Michael Vick and the 10 Worst Investments in NFL History

In a salary cap-driven league, overpaying for a player or coach that performs below expectations can place an NFL franchise in a frustrating situation.

Not only is the individual hampering the team's chances of winning with his underachieving efforts, but his fat contract has strained management's wallets to the point that it's unable to obtain many more key pieces to alleviate other issues.

One contract that may fall into this category is the six-year, $100 million contract ($40 million guaranteed) agreed upon between the Philadelphia Eagles and Michael Vick prior to the 2011 season.

Depending on if his team has success and he stays healthy, this signing could turn out to be far more dollar foolish than penny wise. So far, it hasn't worked out.

Here are 10 financial failures that put franchises into monetary hell.

Scott Mitchell

Scott Mitchell drew interest from the Detroit Lions following the 1993 season after he started seven games for the Miami Dolphins in place of an injured Dan Marino.

While it seemed foolish to sign a guy whom you've only seen for a handful of contests to be your long-term signal caller (three years for $11 million), the left-hander did show promise in 1995.

That year Mitchell led the league in passing yardage with 4,338 and threw for 32 touchdowns. He followed that up with a so-so '96 that saw him compile a record of 4-10.

Despite that, the Lions gave him an $8 million bonus to re-sign.

After he rode the coattails of Barry Sanders to the playoffs in 1997, Mitchell was benched after two dreadful performances to start the '98 campaign and never started again for Detroit.

Michael Vick

In the offseason after Michael Vick led the Falcons to the brink of a Super Bowl berth, team owner Arthur Blank went all out to make sure Vick would stay in Atlanta for good.

That came out to a whopping 10-year, $130 million contract.

Vick, however, didn't own up to his end of the bargain. In the first two seasons after signing the lucrative deal, he completed just 53.9 percent of his passes, and the team went just 15-15 in his starts behind center.

The 2006 season went much better, as he set an NFL record for most rushing yards in a season by a QB.

Then came the well-known involvement with a dog-fighting operation, and Vick went to prison for 23 months, thus ending his Falcon career.

Larry Brown

The entire world saw Larry Brown intercept two passes en route to helping the Dallas Cowboys win a Super Bowl and earning the game's MVP award.

The Raiders sought to cash in the cornerback, inking him to a five-year, $12.5 million contract.

Oakland soon realized that the Super Bowl performance was a one-hit wonder rather than a sign of things to come. Brown started just one game in his two seasons with the Silver and Black and had just one interception.

Adam Archuleta

The Redskins have enough bad financial investments to have their own list. That has been especially true ever since Daniel Snyder took ownership of the club in 1999.

One of the worst money grabs Snyder ever made was signing Adam Archuleta in 2006 to a $35 million contract that spanned seven years, making him the highest-paid safety in NFL history.

The numbers Archuleta put up on the football field didn't correlate to the figures he was earning. In fact, he rarely saw playing time. He finished the '06 campaign with zero interceptions and one sack.

In March 2007, he was traded to the Chicago Bears for a sixth-round pick.

Javon Walker

This deal for Javon Walker was clear evidence that owner Al Davis was turning senile.

Walker was released by the Denver Broncos after missing half of the 2007 season due to physical ailments. Yet the Raiders thought the wide receiver could still produce—and remain healthy.

Neither hope came true.

The six-year, $55 million bust lost some of that cash when he was beaten and robbed in Las Vegas. It didn't get much better after that, as he played just seven games in '08, compiling just 15 pass receptions and one touchdowns in seven games before being placed on the injured reserve list.

Walker played in just three games in 2009 with nary a reception to show for it. He was released in March 2010, collecting $21 million for his less-than-hard work.

Deion Sanders

After the Dallas Cowboys cut Deion Sanders to unload salary, the Redskins—specifically Dan Snyder—didn't get the memo that "Prime Time" was on borrowed time as an NFL player.

Sanders signed a seven-year contract worth $56 million total with an $8 million signing bonus.

In 2000, his first year in Washington, Sanders intercepted four passes. While that may seem respectable, his punt returning ability wasn't. Neither was his me-first attitude, a trait certainly not shared by his fellow cornerback and longtime Redskin Darrell Green.

After just one season, Sanders wanted out of D.C. and demanded his release.

David Boston

When the San Diego Chargers signed wideout David Boston to a mega-deal, they should have saved some cash to buy aspirin for all the headaches he would cause.

"Brash" and "destructive" are two words to best describe Boston's less than amiable personality.

It didn't help that he was largely unproductive.

The man who signed with San Diego for seven years and $47 million ended up playing with the Chargers for just one season.

However, plenty happened in that time, including feuds with coaches and continuously disappointing efforts.

Steve Spurrier

The only non-player to make this list is a coach that was better off staying in the college ranks.

Steve Spurrier revolutionized offense in the Southeastern Conference. His high-octane attack at Florida was a swift diversion from the heavy running game that most had known, and it resulted in a national championship in 1996.

Dan Snyder lured Spurrier away from Gainesville in 2002 with the most lucrative coaching contract in league history (five years, $25 million).

Spurrier soon realized the NFL was a whole different ballgame. He went 12-20 in his two seasons in D.C. and then resigned, ultimately heading to his current post at the University of South Carolina.

Nate Odomes

There's a reason why we can't provide a photo of Odomes on the Seahawks squad, the team guilty of inking the Pro Bowl cornerback.

That's because he never played a down for Seattle after signing with the club for four years and $8.4 million (which included a $2.2 million bonus) in 1994. 

Prior to that year's training camp, he suffered a knee injury in a charity basketball game that forced him to miss the entirety of the season.

Odomes made it training camp in '95, but no further. He re-injured the same knee, and his days of playing for the Seahawks were all but finished. Ironically, he never missed a game in his seven previous seasons with the Buffalo Bills.

Albert Haynesworth

Perhaps no player caused more anguish per dollar spent than Albert Haynesworth.

From the demands for a change in the defensive scheme, to the conditioning tests, to his seemingly uninterested play on the field, to his off-field missteps, the defensive tackle was a pain for his entire tenure with the Washington Redskins.

It didn't take a soothsayer to discover that doling out $100 million over seven years in the 2009 offseason was a bad idea, but no one could have anticipated the circus that was to come.

The 2010 season was his worst: 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks in eight games.

After two completely unproductive seasons, Redskins management traded the malcontent to the New England Patriots this past July for a fifth-round draft pick in 2013.