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With the NFL Draft only three days away, teams in the league are spending the last 72 hours trying to sort out who is going to be the next Peyton Manning and who will be the next Ryan Leaf. It’s an inexact science, to be sure. Sometimes can’t miss prospects like Steve Emtman don’t live up to expectations. Or maybe your pick has a crippling injury before ever playing a game, a la Ki-Jana Carter. But a lot of times it is just plain old poor decision making that ruins a team’s draft. Akili Smith? Really?
In honor of dumb GM’s everywhere, here is a list of the Top 10 biggest draft busts since 1990.

#10) Curtis Enis - RB - #5 pick – Chicago Bears – 1998
Enis was supposed to join Walter Payton and Gale Sayers in the pantheon of great Bears running backs, but instead joined Blair Thomas and Ki-Jana Carter as Penn State RB busts. Enis played three seasons in the NFL, averaged 3.3 yards-per-carry and scored six touchdowns.
The Bears had an opportunity to take Randy Moss with the 5th pick, but went with Enis, due in large part to his winning personality, which was about the only winning thing about him. Bears fans can take a little solace in the fact that 20 other teams passed on Moss, who fell to the Vikings with the 21st pick.

#9) Desmond Howard - WR - #4 pick – Washington Redskins – 1992
Joe Gibbs rarely bought into the hype about marquee college players, but he fell for Michigan star Desmond Howard in 1992, trading up after a Super Bowl victory to snatch the Heisman trophy winner. Gibbs envisioned Howard as a receiver, running back and returner extraordinaire, but in Washington he only had 66 receptions and five touchdowns.
Later in his career, Howard specialized in kick returns, even winning a Super Bowl MVP award with the Packers. But his career never came close to fulfilling the expectations that came after his magical senior season in Ann Arbor.

#8) Lawrence Phillips - RB - #6 pick – St. Louis Rams - 1995
Sometimes you really don’t see it coming. But with Lawrence Phillips, even Helen Keller would have known that he was nothing but trouble.
After running behind behemoth offensive-lines at Nebraska, which he did when he wasn’t threatening to shoot his girlfriend and beating college co-eds, the Rams drafted Phillips ahead of Eddie George and Ray Lewis, among others.
After three dismal seasons and a rap sheet that would make most rappers jealous, Phillips was out of the NFL. He went on to win MVP honors in NFL Europe, but fizzled in a comeback attempt with the 49ers.

#7) Trev Alberts - LB - #5 pick – Indianapolis Colts - 1994
Alberts only lasted three years in the NFL, after an string of injuries and sucking forced him to retire. The Colts couldn’t have been too disappointed though… they snagged Marshall Faulk with the 2nd pick in the same draft.

#6) Heath Shuler - QB - #3 pick – Washington Redskins - 1994
A poster-child for why rookie quarterbacks should never hold-out of training camp, Shuler’s career in Washington was essentially over before it started. Shuler split time with Gus Frerotte and John Friesz in his rookie season, then was beaten out by Frerotte in 1995. His career never recovered from his hold-out and from the fact that his passes were about as accurate as Garo Yepremian’s.

#5) Blair Thomas - RB - #2 pick – New York Jets – 1990
The Jets would have been better off drafting Blair Underwood.

#4) Mike Mamula - DE - #7 pick – Philadelphia Eagles – 1995
Coming out of Boston College, most NFL insiders predicted that Mamula would be a mid-round pick in the NFL Draft. But at the Combines in February, Mamula put on one of the best shows in combine history and catapulted himself into the first round.
Never mind that Mamula’s on-field play in Chestnut Hill was nothing special and that has was constantly overpowered by smaller Big East offensive lineman. Forget about that stuff. When it came to lifting weights in mesh shorts and shuttle runs, Mamula was all-world.
His career wasn’t a total washout like some other players on this list, but his story still serves as a cautionary tale to overzealous scouts who foam at the mouth over bench press reps.

#3) Ki-Jana Carter - RB - #1 pick – Cincinnati Bengels – 1995
I’m surprised as you are that this is the Bengels first appearance on this list. I’m not surprised, however, that this is the third Penn State running back to make a showing. You would think by now that teams would realize that drafting a running back from Penn State is like letting your kids go to Neverland to play with Michael Jackson. But they don’t. People still do it. It’s crazy.
Ki-Jana was hampered by injuries, so that is a convenient excuse because he would probably wouldn’t have been all that good anyway.

#2) Akili Smith - QB - #3 pick – Cincinnati Bengels – 1999
The Mike Mamula of quarterbacks. Smith had something that scouts and Mel Kiper love to talk about, but is usually a kiss of death: upside. He wasn’t all that great at Oregon, and was slotted to be a 2nd or 3rd rounder in the 1998 draft. But when scouts saw his agility in the shuttle run and his exceptional ability to hit open receivers with no defensive pressure, he skyrocketed up to #3 in the draft ahead of Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Champ Bailey, Daunte Culpepper and Jevon Kearse. Smith is out of the NFL now after playing in only 21 games.
I guess it could have been worse for the Bengels. They could have taken Cade McNown.

#1) Ryan Leaf - QB - #2 pick – San Diego Chargers – 1998
The Chargers traded two 1st round picks, a 2nd round pick and Eric Metcalf for the opportunity to select Leaf in the ’98 draft. They paid a king’s ransom to get a court jester.
Leaf’s problem was never ability, for he had talent to spare. His attitude was his problem. He couldn’t take criticism from coaches, teammates or the media, and on more then one occasion got into physical altercations because of it.
Shockingly, the Colts actually pondered selecting Leaf over Peyton Manning with the first pick in the draft, which would have been akin to Puff Daddy buying a Daewoo instead of an Escalade.

Dishonorable Mentions

Andre Ware - #7 pick – Houston Oilers- 1990
Steve Emtman - #1 pick – Indianapolis Colts - 1992
Rick Mirer - #2 pick – Seattle Seahawks – 1993
Michael Westbrook - #4 pick – Washington Redskins - 1995
Tim Biakabutuka - #8 pick – Carolina Panthers – 1996 (Can you believe he was drafted at #8? I was shocked when I saw that.)
Rickey Dudley - #9 pick – Oakland Raiders - 1996
Courtney Brown - #1 pick – Cleveland Browns - 2000