Top five draft busts of all-time

When a No. 1 overall draft pick gets whacked and is out of work just three years after being selected it tends to make us recalculate our lists of the worst draft picks in history.

That's what NFL.com has done here. With the Raiders releasing 2007 No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell, writer Steve Wyche has elevated the underachieving (read: lazy) QB to No. 1 on the list of biggest NFL draft busts. That's good news for Ryan Leaf, the No. 2 overall pick in 1998, who recently told the LA Times that he wishes for the day someone will knock him out of the top spot.

While there's a great argument to put Russell No. 1 overall, I just can't move him up there yet. Not when he's younger than 25. Not when it was the Raiders who drafted him, trained him and cut him. Not when he still has a chance to turn his career around.

And I don't buy the money argument. Yes, the Raiders gave him about $40 million and got basically nothing in return. But I don't factor in money when considering a draft bust. Otherwise, the worst draft busts of all-time would simply be the most recent draft busts since each rookie class makes more than the one that came before it.

Here's my own personal top five draft busts of all-time:

1, Tim Couch, Browns, No. 1 overall in 1999.
This was the pick the Browns could not afford to blow. The city had been without a franchise since 1995 when the original Browns left for Baltimore. Three seasons without a team had the city frothing for football, even though it knew the expansion team would be awful. Couch was the building block upon which a franchise would grow from the ground up. He wasn't up to the task in any way and was miserable and hurt on terrible teams. He was cut in 2004, tried two comebacks, played some in the CFL and is now a radio analyst on Kentucky football games. A better pick: How bout Donovan McNabb?

2, Ryan Leaf, Chargers, No. 2 overall in 1998.
Hey, at least he wasn't picked ahead of Peyton Manning in 1998. I think he locks down the No. 1 spot on most people's lists because he was such an immature jerk when he played. Hard to believe a team can miss this badly when it comes to judging the necessary personality traits of an NFL QB. Leaf's now serving 10 years probation for felony drug charges.

4, Tony Mandarich, Packers, No. 2 overall in 1989.
I got Tony here in part because he's the first draft pick I remember who was hyped beyond belief. The "Incredible Bulk," the Sports Illustrated spread, etc. He turned out to be all hype and no substance, although I give him credit for trying to make something of himself later in his career with the Colts. But he lasted only three years in Green Bay. The other reason I like Tony this high -- or low -- is the Packers could have drafted Barry Sanders or Derrick Thomas instead.

5, Lawrence Phillips, Rams, No. 6 overall in 1996.
Heath Shuler probably should be in everybody's top five because he's a quarterback. But I like Phillips up here -- or down here -- simply because of the thug factor. And because the Rams also traded Jerome Bettis to the Steelers after taking Phillips. Lawrence was such a bad apple, he was cut after 25 games. He's now serving a 31-year prison sentence. Bettis could be joining the Hall of Fame as early as January.