The NFL So Far: Top 10 Busts of '08

His 2.9 yards per carry is second-worst among starting backs and is well below the league average. Additionally, he has contributed next-to-nothing as a receiver, with just 26 yards in that category. Not to pile on, but Chris has also fumbled four times already, losing two of them.

One positive stat, though, for Bengals fans: zero arrests for this guy!

5.  Matt Hasselbeck (SEA), quarterback

I’ll concede that he did lose his top three receivers before Week One, but he hasn’t just been bad, he’s been atrocious. Remember, Donovan McNabb played the first three weeks without his top two wideouts and has been one of the top performers in the NFL.

Hasselbeck has thrown for just two touchdowns and his high passing yards for a game is just 190, done in Week One against Buffalo. His completion percentage is a horrendous 48.5 percent and his rating is an equally poor 60.1, second-worst among starters. This is bad.

4.  Chad Johnson (CIN), wide receiver

Ocho Stinko has been a non-factor this season, despite his highly-publicized name-changing antics. Proving once again that he is not even the best receiver on his own team, No. 85 has caught just 11 passes in four games, compared to T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s 24.

I respect the fact that he’s playing through a painful shoulder injury, but wouldn’t it be better for his team if he got the surgery and took the time off? This scrub squad is going nowhere fast anyway (for my money, they’re actually a worse team than the Rams). Alas, it’s unlikely that Johnson is actually motivated by team-related factors.

85’s season high for yardage is 37, the only time he has managed to eclipse the prestigious 30-yard mark. He has scored just once and has fewer receiving yard than Johnnie Lee Higgins (That’s not a joke, Higgins is actually a real guy).

Just shut it down, Chad.

3.  Braylon Edwards (CLE), wide receiver

Of the top three on this list, two play for the same team. And you wonder why the Browns suck? Edwards, 97th in the NFL with his 95 total receiving yards in four weeks of play, has been possibly the biggest shocker of the year. This is a guy who exploded for almost 1,300 yards and 16 TDs last year, establishing himself as one of the best young players in the league and one of the best receivers, period.

Oh, what a difference a year makes. That’s what they said last year, when the Browns rose from perennial cellar-dwellers to 10-win playoff contenders. Well, they can say it again this year, because this team is terrible.

Edwards, like Chad Johnson, has just 11 catches and one touchdown, but with the heightened expectations entering the season, he ranks as the bigger bust. Don’t forget, that Johnnie Lee Higgins stat applies here, too.

This past week alone, 11 different receivers had 100-yard games, a total Edwards has yet to reach this season! Three different Arizona Cardinals this week had more yards than he has this year. In his defense, though, maybe some of this is due to that play of...

2.  Derek Anderson (CLE), quarterback

...our number two bust, Mr. Anderson. The cries for Brady Quinn have never been as loud as they are now, and who can blame Cleveland fans? After 3,800 yards and 29 touchdown passes last season led to a big contract extension, I’m assuming they expected more than this.

In four games this year, Anderson has thrown twice as many interceptions (six) as touchdowns (three), has thrown for over 150 yards just once (166 at Pittsburgh), and one week had a passer rating of 22.9.

Even with his big numbers last year, he wasn’t the most efficient passer, but this season, he has completed less than half of his tries and is averaging less than five yards per attempt.

I mentioned earlier that Matt Hasselbeck was the second-lowest rated passer in the league. Derek Anderson’s 49.9 rating is the worst.

1.  Randy Moss (NE), crybaby

Last year, Moss had what was quite possibly the greatest season ever by a wide receiver. He had 98 catches for almost 1,500 yards, including a single-season record 23 receiving TDs. My, how circumstances can change things.

Have you seen Randy Moss, circa 2006, when he was with Oakland? If so, you’re already prepared for what’s to come. In Minnesota, he admitted to taking plays off. Well, in Oakland, the guy took two full years off, and without Brady behind center, this will be much of the same.

Moss has always shown a lack of effort when not paired with an elite QB, which makes very little sense, since in many cases it is Randy himself who makes the QB as good as he is.

In the past two games, with Matt Cassel at the helm, Moss has caught just six passes for 47 yards. By contrast, teammate Wes Welker has caught 13 for 127. Cassel is certainly good enough to get the ball to Moss, but no wideout in the NFL can succeed without maximum effort.

I agree preemptively with what many of the critics will say: Randy Moss has not been the worst player in the NFL this year and possibly not even the player who has most underperformed, given the expectations.

But in my mind, he is the most disappointing, given the fact that on any given Sunday, he has the ability to be completely unstoppable and has not shown that he cares about achieving that this season.

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