2012 NFL Draft: Projecting 5 Prospects Who Are Sure to Crash and Burn in Pros

Each draft provides the NFL with a number of superstar players, but those same drafts also offer players who crash and burn into busts.

NFL prospects can turn into busts for a number of reasons—character issues, overrated talent, being drafted into an unorthodox system and lack of heart or determination.

I have nothing against any of the following five prospects; I just think that each of them will have a hard time excelling in the National Football League.

Here are five players who will crash and burn in the pros.

Bruce Irvin

Projected Draft Position: Second Round

Pro Comparison: Jason Pierre-Paul 

Bruce Irvin is the prototypical pass rusher.

The West Virginia defensive end is 6'3" 245 pounds and is an explosive player with a knack for getting after the quarterback, but he is not a skilled enough threat to rectify for his lack of ability against the run.

Irvin has been relatively quiet with only 2.5 sacks this year compared to last year's 14-sack season, which causes some significant concern in my book.

Irvin will be drafted early based solely on his pass-rushing ability, which makes him an natural candidate to crash and burn.  

LaMichael James

Projected Draft Position: Second Round 

Pro Comparrison: DeAngelo Williams

LaMichael James is an excellent college football player. He has the speed, quickness and agility to blow past defenders, which makes him one of the most dangerous threats in the open field, but will this transfer to the NFL?

I have a hard time viewing James as an every-down back in the NFL, and while he is a solid receiver, he doesn’t run a lot of different routes out of the backfield.

It is also difficult to view him as third-down back because he is not built to protect the quarterback and is lackluster on blitz pickups. 

Donte Paige-Moss

Projected Draft Position: First Round

Pro Comparison: Mario Williams  

As a pass-rusher, Paige-Moss needs to work on developing different pass-rushing techniques because he relies heavily on his powerful bull rush and struggles reaching the edge.

At this point, he is undersized for the defensive end position and does not appear to have fluid enough hips to make the adjustment to outside linebacker.

I am obviously not as high on Paige-Moss as many others, and I see him as more of late second- to third-round value.

Kellen Moore

Projected Draft Position: Fifth Round

Pro Comparison: Colt McCoy 

Kellen Moore stands at 6'0" and weighs 195 lbs, meaning that he is drastically undersized for a quarterback in the NFL.

Moore has been a great college quarterback so far, but he is not thought of as a franchise caliber quarterback because of his lack of arm strength and his poor mechanics in his delivery.

Moore should follow in the footsteps of Doug Flutie, because he is the kind of player who would thrive in the CFL.

Matt Barkley

Projected Draft Position: First Round

Pro Comparison: Mark Sanchez

Despite how well Matt Barkley has played this season, he still needs to tighten up his mechanics, which will help with his consistency.

The quarterback limits his follow through because he leaves his feet far too often when throwing the ball, which affects both arm strength and accuracy.

The level of competition has been relatively weak as well for the quarterback, as he has yet to play in a hostile environment since his freshman season at Ohio State.

In my opinion, Barkley has enormous potential. However, I think that he should return to USC for his senior season to perfect his mechanics.