The Packers 'Blow it' - 'The NFL's Incredible Bust' Tony Mandarich NO. 2 Pick 1989 NFL Draft? Why !?

Comment woodbuck27:

Tony Mandarich was the Green Bay Packers second overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft behind quarterback Great Troy Aikman. The third selection was the dynamic RB and great Barry Sanders, the fourth,LBer great Derrick Thomas, and the fifth selection, cornerback great Deion Sanders.

Mandarich is the only player of those five not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is tied with Charles Rogers and Clint Jones as the second highest drafted Michigan State player ever (behind Bubba Smith).

He is also the highest-drafted Canadian-born player in NFL history. Is this fact even arguably, one of our greatest embarrassments!? Nope ! :-|

Tony Mandarich was drafted as an NFL eligible player by the Green Bay Packers. Here is a LINK to the CFL's 1989 Draft Class. CFL Scouts were 'High on players from Universities such as 'Slippery Rock' University of Pennsylvania. :whaa::

The CFL 1989 Draft Class:

https://www.cfl.ca/draft-tracker/1989/


https://vault-cdn.si.com/SI_ISSUE_IM...8-001-2048.jpg

So what did the Packers miss when they decided this was their man in the 1989 Draft? Packerrats, maybe you can glean the answer to that by reading this article? Maybe you can't?

" There's too often something that might offer a weakness to any man." Edwin

https://www.si.com/vault/1989/04/24/...s-up-opponents

THE BIG ENCHILADA

Tony Mandarich, a top NFL prospect, is a chowhound who chews up opponents

By Rick Telander

An excerpt from this story:

" ..." It is a couple of weeks before the draft and Mandarich and Rory Leidelmeyer hoist iron at the Uptown Gym in suburban Whittier, where Mandarich has lived in a rented condominium since moving to California. The Uptown is a bare-bones pit for serious metal junkies. There is nothing here but bars, plates and primitive machines. Fly strips hang like stalactites from the dirty ceiling. Over the PA. system Axl Rose sings: "I used to love her/But I had to kill her," and Mandarich grunts as he does stiff-legged deadlifts with 465 pounds.

Mandarich's girlfriend, Amber Ligon, who came west with him, does tricep curls across the room. A former violinist and Michigan State student, she is now an aspiring bodybuilder, who says, "I'm never leaving California."

"She used to go out with Todd Krumm, our free safety from a year ago," says Mandarich with bemusement. "He's with the Bears now—not real big, slow, a normal guy, kind of an all-American type. And she trades that for me, a sicko."

Leidelmeyer and Mandarich talk about how they are going to get matching 1,200-cc Harley-Davidsons and cruise through the streets of L.A., with their long hair flying, in ripped Guns n' Roses T-shirts, faded jeans and black leather chaps.

"Biceps exploding." says Leidelmeyer. "Two crossed guns on the gas tanks," says Mandarich. They smile at the vision.

That afternoon as Mandarich relaxes with Amber at the condominium, a telegram arrives from the Green Bay Packers. It reads: "Tony, please call Charlie Davis or Tom Braatz concerning travel to Green Bay for predraft physical before end of week."

"Yeah, right!" hoots Mandarich.

Later, Leidelmeyer drops by. The subject of steroids comes up. If Mandarich hasn't used steroids yet, well, why hasn't he?

The big man is silent for a time. "I might," he says finally.

"If he feels limited, he'll have to open that next door," says Leidelmeyer.

Who is Tony Mandarich? There is a Bible on his bedside table, a huge picture of Jesus over his bed, a pair of handcuffs on the stick shift of his car.

Mandarich calls Green Bay and asks for Davis, the offensive line coach. He pauses. The person on the other end is asking something.

"Tell him Axl Rose is calling."..."

Comment woodbuck27:

It's not always what you see that should compel an GM to approve of a certain player; even go 'all monkey' over that man. It's too often the stuff he doesn't see that should steer him away from that guy and to make a wiser decision.

You've got that Genie in a bottle. If you had a choice between having 'the Smarts and intelligence' or 'Wisdom and near perfect Integrity'? What would you choose?

Other References Related To This:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Mandarich

https://www.si.com/vault/2009/03/09/...ery-very-sorry

http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=4073575

Hindsight is 20/20. Should the Packers have done better research and known better? I don't know. I do recall being happy about the pick at the time. I don't think any "experts" at the time had anything negative to say about taking him. If you assume he was a product of steroids and a bust when he had to stop using them, then chalk it up to bad luck and bad timing on the Packers part.

This comes up time and again. He dominated in college like almost not other player. The term 'pancake block' was coined for him. The feeling at the time was that Dallas was making a mistake by taking the second best player in the draft just because he was a QB.

I wonder if back then scouts and GMs either didn't recognize the signs of steriod use or they chose to ignore it because he was so dominate in college?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pugger

I wonder if back then scouts and GMs either didn't recognize the signs of steriod use or they chose to ignore it because he was so dominate in college?

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Reading just the above excerpt I feel the question that needed to be asked was :

What was missed by Green Bay Packer Scouts and any question regarding Tony Mandarich's maturity and basic personality.

There have been a helluva a lot of other players over the decades with "maturity and basic personality" issues who did just fine in the NFL. I don't think anybody ever accused Mandarich of that kind of badness - abusing alcohol or recreational drugs.

What it comes down to is: he was so damn good because of performance enhancing drugs; Just about the time he was drafted, the shit hit the fan about PEDs, and he had to get by without them. THAT was what caused his play to turn to shit.

Should the Packers have known about that trend of PEDs being on the way out? Apparently nobody else did, because Mandarich was almost universally regarded as a great pick. If the PED thing had waited 10 or 12 years, he might have had a hall of fame career - and maybe been the next Lyle Alzado, health-wise. So bad timing and bad luck - that's my verdict.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by texaspackerbacker

There have been a helluva a lot of other players over the decades with "maturity and basic personality" issues who did just fine in the NFL. I don't think anybody ever accused Mandarich of that kind of badness - abusing alcohol or recreational drugs.

What it comes down to is: he was so damn good because of performance enhancing drugs; Just about the time he was drafted, the shit hit the fan about PEDs, and he had to get by without them. THAT was what caused his play to turn to shit.

Should the Packers have known about that trend of PEDs being on the way out? Apparently nobody else did, because Mandarich was almost universally regarded as a great pick. If the PED thing had waited 10 or 12 years, he might have had a hall of fame career - and maybe been the next Lyle Alzado, health-wise. So bad timing and bad luck - that's my verdict.

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Here is the core reason (s) and why he failed as a Green Bay Packer Top Draft Pick and a lot of that is certainly personality and (medically) mentally related:

http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/p...00153021.html/

PACKERS|OLD SCHOOL PACKERS

Feb. 28, 1993: Tony Mandarich’s decline is rooted within him

By: Bob McGinn, Milwaukee Journal ... Feb. 28,1993

"...whatever advancements Mandarich had made began to dissipate in the ’92 off-season. His travels and big-game hunting expeditions left less time for the weight room in Green Bay and reduced his aerobic activity. Then, on an Alaskan vacation in June, he supposedly drank tainted water and was in even worst condition for the start of training camp.

Over the next six traumatic months, he would suffer a severe concussion, learn he had a thyroid condition, make his final public media appearance in September trying to answer a damaging Sports Illustrated story, bow out near midseason as host of his own TV show, visit doctors across the country and be diagnosed as having post-concussion syndrome, list his home for sale outside Pulaski, Wis., defy coach Mike Holmgren’s request that he trains in Green Bay, and grieve for his older brother, John, who died of cancer Feb. 8.

When Mandarich attended the wedding of teammate Shawn Patterson in Green Bay last Saturday, two people who were there said they detected tears in Mandarich’s eyes on two separate occasions.

“Obviously, the combination of a concussion and everything else brought on some depression,” said Domenic Gentile, who retired Feb. 1 after 32 years as Packers’ trainer. ..."