Biggest NFL Draft Bust of 2014 Predictions

The Game Room
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NFL Fans! Who do you think will become the biggest draft bust from the upcoming 2014 NFL Draft class?

Me, I think either Jadeveon Clowney or Johnny Manziel will be the one. Both have too much hype and too many question marks.

Clowney has been hyped as the best player in this draft…except for a reputation taking off plays and his production tanking last year.

Manziel has been hyped since his Freshman year and has jumped between being a second round pick to being the first QB off the board. I don’t think any of the QBs in this draft will live up to thier expectations, but he strikes me as the one set to take the biggest fall.

So, who is your pick?

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Blake Bortles gets my early vote. Sure he’s got great size and is tough to tackle, but I’m absolutely amazed that he’s in the discussion as the #1 pick in the draft. His mechanics are sloppy, he’s played well against shitty teams, but against good defenses, he’s very hit or miss. He makes stupid throws way too often, lacks great accuracy, and seems to get confused by late changing defensive movement, something he’ll see a lot of in the NFL.

Physically, he’s what you want, but he’s nowhere near ready to play in the NFL, and if a team drafts him early and starts him right away, I think he’ll be a huge failure. He’s a developmental player at best.

3

Bridgewater, for the reasons Hamlet isn’t sold on Bortles.

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I see Manziel having a career much like Michael Vick’s, including a dog fighting scandal.

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My pick:

  1. Bridgewater. I see bust all over this kid. If he goes number 1, that will be a huge mistake. I would not personally take him in this draft unless he was available sitting there in the 5th round. I just have bad vibes about him

  2. Clowney. Unlike Bridgewater, I think Clowney could be a good to great player. But I think he is a coin flip to be boom or bust. Unlike Bridgewater, though. i would probably not pass on Clowney if he was there and I needed him more than a QB.

I am amazed at how many people are down on Manziel. I can understand not liking him. But to dismiss a kid who won the Heisman as a freshman? That just blows me away.

As for Bortles… I honestly never heard of him until bowl season. I’m not the biggest Central Florida fan, but I do pay some attention to college football, and he never made my radar. Even Clowney made my radar, and he’s a defensive player at South Carolina. A very good one, but still.

ETA:
I just heard that Mel Kiper (whom I take with a grain of salt, but most people know him and he is a benchmark of sorts) has Bridgewater out of the first round now.

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As a Cleveland Browns’ fan, I can say with great certainty that whoever the Brownies select with the No 4 pick will suck.

I may have to have the dosage upped for my anti-depressants. :wink:

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The consensus #1 pre-season player in college football, who had plenty of Heisman talk, who plays in the sport’s #1 (by far) league, and whose team has been mostly top 10 in his 3 years? Why the “but still” qualifier?

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Clowney. Lots of warning signs, with the game he sat out due to some drama with the coaching staff. He’s not the first college kid to like driving fast, but two speeding tickets going more than 25 miles per hour over the speed limit isn’t a great sign of maturity. He knows that if he doesn’t wash his hands after using the bathroom, that’ll be on ESPN the next day.

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He also ran a 4.53 and jumped almost 40 inches. I’ll go ahead and just stipulate that he’s going to be a lazy player, even though I don’t think he particularly is. I’ll still take that ability to the bank.

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What you say is all true, but I was talking about me. And getting on my radar at the beginning of the year is one thing, but staying on it throughout the year is something totally different. I don’t follow many defensive players not on my team, and I also don’t follow the SEC as closely as others do. I knew who Clowney was at the beginning of the year, but he stayed on my radar this year for all the wrong reasons. I knew his name, but I didn’t see one game he played in. He was just a guy who people talked about as being very good, but who had a questionable work ethic. By the season’s halfway point, he had slipped off the Heisman watch and I didn’t make any effort to follow him on my own.

But if you are a fan of South Carolina or the SEC, i am sure he was much more front and center than I realize. But he didn’t even get an invite to NYC as a finalist. That isn’t the end of the world, but it just shows how far he slipped out of favor, rightly or wrongly, with the national media.

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Clowney will be good, not game changer that folks think. He needs to focus his ego toward football motivation, not “look at me”. His impact will be like Mario Williams now with Buffalo.

Bridgewater will fall to 2nd round and be a career (short) backup.

I’m going with OT Tyler Lewan - if not actually the bad guy - he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time a lot (sexual assault victim intimidation and later fighting/assault with Ohio State fans.

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Can someone explain to me what’s wrong with Bridgewater?

Before last year’s season starter, he was the projected #1 pick of this draft. (“Tank for Teddy”). Then he had a good season that only solidified his position as the top QB of the draft. Then we get into the crazy season with everyone wanting to make a name for themselves with 9 mock drafts, and suddenly everyone feels like he’s a 2nd round bust prospect, and that Derek fucking Carr has passed him up on the QB ranks.

I was pretty sure Jacksonville takes him at #3 and the Browns wouldn’t have a shot at him. I’m also fairly confident that this second round talk is nuts, a creation of the mock draft season, and he hasn’t slipped on actual draft boards.

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I think the thing that bothers me about Clowney is that he appears very entitled already. And everyone I can think of that came out of college with that attitude, without wanting to also work hard, has been a major disappointment in the pros. JaMarcus Russell comes to mind, as does a number of other guys that people thought were can’t miss.

Some guys just want it more, and drive themselves to that extra level… Find that higher gear. When I think back to when LeBron James came on the scene, he was having his butt kissed since what, the 8th grade? And yet, he was still driven to succeed. And he still has that drive. That’s what makes the great players great. Clowney has all the ability in the world, and he is apparently a physical freak. But if he can’t think about anything or anyone but himself, worries about getting injured, and shows a general lack of maturity that he has shown up to this point, he will be a major disappointment.

And the thing is, someone will take a chance on him, and pay him a big first contract. He will probably never have to work again in his life if he manages his money properly. Based on his senior season, I don’t see why he’d want to risk injury. And when you think about not getting hurt when you play, you often get hurt.
Re: Bridgewater. I have been saying for months now that he was not a first-round QB, and no one would agree. Now all of a sudden, Kiper has pushed him into the second round. Has something happened that hasn’t been widely reported?

He was the number 1 pick by many,and even after his poor pro day, people weren’t dropping him out of the top 10.

If Kiper is saying 2nd round, there must be some questions out there about him. I have questions, but I am not a draft or talent expert, and don’t pretend to be one. My feelings on Bridgewater are just that. Feelings. Kiper supposedly knows what he’s doing, at least more than I do.

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I have been wondering what is wrong with him too.

This evening on ESPN, apparently Kiper has moved him into the second round on his latest mock draft. But for all I know, Kiper just did that to get his name out there, or to get people to buy ESPN “Insider” subscriptions.

If I was actually drafting, I wouldn’t touch him. But I would be hard-pressed to think someone wouldn’t take him if he falls to the end of the first.
I like Derek Carr, and wouldn"t be shocked if he went in the first, but I would be stunned if he went before Bridgewater. I would pick Carr over Bridgewater if they were the only two QB’s available. But I am not drafting with my job on the line.

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Bridgewater is a small, run 1st QB who.played in a suspect conference.

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Average arm at best too.

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Run first? You mean he’s black, right? Because he averaged 55 rushing yards per year

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Quarterbacks are always a huge gamble. No matter how much scouts study their tapes, no matter how many passes scouts see them make in workouts, no matter how tall the quarterbacks are or how strong their arms are, scouts guess wrong on quarterbacks a LOT.

And these scouts aren’t dumb! They all know a hell of a lot more about football than I ever will.

So, it’s pretty safe to say that at least one of the highly touted quarterbacks (Bortles, Manziel, Bridgewater) will be a bust. But that’s too easy a prediction.

I’ll say Clowney never pans out. Why? Well…

Quarterbacks need time to learn and develop. It’s entirely possible for a great quarterback to do little or nothing great in college. But at other posiitons, my sense is, if you’re really a great player, you ouught to be manhandling, dominating your competition in college. If you’re not, then something is wrong.

If an offensive tackle isn’t pushing around collegiate defenders like rag dolls, then I wouldn’t make him a first round pick, no matter how much he can bench press.

If a cornerback isn’t shutting down collegiate receivers completely, I wouldn’t draft him in the first round no matter how fast he runs the 40.

Jadaveon Clowney has awesome physical tools. He’s a phenomenal athlete. Which makes me wonder why he didn’t DOMINATE the offensive linemen he played against in college. Don’t tell me “He was double teamed!” If Clowney couldn’t impose his will on college guards and tight ends, how’s he going to do it in the NFL, where the blockers will be much bigger, faster and stronger than he’s faced before?

Clowney has made ONE big play, a play that’s been re-played on ESPN a thousand times. But what else has he show us? THREE sacks as a senior? That STINKS, even if he WAS double-teamed. If he wasn’t slamming quarterbacks to the turf constantly in college, I don’t see him doing it in the pros.

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QBs are paid to be throwers, not runners. Thanks for calling me a racist BTW!

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Incidentally, I have the exact same issues with Johnny Football. So stick your accusations of racism in your ear!