FanHouse RyanLeaf

After a period of time where he was a wanted man by Texas authorities, Ryan Leaf finally faced his drug and burglary charges. Leaf, the 34-year-old who is widely considered one of the biggest busts in the history of the NFL Draft, had a warrant issued for his arrest on May 20. He had agreed to turn himself in, but failed to do so for almost a month.

Friday, though, Leaf turned himself him in at the Randall County Jail in Canyon, Texas. Not that he had much choice: Wednesday, Leaf was arrested in Washington state after re-entering the United States from Canada. He had to post bond there and then head to Texas to turn himself in. Now, Leaf has been released after posting $15,000 in bail and is on his way to Washington.

Ryan Leaf, the former No. 2 overall pick of the San Diego Chargers who has come to symbolize the term "draft bust," now has much bigger problems off the field than he ever had on it.

Texas law enforcement officials say an arrest warrant was issued for Leaf on May 20, and Leaf agreed to turn himself in on drug and burglary charges. But he failed to do so, and he is now a wanted man.

Remember when Eli Manning had that dopier-than-usual look on his face after the San Diego Chargers, against his wishes, took him with the first overall pick of the 2004 Draft? Good times.

In most drafts, the thought of giving up a handful of picks to move up the board and take a flier on a player usually smacks of desperation. History is littered with examples, none bigger than the Chargers trading up for Ryan Leaf.

But 2009 is different. It's a decidedly weak class, and players who went in the first round on Saturday would be lucky to hear their names called on Day 1 in other years. Which is why the Jets have happily traded up and jettisoned picks all weekend: they have a few needs, targeted specific players, and went out and got them.

Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.

Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.

Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.

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As we head down the backstretch to the NFL draft, every aspect of every potential first-round player continues to be researched by each NFL franchise. After all, they are about to sink millions of dollars into what is essentially a kid. With the Pac Man Joneses and Ryan Leafs of the world exhibiting a variety of negative character issues, teams are paying more attention than ever to background checks.

According to Pro Football Weekly, there are five highly regarded prospects who have raised serious red flags to five "high-level league executives" they polled: Percy Harvin, Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Vontae Davis, and B.J. Raji. And they aren't just a little scared of drafting these guys.

On Jan. 15, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez announced that he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL draft. This news made head coach Pete Carroll very unhappy. In fact, during the press conference announcing Sanchez's decision, Carroll was clear:

The signing of Luke McCown earlier this week likely signaled the end of the Jeff Garcia era in Tampa Bay, leaving the team's quarterback situation in the hands of McCown, Brian Griese and Josh Johnson. Not exactly an ideal situation for rookie head coach Raheem Morris.

McCown and Johnson are relatively unknown, while Griese isn't likely to lead his team to the promised land. How should the Bucs address this in the offseason? If you ask Mel Kiper, by taking a quarterback in the first round of the draft.

During yesterday's live chat, we spent much of the hour talking about the likelihood Tim Tebow would play quarterback in the NFL. The consensus was "no way in hell," and most of us figured the big-boned Florida Gator for a tight end.

Well, Mel Kiper's hair agrees. Appearing yesterday on the virtually unlistenable Mike and Mike in the Morning, Kiper offered this assessment (via MDS at CFT):

Kiper said ... that Tebow is likely to play tight end when he enters the NFL in 2010.

"I think an H-back, tight end projection, like we've had quarterbacks move to wide receiver in the past," Kiper said. "That's what I think he will be. ... (Tebow) can have a very successful career in the NFL, but not at quarterback."

Of course, as Toni Monkovic of The Fifth Down points out, projecting quarterbacks is a tricky proposition, and for every success story -- first-round pick (Matt Ryan) or late-round surprise (Tom Brady) -- there's a growing scrap heap of "can't-miss" prospects (Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington, MITTENS, anybody from the '99 draft not named Donovan McNabb).

But, hey, maybe Tebow really can run a pro-style offense, even if the evidence currently suggests otherwise. I'm skeptical, but I'm a blogger, so what do I know? It's just that every time I see Tebow I see Eric Crouch in one of those funhouse fat mirrors. That's not a compliment.

As the Detroit Lions gird up their loins to hit the field of battle on another turkey day, they face quite a daunting task. No team in the history of the NFL has ever lost 16 games in the regular season. That's probably because they only play 16. You have to be a really, horrifically brutal football team to finish 0-16, which is why no one has accomplished that feat before.

A peek at the Lions schedule from here on out shows their task. Any win for an 0-11 team would be an upset, but this is a stout group left on the docket for Detroit. They play the Titans (10-1), Vikings (6-5), and Saints (6-5) at home, while traveling to face the Colts (7-4) and the Packers (5-6). The most winnable game would seem to be Green Bay, but beating the Packers in Lambeau on December 28th isn't an easy task for a team used to the indoors.

Simply put, I think the Lions are going 0-16. I actually have for quite some time.

Let's examine their profile against some of the worst teams in NFL history (Super Bowl era) to see where they might rank.