10 Best College Football Quarterbacks Who Were NFL Busts

Aug 2, 2014; Akron, OH, USA; General view of a Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel jersey after training camp at InfoCision Stadium Summa Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

College football quarterbacks are a different breed, and many times they rise to heights of unparalleled glory during their years in school only to find life in the NFL to be a much different story.

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There is no possible way of predicting a bust when it comes to the NFL draft. More than a few players have come out with the “sure thing” tag, only to absolutely implode — either off the field or on — when they begin their career as a professional.

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Quarterbacks in particular are hard to figure. They play in the most exposed and openly critiqued position on the field, and in many cases they get too much credit for good teams and too much blame for bad ones. But when a QB sets records, wins championships and garners individual awards by the bushel, it’s hard for NFL teams to pass them up.

Here are ten guys who probably should have been leading teams to playoff after playoff, and eventually hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with an NFL team, but instead they couldn’t get out of their own way and drifted off into football obscurity, only to become footnotes in listlets such as this.

Dishonorable mentions for this list go to Colt McCoy (Texas), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), Christian Ponder (Florida State), David Carr (Fresno State), Byron Leftwich (Marshall) and Patrick Ramsey (Tulane).

Note: To be included in this list, the QB in question had to be drafted in the third round or higher in his NFL draft class.

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