too small, too slow, or plays in a weak conference,
some nit-picky fan will always doubt a player. Well
this is what I say to you, was Dave Meggett too
small? Was Emmitt Smith too slow, or even Jerry
Rice? Did Ben Roethlisberger playing in the MAC
affect his ability? The fact is, all those great
players were passed up by many teams, and two of
them you could make arguments that they were,
regardless of position, the greatest player of
all-time.
The Draft is the most unpredictable thing in
the NFL today. You never know when a team will draft a
“bust” or a great player, and I don’t think we will ever
know. That is why I love the draft, that is why I love
the NFL, that is why I love football.
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