FanHouse Lawrence Phillips

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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Andre Smith has had a fun week. Considered one of the best -- if not the best -- left tackles available in the April draft, the former Alabama standout showed up to the combine chubbier than usual and not at all ready to work out.

Then he went missing. Apparently, it was a misunderstanding -- at least to hear his agent explain it. Okay, fine. These things happen. But there's more, and it's not pretty. Via SI.com's Tony Pauline, not only was Smith out of shape and in need of a watch, his people-person skills could also use a little work.

NFL.com is widely known for some pretty stringent practices regarding what customized jerseys it will allow to be made. For instance, you most certainly cannot make a "Ron Mexico" jersey. No how, no way.

The newest name on the computer's banned list? "Harris Smith," Plaxico Burress' Applebee's alias (and an early runner for "2009's Most Widely Abused Fantasy Football Team Name"). At least that's what NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Central Main Sports in response to their "Why can we still purchase a Rae Carruth jersey?" question.

"There are a number of jerseys that fans may not order online, including the ones you cite below (Michael Vick, Harris Smith, Ron Mexico, Lawrence Phillips). Those names are blocked immediately by a computer program which (unfortunately) is not all inclusive and may miss names from time to time. So a fan could type in names on the screen which would make it appear that he/she could purchase it. However, if a fan followed through with an order and attempted to purchase the jersey of a player like you named, we would catch it manually and would not make the jersey or ship the order. The fan would receive a notice that the order would not be fulfilled. Bottom line, you would not be shipped a jersey with the names you cited (Rae Carruth, Art Schlichter, OJ Simpson)."

So, yeah, the NFL is pretty lame AND predictable. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't really matter whatsoever if you want to put a convicted criminal or a fake herpes name on the back of your jersey that costs $200 freaking dollars to order. And I'm not even the poor, real Harris Smith who just wants a No. 17 Giants jersey.

FOXSports.com's Eric Moneypenny's Top 10 RB Draft Busts column is a nice little amble down memory lane ... unless you're a fan of one of the team's mentioned. Then it's more like dredging up long-repressed memories that make you wonder why you ever like professional football in the first place. And this list has some doozies: From the Panthers using the 9th overall pick in 1996 on Tim Biakabutuka, to the Bears taking Curtis Enis 5th overall in 1998, and then looking on in horror as he promptly tore his ACL.

Moneypenny mixes in some old timers (Bo Matthews, Leroy Keyes, Larry Stegent) before getting to the good stuff. That's right: Lawrence Phillips, arguably the worst pick ever, in any sport, or any type of draft. Think about it, if Phillips was coming out of college this year, he would be headed straight to the CFL.

Instead, Dick Vermeil made the mistake of vouching for the guy, the Rams selected him 6th overall, and three years and 1,453 yards later, it was all over. Most frustrating for Rams fans -- in retrospect, anyway -- has to be knowing that Eddie George was available. And if the team wasn't looking for a running back, guys like WR Terry Glenn, OT Willie Anderson, WR Marvin Harrison, and LB Ray Lewis were still on the board.

But Phillips only ranks as the third-biggest running back bust. According to Moneypenny, the top honor goes to Ki-Jana Carter. Yes, he was the first overall pick, and yes, he only gained 1,129 yards in 10 NFL seasons, but Carter's career was railroaded because of injury. For me, Phillips is, hands down, the biggest loser here -- he was healthy when he ran himself out of the league and anytime you're arrested for trying to run kids over with a car after a pickup football game, well, that automatically takes you to the top of such lists.