19 Biggest NFL Phonies of the Last Decade

We all know those guys in life who claim to be higher than the rest. The Mr. Hot Shots. Tall, dark and handsome. The pretty boy jocks who get everything on a silver spoon.

This is a collaboration of the 19 biggest posers in NFL history. What exactly is meant by “phony?”

"Phony" could mean he guaranteed something and failed to come through. Perhaps an NFL draft bust whose stock was much higher than his talent turned out to be.

Everyone thinks that they’re better than the rest, but now, here are the 19 biggest con artists of the National Football League:

19. Chad Ochocinco

This nomination isn’t so much for Chad Ochocinco’s quality of competition on the gridiron, but rather for some of the other allegations he has claimed to be able to do in his professional career.

The New England Patriots receiver claimed he could make an MLS roster, ride a bull for a full 8.0 seconds and start his own professional news network, the OCNN.

Thus far, he’s been able to get an invitation to an MLS practice squad, fell off a bull in seconds and really hasn’t come through on the OCNN making a name for himself.

Stick to football for now, Chad.

18. Brad Childress

Brad Childress in 2010 was thought to be one of the key proprietors to Brett Favre’s 2009 success in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings.

After a dismal start to the 2010 season, the fingers slowly began moving from Favre to Childress on whom to blame for the Vikings' ship sinking quickly.

All of the speculation and rumors as to what’s going on behind the scenes in Minnesota ultimately lead to the midseason departure of Childress from the organization.

Can’t take the credit for something you can’t entirely control.

17. Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford has spent more of his NFL career in street clothes and a baseball cap than his No. 9 Detroit Lions jersey.

Plagued by injuries, Stafford has seen little professional playing time in the NFL. The main reason for his cameo on this countdown is because of the health concerns with his throwing shoulder.

Nicknames like “China Doll” have been given unfairly to the former Georgia Bulldog product. Patience for Stafford to play a full NFL season is starting to grow thin in Detroit.

If Stafford can’t stay healthy for the entire 2011 season, he might have a case to jump a few spots on this list as a larger disappointment than he has been now.

16. Terrell Owens

The most talkative NFL receiver perhaps in history, Terrell Owens has seen quite a few zip-code changes in the end of his professional football career.

With a majority of the departures from organizations coming as a direct result of his big yapper, the spotlight-hungry wideout has done some damage in very short amounts of time with multiple franchises.

Following a three-year stint with the Dallas Cowboys, Owens was in desperate need of a home. He took a one-year deal from the Buffalo Bills in an effort to stretch the field offensively.

The Owens-Bills connection was a disappointing one. Owens caught just 55 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns. These may be decent numbers for a secondary receiver, but a primary wide out would be upset with this kind of production.

15. Vernon Gholston

Vernon Gholston never fit right into the Rex Ryan crazy and aggressive 3-4 defense as he would have wished.

Playing mostly defensive end, Gholston never achieved the statistical success a first-round selection in the NFL draft should achieve. Being able to force pressure and get in the backfield has been a troublesome spot in Gholston’s career with the Jets, ultimately leading to his departure this last season.

In addition, Gholston is still looking for his first NFL sack in three years despite playing in 45 of a possible 48 NFL games.

14. Randy Moss

This was one of the saddest ways a future Hall of Famer has ever ended a professional career. And this goes beyond football—perhaps in all of sports.

When Randy Moss was traded for the second time in the 2010 NFL season to the Tennessee Titans, some wondered why the move was made from the Titans' stand point. The team already featured Kenny Britt, a talented and young wide receiver. There’s no need for a cancer like Moss and all of the unnecessary attention he would bring.

In half a season with Tennessee, Moss caught a woeful six balls for 80 yards and never saw pay dirt. Not too sure what the Titans expected when they acquired Moss, but this couldn’t have been it.

13. Tim Tebow

He may be fun to watch in a college offense. He may be a man of great value and respect. He may be an admirable role model for young men to mold themselves into.

But one thing Tim Tebow isn’t is an NFL quarterback.

Coming out of Florida with two national championships and a Heisman Trophy would signal a player with unlimited potential. That’s not the case for Tebow.

To this day, experts argue he still hasn’t adjusted to the style of play the NFL requires at the quarterback position. There’s still plenty of time for him to right the ship, but the dynamic weapon the Denver Broncos saw at Florida might not be compatible for this league.

12. Matt Leinart

Things just haven’t panned out for Matt Leinart ever since he departed the University of Southern California for the National Football League.

Leinart was a high first-round draft pick by the Arizona Cardinals in hopes of becoming the team’s next franchise quarterback. The marriage never worked out.

In fact, the union was so bad the Cardinals had to reach out to future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner to come play for the organization while Leinart tried to get it together.

Leinart is now a member of the Houston Texans where he will play No. 2 to Matt Schaub. Unless there’s an injury involved, Leinart may be a professional bench rider for the rest of his career.

11. Bobby Petrino

Bobby Petrino is the ultimate mascot for quitting coaches if there ever was one.

The former Louisville football coach was brought into Atlanta to help the Falcons re-surge quarterback Michael Vick to his high-flying measures.

Thirteen games into the 2007 season, Petrino quit the day after a game and was back in college football coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The day Michael Vick received a 23-month prison sentence for dog fighting charges, the New Orleans Saints and Falcons played on Monday Night Football. New Orleans blew them out of the water 34-14, dropping the Dirty Birds to 3-10 on the year.

The next morning, Petrino packed his bags and left. For this, a former coach nearly makes the top-10 list.

10. David Carr

David Carr was the first-ever draft selection by the Houston Texans in the expansion team’s short history.

How did Carr reward the Texans for their high praise? By becoming the league’s most sacked quarterback for what felt like seasons on end.

Many factors play into the situation. Being a brand new team, there was no coaching set in place at Carr’s arrival. Everything was new and unproven. The offensive line was woeful. And Carr had a knack for holding onto the ball far too long.

Carr started his own award among NFL fans known as the David Carr Award. The praise is given to the NFL quarterback who meets turf more the rest of the competition in a given year.

For those wondering, last year’s victor, Bears QB Jay Cutler is set to defend his trophy this season.

9. Alex Smith

Alex Smith was dubbed a can’t-miss prospect coming from the Utah Utes.

Perhaps it’s a result of the surroundings of the poor play of the organization in the last decade, but Smith has never even come close to panning out for the 49ers.

Here’s a sampling of how bad the success has been. In six seasons, Smith has finished with more touchdowns than interceptions just twice.

8. Tim Couch

Tim Couch’s NFL career was indeed a short one, lasting just five seasons. The highly praised Kentucky Wildcat was never able to establish himself with the Cleveland Browns and soon found pro football was not his calling in life.

Couch in four years threw 64 scores, 67 interceptions and fumbled 37 times. Turnovers and poor decision-making skills are what plagued Couch and the Browns.

Who knows what could have been made of Couch if he would have been able to live up to his potential at the turn of the century?

7. Ki-Jana Carter

Ki-Jana Carter was one of the most prolific rushers on the mid-'90s with the Penn State Nittany Lions. Among his great successes and college stats, Carter looked like he would be able to make the jump to pro football seamlessly.

The trouble was his body. Injuries ended Carter’s NFL career very shortly, and his full potential was never realized.

In 2004, Carter tore a ligament in his knee on his third carry of the preseason. He would never fully recover. Carter would miss substantial amounts of time with the Bengals all the way until 1999.

He would bounce around a few places following that, but his body never kept up with him.

6. Joey Harrington

No reason to fear here, folks, it’s just Joey Harrington.

Sadly, that’s probably the same tactics most defenses took with the former Oregon Duck as he spent a majority of his seven-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions.

Harrington cracked 3,000 passing yards just one time in his career. His number of interceptions was always right up there with the number of touchdowns. His poor decision-making skills at the pro level may have been the culprit for his troubles.

5. Mike Williams

Many may wonder as to which Mike Williams is meant by the name. This is the Mike Williams drafted high by the Detroit Lions to play wide receiver when Matt Millin was still in charge of calling the shots in Detroit.

Williams would never stick to the Lions game plan and failed miserably as getting accustomed to the style of play the league demanded.

He disappeared for a few seasons before having an out-of-nowhere successful season last year for the Seattle Seahawks.

The addition of Tavaris Jackson in Seattle could help solidify Williams’ future, but his past in painstakingly engraved in Lions fans minds for all time.

4. Albert Haynesworth

The drama involving Albert Haynesworth is not what the Washington Redskins intended when signing the defensive tackle to a seven-year deal worth $100 million.

The biggest problem with the Redskins and Haynesworth was the changing of the defensive scheme from a 4-3 to a 3-4 when Mike Shanahan was brought in to be the head coach. The move would slide Haynesworth over from defensive tackle to the nose tackle spot.

Haynesworth was very vocal about his displeasure. Holdouts and refusing to play followed.

Just this last month, the Redskins were able to dump Haynesworth off to the New England Patriots for a draft pick. No matter what Washington received in return, the move was a victory for the franchise.

3. Ryan Leaf

What more needs to be said about Ryan Leaf being perhaps the NFL’s worst draft bust of all-time than has already been said since he was chosen by the San Diego Chargers in 1998, second overall.

No reason to get into the specifics—it would be a continuation of a head pounding into a brick wall that has been going on for over a decade.

Maybe the easiest way to put this into perspective is that while the Chargers took Leaf second, the Indianapolis Colts took Peyton Manning first overall. These two back-to-back picks may be the most polar opposite selections of all time.

2. Ricky Williams

Ricky Williams makes this list because of the horrible draft-day management skills of Saints head coach Mike Ditka in 1999.

Ditka traded every last pick in that year’s NFL draft as well as a first-rounder and a third-rounder in the next season to go up and take Ricky Williams. This marks the first time in history only one player was chosen by a franchise.

The results were just so-so. Williams lasted three seasons with the Saints and cracked 1,000 yards twice.

He would go on to be acquired by the Miami Dolphins in 2002 and would explode for 1,853 yards rushing. The story just wouldn’t be complete without it blowing up in someone’s face.

1. JaMarcus Russell

Drafting JaMarcus Russell to be a franchise quarterback is about as logical as installing a screen door on a submarine.

Russell’s hype out of college was huge. All the scouts and “experts” from LSU said the he guy could throw 40 yards on his knees, 60 yards sitting down and 80 yards standing.

Russell has proven that it doesn’t matter how far you throw it as much as whom you throw it to.

The Oakland Raiders saw nothing but disappointment from Russell in his three seasons with the club. Russell really only played two full seasons, sitting on the sidelines for most of his 2007 rookie campaign.

A mediocre 2008 season lead to a heart-breaking 2009 where Russell threw three touchdowns and 11 picks in 12 games for 1,287 yards.

It would be later announced Russell had an admitted drug problem and struggled to stay clean on the field.

His career ended in 2009 when the Raiders released him. No team has even come as close as considering the all-time biggest NFL bust in history.

Follow Brett Lyons on Twitter @BrettLyons670.